TV Ate My Wardrobe

It is really good to see Alicia Florrick smile again as we head into the final stretch of The Good Wife and it makes sense to show a slightly more carefree Alicia before it could all potentially come crashing down. The investigation into Peter is heating up as is Alicia’s relationship with Jason and the episode opens with a ‘lost weekend’ of sex, movies, eating pizza and more sex. All the things Alicia has been denying herself for too long. Yes she might have an ‘arrangement’ with her husband, but she really hasn’t been taking too much advantage of this setup until now.“Hearing” takes a farcical turn with the arrival of Alicia’s family during her weekend with Jason and I am always happy to see Veronica and Owen even if they are interrupting as they respond to Jason with such glee. Alicia has finally ‘taken a lover’ like both of them have wanted her to do for so long now. They are very much the anti-Peter brigade and an audience stand-in as Veronica was also a huge Will/Alicia shipper. Veronica has been the victim of a scam that dates back and Jason is more than happy to help get her money back. This one might be a keeper.

Alicia’s apartment is a hotbed of activity much to her chagrin at disturbing her actual hot bed of activity and Eli makes a stop by with Peter’s new lawyer Mike Tascioni. The grand jury has started and they still don’t quite know what Peter is being investigated for, but they are slowly piecing the clues together. First up Lloyd Garber who they figured was the redacted name on Elsbeth’s client list and while this might be clutching at straws I still think my Will Gardner theory is a possibility even if nothing in this episode points to the stuffed ballot box switch. Over the course of this season Eli has spent a lot of time standing on his desk eavesdropping at a vents and he gets to put this skill into practice at the courthouse. Alicia inadvertently discovers that the vent in the bathroom can pick up dialogue coming from the room in which the grand jury is convened, but it is illegal for her to listen as both a lawyer and someone who is going to testify. For Eli it straddles the unethical/illegal line and we get to hear everything the way Eli does; it is muffled and at times the construction workers in the ladies bathroom can be heard and I love it when they mess with perspective in this way. It is frustrating for Eli, but he does manage to pick up some useful information namely that it is something from 2012 and the name Lock is important.

Like his ex-wife, Mike Tascioni has a very good way of unnerving and disarming people and he seemingly gives away all their strategy and clues. Instead he is using this to rattle their opponents and see whether they are investigating the right things. They believe Lock is a person and that he was someone that was put on trial for murder; the case ended in a mistrial and it is one from Cary’s time working at the DA’s office. Cary mentions to Eli that Lock had a top team of defense lawyers but they never did a source of funds. Lock’s father, whoever that might be could hold the key to this whole investigation. Or this is all a red herring and my Will Gardner theory is correct. Speaking of Will he comes up in conversation when Diane approaches Alicia about her long term plans for the firm. It turns out Cary and David Lee have a right to be concerned as Diane does have plans to push Cary out and bring Alicia in as a named partner again. Diane isn’t going after an all female firm, just all female named partners. Diane claims it is because she needs someone like Will and Cary is no Will. I am inclined to agree, but only because Cary has barely been given anything to do this season and not because I don’t think he is a good lawyer.

Diane thinks differently and on my list for these final episodes is for a decent storyline for both Diane and Cary. I’m not sure if this is the one I would go for and it is a bit of a bummer to see Diane turn her back on the person she championed from the start, but here we are. If this means more screentime for Diane and Alicia together then that will be one bonus at least. Post-Will funeral martinis included a discussion about this and I do think Will would be very much on board with Diane’s plan as Alicia’s comments to Lucca seemed to suggest. Even if she does an accidental Jason name slip and thereby reveals her recent activities to Lucca. Lucca at least doesn’t feel the conflict of this name mix up and instead is very happy that her friend is having fun.

For her part Lucca also thinks Alicia should tell Cary what Diane is planning even though Alicia appears to be leaning toward Diane’s suggestion; Alicia’s ambition lamp burns bright. For now she is going to turn her brain off and that means more Jason time, but she can’t ignore the knock at her door for too long.

In somewhat related news this is the style highlight from “Hearing” and when the pizza guy tries to mock him for his choice of robe, Jason delivers on the not giving a fuck response. At this point in time it is hard to picture Jason getting either flustered or embarrassed. It is all fun and games at the moment, but I do wonder how Peter will react if/when he finds out and whether this is just a fling or something more.

Tags: "Hearing", 7.16, Alan Cumming, Christine Baranski, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife