‘Night Court’ Recap: ‘The Duke’s a Hazard’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

NIGHT COURT -- "The Duke's a Hazard" Episode 212 -- Pictured: (l-r) Dave Foley as Duncan, Rhys Darby as Alistair, Lacretta as Gurgs -- (Photo by: Nicole Weingart/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 212 of ‘Night Court’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

One particular lesson we are taught often about love, is that we should never change who we are for a person that has come into our lives. Because we must always be true to ourselves and love ourselves first, and that person should in fact, find value in who we are and compliment us instead of complete us. To which there is a lot of merit to that line of thinking. Because to make drastic changes to who we are for love isn’t healthy and cedes control of our own destiny to someone… who may truly not appreciate us for who we actually are… and may not stick around. But while that has merit, it isn’t entirely how we should approach true love. 

Because sometimes… there are quirks and proclivities about us, that can be grating and intimidating and keeping those around can in fact, put a wedge between someone we care for dearly. So, letting those go, or lessening their impact can do a lot for our love and really show our person how much we want to connect with them and help them feel seen, and well… the importance of that and the process to get there, was put on display during this week’s episode of Night Court on NBC. A feat that ‘The Duke’s a Hazard’ accomplished by having Alistair, Gurgs’ beloved Duke, roll into New York City and meet her courthouse cohorts and well… while there was obvious chemistry between the two, Gurgs had some concerns.

Specifically, that her Dukey Dukeums, made too much of a show of everything, and made every intimate moment big and epic and out of place. When all she wanted now and again, were normal, intimate, moments and that put her in a tough place, where she didn’t know how to ask her sweetheart how to take part in such a change. Which brought Abby to her rescue, who carefully taught the Duke about the importance of those changes and how to do them. Which led to some outright hilarity of course, since this bougie man didn’t understand ‘normal’ all that well and had some tantrums because of it. But it was all for Gurgs. To make her feel special and wanted on a more intimate level, so Alistair stuck with it all, learned it all and showed Gurgs how much she mattered to him and how much he wanted this to work.

Which beautifully hammered home the lesson at hand and spoke to how relationships are work and require extra effort all around to really keep all parties happy. However, while that was quite the endearing storyline, make no mistake about it… the comedy and zaniness this show is known for was present here as well. In large part because of Rhys Darby, who played Alistair and brought zest and zeal to the role as only he can, in fact… the subway scene will absolutely go down as one of the funniest of the season thanks to Rhys’ work in that moment. And of course, we’d be foolish to not discuss the other storyline present in this tale. For while Abby helped teach a Duke about real love, Dan was dealing with a long-standing family feud with Alistair’s valet.

Because Duncan’s family had beef with Dan’s family back in the day, and that brought forth a lot of sass and a duel of the ages. Specifically, a good old-fashioned valet-off. Wherein, honor would be determined by the lack of mistakes made in serving royalty. Which Dan won handily because he crosses the right lines at the right times, and this was just an amazing storyline, one that let guest star Dave Foley (Duncan) and John Larroquette shine by letting both of them lean into their comedy roots. All of which brought about, another amazing episode of this show. For this was fun, funny, and just a treat to watch through and through and it ended in a lovely manner for certain and has us eager to see, what fun surprises await us when next week’s season two finale arrives. Until then.

To learn more about the cast’s experiences in creating ‘Night Court’, check out our interviews with Nyambi Nyambi  (Wyatt) and Rhys Darby (Alistair).

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