"My Dinner With Kingsfield" is a very unusual episode--and a most enjoyable one. Unlike most episodes which seem to have a very high level of important, this one is much more mundane and shows a couple of the characters in uncharacteristic situations.
When the show begins, Hart is congratulating himself in writing what he thinks is a brilliant argument for Kingsfield's class. However, soon he feels disheartened when Kingsfield does not appear bowled over by Hart's wonderfulness. Hart is too disheartened by this-- taking this way too personally. So personally that he cannot bring himself to work on an article for Law Review--he decides to just take the weekend off and spend it with some woman who attends NYU. At the same time, Kingsfield is focused on heading to New York himself for some big dinner. Unfortunately BOTH suffer some disappointments in their plans, as Kingsfield's car get stuck in a gigantic snow storm AND Hart's girl is delayed...if she's able to arrive at all. Now here's the interesting part--when Kingsfield is stuck, he goes for help...and ends up on Hart's front door! Soon, Hart ends up with a dinner guest he'd never anticipated! Additionally, in a much smaller plot, you see Miss Nottingham stranded...at the local bar. She is befriended and spends the evening with Ford and Bell.
I loved this episode. You get to see both Hart and Kingsfield more as human beings in this one and their often one-dimensional characters are given wonderful depth. In essence, you see them with their hair down, so to speak. This is also true, to a lesser extent, with Nottingham. Overall, there is a lot of depth and a lot of character development going on in this excellent episode. And, it along with the previous and following episode show that the program is improving dramatically over the occasionally awful season two shows that preceded it.
When the show begins, Hart is congratulating himself in writing what he thinks is a brilliant argument for Kingsfield's class. However, soon he feels disheartened when Kingsfield does not appear bowled over by Hart's wonderfulness. Hart is too disheartened by this-- taking this way too personally. So personally that he cannot bring himself to work on an article for Law Review--he decides to just take the weekend off and spend it with some woman who attends NYU. At the same time, Kingsfield is focused on heading to New York himself for some big dinner. Unfortunately BOTH suffer some disappointments in their plans, as Kingsfield's car get stuck in a gigantic snow storm AND Hart's girl is delayed...if she's able to arrive at all. Now here's the interesting part--when Kingsfield is stuck, he goes for help...and ends up on Hart's front door! Soon, Hart ends up with a dinner guest he'd never anticipated! Additionally, in a much smaller plot, you see Miss Nottingham stranded...at the local bar. She is befriended and spends the evening with Ford and Bell.
I loved this episode. You get to see both Hart and Kingsfield more as human beings in this one and their often one-dimensional characters are given wonderful depth. In essence, you see them with their hair down, so to speak. This is also true, to a lesser extent, with Nottingham. Overall, there is a lot of depth and a lot of character development going on in this excellent episode. And, it along with the previous and following episode show that the program is improving dramatically over the occasionally awful season two shows that preceded it.
