Night Court – The Best Dan

By: Sammi Turano

The episode opens with Abby (Melissa Rauch) presiding over a case involving a food fight. Dan (John Larroquette) is the defendant and Olivia (India de Beaufort) is the prosecutor, as per usual. Abby gives the sentence while Gurgs (Lacretta) makes snarky comments.

After the case is over, Abby and Dan talk about their relationships, making Wyatt (Nyambi Nyambi) feel better about his divorce.

The next case involves a community theatre doing Oliver. They are being forced out due to the venue being double booked for weddings, one of which is Roz’s. One of the actors asks if Roz (Marsha Warfield) can be his mommy and she tells him to shut up.

Dan and Roz discuss the wedding while Abby tries to find her a new venue. Roz tells her they have an officiant and Abby would be invited but she is waiting on an RSVP, namely from Dan. The two of them talk about how the wedding has been sabotaged when Gurgs comes in, volunteering to be security. Abby guilts Roz into giving her an invitation, but not before giving her some sass.

Jake (Ryan Hansen) and Abby are at the wedding being cute, which annoys Dan. He comments on their future wedding, but they claim they are nowhere near that stage. Once he leaves, they discuss where they do stand, which includes no heavy conversations or meeting of the parents. He says he never met his biological father, but says he wanted to get that out of his system before they go back to the playful banter…..but not before saying he did try looking for him once.

Gurgs says the ceremony went well, but she is still looking for the saboteur who made the events leading up to the wedding into a disaster. She begins questioning people while Wyatt, posing as a waiter, says he hasn’t been to a wedding since his own. Olivia shows up, dressed to the nines, saying no one would believe she is a waitress.

Dan is at the bar when he runs into a woman (Gigi Rice) from the unmarried aunts table. He tries to flirt, but he is not interested in him, but instead getting wine for her table.

Dan thinks she is familiar and asks Roz about her. It turns out she is Christine’s sister Katie, who hates him for ghosting her sister. Roz warns him about talking to her before walking away. Dan still wants to talk to her and asks Flobert for help, making sure he doesn’t say his name. Flobert (Gary Anthony Williams), who is also a waiter, thinks Roz is the lady the drink is named after. He says this is better than meeting Arnold Palmer.

Olivia continues to mingle, but ends up embarrassing herself while asking Wyatt and Flobert to help her get with the man she has her eye on. Meanwhile Abby and Jake continue to miscommunicate about their relationship.

Dan tries to hit on Katie by trying to remain anonymous. While doing so, he ends up overtipping the bartender and having Flobert make a scene trying to talk him up. Roz sees what’s going on and tries to reveal his identity, so Dan tries to make Wyatt make a speech. Wyatt gives an awkward speech, while Abby and Jake continue to miscommunicate about their future. This leads to them talking about marriage, running away from the bouquet toss and crashing into the cake. Gurgs says she may be the saboteur.

Flobert confronts Dan about tipping the bartender and not him, revealing his identity to Katie. She is upset as he tries to explain he has changed. However, she thinks he is lying since he never bothered to show up at Christine’s funeral.

Abby and Dan talk about the Kate situation and he admits he was at the funeral, but hidden. He admits she was the one that got away and that he pushed her away because he felt he wasn’t good enough for her. He says she made him a better person, so Abby tells him to tell that to Katie….not knowing she was listening in the photo booth, where she was taking pictures with Flobert.

Jake is wearing Dan’s spare suit when Abby approaches him. They admit they don’t want to be casual, but a real couple where they meet parents and do what couples do.

Gurgs finds the saboteur Davin (Kenneth Mosley), who is a bitter coworker of Roz’s. He even admits that the officiant was fake so the wedding is invalid.

Abby takes everyone to the courtroom and marries Roz and Loretta (Indira G Wilson) for real. Olivia cries as everyone cheers for the happy couple.

Dan dances with Roz when Katie cuts in to talk to him. As they dance, Jake introduces Abby to his mom Susan (Julia Duffy), who happened to have dated Dan…..who may actually be Jake’s father….based on Abby’s math. Flobert says he is out of cake pops as the episode comes to a close.