Alicia Florrick has tried to break the mold in how she ran her campaign on The Good Wife including not going negative and up to now she has managed to win by using this slightly unconventional method. This all ends in “Winning Ugly” as she tries to go against the system and prove she won this race fairly. What she finds out is you can only be so much of a political outlier and the needs of the party far outweigh those of the individual. And for all Alias viewers you know you should be cautious if Ron Rifkin is representing you; the Arvin Sloane backstabbing is to be expected and here he replaces Rambaldi with the Democratic Party. Less prophecies and fancy devices involved.
There is a sense of déjà vu in the goings on at the firm thanks to Kalinda’s tampering with evidence in Cary’s case and now they are back in a similar position with Diane facing jail time unless she testifies against Bishop. Now they have Finn in their corner rather than opposing them, but even he can’t find something to get out of this hole despite his best efforts and the magnificent use of the word ‘exquisite.’ The judge remarks how there has been more remakes of this case than Spider-Man as they are back in the same position we left them in earlier this season. One thing this does is give Kalinda, Cary and Diane a storyline with purpose as ever since Cary was cleared they have been in plot limbo; the somewhat manufactured conflict with Alicia and babysitting Bishop’s son has been far from compelling. Cary has particularly suffered since he has been released in terms of being insignificant and while I don’t want to see him putting himself in a dangerous position with Bishop it is better than standing still.
Diane’s statement jewelry was missing for most the episode as she stuck to bold jackets and simple dresses. There weren’t even any brooches in sight. The black and white jacket she wore when admitting the evidence she submitted had been falsified is chaotic and distracting; the symbolism extends to the blurring of right and wrong in this instance.
Later on in court Diane has her trust chunky chain necklace on, but she’s paired it with a pale pink blazer and this is a very un-Diane Lockhart color. Cary delivers such an excellent WTF squint here.
The recent email hack has led to division at the firm and something as monumental as this could fracture matters further. At the moment everyone is in protection mode with Cary and Kalinda both positioning themselves in a manner suggesting they will sacrifice themselves (remember Archie Panjabi is leaving at the end of the season). This tableau mirrors the one from a few weeks ago and instead Finn is now on Diane’s side and Alicia is not present at all; how will she take it when she inevitably returns to work and finds herself on the outside of everything?
Return she must as Alicia’s winning dream has crashed and burned; her attempt at winning in a fair and just manner has failed. The device placed in those machines almost circled back to the voting fraud from Peter’s election, fraud which Will knew about but an investigation that died along with him. Peter was placed in the firing line several times throughout the episode from this moment to the threat that if Alicia didn’t step down then she would be destroyed and Peter could also be collateral. In politics it is all rather utilitarian with decisions made factoring what will be the most beneficial to the party. Alicia is far down that pecking order and so she must be sacrificed.
Alicia winning the race was not a surprise, but it didn’t occur to me during the build-up that she might win and then not get to take the SA position. Chicago politics is full of corruption allegations so it should not have come as a shocker and The Good Wife is all about the twists and turns along the way. Her lawyer, Spencer Randolph appears to be a good guy who Alicia, Marissa and the panel are all enamored with and his betrayal is swift and brutal. As I mentioned in the introduction anyone who watched Alias is familiar with Ron Rifkin playing this kind of character and yet I was still taken back when he went for Alicia’s jugular.
In terms of costuming Alicia flips between her power color of red when they first appear in front of the panel, to dark muted colors and ending on dress/jacket two piece which resembles and apron from the top half (ooh back to the whole wife imagery) and as with Diane’s jacket is rather chaotic in appearance. The smiles in this photo are not representative of how Alicia ends the episode; she steps out of the elevator (!) where her eyes have been brimming with tears and she collapses sobbing into Peter’s arms. After their more than civil chat over wine last week followed by this embrace, this relationship is the best it has been in a long time. All they needed was a political scandal to bring them together.
At the start of the episode we see Alicia obsessively watching the news as she sits close to the TV alternating by turning the volume down when it goes full negative to turning it up when in her favor. What is important here is Alicia is wearing her sadness sweats and the last time we saw her in this attire was just after Will died and she told Peter their marriage was over except for in name. This is how we know Alicia is in a bad place mentally despite how much of a brave face she puts on. In part because of the fraud allegations, but also because her relationship with Will is playing all over the news and internet and she keeps having to repeat a lie.
Everything is falling apart both for Alicia and at the firm; will they come together in this time of need?
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