7.5/10132 votes#1 - Free Dental
Season 4 Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/1999
Bobby and Jimmy defend a dentist accused of murdering a frequent patient... but eventually discover he's hiding a sordid secret. Ellenor dines with George Vogelman.
Director: Arvin Brown
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.9/10104 votes#2 - Boston Confidential
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/1999
Bobby gets a murderer off on a technicality when the arresting officer illegally searches the car and finds a corpse. Jimmy goes against Henry Olson's wishes and confronts Olson's son to try to convince him to confess to the murder. Lindsay decides to move in with Bobby, leaving her possessions...including her answering machine, at Helen's.
Director: Alex Graves
Writer: David E. Kelley
8.1/10112 votes#3 - Loser's Keepers
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/1999
Tensions flare when the 'male nun' starts infiltrating the office. Ellenor buys a gun for protection. Rebecca suspects that a wealthy man has bought a client's guilty plea.
Director: Dennis Smith
Writer: David E. Kelley, Christopher Mack
7.5/10103 votes#4 - Legacy (1)
Season 4 Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/1999
Bobby's old mentor, Raymond Oz, calls on Bobby to represent him when his wife tries to have him declared incompetent. Bobby has reservations after observing Oz in a clearly disturbed state of mind. Eugene co-counsels for an incompetent lawyer who's never won a jury trial. Ellenor sinks into depression in the aftermath of the Vogelman affair.
Director: Dennie Gordon
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.6/10100 votes#5 - Oz (2)
Season 4 Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/1999
Bobby acts as Raymond Oz's co-counsel while Oz persists in forging ahead with a self-defense strategy.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.5/1099 votes#6 - Marooned
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 11/7/1999
Rebecca defends a girl accused of killing her mother. The girl claims she suffers from flashbacks involving child molestation. Lindsay and Bobby argue over wedding dresses.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.6/1097 votes#7 - Victimless Crimes
Season 4 Episode 7 - Aired 11/14/1999
Jimmy defends a remorseless rape victim who murdered her attacker. Lucy is bitten by her dentist while under anesthesia.
Director: James Frawley
Writer: David E. Kelley, Samantha Corbin-Miller
7.8/10101 votes#8 - Committed
Season 4 Episode 8 - Aired 11/21/1999
Lindsay represents a serial murderer confined in an asylum when his case is up for review. Eugene's son is a prime suspect when his mother's lover is beaten to death in her bed.
Director: Arvin Brown
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.5/10100 votes#9 - Bay of Pigs
Season 4 Episode 9 - Aired 11/28/1999
Ellenor takes on Richard Bay in a case wherein a little old lady is accused of attempting to run over her husband in her car. Bay and Ellenor clash both in and out of court. Jimmy evaluates his relationship with Judge Kittleson when he represents an old girlfriend in a suit regarding the sale of reproductive eggs.
Director: Oz Scott
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.8/10114 votes#10 - Day in Court
Season 4 Episode 10 - Aired 12/12/1999
Tempers flare over a particularly tough case. Bobby defends old cling/drug dealer Eddie against the murder of an addict. Eddie claims it is self-defense. D.A. Helen brings the coroner to testify that it wasn't. The coroner's testimony is damaged by prior odd behavior. Eddie attacks Helen to try to force the judge into a mistrial. Bobby & Swackheim nearly come to blows. Each of the participants, Bobby, Helen & Swackheim, express their outrage with the legal system.
Director: Dennis Smith
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.5/1093 votes#11 - Blowing Smoke
Season 4 Episode 11 - Aired 1/9/2000
Lindsay sues a cigar company for breaking up a friend's marriage. She alleges that the husband's addiction was the deciding factor in the divorce. Rebecca & Ellenor defend a police officer who killed a teenage boy in a grocery store. The officer claims he saw a gun. The cashier says otherwise.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: David E. Kelley, Samantha Corbin-Miller
8.1/10113 votes#12 - New Evidence (1)
Season 4 Episode 12 - Aired 1/30/2000
Lindsay takes the firm to Los Angeles to defend an acquaintance who's on trial for murdering his on-line girlfriend. As evidence mounts against their client, Bobby and the rest deal with a controlling judge, an antagonistic detective and the victim's sister, a nun with issues.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: David E. Kelley
8.7/10116 votes#13 - Hammerhead Sharks (2)
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 2/6/2000
Dennis Mills maintains his innocence. The firm continues the trial, striving against all odds to exonerate Mills.
Director: Dennis Smith
Writer: David E. Kelley
8.1/10101 votes#14 - Checkmates
Season 4 Episode 14 - Aired 2/13/2000
Ellenor defends a 'slow' teenager accused of killing a younger boy. A witness comes forward claiming to have information exonerating her client, but Ellenor suspects he's lying. Helen calls in a police officer when his son is under suspicion in a homicide. Representing the accused, Bobby argues the officer was acting as an agent of the court, not a father.
Director: Andy Wolk
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.1/1093 votes#15 - Race Ipsa Loquitor
Season 4 Episode 15 - Aired 2/20/2000
Jimmy is tempted to compromise his integrity to get convicted murder (and insect admirer) Henry Olson released. Eugene and Rebecca represent a woman who's suing a plastic surgeon when her husband dies during a liposuction procedure. They soon realize they're as much on trial as the surgeon when the opposing attorney makes several references to their race.
Director: Alex Graves
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.3/10102 votes#16 - Settling
Season 4 Episode 16 - Aired 3/12/2000
Bobby is kidnapped by an irate former client who claims Bobby's incompetence in a manslaughter trial forced him to spend 12 years in prison.
Director: Arvin Brown
Writer: N/A
7.7/1094 votes#17 - Black Widows
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 4/2/2000
Bobby defends the so-called 'Black Widow'; a woman who's accused of murdering her recently deceased husband and whose two previous spouses also died mysteriously. Helen lies to a 15-year-old girl who killed her unborn child, coercing her into giving a statement.
Director: Mel Damski
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.7/10102 votes#18 - Death Penalties
Season 4 Episode 18 - Aired 4/9/2000
Bobby and Helen clash in an assisted suicide case. Bobby remembers his experiences of 'pulling the plug' on his mother and acts as though he were on trial. Meanwhile, Ellenor flies to Pennsylvania to try to exonerate a 31-year-old death row inmate who claims to be innocent of a double homicide.
Director: Keith Samples
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.9/10104 votes#19 - Till Death Do Us Part (1)
Season 4 Episode 19 - Aired 4/30/2000
Ellenor pursues the Donovan case, hoping to forestall his execution. Meanwhile, Rebecca's case representing a woman with Alzheimer's trying to keep her marriage from being annulled becomes complicated when questions arise about the death of her client's first husband.
Director: Duane Clark
Writer: David E. Kelley, Adam Armus
8.7/10113 votes#20 - Liberty Bells (2)
Season 4 Episode 20 - Aired 5/7/2000
Ellenor continues the Donovan case, following up on the various leads to exonerate her client.
Director: Michael Schultz
Writer: David E. Kelley
7.5/1090 votes#21 - The Honorable Man
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 5/14/2000
Eugene is disgusted by his client, a homeless man accused of murdering a woman and raping her corpse. Jimmy represents an old friend who's being sued for notifying employees that one of their co-workers has AIDS.
Director: Dennis Smith
Writer: David E. Kelley
8.1/10134 votes#22 - Life Sentence
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 5/21/2000
Ellenor defends a deaf woman who shot and killed the man who allegedly murdered her young daughter. The client's crime is captured on video in front of dozens of witnesses, leaving no doubt as to who committed the act. The only to way to exonerate the client is to manipulate the jury's heartstrings. Meanwhile Lindsay learns that Bobby hates weddings and decides to spring a surprise elopement.
Director: Michael Zinberg
Writer: David E. Kelley
The Best Episodes of The Practice Season 4
Every episode of The Practice Season 4 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Practice Season 4!
A provocative legal drama focused on young associates at a bare-bones Boston firm and their scrappy boss, Bobby Donnell. The show's forte is its storylines...
Genre:Drama
Network:ABC
Season 4 Ratings Summary
"Free Dental" is the best rated episode of "The Practice" season 4. It scored 7.5/10 based on 132 votes. Directed by Arvin Brown and written by David E. Kelley, it aired on 9/26/1999. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Boston Confidential".