‘Night Court’ Recap: ‘Dan v. Dating’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

NIGHT COURT -- “Dan Vs. Dating” Episode 104 -- Pictured: (l-r) India de Beaufort as Olivia, Marypat Farrell as Helen, John Larroquette as Dan Fielding -- (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/NBC/Warner Bros. Television)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Night Court’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Something that is genuinely fascinating about life in general, is how we view certain acts that everyone takes part in, so differently at various ages. Take for instance, dating. For when we are young, it is almost an obsession, where we are eager to find a partner and we will ask anyone and everyone to go out with us to see where one dinner date might take us. Whereas as we age, we see it as a bit of a chore, and we are far more selective in who we date because we want different things out of a relationship. Which can be attributed to emotional intelligence and a better understanding of who we are and what we need. Granted, that doesn’t make our youthful push any less important since we don’t learn what we want out of a partner without it. But it is fascinating to know we do learn from our mistakes and our intense efforts, and that we don’t always find perspective on such matters right away when we reach our later years.
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If anything, that perspective is top of mind today, simply because it was explored in great detail during last night’s episode of Night Court on NBC. Which seems like quite the impossible place to feature such musings. But ‘Dan v. Dating’ is a story that reminds us that this series has grown up in a lot of ways and knows how to pepper in such concepts in a humorous manner, which is precisely how Dan came to find perspective on love and life and the importance of knowing what we want and need. Because while performing his duties, his client made it clear… she had the hots for him. And that led to a discussion as to how he was indeed popular with the ladies around the courthouse, and how he wasn’t taking much advantage of that. Which brought forth mixed emotions for Dan. Since this was his dream in his younger years, but it had been so long since he went on a date that he wasn’t sure what he wanted. But a chance encounter with a lovely woman in the cafeteria, momentarily changed that.

With Abby and Neil’s help of course. Because they were able to motivate him to ask that lady out, and they sat in on dinner with them to make sure Dan felt good about the moment and well, when the time came for romance… things went south real quick. For Dan was rusty, and awkward and despite basically blowing it, his date was still eager to be near him and made it clear she was up for a fling. Which brought them back to Dan’s place… wherein… two big surprises awaited Dan. In that, he came to learn his date was actually a former felon he put away ages ago and wanted revenge upon him, and she didn’t complete her task… because Dan made her sad. Mainly because… Dan was honest with her about his feelings, and the pain he still harbored about losing his wife and came to realize… he needed to think long and hard about whether or not he actually wanted to date again. Because his wife gave him so much and made him into the man, he always dreamed of being. And when you meet someone like that, it’s hard to top and well… that informed Dan that a little self-work needed to happen.

The kind that involved dealing with his trauma and figuring out what he actually wanted out of love again and from a partner, if he so decided that another partner was what he wanted. Which was… a very mature way for Dan to go about things and a fine reminder of how our perspectives change through time courtesy of life experiences. But while that once again makes it sound as though this series has slipped into dramatic territory, it most certainly has not. For the date in question was the stuff of comedic legend thanks to John Larroquette’s incredible work in this episode and the side plot in this story, wherein Olivia and Gurgs tried to create their own office space within the courtroom, was an utter treat to watch. Since it harkened back to such classic sitcoms as The Odd Couple, with Olivia handling the uptight and organized duties in the office while Gurgs was the wild card that wanted work to be fun and wild and feature soup on demand. Which… isn’t a bad idea. Not to mention, you can never go wrong with a Die Hard shoutout and a retelling of John McClane’s harrowing fight at Nakatomi Plaza in the key of Gurgs.

If anything, all of these elements brought forth, another genuinely beautiful episode. One that also surprised by taking us out of the courtroom for a majority of the episode to focus upon the characters and well… that’s just fine. Because all of these characters are so incredibly well written and so wonderfully fleshed out that we’ve quickly grown attached to all of the new folks, and it is beyond wonderful to be spending time with Dan Fielding again. So, spending a half hour learning about them and what makes them tick is a wonderful thing. Since it means the characters and their lives will always be the focus, and that was a staple of the original series, one that is being expanded upon beautifully here. Plus, the continued commentary on life and what we can do to improve ourselves and learn from one another is refreshing and uplifting and well, it is definitely safe to say that we are all hooked and will be anxiously counting down the minutes to next Tuesday, when court is back in session. Until next time.  

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