NEW YORK -- When 'L.A. Law' went on its protracted summer vacation last spring, Abby was rejoining McKenzie-Brackman, Kuzak and Grace had cooled it and Benny and Alice kissed.
'L.A. Law,' as sharp, funny and fast-moving as ever, finally makes its season debut Thursday, Nov. 2, 10-11 p.m. Eastern time in an episode titled 'The Unsterile Cuckoo.'
Abby is back, Kuzak has acquired a motorcycle and he and Grace are still just friends -- but matters have gotten complicated for Benny and Alice.
The two young people may be developmentally retarded, but there's nothing wrong with the rest of them and they have been doing what comes naturally between adults of different sexes.
Alice's father finds the situation appalling. Alice can't remember to practice birth control. He does not feel that she is capable of caring for a child, nor does he think she could survive emotionally if she had to have an abortion.
His solution is sterlization, which horrifies Abby, who steps into the fray.
Victor Sifuentes is front-and-center in the courtroom, where he represents a furrier who is suing an animal rights activist for the $1.3 million in lost trade the furrier says he suffered after animal activists invaded his fashion shows and threw blood on the models, among other things.
The judge allows the defense attorney to show the jury an animal rights film on the horrors of leg traps. You won't enjoy that any more than Sifuentes does. As a matter of fact, Sifuentes wants off the case.
As usual with 'L.A. Law' trials, the ending is a beaut.
Grace and Kuzak have minor roles in this episode -- but some of the snappiest and most daring dialogue.
There's also a softball game between McKenzie-Brackman and a rival law firm, on which the partners have a $5,000 bet. The clean-up hitter is Arnie Becker.