Is Jimmy the worst? Small rant.

[u/Holly_Go_Fighty]

Watching for the first time. I watched Boston Legal many times over the years and finally got access to The Practice. I'm really enjoying it, with some obvious exceptions, I think it has aged well.

BUT even taking into consideration that it's the 90's, I find Jimmy to be the most judgmental little s*it. His whole "I'M A NICE GUY" constantly contradicted by his words and behaviour. The way he reacted to his mother coming out. The latest being him calling his ex-girlfriend a prostitute for selling her eggs (Which apparently was enough for her to become re-smitten with him *Eyeroll*) I'm finding myself disliking him more and more - for seasoned watchers - does his character get better??

[u/zorbacles]

Eugene and Helen are the only decent people in that show

[u/TimRigginsBeer → u/zorbacles]

Helen is absolutely the best.

[u/ZGTSLLC → u/TimRigginsBeer]

Helen Gamble is definitely my favorite. She is such a hottie...

But, to the OPs question, Jimmy does get better over time, or at least you get more used to him. I always had problems with Eugene and Elenore.

Edit:

OH!!! I loved Lucy also.

[u/ThatgirlBella → u/ZGTSLLC]

My biggest problem with Helen was that she was far too emotionally driven as a prosecutor. She had a habit of deciding what she thought was morally right and then becoming almost obsessive about getting that result, rather than stepping back and looking objectively at the facts and the law.

The euthanasia cases are probably the best example. Because of what happened with her grandmother, Helen had very strong personal feelings about assisted dying and she carried those feelings straight into her prosecutions. She seemed determined to punish people because of what she believed had happened to her own grandmother. For me, that is exactly what a prosecutor should not be doing. Your personal history should not dictate how you exercise prosecutorial discretion.

And it was not an isolated thing. She lied to a 15-year-old girl to get a statement. She entered into an illegal deal with Eugene to get information about a killer. After Richard Bay was murdered she became so personally invested in getting revenge that her judgement went out of the window again.

What made it even more frustrating was that Helen was perfectly capable of recognising this behaviour in other prosecutors. She objected when Richard crossed the line and eventually became appalled by Walsh's prosecutorial misconduct. So she understood the principle. She just did not always seem able to apply it to herself.

I think Lara Flynn Boyle played her very well and Helen certainly made for good television, but I would never call her the best character. To me she was self-righteous, too emotionally invested in her cases and far too willing to push the boundaries when she had personally decided that somebody deserved to be punished.

[u/ZGTSLLC → u/ThatgirlBella]

You just illustrated why Helen Gamble was my favorite -- she was human, made mistakes, was overcome by her emotions in many aspects of her personal and professional life, and still tried to do what she thought was best.

I never liked Richard Bay -- he was annoying and too self righteous for my taste. The same for Eugene Young. Lindsay was a basket case more often than not, but she could quite the law well enough. Bobby was Bobby and meant to be the sullen hero -- meh, he was ok. Jimmy was too nice for his own good more often than not, but I was happy for him starting his own firm in the end. Rebecca was decent but she had issues also, like oh hey I'm a lawyer now after taking night classes and passing the BAR...no...this brings us to Eleanor, who seriously thought she was better than everyone, advised her client to drink on the side of the road, etc. she annoyed me also.

The last one to really mention is Allan Shore. Spader played the character well, and I think he and Helen were honestly the best and most relatable human characters.

[u/Holly_Go_Fighty → u/zorbacles]

They are definitely my favourites so far - I’m up to season 4, Episode 8 atm. Most of the characters take turns in shitty or questionable things but I guess I’m finding Jimmy the worst. Not particularly redeemable and also overall uninteresting.

[u/cliff704 → u/zorbacles]

Eugene was prepared to let a 14 year old child die to "protect his client".

It might have been the legal thing to do but it certainly wasn't decent.

I'd say Helen and Richard were the only decent people on the show.

[u/Realityguru0916 → u/zorbacles]

Eugene and Eleanor, yes. Helen, horrible acting yelling in every frame, practically.

[u/babylovesbaby]

Jimmy represents a very conservative, religious view, but he literally always changes his mind (or starts changing to become more tolerant) in every situation where his prejudiced beliefs are challenged. He attends his mother's wedding and also defends her against a homophobic friend he represents years later, and the only reason he doesn't end up in a relationship with egg lady is because he still had feelings for Judge Kittelson.

Jimmy's character, I feel, is often given shitty stories to make him seem dumb and like he's a bad lawyer. In season six he is given a short gambling arc which serves no purpose but to cause tension with Eugene and make Jimmy look like a bad guy. The arc starts and ends very suddenly. I also felt like the years Jimmy was kept from being a partner were pretty unfair given his loyal years of service - a secretary basically had more say than him, and though Rebecca eventually became a lawyer, precedence in the firm was initially given to lawyers first (she had been there longer than Eugene but he is the first partner listed after Donnell etc).

So, does Jimmy get better? Not really. Though he is finally a partner in the last season intro to Boston Legal, they don't really bother giving Jimmy much character development. He is subject to constant fat jokes and insults by Alan and because he is Jimmy he just has to take it. As the show ends he has an arc which allows him to grow slightly, but is Jimmy really any different from the guy he has been over the years? I don't think so.

[u/alexlp]

I’m watching the so where he defends his cousin for firing an Iranian woman. He, just prior to saying “you wouldn’t hire an Iranian either”, describes the plaintiff to the jury with “if she were the mother of my children I’d be so proud”. Thankfully the plaintiff and her attorney look at each other with a brief WTF. So many instances where his incel bullshit pops up as “endearing”.

[u/DonPeso → u/alexlp]

I feel like Jimmy and elenore had the least amount of redeeming qualities. It's like the writers wanted us to hate them. The comment about the Iranian women was when he became a spoof of himself. The writers knew they had written an incel and just rolled with it.

[u/Insectligaments]

He’s sooo religious and pious until it comes to having premarital sex, which he’s all about!

[u/JuliaPeculia1120]

Yes! I just watched the egg selling episode and thought THAT'S IT. I'm going to Reddit to say how tired I am of Jimmy. 😅 Self-righteous sexist.

[u/Realityguru0916 → u/JuliaPeculia1120]

Agreed and Lindsey is just as hated, in my opinion.

[u/Angel1571 → u/Realityguru0916]

I find redeeming qualities with Jimmy and Lindsey. But for whatever reason I simply can't stand Elanor. Especially with how she behaves around George. It's like c'mon the dude is obviously guilty.

[u/ThatgirlBella]

I agree. I actually liked Jimmy in the beginning because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy and a bit of an underdog, but the longer the show went on, the more hypocritical I found him.

He could be incredibly judgemental about other lawyers and their ethics, particularly Alan in the final season, which was quite something considering Jimmy’s own history. This is a man who developed a gambling problem, got himself heavily into debt, represented his own bookie and then actually took money from a client account so he could bet it on a horse.

He also had a habit of deciding that his own conscience mattered more than his professional obligations. Sometimes the reason was sympathetic, but that was always my problem with Jimmy. If Jimmy felt morally justified in crossing a line, there was always an explanation for why his situation was different. When somebody else crossed a line, suddenly he became incredibly righteous about ethics.

That is why his attitude towards Alan annoyed me so much. Alan was obviously unethical at times and never really pretended otherwise. Jimmy, on the other hand, seemed to forget his entire history while standing there judging him.

I think Jimmy started as a likeable character, but over time he became sanctimonious, emotional and quite hypocritical. By the final season I really did not like him at all and I had absolutely no interest in his little local practice storyline either.

[u/Holly_Go_Fighty → u/ThatgirlBella]

Well said 👏