Despite branching out on her own Alicia Florrick can’t avoid the office politics of her old firm and she ends up as a pawn across intersecting storylines in this week’s episode of The Good Wife. Everything is still shiny and new with this whole starting over business and Alicia’s isn’t the only one who is reinvigorated by a change in job role as Eli is positively thriving in his quest to ruin Ruth’s campaign. He is in full sabotage mode and he doesn’t even have to do that much heavy lifting in succeeding in his plan to mess with Ruth. Yes she might be able to dictate his tiny office space, but Eli comes with years of Florrick family knowledge giving him an instant advantage. Eli’s advice to Alicia about steering events so ‘they don’t steer you’ is his current playbook and at this point Eli has taken the lead.
What Eli is also doing is making it seem like Alicia is the one making the decisions. When he tells her that if she says yes to “Mama’s Homespun Cooking” she won’t have to do a dozen other things he is appealing to her desire to do as little as possible for the campaign. Eli knows full well this cooking show will be a disaster and this is what he is banking on. Why else would he tell Alicia she can be herself? If this had been during Peter’s other campaigns, Eli would be throwing a fit at the discussion Alicia and Veronica have live on TV; instead he is pretty much cackling with joy at their unfiltered conversation.
Eli’s got his fingers in all the pies in “Cooked” warning the judge in Alicia’s case that he is part of a bribery sting. Not that Eli is doing this out of the goodness of his own heart and it is all part of his plan to bring down Frank Landau of the DNC. Last week Alicia reluctantly apologized to Frank and Eli mentioned a revenge strategy to her, but it is not Eli’s style to reveal all the intricate details of his plotting. So it looks like Alicia is about to get caught in the crosshairs of this scheme; I believe Eli doesn’t want to hurt Alicia, but I also think he is so angry at how Peter treated him that he is going to push this as far as he can go. Even if it means Alicia is collateral damage.
In bond court Alicia and Lucca’s working relationship and new friendship is tested when they are pitted against each other. Alicia finds a way for them to join forces, but there is an unsettling element to this case that puts Alicia in full paranoid mode. The involvement of the FBI instantly raises the question of a sting operation and the target could be a number of people including Alicia. It doesn’t help that Alicia has given her client advice that could be construed in a negative way and Lucca was the one who suggested this direction.
Alicia withdraws from her pally interactions with Lucca suggesting they have separate trials and Lucca is direct in letting Alicia know how she feels about this telling her “screw you.” Lucca is very good at her job so it is unclear why she is languishing in bond court when any firm would be lucky to have her and Alicia’s initial suspicions don’t seem that out of line. Thankfully the pair is not on the outs and Alicia has her back. Now to make Lucca an official partner at Alicia’s startup so this friendship and my love for Lucca’s costuming can continue.
Speaking of which here are the spectacular offerings from Lucca this week with check, lace and a jacket Diane would love.
Suspicion is the reigning feeling this week with Diane flipping out when she thinks Alicia has betrayed her. Going back a few steps and Diane is suffering from young summer intern fatigue after her mentoring offer is met with a surprising lack of enthusiasm. Cary argues that people want work/life balance, which makes little sense to Diane. Diane turns her attention to Alicia and their working relationship suggesting to the equity partners that they share some of their overflow with Alicia. This is not an all together altruistic offer as Diane thinks Alicia can become their pawn instead of Louis Canning’s. Part of the reason she reacts so unfavorably to Alicia ‘helping’ Howard is this romantic notion that Alicia is of the same mold as Diane and this goes against that.
I would not want to be on the receiving end of this facial expression. Ever.
Or this one.
Killer outfit from Diane (standard). In leather (not so standard for Diane).
Alicia’s apartment sees a stream of repeat visitors throughout the episode and when Diane makes her second trip she accuses Alicia of representing Howard and plotting against them. This isn’t strictly the case, but Diane is having none of Alicia’s ‘it’s not what it seems’ reasoning. Yes Alicia gave Howard advice about the ageism thing, but she also told him he needs to work harder and this is what he is doing. Really she is doing Lockhart, Agos a solid.
In true Good Wife tradition an elevator become the important location for a romantic interaction and after Howard had a meet cute with Jackie Florrick he asked her out for dinner. They really hit it off and now the pair is dating; this might be beneficial to Alicia if Jackie is happy in her own personal life as there will be a whole lot less meddling and fewer passive aggressive remarks. Actually that last one will always happen.
Plus Jackie is now part of #LadySuitWatch2015 after rocking an all white ensemble. Jackie’s heartbreaking story about her mother’s response to her laughter also goes a long way in showing why Jackie is the way she is.
There are already many moving parts and angles getting worked at this early juncture and Eli Gold is hitting Blair Waldorf levels of scheming. Veronica warns Alicia that the good feeling from starting over doesn’t last forever and it will be interesting to see how long it will be before the wheels come off for everyone who is embroiled in Peter’s campaign and how sustainable Alicia’s solo project is. This is another good solid episode and the start of season 7 is doing a lot to wipe clean the memory of the disappointing State’s Attorney campaign, even if Alicia is not as in control as she thinks she is.
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