Boston Legal (2004–2008): Season 1, Episode 6 - Truth Be Told - full transcript

Roberta's mad at me.
Can you feel it?

I'm not mad. I just wonder if this
is the most optimal use of your time...

...since we're missing vital interface
with voters at Faneuil Hall.

- Not to mention...
- Roberta.

We have plenty of time for all that.
We'll just be here 20 minutes.

We need to get to the harbor
for the EPA announcement...

...which will have crews
from every local station.

- Cable news.
- Probably make the Globe, above the fold.

- So 20 minutes, right?
- Yes, 20 minutes.

That's another thing.
Who the hell is Alan Shore?

- Hello, Samantha.
SAMANTHA: Alan.



Hmm.

Samantha Fleming, this is Tara Wilson.

- Hello.
TARA: Pleasure.

- Do you get any sleep at all?
- Yes. About three hours a night.

JACK: Twenty minutes.
- Well, Jack...

...shouldn't I be part of the meeting?
JACK: No.

Samantha and I
will take this one alone. Oh.

MAN 1 [ON TV]:
The accusations were shocking:

Money laundering.

Tax evasion.
Obstruction of justice.

The verdict, guilty on all counts.

And now, believe it or not, Jack Fleming
wants to be our next mayor.

Ask yourself, would you rather
have a candidate with convictions...

...or a candidate
who 's been convicted?



MAN 2 [ON TV]: Paid for by the
committee to reelect Thomas Snyder.

In your defense, black and white
makes us all look a bit like Moe Howard.

It gets me ticked off every time
I see the damn thing.

And there is not a word of truth in it.

But apparently that doesn't matter.

You know, I've got three
Harvard law professors...

...and a former U.S. Attorney
on my campaign committee...

...all saying that there is no way
I can get that ad yanked off the air.

So I doubt if you've got
a silver bullet here, Al. No offense.

"Alan." None taken.

SAMANTHA:
The ad is completely false.

Jack was never convicted
of those charges.

It was a third generation
family real-estate trust.

He was a passive beneficiary.

A victim of a trustee whose greed
got the trust prosecuted...

...not Jack personally.
I know you can help us.

You should feel flattered, Alan.

My wife seems to hold you
in very high esteem.

And I her.

As you know, in college, not a day went
by that I didn't long to sleep with you.

I hope I'm not being inappropriate.

- As a matter of fact, you are.
ALAN: Then my apologies.

When you spoke about truth...

...I mistook that as a preference
for full disclosure.

Uh, boys, we don't have time for this.

I know it's gonna be tough
to get an injunction on this thing.

You've read the First Amendment.

Three days ago
we had a double-digit lead.

Then they put this on the air and
our polls dropped six points in 72 hours.

If we don't move fast, we're going
to lose. All because of this late hit.

These lies.

Please help us.

Let me see if I understand this.
In college...

...you longed to have sex with her.
- Yes.

You ached to feel her naked body
pressed up against yours.

Yes. Well said.

- And yet nothing ever happened?
- We suffered from bad timing.

You're wondering if that's our destiny,
yours and mine.

- Twenty years of unrequited foreplay.
- Is that what you want?

Is that what you want?

Well, it seems that our timing
might also...

PAUL:
Mr. Shore.

I saw you in the conference room
with Jack Fleming.

- What were you two doing?
- Tai chi, actually.

I hope it is clear that it would be
an unacceptable conflict of interest...

...for you to represent
Jack Fleming in any matter.

This firm is extremely close
to Mayor Snyder.

Then this firm should take a shower.
He is a callous, smug and brutish man...

...who hates the poor
and abuses the powerless.

You're not following me.

We earn a great deal of money
working for the city...

...due primarily
to Mayor Snyder's goodwill.

One would think that was obvious.

One would.

Well...

...now I have to take the case.

- I'm gonna ask you a series of...
- Denny Crane.

Why did you just say that?

Well, isn't it how you guys usually begin
a mental-status examination...

...by determining if the subject
knows his own name?

- Well, yes.
- Denny Crane.

- Got it. And who am I, Mr. Crane?
- You are Dr. Thomas H. Lee, neurologist.

Good. Can you tell me
what day of the week this is?

Monday. And a particularly crisp
and beautiful one too, I might add.

Good. And who is the current president
of the United States?

That would be Ernest Borgnine.

[CHUCKLING]

I'll bet you get lunatics
in here every day that...

That say that stuff for real, right?

The president of the United States
is George Walker Bush...

...son to George H. W. Bush...

...whose father was the senator,
Prescott Bush...

...who at Yale once wrestled
my father in the nude.

But that's a story for another day.
Let's stick to the issues at hand.

Denny Crane.

Flight risk? Your Honor,
my client can barely walk.

He weighs 300 pounds and suffers
from acute rheumatoid arthritis.

Plus, I think I got a touch of the gout,
judge. I ain't going nowhere.

He was moving pretty good
when he left that jewelry store.

It was a one-time adrenaline rush.

Your OR motion is denied, Miss Colson.
Bail set at 50,000.

We'll take 15, folks.

[CHATTERING]

BAILIFF:
This way.

[LORI SIGHS]

- You got a minute?
- Sure.

I need a good lawyer.

You available?

- Flattered. What's up?
- Well, Marcy and I split up.

Yeah. I was so sorry to hear that.

I can recommend somebody.
I don't do matrimonial work.

No, no. I already found somebody
for that part. There's something else.

[SIGHS]

Five years ago,
when my son was born...

...we saved his
umbilical cord blood.

- In the delivery room?
- Right.

It's stored in one of those cryolabs...

...in case Zachary needs to use it to
treat a cancer he develops, God forbid.

Welcome to parenting
in the new millennium.

Anyway, the account,
it was opened in Marcy's name.

Which at the time,
I didn't think twice about.

The lab says that makes her
the responsible party...

...not the two of us jointly.

She's refusing to release the cord blood.
She won't let it be used.

Your son is sick?

I'm sick.

Multiple myeloma.
It was diagnosed six months ago.

- Oh, Richard, l...
- Chemo hasn't worked so far...

...and they're saying
that I need a bone marrow transplant.

But they can't find a suitable donor.

And your son's cord blood
would work instead?

- They think so.
- It's just sitting in a freezer?

Just sitting. Without it,
they give me six months...

...maybe.

Do you think I got a lawsuit?

Let's meet with her first,
hope we don't have to file.

Good, okay. Thanks.

And then what happened, Mr. Shrum?

Well, when I couldn't get the Pop-Tart
out of the toaster, I unplugged it.

And then I jammed a fork
down the slot...

...and I must've jiggered it
around pretty good...

Give us a moment, please.

Mark, what did I tell you about
volunteering extraneous information?

[WHISPERING] Not to.
[WHISPERING] Right.

This is a deposition.
Answer the questions truthfully...

...but never volunteer anything.

So don't add stuff like
"jiggering forks around pretty good."

Just answer every question
with as few words as possible.

Got it. Sorry.

ATTORNEY:
All right, Mr. Shrum...

...when you repeatedly manipulated
the fork around in the toaster slot...

...and then received an electrical shock
and second-degree burns...

...whose fault would you say that was?

[IN NORMAL VOICE]
Mine?

[WHISPERING] Uh, I can't answer
any shorter. That was one word.

Denny...

...we really do need to talk.

The partners are concerned.

- About what?
- Well, your billables.

Do you realize that so far this year,
you've only billed 1400 hours...

...which is 200 hours less than you had
billed up to this point in calendar '03?

Which was, as you know,
a year that saw a marked decline...

- Breakfast?
- I already ate.

In short, Denny, you are coming in light
by about 700,000 a year.

Which means that since
calendar '99 alone...

...you have cost us 3.5 million.

- You ever forget things?
- Things? Like what?

Names, where you put the car keys,
whether or not you showered...

...what a case you're arguing
is all about?

Not really.

Well, you should get it looked at
just the same.

You could have what is called
mild cognitive impairment.

It's a precursor to Alzheimer's.

Denny, you are theoretically
our foremost rainmaker...

...but you haven't brought in a new
seven-figure client in two years.

You haven't filed a class action
in five years.

Care to guess how much
Lisby, DeRusen and Floren billed...

...as lead counsel
in the tobacco class action?

One hundred and twenty-seven million.

It's raining cash out there, Denny.
We're not getting wet.

- You could do crossword puzzles.
- Excuse me?

It's a great brain stimulator.
So is learning new skills.

You know what else helps?

Speaking from time to time
in a foreign language.

[SPEAKING IN FRENCH]

[CHATTERING]

What are you...

...doing?
- Researching a case citation.

Have you ever
used a computer before?

An entirely new experience.

Bottom line, Your Honor...

...if Mr. Fleming feels aggrieved by
how he's portrayed in the commercials...

...then let him counter it
with his own.

As Justice Brandeis said, "The best
antidote to false speech is more speech."

ALAN: It's not surprising
Brandeis would say that.

He was a well-known drunk
and pedophile.

No, he wasn't.

That's right. He wasn't.
I made it up.

Does anyone have a problem with me
making provably false accusations...

...about honorable people
just so my side can win?

That's certainly their strategy.

- He's amazing.
- Yes. We're quite fond of him.

GELLMAN: Mr. Shore asks that
you impose prior restraint on speech.

Not just any speech, but the dialogue
of a political contest.

- We don't do that in this country.
- Lf they took a song from the Beatles...

...and used it without permission,
would you order it off the air?

- You would.
GELLMAN: It's an absurd analogy.

What if they ran
a campaign commercial with footage...

...of this lovely woman
right here, showering?

Footage taken with a lipstick camera
mounted in her health-club locker room.

GELLMAN: This is ridiculous.
ALAN: The point is...

...in all of those cases...

...we absolutely would see
injunctive relief granted.

Those are rights worth protecting.

And so is the right of Jack Fleming
to have the truth told about his life.

But how do we determine
the truth, Your Honor?

Would Mr. Shore have us establish
a government department of veracity?

Mr. Fleming already has a remedy
available. It's called a slander suit.

I'm curious. When one wins a slander
suit, does the court award votes?

That's the issue. They're trying
to cost him the election now...

...even if they have to pay him
a few dollars years from now.

Well, this has been fascinating,
gentlemen.

Kind of like debate night at Mensa.

Mr. Gellman, that TV spot you're
defending is emphatically vile.

But, Mr. Shore, he's right.

Political speech is not subject
to prior judicial review.

And thank the Lord,
or it's all I'd ever do.

We're adjourned.

[CHATTERING]

- Well, that was discouraging.
- It was.

- I'm sorry.
- You tried.

What now?

I'm gonna recommend we do a sitdown
with the four local anchormen.

You by Jack's side doing
the "stand by your man" thing.

Very important when accusations
go to character like this...

...answer every question,
dominate the airwaves. The message:

"Our guy is a superior
piece of manpower."

- Feedback?
- Sounds good.

- That copacetic on your end?
- Mm, sure.

Copacetic on my end too.

Your end?

WAITRESS:
Got it. Right back with your coffee.

Thank you.

We're very grateful
that you agreed to meet with us.

Did I have a choice?
You were pretty insistent on the phone.

Sorry, it's just a situation
of some urgency.

I know you said you didn't want counsel,
but I would suggest...

We've spent enough on lawyers.

Had a five-star divorce, didn't we?

Look, I have to pick up Zach
from a playdate, so...

Well, what I came to say,
it's simple, Marcy.

I'm sick, and I need your help.

I can't let you use Zach's cord blood.
I told you that when you called.

What if he gets sick and needs it
himself? We saved it for a reason.

I understand your feelings,
but perhaps...

Do you have children, Miss Colson?

No.

You wanna protect Zach.
And I understand that.

But how about protecting him
from losing his father?

He's not gonna lose you.
You're strong. You'll beat this.

No. Not without a compatible donor.

This isn't some simple transfusion
we're talking about.

They need an exact match,
and they can't find one.

They've tried, Marcy.
Don't you get it?

- They should keep trying.
- I'm running out of time!

Please don't yell at me.

I'm sorry.

I was thinking on the way over here
about the day Zach was born.

And holding him.

And feeling as if I was part
of some great continuum.

Feeling as if...

It's stupid, but feeling as if I had
thrown my DNA forward into the future.

You know,
like some biological javelin.

He's my flesh and blood, Marcy.

I would never do anything
to put him at risk.

I've read all the literature.

The chances of Zach ever needing
to use this are about one in 2700.

But I need it now...

...to live.

I am his flesh and blood too, Marcy.

Please, don't ask me about this again.

Either of you.

It's okay.

I understand you provided representation
to Jack Fleming after all...

...contrary to my explicit instructions.

I did. But please understand...

...ordinarily I place great value
on all things explicit.

Is it your feeling that Denny Crane
will protect you from me?

It is.

To the extent that he recalls
who I am.

Well, perhaps it will jog his memory...

...when I devote a large portion of next
month's senior partners meeting...

...to a discussion
of your situation here.

Miss Wilson.

- Was that man threatening you again?
- Yes.

It seems to be his job description.

CNN said the election
was too close to call.

Fleming is up two points,
but it's within the margin of error.

I think that's what I'll call
my autobiography.

Within the Margin of Error.

Will I be in it?

Depends on who ghosts it.
I'll certainly lobby on your behalf.

Well...

...I'll expect a chapter, minimum.

Well, I would imagine you could earn
a chapter quite easily if...

Could you help me
with this product-liability issue?

- Never mind.
- No, please. I'm all yours.

Hardly.

DENNY:
Ever used a computer?

Denny.

- Um, yes. Yes, I have.
- Remarkable machine.

Let me ask you a question.

A manufacturer of toasters
should anticipate...

...their safety instructions will be ignored
to the extent they're counterintuitive...

...and should plan
for that contingency, right?

In an ideal world.

What are you doing here?

I was afraid you'd hang up
if I tried calling you.

- Can we talk?
- I have nothing else to say.

I think I know your secret.

It was only one time.

Richard and I had
just had a huge fight.

I spent the weekend at my sister's.

And there was a guy there,
this houseguest of hers.

We were all drinking wine...

...and suddenly he and I were alone.

And it just happened.

I agonized about whether or not
to have the baby.

In retrospect, I can't imagine not,
you know?

But I promised myself that Richard
would never, ever find out.

You can't tell him.

You should tell him.

- He deserves to know, especially now.
- No. Now would be the worst time.

Being Zach's father
is what he lives for.

If you don't tell him, I will.

I'm his attorney.
I have an obligation.

Just tell him I won't release
the cord blood.

Tell him to keep trying to find a match.
He needs to keep trying.

If Zachary's blood could save him,
I would let him have it.

And it tears me apart that I can't
tell him that. But I can't.

[SIGHS]

How did you figure it out?

Occupational hazard.
I watch people's eyes.

When Richard was telling you how
he felt the day Zach was born...

Promise me you won't tell him.

I have an obligation.

[THUNDER CLAPPING]

[SIREN WAILING]

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Samantha.

- You're wet.
- It's raining.

He's screwing her.

That media consultant, Roberta.

She left a detailed message
on his cell phone.

Didn't know I was borrowing it.

Come in. Get dry.

Buy me a drink?

Maybe if he had done it
with somebody extraordinary.

Roberta, she's...

- She's just so...
- Sufficient.

Mm.

[CHUCKLES]

I'm sorry.

It's fine. This is my regular place.
I bring crying women here all the time.

[LAUGHING]
Oh, really?

[SIGHS]

Well...

...I guess I'm that clich?.

The credulous political wife,
cheated on, humiliated...

...didn't see it coming.

I have to do that interview
with him tomorrow.

Stand by my man.

He doesn't know that I know.

What do I do?

What do you want?

I want out.

I guess I am out.

[SNIFFS]

I guess I've been out.

I do want him to win the election.

I do. He'd be a great mayor.
He really does care about people.

As long as they're strangers to him.

You really don't like him.

[ALAN CHUCKLES]

Is that why you made that joke
in your conference room when...?

When I said not a day in college went by
that I didn't long to sleep with you?

Yeah.

It wasn't a joke.

I had a place all picked out back then.
A motel out on Route 9.

The Aloha Inn.

I thought you might appreciate
the tropical ambiance.

I'm imagining a lot of rattan
and plastic orchids.

There's a neon sign out front
that blinks "Aloha" in orange...

...then "Inn" in pink...

...then the hula girl's skirt in green...

...over and over and over.

Sounds lush.

And all night long, the rooms are flooded
with the glow of that neon.

And I always wondered how you
would look naked in all that...

...pink, green and orange.

[PHONE RINGING]

[CHATTERING]

- Hi.
- Hi.

You okay?

I'm gonna see if the candidate
can squeeze me in for a moment.

Moment of your time?

- Are you joking? We're about to start.
ALAN: It's a pressing matter.

Perhaps we could duck in there.

- You've got 30 seconds.
- Then I better jump right in.

Do you have a favorite movie
about politics?

Mine is The Candidate.

- Okay, we're done here.
- I still have 20 seconds left.

I especially like that scene
after Redford wins the election...

...when he asks his top advisor:

"Marvin, what do we do now?"

- Goodbye, Mr. Shore.
- You're a married man, Jack...

...having a furtive sexual relationship
with your media consultant...

...which begs the question:

"Marvin, what do we do now?"

Of course, your name isn't Marvin...

...and Redford had already won.

You, on the other hand,
could still lose...

...if anything unpleasant
were to come up.

- And does she know?
- Use her name.

- Does Samantha know?
- Samantha knows.

[SIGHS]

This is a memorandum of agreement.

By all means read it
when you have a moment.

But I'll need your signature now,
I'm afraid. So here are the headlines:

Samantha will do your
dog-and-pony show out there...

...and all other events with you
from now through the inauguration...

...should you have one.

She, of course, smiling at all times
exactly like Pat Nixon.

And in return, after the divorce...

...she gets a meaningful role
in every high-level appointment...

...and major policy initiative
during your first term.

She put you here. She's earned it.

I would never, ever give her that.

- Do you understand?
- Perfectly.

So then we'll handle
this transaction...

...in the only currency
that's really available to us.

Samantha gets the house
in Nantucket...

...75 percent of all funds
in the various bank accounts...

...as of close of business yesterday.
The mutual funds in their entirety...

...and 60 percent of all other assets as
determined by the forensic accountants...

...that we will hire
and you will pay for.

Oh.

Be sure to date it
on the bottom there.

PAUL: You can't lie to a client.
- I know, I told her.

It's just, the news will crush him.
And to what end?

- What good will have been done?
- He will have been dealt with truthfully...

...by his attorney. That's the good.
- I know all the law school arguments.

- Let's talk real world here.
- Okay. Real world.

If I learned that an attorney in this firm
knowingly lied to a client...

...a lie central to the matter
the client had retained us to handle...

...I would personally report it to
the ethics committee of the state bar...

...regardless of whatever respect
or affection...

...I might feel for the attorney
in question.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

- Oh. I'm sorry.
- I was just leaving.

- Hey.
RICHARD: Hi.

Hey, thanks for seeing me
on such short notice.

I could've faxed this, but I wanted to
massage some of the language with you.

You'll be a better judge on whether
the arguments are too inflammatory...

...which is a pitfall on filing
appellate papers on your ex-wife.

- Richard, listen.
- I'll shut up. I'm sorry.

Look, there's something
I need to tell you...

...and I don't know how to begin.

[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

[CHATTERING]

You said my client was here.
Mark Shrum.

He was here.
Mr. Crane came out to get him.

Denny got him?

I don't understand
how Marcy could do this.

She feels deeply ashamed.

But the priority now has to be
finding you a suitable donor.

But how could Marcy
destroy the cord blood?

It wasn't intentional.

She was having it transferred last week
from one lab to another.

I guess she wanted to hide it from you.
There was a shipping glitch.

It went 36 hours
without being refrigerated.

She's devastated.

I talked to Denny Crane.
He's a trustee of Boston General.

He's having their chief of Oncology
call you.

Thank you. That's very kind.

They'll find you a match.
I know they will.

You're gonna get through this.

Let's hope.

- And at other times
called it obnoxious...

...this refusal of Mayor Snyder
to agree to debate his challenger.

Of course, there was
one joint appearance...

...the two candidates sharing
the same stage at one point...

...when the Snyder camp
called a debate in which...

It feels good, doesn't it?

- What feels good?
- Having sex with a candidate.

What if he wins? I bet the orgasms
are even better if he wins.

I'm jealous.

WOMAN:
Any minute now.

- We're ready to make a call in the race.
- Okay, everybody, this is it!

MAN [ON TV]:
Based on exit polling...

...we are now projecting
that Mayor Thomas Snyder...

...has lost his bid to win.
MAN: All right, Jack Fleming!

MAN [ON TV]: The new mayor
will be Boston businessman...

...and former city councilman
Jack Fleming.

When he launched his campaign
two years ago...

...he had no chance realistically
against the popular two-term mayor.

But he ran a determined and, you could
say tonight, successful effort.

He fashioned together, if you will,
a coalition of various groups...

...often referred to as
his traveling town hall...

...in which he would appear
at venues around the city...

...and take questions from voters.

Always leaving an empty chair
on the stage...

...to symbolize what he called
Mayor Tom Snyder's "arrogant refusal."

- Let's go.
- He'll want you downstairs...

...in the ballroom basking
in the adulation.

- Part of the deal.
- New deal. This is where I get off.

Coming?

MAN [ON TV]:
But one thing we do know tonight...

...the Thomas Snyder era
is coming to an end...

...and Boston 's new mayor
will be Jack Fleming.

Stan Forrester is standing by at
the Fleming victory party at the Hyatt...

...where a very happy crowd
is waiting for the mayor-elect...

...and his wife to make their way
down to the ballroom.

Can you hear me, Stan?

[CAMERAS CLICKING]

[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

Denny...

...I'm worried about you. You're
speaking French to the messengers.

You got crossword puzzles spread out
all over the conference table.

You walk into reception,
hijack one of Sally Heep's clients...

...have a meeting with him
in your office.

Did you even know
what his case was about?

I took that test the other day.

The one where they ask you questions
to see if you've turned into an imbecile.

They do a scan of your brain.
You know what they found?

I have a lot of blue, yellow
and red stuff colliding up there.

The damn MRI photo
looks like a hurricane.

I don't remember what was
the good color...

...and what was the bad color.
But the point is this:

They discovered that I remember
some things and I forget others.

And that's the way it's gonna be.

You wanna know what
that man's case is about?

He stuck a fork in a toaster.
It's a little pissant lawsuit.

But I remember what you said
the other day.

- What was that?
- Seriously, Paul...

...you have to have that test.

You said that we weren't filing
enough class-action suits.

That we were missing out
on a gold shower.

I believe I said a money shower.

When I heard the fact pattern
of the Sally Heep case...

...I was able to persuade Mr. Shrum
that there was a greater good.

And long story short, happily...

...the toaster company
was open to my argument.

What argument?

That an attorney like Denny Crane...

...with extensive
class-action experience...

...could easily turn Mr. Shrum's case
into a lucrative opportunity.

On the other hand...

...if they were to give Denny Crane
their ongoing legal business...

...augmenting the fine work done
by the in-house counsel...

...then Denny Crane would be
unavailable to represent Mr. Shrum...

...who incidentally is going to receive...

...fifty thousand dollars from
the company as a goodwill gesture.

So don't you worry too much, Paul...

...about Denny Crane.

JACK [ON TV]:
And I also want to say to my wife...

...Samantha, who could not be here,
she's a little under the weather...

...Samantha, I love you.

I wish you could be right up here
beside me right now.

[CROWD CHEERING ON TV]

That's right. Sure we do.

Okay. Thank you all.

God bless you, Boston.

You did the right thing.

Yes, I did.

I lied to him.

Lori...

...you realize you have exposed
this firm...

...to a potentially enormous
liability award...

...and imposed on me certain
excruciating ethical obligations.

You'll do the right thing too.

[SIGHS]

SAMANTHA:
Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

We should've done this much sooner.

Let's do it again.

Subtitles by
SDI Media Group

[ENGLISH SDH]