[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Night Court Season 3 Episode 1, “The Judge’s Boyfriend’s Dad.”]
The truth has a funny way of coming out. After Abby (Melissa Rauch) spent the entire Night Court Season 3 premiere trying to shield Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) and new boyfriend Jake (Ryan Hansen) from catching wind of the possibility that they could be father and son, the episode ended with them finding out anyway.
The premiere kicked off with Abby having a nightmare about Dan and Jake finding out this secret and responding with anger, leaving her panicked when she woke up. Abby visited Ryan’s mother, Susan (Julia Duffy), in the hospital to get answers about the identity of Jake’s father, but the drugged-up Susan could provide little answers. Jake’s mannerisms started to slightly mimic Dan’s, making Abby even more worried. Dan, meanwhile, was none the wiser as he was busy dealing with the new courtroom prosecutor, his former fling, Julianne (Wendie Malick, now a series regular).
Abby was panicked that Jake could be Dan’s son the whole episode. Her fear came true in a cliffhanger ending when Jake and Dan walked into her office at the exact wrong time. Now they both have heard of this paternity mystery, but it’s not going to be a mystery for much longer. Rauch tells TV Insider that these questions will be answered in Season 3 Episode 2, and then the series will move on.
Why was Abby so panicked? Wouldn’t she love the idea of having a family tie to Dan? “It’s twofold for Abby, if he is in fact Dan’s son,” Rauch previously told us. “Because this father-daughter relationship between Abby and Dan [already exists], so does that make Jake surrogate brother-ish material? If that were to be the case, it also sets up a really interesting dynamic of, which child of Dan’s does he prefer?”
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Larroquette teases what to expect from Dan’s reaction next week. “We find him absolutely appalled by the idea,” Larroquette reveals. “And then slowly as the episode goes on, we learn a little about Fielding’s heart in that, ‘It wouldn’t be a terrible thing, I guess if I was a dad, I guess I wouldn’t hate it completely.’ We find out the truth of the matter, and then we move on from there. But it does go through a bit of a cycle of, no, no, no, maybe, maybe.”
Whether Dan is Jake’s father or not, how would this experience change him? “The episode ends with a revelation in Fielding’s heart,” Larroquette shares. But it might not be a major through-line for the season at large.
“If we go back there again, we’ll see” how Dan feels, Larroquette says. “I don’t know the future of that, especially at this time of the season, writers and actors are sort of working on fumes. You really have to slog through these last few episodes. So you’re just definitely trying to put together a good story. And I think that high-lofted ideas or complex storylines sort of take a backseat for the moment. We just try to find funny within the family of the court itself.”
What is coming up this season on Night Court is more about Malick’s Julianne and how she’s changed since being released from prison. And more will be revealed about the personal lives of bailiff Gurgs (Lacretta) and court clerk Wyatt (Nyambi Nyambi).
Night Court, Tuesdays, 8:30/7:30c, NBC