Allan Shore (James Spader) Rocks

In Boston Legal, James Spader plays attorney Allan Shore, the iconoclast devil-may-care legal eagle who doesn't give a hoot about conventions, and goes about his legal wrangling in his own unassuming, eccentric manner. (Actually every main character of the Boston Legal show is eccentric. It probably should be called, Boston Wierdos or something similar, but let's just leave it at that).

In tonight's episode, one classic scene is just quintessential Shore. He was checking in on Denise Bauer, played by lovely Julie Bowen. Denise was distraught that the man she loves, millionaire Daniel Post, played by the indefatigable Michael J. Fox. Post is shutting her out because he is dying of cancer. Shore only had to say one thing to get Denise off her demoralized inactivity. Shore told her: "What you are doing now is just waiting. You are not the kind of person who waits."

See that? It's called instigation. But it's not just instigation. It's instigating to positive action. What you might call "empowerment". No wonder I like watching this guy so much. Because that's what he does in his outlandish, yet passionate manner. The world needs more Allan Shores around. Perhaps we get inspired, instigated by the show to be, if not one, but almost like an Allan Shore.

Another reason why I like this Shore character is that underneath the uncaring, smug, pugnacious veneer, one can detect also a compassionate heart of pure, glistening, 24K GOLD!