What Can Really Be Seen in the Eyes of an Actor?

Yes, Virginia, there is a Robert Downey Jr.

And he’s in trouble after allegedly caving again to drugs, his sickness giving special weight and poignancy to his return on tonight’s Christmas-wrapped episode of “Ally McBeal” as Calista Flockhart’s latest boyfriend.

Downey has logged surely more time in actual courtrooms than in the surreal legal realm of “Ally McBeal,” and probably is more widely recalled now for wearing prison orange in newscasts than for his Oscar-nominated work as the title character in “Chaplin” and other prominent movie roles.

His drug-related legal problems date to 1996 when he was stopped for speeding and police discovered cocaine, heroine and a pistol in his car. A month later he was found passed out in a neighbor’s home, and three days after that was arrested for leaving a recovery center.

In August 1999, a fed-up judge sentenced him to three years in state prison at Corcoran, Calif., for violating his probation, and a year later he was freed.

His lawyers have said they will enter not-guilty pleas at his Dec. 27 arraignment on expected new drug charges resulting from his arrest at posh Merv Griffin’s Resort Hotel & Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs two days after Thanksgiving. If those charges are filed, authorities say, conviction could earn him up to six years and eight months in prison.

Just recently on “Ally McBeal,” his recurring character sat at a piano and began singing Joni Mitchell’s soulful “River,” whose lyric--”Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on”--may have expressed Downey’s own feelings.

How difficult it is reconciling the darker, troubled Downey of turbulence with the confident one on the screen tonight, performing so effortlessly as Larry opposite Flockhart’s smitten Ally in an hour of Christmas warmth also featuring an aging man who believes he’s really Santa Claus, as in “Miracle on 34th Street.”

“Please, call me Kris,” he says.

This time it’s Nelle’s (Portia de Rossi) red-suited father (William Windom) who insists he’s Santa, and bighearted John Cage (Peter MacNichol) who represents him in court after he’s fired from his second-grade teaching job for being “delusional” when repeatedly proclaiming himself Kris Kringle.

“The one from the North Pole?” asks the judge. The same.

As Ally gets frantic when Larry’s fetching ex-girlfriend (Famke Janssen) and mother of his young son pops in unexpectedly from Detroit, and a Christmas musicale preoccupies the law office, something miraculous is happening in court. Perhaps Santa isn’t so daft after all.

Refusing to back down, he is stubbornly admitting only to goodness.

Although forced into retirement as a toy maker by Toys R Us, he testifies, “I’m still something to believe in.” Along with the generosity, charity and kindness he espouses.

The magic of Christmas ultimately spills out from the courtroom onto everyone else, of course, offering Flockhart and Downey opportunities for sweet romance in the show’s usual filmy soft-focus.

No wonder their pairing has heated its ratings (prompting Fox to add two episodes to his original eight-episode deal), for Downey and Flockhart have a silky, seamless chemistry so endearing that they always leave you wanting more.

They’re such an easy fit, affirming that “Ally McBeal” can still elevate far above the crowd, sustaining its signature loopiness while deploying sentiment without goo, even at a time when it’s not as consistently superior as it once was.

Downey never does too much here. He is as mellow and understated as the sweaters he wears on this series that built its reputation, ironically, on redefining over-the-top as television art.

Yet seeing him on “Ally McBeal,” in light of his most recent legal tangle (if only his defense team included nose-whistling John Cage), evokes much less holiday mirth than melancholia. There is something so . . . sad about him, his sheen of serenity notwithstanding, as if erosion were occurring somewhere deep within even as his TV character is the picture of calm.

“Is he Hollywood’s heartbreak kid--an addict who truly can’t help himself--or a spoiled star who’s had too many second chances?” asks People magazine beside a cover photo of Downey looking almost devilish.

It gets ever difficult for Americans to emulate Kris Kringle and feel generosity, charity and kindness toward a 35-year-old man who appears to be careening toward self destruction despite having so much going for him, including wide support from family and friends and many job prospects, if he can remain straight.

Like all good actors, Downey hides on the screen what he may be feeling inside. As he and Flockhart dance, nuzzling nose to nose with Christmas lights glowing warmly in the background, you search his eyes for hints of inner demons and wonder, if the accusations against him turn out to be valid, how many more miracles he has left.

* “Ally McBeal” can be seen tonight at 9 on Fox. The network has rated it TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children, with special advisories for coarse language).

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Howard Rosenberg’s column appears Mondays and Fridays. He can be contacted by e-mail at howard.rosenberg@latimes.com.