Billy Bye

[setsuled]

I watched Ally McBeal again last night, the March 27, 2000 episode called "Boy Next Door". This one (spoilers) brings the ongoing plot about Ally and Billy to a conclusion with Billy's sudden death by cerebral haemorrhage during his closing argument in a trial. I've said it a couple times now but I'll say it again; I really admire how David E. Kelley handled this problem. Billy was clearly intended to be a character audiences rooted for Ally to get back with but actor Gil Bellows gave such an unintentionally slimy performance that it was actually very uncomfortable whenever there were sparks between the two. Kelley didn't ignore that problem; he took it and used it. He made Billy's sliminess explicit by turning him into an unapologetic chauvinist which was good for laughs. And then Kelley used that for the brain tumour plot, making his death actually mean something. If "good" Billy had died, I'd have just said good riddance. This way, it became something interesting about the human mind and how much control someone has over who they are. A broad comedic bit turned into a real existential tragedy. There's a writer using craft and improvisation remarkably well. I'm compelled to think this is facilitated by the fact that Kelley wrote every single episode.

Ally McBeal is available on Disney+ in Japan, probably on Hulu in the U.S., I don't know.

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