Christmas and Accidents

Ally McBeal seems like it has a million Christmas episodes so this seems like a good time of year to go back to it. But this week I watched "Reason to Believe", an episode from January 2001 that follows from a more Christmasy episode, "The Man with the Bag", in which Nelle's father believes he's Santa Claus. "Reason to Believe" has Anne Heche guest starring as a woman with Tourette syndrome whom the firm is defending for running over her husband with her car, killing him.

As she reveals in this clip, it was not her intention but instead a result of one of the physical tics that come along with Tourette syndrome:

Having worked with a student with Tourette syndrome, I can say Heche's performance is exceptionally good, though the teleplay does occasionally indulge in the typical comedic use for Tourette syndrome by having her yell inappropriate things at the worst moments. Her performance makes the character three dimensional and is very effective. She ends up sticking around for several episodes.

Heche certainly had plenty of experience with mental illness, leading her more than once to exhibit bizarre behaviour publicly until the car accident that cost her her life in 2022. As you can see above, we really lost an amazing actress.

She's certainly more interesting than Robert Downey Jr. in the episode. I continue to be astonished that the show had Robert Downey Jr. in the cast but gave him such an incredibly boring character. And he drags Ally down with him because, since he and Ally are steady, she can't date anyone else, and it was her dating that provided the show with so much fodder for interesting episodes.

Notice how infrequently Ally speaks in this clip:

The show had basically become The John Cage Show by this point. She is his Watson. Peter MacNicol's certainly a good and interesting actor but it is strange how much Ally McBeal was sidelined on Ally McBeal.

Ally McBeal is available on Disney+ and/or Hulu.