Shirley needs Alan’s help when she wants to end her father’s suffering.
The other plotline involves nuclear bomb shelters or somesuch.
I didn’t do a thread last week, but I hurt myself laughing when Denny shot the inflatable clown and when he squirted phony tears all over Shirley in the restaurant.
I caught just a few minutes last week – Alan’s jury summation. The case apparently had something to do with a Dr. Phil-type TV show. Spader knocked it right out of the park. He seemed really pissed, not just scripted-pissed.
Anybody out there?
It was a bit hard for me to watch this ep., since my dad also died of ALZ just like Shirley’s dad did. The writers did a pretty decent job of conveying the nightmare that is ALZ and the stress it inflicts on the rest of the family, though no TV show can truly capture just how bad it can get.
I forgot to watch. :smack: I didn’t watch a lot of TV before the strike, and it’s hard to get back in the groove. I think all I watched last week was Idol, John Adams, and The Office.
My mother has Alzheimer’s, I couldn’t watch it and turned it off after a few minutes.
Yeah, the main plotline was really tough to watch. But, they did a good job.
How many times have they argued for euthanasia? This has been at least twice now.
Jerry’s got a new, smokin’ hot girlfriend. I wonder how that will play out.
He also said “during the strike, I met a new woman.” That was pretty funny 
Did anybody else choke up, tear up, or get chills when the camera panned the courtroom after Alan’s summation and there was Denny?
Knocked me for a loop.
This episode will get Emmy consideration if none other this season does. IMHO.
I was stunned by the sight of Denny as well.
Why would we be surprised that Denny’s watching one of Alan’s trials? What have I missed? Are they on the outs with each other?
I gather you missed the episode?
Alan made a stirring speech in defense of euthanasia, saying that his best friend has Alzheimer’s. He said that it was still in its early stages and that his friend would still have the ability to enjoy fishing or a glass of scotch for some time yet, but that when the time came he would end his friend’s life. He said it would be the most difficult, painful thing he’d ever do, but he’d do it because he loved him.
The camera then pans across the gallery to find Denny sitting in the back row, looking shaken. (It seemed Alan didn’t know Denny was there, and the supposition is that Denny attended because he saw the handwriting on the wall for his own future.)
Also, at some point, and I don’t recall whether it was during Alan’s courtroom speech or the balcony scene, Alan made the observation that Denny smoked and drank and played with guns ( ) and that he’d likely meet his maker for other reasons before Alzheimer’s could take him.
Missed it last week; haven’t watched Tuesday’s episode yet. Alzheimer’s was also a major plot element in David Kelley’s show “Picket Fences”, in which the mayor’s grandson mercy-killed him with a bullet.
Correct; Alan did not know that Denny had heard his closing in the courtroom until later, when he revealed that he had been there.
Yes, I did. Maybe more than one, because I didn’t know that Denny had actually been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (er, “Mad Cow”).
StarvingArtist, thanks.
Amen, StarvingArtist, for a well done synopsis.
I know I have missed at least one episode at the end of the pre-strike period when they were juggling things around. It may well have had some backstory to the episode this week. However, I have always thought the writers were deliberately leaving the hint of Alzheimer’s tacit while Denny had fun with his Mad Cow lines. I never doubted that Alan and Shirley and any of the other principals were aware of the true diagnosis and that Alan, most of all, was acutely aware of them.
In any event, the balcony bit at the end was especially poignant this week.
I didn’t know Denny had actually been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s either, but my viewership has been spotty this year. For that matter, it was spotty last night. I only saw the last twenty five minutes or so and he might have been diagnosed with it before I tuned in. The last I heard though, was that he had been diagnosed with “mild cognitive impairment,” which he described to Carl as being a possible precursor to Alzheimer’s.
My feeling last night was that Alan had already accepted that Denny had Alzheimer’s even though a formal diagnosis hadn’t yet been made.
Perhaps another viewer will be along soon to say for sure.
I didn’t know Denny had actually been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s either, but my viewership has been spotty this year. For that matter, it was spotty last night. I only saw the last twenty five minutes or so and he might have been diagnosed with it before I tuned in. The last I heard though, was that he had been diagnosed with “mild cognitive impairment,” which he described to Carl as being a possible precursor to Alzheimer’s.
My feeling last night was that Alan had already accepted that Denny had Alzheimer’s even though a formal diagnosis hadn’t yet been made.
Perhaps another viewer will be along soon to say for sure.
Thank you.
Same here.
It was indeed. I’ve always enjoyed the humor that Denny brought to the show and I’m somewhat sad to see that the show seems to be heading more toward drama and away from humor.
ETA: Apologies for the double post above. I apparently tried to submit one too many times as the board was timing out.
I just happen to be watching an episode of “The Practice” from 2004 in which Denny and Alan have a conversation about Denny having Alzheimer’s, so apparently the diagnosis has been known for a while now.
It may have changed recently, but circa a few years ago (when it came up in regards to one of my relatives), AD was mainly diagnosed by ‘ruling out’ everything else that could cause the symptoms exhibited. And the diagnosis was really only confirmed by examining the brain after death.