‘Night Court’ Recap: ‘DA Club’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

NIGHT COURT -- “DA Club” Episode 112 -- Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Rauch as Abby Stone, Lacrette as Donna Gurgs, Kurt Fuller as Jeff, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding -- (Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Twelve of ‘Night Court’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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One of the biggest challenges we will ever encounter in life, is coming to learn that so many people will compromise their morals and their standards to get ahead in life and climb the proverbial corporate ladder. And what makes this so challenging is that the rest of us… do everything we can to stay true to ourselves and what we believe in and that definitely brings forth conflict as we continue along through life, as we try to juggle being a decent person when an indecent person tries to get us to bend our moral code. Which of course… begs some important questions when it happens. Specifically… what do we do when this tough day comes? Do we just roll with it and deal with the personal consequences later? Or do we find a way to stand firm and take the high ground?
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Well, it just so happens that the next episode of Night Court on NBC takes the time to guide us on such matters. A feat that ‘DA Club’ accomplished by way of a unique case within the walls of the courthouse. For an upstanding citizen was assaulted and the District Attorney decided to get involved, himself, in doling out justice on this matter. Which Abby saw as the perfect opportunity to enact some serious change in the system. Because Jeff, the District Attorney, was demanding some tough sentences from the courts, on offenses that did not need such stiff penalties and well… after handling this case, she thought she was going to be able to get a little face time with Jeff to express her concerns on this and the system in general. And thankfully, Jeff agreed to the meeting, at an exclusive social club no less.

Which was news that unnerved Dan. For he knew Jeff, knew what he was about and expected him to give Abby nothing but trouble. So, he swung by that club to keep an eye on Abby, and it was a wonderful thing that he did. Because despite being receptive and open to what Abby had to say… Jeff was quietly making plans to use this meeting against Abby. For he confided in Dan that she would become his scape goat for his next election campaign, since he could paint her as a judge that was not tough on crime. Which prompted Dan to warn Abby about Jeff’s plans and offer up a dastardly counterpunch that would put Jeff in his place at last. But that left Abby struggling from a moral and decency perspective.  

After all, she came here to do the right thing and blackmailing the man and playing hardball to get her way seemed as low as what was being proposed by Jeff. Not to mention, such an act was vicious and ugly and that wasn’t her style. So instead, she worked with Olivia, who tagged along, and Neil, who swung by with Gurgs to deliver a hard cover copy of her research thanks to an iPad mishap… to find a way to keep true to herself while getting results. And it turned out that the specter of blackmail was enough to make that happen and most important of all… this taught us a valuable lesson. In that, when this moment comes, and it will… we don’t have to compromise our morals and standards to get what we want.

We simply have to be creative, and inventive, and make those who will compromise uncomfortable and unable to use their detachment from what matters in the respective situation we run into… so we come out on top. Which was, a lovely lesson to find here, one that spoke to the power of conviction and to the wonder of adaptability and of course… this episode was funny as well. Thanks to the wonder of that weird club and all the strange members that attended and Gurgs simply had the best one liners and scene stealing moments here and let’s be honest, how can you go wrong with including a character named Captain James T. Kush? All of which, made for another delightful and meaningful episode of this wondrous saga and once again, we are eager for more. Since we simply have to know what kind of laughs and lessons will await us when court is back in session. Until next time.  

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