Ally McBeal

- Season 4

(2000)

Brian asks Ally to move in with him, but torn between wanting marriage and wanting a more exciting man, she turns to her therapist for help. After meeting Larry Paul, a lawyer she mistakes as her old therapist's replacement, Ally concludes that he's an asshole, her and Brian's sex life is terrible, and now she can't get Larry off of her mind. Meanwhile John is defending a woman who wants an annulment because she doesn't think her husband found her attractive.

Heartbroken after her break-up with Brian, Ally and the girls form the Cage and Fish Women's Bar Association and put themselves out there, with every available man in the area. Richard and Ling are defending Cindy, a woman who still has one piece left over from her manhood. Mark pursues her, unaware of her little secret. John is defending a female sexual predator but has a hard time separating their professional relationship from their personal one.

Richard is morally conflicted over knowing the secret of Mark's girlfriend Cindy and goes to Ally for advice, but Ally is currently dating, not only Jonathan (who is her age), but also Michael, who is old enough to be her father. Nelle enlists the help of Elaine to attend a seminar by a relationship "doctor" who they are suing, and after hearing some of her advice, they are more than happy to continue the lawsuit against her.

Ally is dating a father and son, and then gets herself sued by a puritanical classmate over fallacious snide remarks. She hires Larry as her lawyer but becomes irrational upon learning that he's married, and then becomes even more irrational when she sees him dating Nelle. Mark is having a hard time dating Cindy because of everyone's phobia over his girlfriend's genitalia.

Ally's puritanical classmate, Kimmy, is back, this time claiming she was fired for being a prude and she needs Ally and John to defend her. But in court they are up against Larry. Ally and Larry are about to go on their third date, so Ally thinks she needs to be coached on how to kiss, and when the date doesn't go as planned she's ready to throw it all away. After seeing Ling use John as a kissing test dummy for Ally, Richard tries to find his own sexual persona.

It's almost Christmas and Elaine's desperation is making her cranky, while Ally is frustrated that Larry doesn't like the season. Trying to get Larry to open up, she uncovers one of his secrets. A newscaster has been fired for telling the truth about Santa Claus, and it's up to John and Ling to get his job back. But John is busy trying to figure out how to begin his relationship with Kimmy when she insists on bringing her mother along on their dates and she thinks that John is a rock and roll singer.

The attorneys of Cage and Fish are auctioning themselves off for charity in a date auction. Nelle and Ling have a rivalry as they each believe that they are the hottest woman and the desire of all men's fantasies. For Nelle, her date turns into a day with a stranger where she learns to let go of her intimacy issues. Whereas for Richard, his date completely plays into his severe homophobia issues. Elaine, John and Ally all have love issues to work out with their respective partners too.

Nelle hires John to defend her father when he's been fired for believing he's Santa Claus. The case is going to need some magic since he really does believe he's Santa. Larry's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child, Jamie, shows up in his office, and Ally tries to deny that she's jealous. When Jamie then gets invited to the office Christmas party, Ally no longer feels like partaking in the festivities.

John's idol, Nicholas Engblume, shows up and needs his help in court, and then Nicholas's wife shows up and needs his help in getting a divorce. John hires Larry to mediate the relationship between Nicholas and Brandy, while John and Ally defend a woman with Tourette's syndrome who is accused of murdering her boyfriend.

Ling's ex-fiancé is about to get married, but he's still in love with Ling. Larry's ex, Jamie, is back in town, and she's determined that it's going to work out for them this time. The love that Larry and Ally have for each other might not be enough to send Jamie back to Detroit. John and Melanie fight intolerance when she gets fired from her school.

Much to Richard's surprise, Chubby Checker is not dead, but is in fact at the bar with a charity Twist contest. Elaine & Mark, Ally & Larry, and Ling & Richard are in their competitive mode, and Ling gets a hot Spanish dancer to team up with and coach Nelle. Meanwhile, Melanie invites John back to her place and introduces him to local homeless man, Mr. Bo. John think he's being stalked by him, but then finds out he means more to Melanie than he assumed.

In search of the most homophobic, bigoted lawyer she can find, Mark's ex-girlfriend Cindy comes to Richard to get the courts to allow her to marry. Nelle's dance partner hires her to sue over patents to his dance moves, but when the woman they're suing is his ex-girlfriend, it becomes very personal for Nelle. Young Sam Paul is in Ally's office wanting to sue his parents for separating. As she puts two and two together, Ally realizes that Larry will need to be with the mother of his son.

With Larry gone, Ally is hallucinating. This time it's Barry Manilow and therapy has taught her to physically fight her hallucinations. Richard has just hired a new lawyer, Jackson Duper, but he thinks it must be all a joke since his trial has a man wanting to dissolve his marriage to a nymphomaniac and then suing the priest who married them. It doesn't help matters that he was once biblical with Ling but never told her his real name, and Elaine sweats profusely at the sight of him. John thinks it's time to show Melanie something that is very special to him, but then ...

John and Richard get into a squabble over Richard borrowing John's baseball glove without asking, since they insist they are 35 year-old men and not little boys, Melanie suggests they go to couple's counseling. In defending his gender-biased client, Jackson portrays all the women in the court room as sexual objects. That trick just might lose him to Ling but win over Renee. Ally plays match-maker to Elaine and Mark when he gets jealous over Elaine's attraction to Jackson.

Getting concerned that Larry is never coming back, Ally starts seeing his face everywhere. Which is a problem since Renee and Jackson have just started dating and Jackson is put off by Ally's many issues. John starts a war in the office with Nelle, at home with Melanie, and in the court room when he and his client staunchly believe that the entire point of marriage is to have children.

Cage and Fish are off to Los Angeles for vacation, not the whole firm but just Richard and John and they have left Ally in charge as senior partner while they're gone. But before they've even landed Richard has been ordered to keep his mouth shut and then is arrested. At the hotel pool, Richard then meets a hot, young actress but when flirting with her, they both get arrested. Meanwhile, John defends an older woman who wants alimony after her fidelity-less marriage.

Jackson has drafted a pre-nup for a man about to marry, and when Larry represents the man's fiancée, a war is created between Jackson and Larry at home and at the office where they are likely to tear apart the couple before they marry. Ally caught Elaine cheating on Mark and now either Elaine is going to have to learn how to tell the truth, or Ally will have to learn how to lie.

On the day of the trial, Ally starts defending a little person who was sued for defrauding his date. The bigger surprise is that Larry represents his date. Going against each other in court, neither are prepared to lose when they wager a foot massage on the case. Cassandra shows up in John's office all the way from L.A. ready to pursue him, but John is currently in a lull professionally and personally.

A man wants to clone his dead wife, and nobody, even John, thinks that's a good idea, but when he finds out the opposing lawyer is Larry, John takes on the challenge. John uses Ally to try and get an advantage and Ally wagers another foot massage with Larry. But Barry White is missing and with the case falling short on merit, John is desperately going to need to find him or else he just might lose. Meanwhile, Ling keeps seeing Jackson in slow motion, and fearing that she might be in love, she throws herself at Richard.

It's Ally's birthday and she's upset because she's alone. Not alone alone, but alone with somebody else. While everybody is planning their song choice for her party, Larry is in a deposition. Sting is in town and is being sued by a jilted husband for wooing his wife. Larry is going to have to pull out something extraordinary to make up for missing Ally's birthday.

An attractive woman has come to the office to hire Richard and John, but she's the queen bee, and all Richard wants to do is suck on her toe and John has to try and win the case while fighting the urge to lust after her. Meanwhile, the Reverend and Lisa Knowles are fighting again, this time because he's dating a new woman in the church choir and Lisa keeps singing at her. Jackson and Nelle are supposed to mediate, but they seem to be making things worse by accidentally making fat, dumb and ugly jokes about Lisa's lawyer.

Richard flies to L.A. when Jane asks for his help in keeping photographs of her from being published in a magazine. But he keeps being asked if he's a real lawyer and he calls on John to help him. Meanwhile, John is trying to cheer Ally up when she's convinced that Larry is about to dump her, even though it's something completely different that he is planning.

With Larry gone, Richard assigns Ally to a case. A high school boy is seeking a court order to force a girl to take him to the prom. It's a long shot, but Ally wants to help the boy out, and she also thinks that Larry is the opposing lawyer. Richard has just hired Jane as his new secretary, but when she points out to him that everybody in the office is cold, he is sad and with John's help, decide that drastic measures need to be taken.