Just saw it. Wow. Never expected that.

spoiler...

while i am bit mad that he was killed (his character was great for the show and great for helen to play off of), i really hope that since they did THAT, that he really is dead and not just really wounded and in a hospital next week. i knew something bad was going to happen because that old woman in the car was just......too weird....i was expecting a car bomb though even though the old lady wouldn't need to be there for that....maybe i was think she was all for effect.

Argh!! Who died?

I guess we can say now that the show's over in all time zones...

Spoiler....



Bobby was killed. Er--oh, wait--no--JUST KIDDING! It was Richard, the prosecuting lawyer. He was threatened by a guy he was persecuting. Everyone knew he was threatened, but once the trial was over, they thought it would go away. On his way to his car that night, after he sentenced the guy to prison, he was filled with bullet holes by one of his cohorts.

Never expected that since he was one of the shows pretty strong regulars. I'm sure he didn't live through it.

Actually, he was just prosecuting him; it wasn't persicution.
Anyway, yeah that was a shocker. I sincerely hope he's dead. I hate it when someone on TV gets filled with bullet holes and lives. Of course, that's what happended to Dennis Franz on the NYPD Blue pilot, and that turned out alright for everyone.

Boston must be a dangerous place to practice law. In the past three or four years, Jimmy has been shot, Lindsey has been stabbed to near death, Ellenor has almost been killed (but was saved when Helen fatally shot her assailent), Lucy and Rebecca have been caught in an explosion that almost took Rebecca's life, and now Richard gets gunned down. Can you imagine what that firm must pay in health and life insurance premiums?

There's not much doubt that he's really dead. This wasn't filmed like a cliffhanger. Not only did they show a spray of literally dozens of shots from a full automatic, but they showed him taking so much fire that he was bouncing all over the place inside the car... They made a point of showing the car looking like swiss cheese, and showing his dead face. It was like the end of Bonnie and Clyde.

Besides, they've already had too many high-profile near deaths with regulars ending up in the hospital. They'd only do this if it was the real thing.

It was a shocker all right, although I could sense it was coming from about halfway through the episode... But wow.

[Edited by adamblast on 05-07-01 at 09:07 AM]

Well said, Decker!

Speaking of which, that explosion nearly totaled their office. I thought for sure they'd get a new one. Why does it still look the same as ever??

While he is most likely dead, in watching the previews for next week, it appears there might be a chance he is not. I say this because when they carry him out of the car on a stretcher, he is not covered by a sheet and I thought I saw a neck brace around him, and there a scene I saw (this is not word for word) where someone said "They shot Richard", I would think if he was dead then she would have said "They killed Richard". Again, this may be just to build up next week.

Mike

Good points, mikej -- I wish I'd taped the preview to make sure...

I don't know which way to hope. He's a great character, who will be much missed -- and probably necessitate a new replacement character as DA #2...

Hate to see him go, but I hate even more the idea of this being just another plot point, with no real change in the status quo. There's nothing better than when a show makes a really ballsy move and sticks with it...

I did find this in The Practice episode guide at abc.com:

Notice it says he is "left for dead," not "killed."

Do you think Richard was wearing a bullet-proof vest? Do you think he will pull a taped-up piece of paper out of his pocket and give it to a friend named Marty?

Well, we don't have to worry about Richard "clinging to life". On yesterday's promo, the announcer said "He murdered one of their own..." and they showed clips from the funeral. I'm really glad I watched the show instead of taping it; that would have really ruined the surprise.
Hats off to The Practice. I can't remember the last time a major character was unexpecedly killed without some big build up and press leaks (maybe Rosalind Shays down an elevator shaft of a David Kelly-penned LA Law?). Anyway, a cool twist on a good show.