There is humor in subverting expectations, but Night Court Season 1 Episode 13 shoots itself in the foot when they shelve Abby’s characteristic optimism in favor of fear-driven heroics.
Of course, she fears for the well-being of her courthouse friends, and her goal is altruistic, but for Dan to champion having faith in people’s ability to change for the better (even facetiously) while Abby believes the worst is beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief.
As the narrative is light on big laughs, with only the most basic effort to give the cast material to work with, I believe the entire point is to reveal Neil’s crush on Abby to our clueless Judge Stone.
So many of Abby’s choices here seem out of keeping with the character we’ve gotten to know.
From reviewing files while on a personal vid-call to seeking out random past crime victims to crashing an investment soiree, Abby appears to have been body-snatched.
Her video chat with Rand feels relatively authentic if a little — pardon the pun — RANDom. Why wouldn’t she wait until she was home to call him? What’s he even doing in his kitchen at a time when Night Court is in session?
Why does he have a standee of Batman in his kitchen? And how (never mind why) did he mount the tablet on Batman’s face?
Rand: I’ve got you on my Batman standee. I’m not going to lie. It’s really working for me. Makes sense: you both look great in black; you both fight crime at night; and neither of you trust penguins.
To harken back to my equating Abby’s Skaneateles stories with Rose Nylund’s St. Olaf stories, Rand’s aspirations to dye his hair in a gas station washroom and warnings about how hard tying fish together appear to support that theory.
Pete Holmes does a stellar job portraying the obliviously simple Rand. However, he’ll never top his line on Night Court Season 1 Episode 10 about being mistaken at Halloween as John Ritter.
Dan’s oddly non-malicious disregard for Rand continues to play out as a slightly juvenile attempt to convey to Abby that she can do better.
Meanwhile, his ability to read the truth based on a series of “No” responses is hilariously impressive.
To read more into it, his skill at reading people, as demonstrated with Abby, should’ve been enough to convince HER to trust HIS instincts.
This was fun. We should have more conversations where I do all the talking.
Dan
Granted, his fixation on getting in on the ground floor with some tech super-start-up seems ill-advised.
His reasoning for it is equally questionable.
Nobody had even tasted Colonel Sanders spicy thighs, and they were just throwing money at him. All they knew was that he was a twisted war vet with an insatiable desire to murder chickens.
Dan
Also, it’s a little surprising that he doesn’t have $50k squirreled away somewhere. After all, this is the same public defender who offered to wager $500 on Night Court Season 1 Episode 12 on Abby ruling against District Attorney Jeff.
Perhaps what’s lacking here is a robust secondary plotline.
While other outings have presented solid two-pronged shenanigans, here there’s only Abby’s mission to out Brock’s past without breaking the law.
Order. This is a real court. No matter what Yelp says.
Abby
Gurgs and Olivia have minor side missions as offshoots of investing in Brock’s app.
Olivia’s decision to pursue and marry Brock is the first time we’ve seen her express interest in a relationship. And that green dress was absolute FIRE, even if Brock preferred the “Han Shot First” t-shirt.
Olivia: We know he’s good enough to be one half of the next great power couple.
Neil: Have you two even had a conversation?
Olivia: No. We also haven’t written each other letters by candlelight from the front lines of the Civil War. What’s your point, grandpa?
Having Neil translate Nerd-speak for her is a nice touch.
One day, Olivia’s going to geek out about something other than status, power, and bridesmaiding (which is related to status and power).
But in the meantime, she’ll keep finding herself navigating the unknown waters of pop culture and human interaction.
Tell me all about the star battles. Fraggle rocks. If it contributed to your virginity, I want to know about it.
Olivia
Neil, on the other hand, will never wield his knowledge with any precision or purpose.
Even when needing his expertise, Olivia still manages to neg him offhandedly.
Tell me all about the star battles. Fraggle rocks. If it contributed to your virginity, I want to know about it.
Olivia
And Gurgs can’t help but question his futile adoration of Abby.
This brings us to how the bailiff’s preoccupation with her Chair-BnB app causes her to slip up and spill the tea all over the proverbial teapot.
(By the way, Chair-BnB is cute, but I would’ve gone with Chair-Share myself.)
Gurgs has implied a lot of spicy backstory. On Night Court Season 1 Episode 9, she showed Dan her backup alibi waving standee. Here, she lists the years Abby should never look into.
With all the things she’s hinted she’s been involved in, it’s hard to believe she could pass the criminal record check required to become a court bailiff.
And then she does a little rudimentary mind-reading while pitching her app at Brock’s party. She is very much our Gurgs of all Trades. Gurgs of Many Colors? Gurgs-ameleon.
But letting Abby in on how Neal’s been pining over her might be the fatal misstep.
In a rare instance of consecutive episodes airing in consecutive production order — which hasn’t happened since the double-decker premiere — next week’s offering may serve up the fallout to this big reveal.
When you watch Night Court online, consider how this development could either wreck Neil or galvanize him into action.
Will Abby confront Neil directly about his not-so-secret infatuation?
Honestly, I thought she would have taken the direct route with Brock and addressed her concerns about his past to his face in private.
Of course, if she had, it would’ve meant skipping all the cringy humor of the investor party. Oh darn.
As the season’s finale appears over the horizon, will there be resolution for the (slightly scrambled) long-arc developments?
Hit our comments below with your best guesses on where our gang ends up!
Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond ’til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on Twitter.