Ally and Billy were childhood sweethearts who broke up some time before the series began. They meet again when they both end up working for the same law firm. Now Billy's married and Ally's still single. Not only that, but Billy's wife, Georgia, is also a lawyer and comes to work for the same law firm, too. In the episode previous to the one I watched last night, Ally and Billy kiss. "Sideshow" is devoted entirely to the fallout as Ally, in her typically neurotic matter, dropping dozens of Freudian slips and stumbling over her words generally (when she's not literally stumbling), tries to analyse herself and Billy. It culminates with the two of them sitting on the couch for Ally's therapist, Tracy, played by Tracy Ullman, who won an Emmy for her performance in this episode.
I liked the conversation despite the fact that the teleplay presumes that Billy is in any way attractive. Mostly it's a mystery to me why Ally or Georgia or anyone is attracted to this weasel. Tracy asks Billy and Ally to imagine their life in old age if they got married and Billy says he imagines Ally will have gotten cosmetic surgery. The conversation becomes about Ally's vanity and she had a line I thought was funny if not entirely truthful; "I don't need to look good, I just do!"
My favourite part, though, was Tracy suggesting to Billy that all of his attempts to rationalise and explain his decision to kiss Ally might only a be a veneer for the fact that he just wanted to kiss the pretty girl, that it was a completely thoughtless action. Honestly, that's exactly the vibe I get from Gil Bellows' performance.
Ally McBeal is available on Disney+ in Japan.
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