Template:Ally Mcbeal character

Ling Woo is a fictional character in the popular US comedy-drama Ally McBeal, portrayed by American actress Lucy Liu, and is widely considered to be her breakthrough role. Woo was viewed as one of the strongest comedic characters on the show. Liu portrayed the role on recurring basis during episodes 25-31, and then joined the regular cast in episode 32. She remained in the regular cast until episode 96, after which she signed in the opening credits only for one more episode, 103.

Storylines

Background

Ling Woo was initially a character written by David E. Kelley for the actress Lucy Liu after she failed to secure the role of Nelle Porter (which went to Portia de Rossi) in "Ally McBeal". Appearing in Season 2 for the first time as a client sueing a Talk Show host , Woo became a firm favorite of fans, noted for her outrageously politically incorrect comments, acerbic put-downs and bitchy nature and mannerisms that audiences were clearly supposed to grasp from the beginning, since music from the Wicked Witch of the West was played whenever she came into the room. Kelley was quick to invite Liu to perform another guest slot and within a few episodes she was added as a permanent cast member, revealing that she had a Law Degree in the process.

Woo quickly made enemies with the workers in the law firm, particularly Elaine Vassal (Jane Krakowski) and Georgia Thomas (Courtney Thorne-Smith). She did, however, form a romantic relationship with Richard Fish (Greg Germann) which lasted until Season Four and was best friends with Nelle Porter (Portia de Rossi).

Season Two and Three

As with other cast members of "Ally McBeal" in Seasons Two and Three of the show, Ling Woo did not play a major supporting role, storylines focusing on the Ally-Billy-Georgia love triangle. Unlike John Cage (Peter MacNicol) she took few trial cases, and was used mainly for comic relief purposes along with Elaine, Renee Radick (Lisa Nicole Carson) and Nelle. This was one of the criticisms as the show as a whole, as it moved from being a series with a strong ensemble cast to one with primary and secondary characters. During her time with a relationship with Richard Fish which she realized that she truly liked but, with held sex from him thinking that because she was too amazing in bed that she thought if he were to have sex with him he would stop doing anything meaningful in their relationship and have sex all the time which she didn't want. When he was told he also showed her a stimulating and special knee pit trick that made her feel amazing and when he with held doing that it forceably made her give into to having sex which they did have in the season two finale. They broke up in the near beginning of season three beacuse Richard got back together with Whipper. In the season 2 episode Let's Dance when Elaine was upset about having her swing dance partner cancel before the big competition dance so, she offered to be the replacement of her partner having revealed that she used to swing dance with her father as a young girl but, quit on her when she was dancing remembered how exhausting and sweaty it was. She later resumed the position when she saw that Elaine was desperate and sad and when she does something she does it to win so, to qualify she had to dress in men's clothes. They won the competition and her friendship with Elaine had grown. She'd kiss Ally in the episode Buried Pleasures when she had a dream of kissing Ally the night before and wanted to figure if she was turning gay and when Ally's curiosity was peaked and she to had wanted to figure out if she was also turning gay and in the end they learned that they were not turning gay and were only into men and Penis but, grew closer as friends because of the experience. Later it is reaveled that she helps out at a retirement home since her college days every Wednesday because she likes old people and had grown to like a certain person there named Marty that brings joy to the other residents in the home by creating activities some fun others imaginary to give them excitement before their deaths.

Season Four

Season Four saw a general change in the show, with higher ratings, which involved more usage of the "secondary" characters. Ling's old love interest Jackson was employed in the firm for a time, providing some character conflict, although he later left. In this series, she also taught Ally how to kiss (Season 2), pretended to be blind, helped at an old folks home (Season 3) and danced with Elaine in a competition (Season 2).

Season Five

Lucy Liu expressed wishes to leave "Ally McBeal" in Season Five; and so Ling was written out, becoming a judge, an event which had high comic value and which Elaine declared to be "a joke on mankind." After a few first episodes as a star, Liu was dropped from the main cast and the opening credits. She did return to Cage & Fish to help her friend Nelle and to see Richard (whom she no longer dated). The popularity of the show declined afterwards. Some contributed this to the loss of such a hugely popular character. It's more likely, however, that the show had simply run out of steam, with a burden of several new characters, most of whom were dropped halfway through the season, and slightly ridiculous storylines.

The character of Ling Woo did not return after that guest star spot. The last show was twelve episodes afterwards, and although Liu said afterwards that she wished to appear along with other written out characters like Georgia, Renee and Billy, she was not allowed. Producers said her appearance was likely to jeopardize Richard's happy ending with Liza.