Holy shit did Richard Bay get spattered! I mean, damn, talk about killing off a character! What do y’all think about that: too graphic, just right, shoulda been hit by a car, good surprise or knew it was coming?
Personally, I liked it. All the false-start jumpiness had me double and triple thinking my “He’s dead” conclusion, until I finally thought “Well, I guess he’ll make it…” Nope.
I’m a real copshow/lawyer show fan, so of course I watch “The Practice”. My SO is a real Sci/fi history channel discovery channel hates drama shows, barely tolerates sit coms (will do Simpsons/Malcom in the Middle) kind of guy.
On Sunday nights, I win, so we watch the Pracitce. Well, I watch it, he makes comments during it. But last night - he went Whoa!! Wow! at that one.
I thought they’d done all they could with his character anyhow.
I LOVE the fact that they killed someone off without having zillions of promos breathily querying, “One of these people will not survive. Who will it be? Don’t miss the ‘The Practice’?” with quick shots of every major character’s face. Every other show seems to do that.
(At least, I don’t think they did this. I don’t watch much TV anymore.)
Very eloquently put!
I was expecting him go get rubbed out due the fact they were focusing on him being scared. Where else would they have gone with the plot at that point? But HOLY MOSES!!! At first I expected a car bomb, and when the gun barrel was stuck out of the window I expected a single sniper shot to the head, but he blew the HELL out of that car! And the shot of Bey leaning against the steering wheel was chilling.
Very surprising move to just rub him out with no prior warning. I wasn’t ready for that. Kelly does a good job of toying with emotion. He has you hate him as Bobby’s nemesis then just as you begin to identify with him he is pumped with bullets.
Interesting where they go with this . . .
First shot on next week’s episode: terrified face of Richard Bay, rivulets of sweat trickling from his forehead. It was all a big nightmare.
(Unless you people saw an article in Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, People, etc. saying that he’s moving on to greener pastures. In which case, please disregard above scenario).
And grandma in the old tugboat? I didn’t expect the parking attendant/patrol bit. They had me fooled the first couple of seconds until she asked Bay if he was leaving. But as soon as the camera lingered more than necessary on her face, I knew Bay was in for it.
This reminds me a lot of earlier in the season, when William Hinks sent a bomb to the office. Ending an episode with a big surprise murder/attempt on a major character. I hope it doesn’t become common practice.
I really didn’t hate Bay, even when he was the “bad guy” in his earlier episodes. Kelley tries to make Donnel et al the good guys about 90% of the time, but I enjoyed the competition Bay provided. He’s way more entertaining than Boyle’s character.
As far as the method and surprise goes, I thought it was done almost perfectly. Like Cyberhwk, I thought it was gonna be a car bomb, then the gun showed up and I was sure it would be a couple shots, a failed attempt. When those bullets started flying, my jaw just dropped. It’s so rare nowadays to eliminate main characters by surprise: It was really refreshing, in a sad, depressing kind of way. 
Did this scene remind anyone else of when Sonny bought it in The Godfather?
Oooh! Good call, Porc! Let’s see, a cursory memory glace reminds me that, like Sonny, Richard was essentially boxed in (though he didn’t know it), he was, obviously, taken completely by surprise and finally, overkill was the order of the day.
Differences are fairly obvious, too, though: Rickard was only shot by one gun and there did not appear to be any complicity from the people in the garage (like the guy in the toll booth.)
Again, good call.
thinksnow, it was the way the body was bouncing around in the car from the intense firepower that seemed eerily similar to me. I think Sonny was actually hit by more bullets. Well, maybe one more. 
Maybe I heard it wrong, but didn’t they refer to Bay’s attacker in the preview of next weeks episode, not his murderer?
don’t remember that, however, do recall a scene where Helen G is being held back by the police from a crime scene and she’s insisting on ‘seeing him’. Tone of the scene is not the ‘hurry we’ve got to get him to the hospital before he clocks out’ but the ‘we’ve taken all the pictures now we’re moving the body’ type.
Acoording to the actor who plays Bey, he DOES have a speaking part in next week’s episode. He wouldn’t say what he actually SAID, though.
Grrrr.
For some reason I knew Bay was in trouble as soon as the older woman pulled up behind him, although for a split second I thought that maybe she was just an innocent bystander waiting for a space and they would both be killed by a car bomb. I was surprised to see that there was another person in the back seat with a gun.
Maybe it’s a flashback to an earlier moment in the trial? I don’t see how he could have survived that shooting.
My vote: Video will (“If you’re watching this, that means I’m dead. I leave my self esteem library to Helen Gamble, who will continue to fight the good fight, and if I died under suspicious circumstances, I’m sure Bobby had something to do with it”)
Nope, he was, as suspected, quite dead.
As the paramedics said: “Brain matter…you want to call it?”
The killer, surrounded by some 20 cops armed to the teeth, took out a CELL PHONE!!! Give me a friggin’ break.