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The Best Episodes of Ally McBeal

Every episode of Ally McBeal ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Ally McBeal!

Binge this in 2d 16h•Peaking at 7.8/10

Ally McBeal is a young lawyer working at the Boston law firm Cage and Fish. Ally's lives and loves are eccentric, humorous, dramatic with an incredibly overactive imagination that's working overtime!

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 7 - The Attitude
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #1 - The Attitude

    S1:E7

    Ally represents a Jewish woman who needs her Rabbi to grant her a spiritual release from her marriage to her comatose husband. Ally goes personally to the Rabbi's office to find out why he is being so rigid. Meanwhile, Georgia is the target of a senior partner's wife's insecurities.

    Director:Michael Schultz
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  2. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 9 - The Dirty Joke
    7.8/10(4 votes)

    #2 - The Dirty Joke

    S1:E9

    The attorney, Caroline Poop, who represented Elaine in her short lived suit against Fish and Cage regarding the constant gawking directed at a beautiful delivery woman, returns. This time she is representing the beautiful delivery women, Jennifer, who now serves Fish and Cage with her own lawsuit for same-sex sexual harassment. Meanwhile, Ally makes a bet with Renee that she can tell a dirty joke and get more laughs. The duel is set for the bar downstairs in her office building.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  3. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 10 - Boy To The World
    7.7/10(6 votes)

    #3 - Boy To The World

    S1:E10

    Judge Whipper Cone asks Ally to take on a pro-bono case of a young prostitute up on her third solicitation charge. Fish, meanwhile, wants to sue his uncle's church for discrimination, due to his uncle's overt bigotry towards vertically challenged people (short people). The church's contention is that they cannot support bigotry of any kind and allowing the uncle a service and proper burial is tantamount to endorsing the appalling views. Fish promises he will not propagate the attitudes in his eulogy. Renee talks Ally into double dating with the salad-dressing-on-the-chin guy if the Biscuit is invited.

    Director:Thomas Schlamme
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  4. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 23 - These Are The Days
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #4 - These Are The Days

    S1:E23

    Cage must represent his second cousin, a harmless but eccentric man with a Cupid Complex. His cousin was brought up on assault charges for swatting couples in the head with a paddle to goose them into realizing they're in love. On the way out of the courthouse, the client swats Ally and Bobby Donnell, who have grown considerably closer over a case they are co-counseling. The matter entails two men who want the court to order/force a hospital to perform a heart-swap surgery. The judge turns the tables on the lawyers and asks Ally to role-play by pretending she's the judge who must render the ruling. Billy and Georgia realize their relationship is in a rut. They resolve to be less predictable, and spontaneously decide to have sex in the conference room. Ally who always seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time inadvertently walks in on Georgia and Billy.

    Director:Jonathan Pontell
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  5. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 16 - Boy Next Door
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #5 - Boy Next Door

    S3:E16

    Billy represents a woman in an annulment action case, who's deeply religious husband wants out of the marriage due to the fact that she has surgically modified her body. Meanwhile, as John gets trapped in an elevator, Nelle pulls another sleazy stunt.

    Director:Jack Bender
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  6. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 6 - The Promise
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #6 - The Promise

    S1:E6

    Ally has to defend a friend of Whipper brought up on solicitation charges. She is serving as second chair to Cage, whose idiosyncrasies become increasingly apparent and mystifying to Ally as well as the other attorneys. At the same time, on a different case, a severely rotund attorney passes out from a near heart attack just outside the courtroom and Ally has to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

    Director:Victoria Hochberg
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Ally McBeal

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  7. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 11 - Silver Bells
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #7 - Silver Bells

    S1:E11

    Three intelligent, successful and motivated adults approach Judge Whipper Cone about the possibility of getting legal representation in their quest to have the courts approve a legal, binding, three-way marriage. Fish assigns Ally and Cage to the case, knowing Ally's incurable romanticism and Cage's legal acumen is a potent combination with Whipper assigned to the case. Ally is opposed, claiming the three-way relationship is morally repugnant, but Georgia, feeling punkish around the holidays, points out that the clients' triangle isn't very different from the one in which Ally, Georgia, and Billy find themselves. Georgia accuses Billy of being more relaxed and open in their marriage ever since Ally re-entered the picture. Whipper, herself experiencing an annual bout of Holiday Blues, causes Fish to propose marriage, even though both know he really doesn't want to.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  8. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 4 - The Affair
    7.5/10(6 votes)

    #8 - The Affair

    S1:E4

    Ally is asked to be a pallbearer at the funeral of her ex-law professor. The widow, Katherine Dawson, invites her to give the eulogy, but Ally's initial reluctance betrays the reason. In a moment of complete vulnerability, she confesses to Billy who supports her by agreeing to attend the funeral with her. This unnerves Georgia, and Cheanie, who are both feeling threatened when they realize Billy is helping Ally out during a difficult time in her life. Georgia confronts Billy, and Cheanie confronts Ally, who refuses to tell him why she's been upset lately. He doesn't understand why she chooses to confide in Billy over him.

    Director:Arlene Sanford
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  9. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 8 - Drawing The Lines
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #9 - Drawing The Lines

    S1:E8

    Billy and Georgia are faced with a crisis of confidence in their marriage. Elaine threatens to sue the firm for sexual harassment if Fish and Cage don't meet her demands for improved working conditions. Ally, Georgia, and Cage take on a lucrative divorce case. Fish uses some tactics, which causes a debate between the two parties as to which side is the most amoral.

    Director:Mel Damski
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  10. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 5 - 100 Tears Away
    7.4/10(5 votes)

    #10 - 100 Tears Away

    S1:E5

    Ally is arrested for aggravated assault and attempted shoplifting. Renee bails her out, but word spreads quickly, and Ally is brought before the State Bar Review Board. A litany of her recent travails is read aloud, and Ally must contend with her unconventional past catching up with her.

    Director:Sandy Smolan
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  11. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot
    7.3/10(6 votes)

    #11 - Pilot

    S1:E1

    Ally McBeal, 28, and a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, is harassed on the job by a senior associate. When she confronts the partners, it backfires and she loses her job. On the street, she literally bumps into an old classmate, Richard Fish, who offers her a position working for his new firm. She accepts, despite her misgivings about his ethical standards. While being introduced to her new fellow associates, she receives the shock of her career.

    Director:James Frawley
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  12. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 8 - Blue Christmas
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #12 - Blue Christmas

    S3:E8

    Elaine finds a real, live six-week-old baby in a nativity scene manger and wants to keep him. Cage and Ally represent Elaine in her fight to gain custody, while the rest of the office (full of child-less lawyers) become enchanted with the baby. Even Ling considers having children. Billy attempts to reconcile with Georgia. In preparation for the Christmas party, Elaine convinces Ally to sing a sexy song but Richard and Billy have their reservations.

    Director:Jonathan Pontell
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  13. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 11 - Over the Rainbow
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #13 - Over the Rainbow

    S3:E11

    Georgia blames "Cage & Fish" for the new Billy, and is suing the firm for the break-up of their marriage. She cites many issues as leading to Billy's breakdown and the ultimate dissolution of their marriage. However, during the court hearing they discover that the root of the problem lies elsewhere.

    Director:Alan Myerson
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  14. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 2 - Compromising Positions
    7.2/10(6 votes)

    #14 - Compromising Positions

    S1:E2

    Fish's partner, John Cage faces fines, jail, and public humiliation. To her dismay, Ally is assigned to be a litigator. Fish invites Ally along to dinner with a very wealthy potential client, Ronald Cheanie. Unbeknownst to Ally, the dinner is really a double date with Fish and his girlfriend, Whipper. Ally is furious, but Cheanie turns out to be handsome and intelligent.

    Director:Jonathan Pontell
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  15. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 3 - The Kiss
    7.2/10(6 votes)

    #15 - The Kiss

    S1:E3

    Ally senses Cheanie is withholding something when he neglects to kiss her goodnight after their first official date. Georgia asks Ally to assist her in trying an age discrimination case when the opposing litigator turns out to be Billings, the guy Ally tried to sue for sexual harassment at her old firm. Fish admonishes Ally for putting her emotional life above the firm's financial welfare while telling her to grow up.

    Director:Dennie Gordon
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  16. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 6 - Changes
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #16 - Changes

    S3:E6

    Richard and Ling officially break up. Billy and Cage represent a sexy, middle-aged woman who's suing her employees for sexual harassment. The woman, Robin Jones, claims that the staff of her magazine held a "sick out" and delayed the May publication because they didn't want to work for a "nymph," which led to her being fired. After they lose the case, she and Billy argue over his chauvinism, but settle their differences with a kiss... just as Georgia walks in on them.

    Director:Arlene Sanford
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  17. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 12 - Cro-Magnon
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #17 - Cro-Magnon

    S1:E12

    Ally is shocked to discover that her biological clock is ticking, unleashing strange libidinal impulses in her. During a sculpting class with live nude male models, she and Renee become enamored by one particular model with obviously generous endowments. Meanwhile, Ally has taken on the case of the 19-year-old son of an important client, who has been charged with assault because he slugged a guy in a bar who was verbally harassing his date. The boy tells Ally he felt justified because he warned the guy first, which serves to increase Ally's cradle robbing interest in him.

    Director:Allan Arkush
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  18. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 17 - Theme Of Life
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #18 - Theme Of Life

    S1:E17

    Ally, Georgia and Renee sign up for a kick boxing class to relieve stress. Ally and Georgia wind up having to fight each other because they're both beginners. As they start to carp more and more at the office, all pretext towards civility drops in the ring and their matches in the class increasingly intensify. Ally takes on a case about an attractive surgeon accused of performing an unauthorized and controversial transplant procedure. Cage insists it's time for her to visit with his smile therapist and she agrees. Fish, meanwhile is in hot pursuit of Janet Reno, who is still in town, and is once again busted by Whipper, when she smells perfume on his wattle finger.

    Director:Dennie Gordon
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  19. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 21 - Being There
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #19 - Being There

    S1:E21

    Cage prepares Ally for Renee's trial. Renee is fast becoming a basket-case because she's convinced Cage's untraditional tactics are going to cost her job. Georgia tells Billy that she took a home pregnancy test, and it came up positive. Ally is of course thrown by the news, but recovers just in time to reclaim Renee's defense. Ally forces Renee to confront her problem with sexual aggressiveness. Ally and Renee have a sleep over and for the first time, Ally appears to be the grown-up in their friendship.

    Director:Mel Damski
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  20. Ally McBeal Season 1 Episode 22 - Alone Again
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #20 - Alone Again

    S1:E22

    John Cage must confront the cowardice of his convictions when he comes face to face with an ex-law school classmate who is coincidentally trying the case he's representing. It becomes obvious to Ally that John is deeply in love with this woman. Cage admits he took the safe way out, protecting the friendship versus risking losing everything if he were to be rejected by her. Ally encourages Cage to tell the woman, Hayley, that he has feelings for her, which he does as part of his closing arguments. Meanwhile, Georgia and Fish take on a case about a jilted bride-to-be who sues for emotional and physical damage. The judge for this case is Whipper Cone, who finds it difficult to hide her bias against her ex-lover, Richard Fish. He takes the opportunity to confront Whipper one more time and tells her that he misses her. Whipper in return, finally smiles, leaving the door open by telling him she'll take it all under advisement.

    Director:Dennis Dugan
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  21. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 7 - Saving Santa
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #21 - Saving Santa

    S3:E7

    The first case Georgia brings to Renee's new firm pits them against Cage and Fish. Georgia defends Newman's, an upscale department store against Steve Mallory, who worked as the store's Santa for seventeen years. Cage represents Mallory, who claims that he was wrongfully fired because Newman wants to hire a younger, thinner Santa. Meanwhile, Ally is haunted by visions of herself as a little girl. Ally manages to bring Georgia and Billy together to talk, and Billy sees that he wants Georgia back. But Georgia is not as eager to work things out yet.

    Director:Rachel Talalay
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  22. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 9 - Out In The Cold
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #22 - Out In The Cold

    S3:E9

    Ally befriends a homeless man and they hit it off, but just when Ally starts to think the man could be Mr. Right, she is stunned by what she finds about him. Meanwhile, Ling is arrested for running an escort service as a brothel. While defending Ling, John's past with a hooker comes to light and upsets Nelle. Billy, still on his pro-testosterone kick, hires six of Ling's escorts to follow him around and be his "assistants."

    Director:Dennie Gordon
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 13 - Pursuit of Loneliness
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #23 - Pursuit of Loneliness

    S3:E13

    Ally is pursued by a barista, but she is turned off by his forwardness so she dumps coffee on him. Later she meets him in court, where he is presiding as a judge, and after a heated exchange of words Ally finds herself in jail. After the two of them work things out, they end up on a date. Meanwhile, John is upset by Nelle's snobbish elitist attitude towards the "small" people and Billy finally kisses his assistant Sandy.

    Director:Jonathan Pontell
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  24. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 15 - Prime Suspect
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #24 - Prime Suspect

    S3:E15

    Cage's 'oddball' client (from the previous episode) is accused of murdering his old boss and the firm gets involved in their first murder trial. Suspecting he's been set up, Ally plays detective and goes snooping for additional information. Meanwhile, back at the office, Nelle has a few surprises up her sleeve.

    Director:Rachel Talalay
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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  25. Ally McBeal Season 3 Episode 18 - Turning Thirty
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #25 - Turning Thirty

    S3:E18

    The firm defends a woman accused of murdering her eighty-nine-year-old husband by suffocating him with... her breasts. Meanwhile, Ally struggles with turning thirty. She goes to church to find God, but instead finds an angry Reverend Newman who has a pet peeve about women who only need God between relationships. Ally's next stop at a plastic surgeon has even more devastating results.

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writer:David E. Kelley

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Attitude" is the best rated episode of "Ally McBeal". It scored 7.8/10 based on 5 votes. Directed by Michael Schultz and written by David E. Kelley, it aired on 11/3/1997. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Dirty Joke".