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The Good Wife, Unethical Shortcomings and Simply Being a Lawyer

The Good Wife sure knows how to start the year with a flurry of emotions and it looked like Cary’s future would involve swapping pocket squares and suits for a jumpsuit. Before watching “Hail Mary” I was pretty sure I wanted The Good Wife to see this story through; not because I want to see Cary in prison for a crime he didn’t commit (far from it), but it felt like a bold story choice and I had concerns the easy less interesting route would be another case of Kalinda finding a magical piece of evidence in the eleventh hour. Instead it has created an entirely different tangled mess for Kalinda and one which will probably play a big part in Archie Panjabi’s well publicized exit arc.

Cary’s predicament allows for self-reflection and his future is this big blurry mess of nothing; what do you do when the one thing you were sure of is taken away?

Alicia is prepping for her imminent debate with Prady meaning she is once again absent from the majority of the Cary race against the clock – episodes which involve a tight time deadline like this are always a favorite of mine – but she is more involved than she has previously been much to Eli’s annoyance. Alicia still remains out of the loop and because everything is taking place over the phone (like every call with Kalinda since season 4) she does unknowingly slip up when she mentions to Cary that all hope is not lost.

Corruption is a shared theme between these two storylines as Alicia’s debate focuses on the unethical shortcomings of the current and past SA office. Yep, Alicia isn’t holding back on Peter’s shortcomings. Kalinda meanwhile is pulling every move she can to try and save Cary from going to jail including tampering and changing evidence to make it look like an email had been read, when in fact it had been sent to a spam folder and deleted without ever being seen. It’s not like Kalinda hasn’t ever broken the law or gone to extremes but there is something about this move which has me very worried for where she is heading.

Bishop’s kitchen shouldn’t be terrifying but it has been the center of many heated conversations and Kalinda pushed him too far in the last episode; just look at how small and nervous she looks in this location. Kalinda has a couple of pressing concerns as not only is she in Bishop’s favor debt and awaiting a phone call all episode to say what said favor is, but she has now hacked a police officer’s email account to exonerate Cary. And she didn’t need to do either. Well, maybe the Bishop favor for finding Cary a jail friend isn’t needed, but that phone call is the catalyst for realizing there was an import/export error in the first place so that one can stand. It is the other part that really wasn’t necessary.

Kalinda is usually the evidence finding unicorn of The Good Wife and instead the honor of this prize this week goes to the other Carey as he infers from the transcript there is someone else who was part of the Trey Wagner interrogation. This evidence comes late and Diane has already delivered the other Hail Mary of email fakeness and the look on Kalinda’s face when she realizes she is too late is full on gut punch. Now is the time to praise the face parts acting of all involved with Judge Cuesta overturning Cary’s charges and setting him free as Matt Czuchry once again delivers face crumple perfection along with Christine Baranski. Destroyed all over again and for my worries that Cary would get off due to a technicality I can’t be mad when it delivers performances like this. Plus this isn’t a simple case of evidence equals acquittal as Kalinda’s conflicted reaction all too clearly shows (amazing face parts acting from Archie Panjabi here too).

Teary relief is what happens in the courtroom; when Alicia finds out a rare broad smile is etched all over her face and she lets out an unbridled “WOOH” at what she thinks is an empty parking garage. Turns out Johnny is there and she takes her joy one step further by planting a smooch on his mouth. How much we are meant to read into this moment is unclear as the earlier close up and whispered encouragement definitely cranked up the sexual tension, but it also feels like a spur of the moment emotional release and Johnny just happened to be standing there. No, Alicia is not the kind of person to just randomly kiss anyone and I wonder if Finn had been there whether if she had done the same the power strut that followed would have taken place. I am inclined to believe that it would have been far more than a brief on the lips kiss if it had been the case especially as their debate prep sparring was fully charged in a playful flirty manner even with the mudslinging. They really appeared to be relishing this back and forth until Peter showed up and cockblocked the whole thing, because of course he did. One thing is clear; as chief Alicia/Peter shipper Eli is going to be super pissed at Johnny if he finds out about this parking garage interaction.

Ah yes Peter, and Alicia gets to work her full controlled anger on him as she takes him to task making it clear that she isn’t going to be portrayed as an extension of his current or past administration; Alicia is very much her own woman. It is never not boring to watch Alicia go at Peter like this and I kinda wish she was debating her husband instead of Prady next week. Going into the why of this decision to go for State’s Attorney and Alicia strips it down to the basics mirroring the reason why she likes the law; it is all about control and she believes that she can put the job before self-interests. Of course she doesn’t mention the real more base levels as to why she is running – Gloria Steinem encouragement and Castro’s goading – and this idea of simply being a lawyer when stacked up against all the political machinations that come with this job could be a pipe dream.

Mirroring Alicia’s “simply a lawyer” notion from another angle is Cary as he ponders what his life will look like after all of this; all he has ever wanted to be is a lawyer and now he can’t figure anything out. I think we are meant to wonder if Cary is going to take Bishop’s Spain offer but Bill, his prison consultant (The Wire’s Domenick Lombardozzi) has already pointed out the obvious regarding how terrible Cary would be as an outlaw. Even if that is a very healthy looking bank account.

The ethical line is constantly shifting on The Good Wife particularly when the stakes are huge and there is no way this isn’t going to come back to haunt Kalinda in one way or another, which could also impact Cary in a devastating manner.

Bonus style time and I couldn’t end this first Good Wife post of 2015 without mentioning the red coat Alicia wore in her parking garage smooch and stomp of glory:

This coat looks familiar and that’s because it is from the same coat family as one of my ultimate costume pieces; the Diane von Furstenberg Cosima coat from Orphan Black. Alicia’s has a different collar design and is the ‘Mikhaila.’ It is not surprising to see Alicia wearing this color when she pulls this defiant move.

Tags: "Hail Mary", 6.11, Alicia Florrick, Archie Panjabi, Christine Baranski, Cosima Coat, DVF, Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry, Orphan Black, The Good Wife

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Categories The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

Best of TV Costuming 2014: The Good Wife and Grieving

9 Dec

Welcome to TV Ate My Wardrobe’s “Best of 2014″ costuming series and rather than doing a straightforward countdown we’re going to do a variety of posts that look at which costumes and shows have made a huge impact this year. From items that we want in our own wardrobe to pieces that got everyone talking, we want to look at this year’s TV through the prism of costume.

One of the biggest TV moments for me this year was the death of Will Gardner on The Good Wife and how this took what was already a thrilling season and upped the ante to new levels as everyone dealt with the aftermath of this tragedy. This story resonated for a number of reasons and the unexpected and sudden nature put us in the same position as Alicia as they somehow managed to keep this story under wraps; this was not an expected departure – even if it was common knowledge that Josh Charles’ contract was up at the end of the season – and because Will and Alicia’s relationship was unresolved this death hit hard. It is definitely the first time I have ever cried while writing a review.

The education of Alicia Florrick is at the center of The Good Wife and Will’s death is a stab to that heart. Even when they were fighting for the majority of the fifth season there was still a spark and the reconciliation of sorts in a New York City diner hinted at the next phase of their relationship. This was not to be the case as Will was gunned down by his own client at the end of the next episode. The wardrobe of grieving can be many things but when Alicia finds out that Will has been killed she is in appropriately somber clothing and she spends the episode with her zip done all the way up and shrouded in her black coat. As I said it is appropriately somber. This is followed by more black clothing for the funeral (and post funeral drinks with Diane) but color isn’t completely lacking in these episodes as you can see in this shot of Alicia with Grace’s old tutor Jennifer.

It’s after the funeral in “A Material World” where there is a shift in Alicia’s attire as she goes from her usual well put together fancy suits and reverts to sweats. Climbing beneath the sheets – initially while still wearing her court clothes – and contemplating only the heavy handed drama on Darkness at Noon is pretty much where Alicia is at. This move is not surprising as she needs to escape the pain of her own world by watching manpain on her favorite show. Alicia is all about control (it is why she likes the law so much) and this experience allows her to let go of everything she has known to be true for as long as we have known her. On one hand there was Will – the real love of her life where bad timing played its part in keeping them apart – and then there is Peter. Peter is the disappointment, the facade of a marriage that has always been broken since we entered Alicia’s life.

Alicia ending things with Peter when she looks at her least put together is entirely appropriate and this is a conversation that has been a long time coming. It is a rehash of the same argument we have heard countless times as both Alicia and Peter use their past indiscretions to hurt the other. The main difference now is that Alicia doesn’t hold back screaming that her affair meant something and we’ve reached the point of no return for the broken Florrick union. Now she is acknowledging how their coupling is a benefit professionally to both of them, but anything else is completely off the cards. They are done. No going back this time and Peter doesn’t get a say.

Seeing Alicia take control in this manner all while wearing her sweats is a fist pump eliciting moment and something I have been longing to see. Okay maybe transfer super swanky red gown for the sweats in how I envisioned it, but the lounge wear is actually far better because this look is so unexpected. Peter has no patience or empathy for Alicia’s pain, he thinks his wife is being dramatic and maybe she is, however this is what happens when your heart gets ripped from your chest. Peter belittles her loss by inferring that Will’s death isn’t like losing a child or a husband; this is the point where she realizes she is done with his BS and passive aggressive comments about the political function she has missed. He is now free to screw around with whomever he wants to, as long as it doesn’t hurt either of them professionally.

While Peter has indeed invoked the ‘sleep with whoever you want’ clause (and by the sounds of it with someone who he has previously cheated on Alicia with), Alicia is yet to do anything beyond flirtation (with Lost’s Nestor Carbonell and Finn). One thing that is worth noting about Finn is that he saw her in her most vulnerable state and it is not just because he saw her in sweats over her well put together wardrobe. Rather than avoiding Finn, which would have been easy to do as Grace was about to turn him away, Alicia says it is okay for him to come into her bedroom. Her inner sanctum of hiding away from the world. This conversation reinforces not only how much Will meant to Alicia, but also creates this connection between Finn and Alicia that goes way beyond the insane chemistry they share.

Will’s death is a shocking moment and what could have been a cheap twist has been used to propel the characters forward in unexpected ways as well as exposing Alicia’s vulnerability and strength in equal measure. These days away from work allow Alicia to respond to this event in the privacy of her own home, but when she becomes aware of how little privacy there is thanks to the NSA surveillance it gives her a reason to get back out there and kick some ass. The comfy home clothes are discarded for now and the sharp suits are back; the wine cardigan will return but this renewed focus and sense of determination means the sweats have been banished for now.

Tags: Alicia Florrick, Best of 2014, Chris Noth, Finn Polmar, Josh Charles, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Goode, Peter Florrick, The Good Wife, Will Gardner

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Categories Best of 2014, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

The Good Wife and Certainty

24 Nov

A show in its sixth season can lead to familiarity and plotting that becomes easier to foresee, but with The Good Wife this has been far from the case as the storytelling has become even more daring the further it has progressed. Alicia leaving Lockhart Gardner last year took a devastating turn when Will was killed and this season opened with a surprise arrest for Cary that has dominated half of the story this season (Alicia’s campaign and the odd case of the week have filled the other half). This all culminates in the “The Trial” and despite the many obstacles they have come up against there is still a feeling that Cary will be exonerated; this is what Cary believes and his certainty sells it to the audience.

Plus they have Kalinda and she always manages to save the day at the last moment with a vital piece of evidence. Except this time it doesn’t go according to the plan we have seen many, many times on The Good Wife and a hard decision has to be made.

These weekly Good Wife posts tend to focus on Alicia (which is why I hesitate to call them reviews as I don’t always address the episode as a whole) and while I have touched on Cary’s predicament this season it is time to shine the spotlight on this character and Matt Czuchry’s performance. Czuchry delivers a wide spectrum of emotions shifting from confident subtle jubilation when the key witness hits the stand to crumpled realization when his Hail Mary lies; this is the face of a broken man and rather than showing his fears via a raised voice the understated reaction hits a bigger punch.

They are out of options and their evidence was flimsy to start off with; even though Cary is completely innocent everyone standing between him and jail is either dead or far too intimidated to tell the truth. With each passing week since Cary was first arrested one thing after another has stacked up against him from the multiple bail hearings to the extra accusations that have been leveled against him. As soon as they get one win, something else knocks him back down. Cary has still remained optimistic to a certain extent and he believes the law will come through for him because he is innocent. There is always another way, until there isn’t.

We are in the same position as Cary as we have seen The Good Wife pull a victory out of seemingly lost case on multiple occasions. This hope is misplaced when it comes to Cary avoiding jail time as each glimmer is struck down. The only option for avoiding jail is testifying against Bishop and Cary would be signing his own death warrant if he did this. Shoulder and hand squeezes of support are my misty eye trigger and there are plenty of these throughout the episode with everyone getting in on this action.

On separate occasions both Cary and Kalinda mention how they are ready for this to all be over; for Kalinda I am sure she wants an end to the constant intimidation from Bishop and Cary wants to regain a semblance of who he is. These past four months has seen his self-assured demeanor get chipped away and despite appearing like everything is all good as he wears his impeccable super sharp suits with matching pocket squares, Cary has definitely lost his sheen. When he gets given a secret option to avoid prison with an offer from Bishop he can’t take it because then this nightmare will never be over. Also they can’t take Matt Czuchry away from us like this, not when they have finally given him a killer storyline.

Alicia’s has been absent through a lot of this process, in part because she had to step down from representing Cary and largely due to her campaign. The pointed comment from Judge Cuesta regarding Alicia’s court presence and how she managed to squeeze it into her busy schedule could be seen as a dig at how absent she has been and yet she has been there to pick Cary up when it matters most. Cary and Alicia’s relationship has endured many contentious moments from their first year competition to the way they butted heads over Diane coming over to their new firm; one thing that has thrived is respect and compassion. Alicia is important in this situation because there aren’t complicated feelings involved as with Kalinda and they have a bond that is on a more personal level than Cary and Diane. The scene where they discuss Cary’s lack of options and Alicia still wants him to fight is heartbreaking as she is the one holding onto the idea that the law is just. Shoulder squeeze, tears, hugs and this question “You’ll come see me?” quite possibly broke me (okay yes it definitely broke me).

Other points of certainty and one that Eli reinforces throughout the episode is how Alicia really shouldn’t joke about ANYTHING, but especially if it includes stabbing one of Grace’s teachers. It doesn’t matter that Alicia was quoting her favorite show (Darkness at Noon of course) or that she was joking because this is a hard thing to spin. Watching Alicia’s campaign team of Eli, Johnny and magnificent bodywoman Marissa – I just want to repeat how much I need my own Marissa in my life – is the comedic interlude this episode needs as they try and figure out how to dig Alicia out of this new hole. The cycle keeps on spinning and when an easy solution presents itself to them, Alicia refuses as she doesn’t want to be the same as Peter accepting patronage to smooth things out.

Eli scoffs at Alicia’s ethics and it is interesting to note who does what unethical act in this episode; Alicia won’t take patronage but she will ask Finn for a favor regarding his former ASA knowledge of Cary’s case. At first Finn calls this unethical and yet on a second (very flirty diner meet up that once again had me yelling ‘MAKE OUT’ at the screen) he relents giving her something they can use. Kalinda’s attempt to use this information ends up screwing Cary over even further as she threatens Bishop where it hurts most – his son – and the last time someone wanted to take Dylan away they ended up dead. If Bishop is willing to kill Dylan’s mother he really is capable of anything. And Peter comes through to help Alicia out with her problem doing the very thing that Alicia didn’t want done in a roundabout way. The only person with something at stake that doesn’t do something unethical is Cary when he turns down Bishop’s Barcelona offer. Although he does ask Alicia to ask Finn about the plea deal so I guess that counts. Basically everyone is willing to bend the rules in one way or another.

Cary’s change of plea at the end of the episode comes across as very final and now we have the long wait until January 4 to see what will happen next. Yep, over a month without The Good Wife. *Sigh*

[Source]

Tags: "The Trial", Alicia Florrick, Cary Agos, Christine Baranski, Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry, The Good Wife

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

Public and Private Spaces on The Good Wife

17 Nov

“I always hated it that these offices were glass.”

Private spaces are hard to come by on The Good Wife and offices made of glass windows mimic the scrutiny of Alicia’s current situation. There are few places where Alicia doesn’t have to contend with all eyes on her and one such place is her home, but even this is not entirely private as the security camera shot of Finn leaving her building reminds us. For Cary he doesn’t have the luxury of feeling safe anywhere, including his home as his life has been threatened and he’s incredibly vulnerable.

The Good Wife likes to play with different locations and once again elevators are used to great effect to show a variety of emotional states. “Sticky Content” was written by Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King and they are experts at producing an episode that oozes tension and forward momentum weaving both the campaign and Cary stories together.

Attack ads and introductory videos are the campaign order of the day with David Krumholtz joining the Florrick team as Josh Marnier, a campaign media specialist. Josh is another expert who ends up having to tell Alicia that her strategy is wrong and how she just needs to let her ideals go and let them do what they do best. Marissa Gold returns as Alicia’s bodywoman and all round voice of reason/snark. So far Alicia has been a pretty terrible candidate and she should have gone to Johnny straight away with the shoe box of dirt rather than stewing over it with an Alicia sized glass of wine; no matter how much will power she possesses, she was always going to crack. Like Johnny I am pretty cynical of Prady’s motives as this comes across as a manipulative power move wrapped up in an ‘oh shucks, I’m just a good guy’ routine. And it works as the first envelope sends Alicia into a mini tailspin. The Finn and Will (*sob*) photos don’t have an impact; it’s the ones of Peter and Ramona that sticks the needle in.

Alicia is all about control so when something disrupts this she tends to react in two different ways; confrontation and avoidance. These normally coincide with each other so she rings Peter up to yell at him – and the manner in which he answered sounded like his voicemail – and instead arranged the sit down interview to show how happy their marriage is. The second moment comes when she pops into see Finn after the super fake all smiles and hand holding Peter interaction. What this is motivated by is anger at Peter and Ramona coupled with desire as they’ve been flirting it up a storm for weeks now. A line is about to get crossed and Alicia seems somewhat relieved when she finds his office empty, but then he returns coffee cup in mouth and his usual super charming/attentive manner. The sofa conversation is the unlikely combination of awkward and comfortable; the warmth is there and yet there is an unspoken tension that overspills with a brief touching of hands. With Peter this gesture was empty and symbolical, here it is spontaneous and fully charged.

What this is reminiscent of is those moments in “Heart” and “Red Team, Blue Team” between Alicia and Will where empty office spaces and heightened emotions led to Alicia letting down her guard and allowing herself to be impulsive. Of course this is a very different set up and an interruption/realization of how public this space is causes Alicia to flee before anything more intimate can happen. The following day the weirdness of the night before is discussed and Alicia refers to the mood as “worrisome” – I think this is Alicia’s way of saying I think you’re hot but I can’t right now – and that people have expectations. It’s even more complicated than when Alicia was involved with Will and even if they want it to be simpler that’s just not happening right now. The line has been crossed as feelings have been verbalized (underneath layers and layers of subtext) and if they can find somewhere that has actual non see-through walls then maybe a conversation can be had (or something way more fun than talking).

Perhaps Alicia should take a page out of her husband’s book and improvise with the spacious car he is being driven around in. Peter rebuffs Alicia’s Ramona accusations, however it is worth nothing that he doesn’t deny having an affair with her back when they lived at Highland Park and this also supports the theory that Lauren is his child. Peter is also lying about the Ramona thing as the car smooching demonstrates. Alicia claims that she is angry not because she is jealous or that their agreement is invalid, but because this could fuck everything up for both of them. I think a small part of this is jealousy, particularly if this infidelity stems back to a time when she thought she was in a good marriage. At the same time it is very telling in how strongly she emphasizes that no, she will not be standing by his side again (“not in a million years”).

After this conversation Alicia is red dress wearing, guns blazing and she is willing to use and exploit her scandal and tragedy to sell herself in the introductory video. It sounds so incredibly fake and sincere all at once, because we know exactly how she really feels, but she’s selling to a public who don’t know her yet as the woman who went back to work in a time of hardship (she didn’t wallow) and then saw gun crime take away the person who took a chance on her when no one else would. There’s the perfect amount of misty eyes and resilience, plus she looks killer in that red dress. Until of course Prady’s mother wears the same dress in his own boohoo version of his life and why he wants to run; this is where I think the Prady campaign are being tricksy as if they did their research they know that Alicia’s power color is red. Coincidence? I think not. Or maybe I’m too cynical, but I don’t think Prady is the good clean guy he suggests he is.

Digitally changing the dress doesn’t work and she ends up looking like she’s wearing a wallpaper design and trying to recapture the (fake) sincerity of the previous version falls so flat. We do get the jokey version of Alicia including why she wanted to be home with her kids “because child services said I had to be” as she eye rolls through her terrible, terrible second attempt. It’s really fun seeing Alicia sucking so much at this, not that her campaign team is reveling in this really bad performance. In the end the decision is made to just go with the same dress as it is a far better option than this new take.

A leak is to blame for the Prady DINO attack ad, which comes in response to a “Who is Alicia in bed with now?” negative commercial from the Prady PAC. This is in reference to her clients (Sweeney and Bishop), but they could also be laying the foundations for affair accusations and this question could easily apply to both work and personal matters even if it is just an insinuation.

Let’s talk about one of The Good Wife’s favorite locations:

Elevators! Here this space looks huge and it shows Alicia as contemplative and lonely after the interview reinforcing the idea of a good marriage with Peter. This is her returning to the office to go see Finn and maybe do something about their flirting in what could be considered as a retaliation move.

For Cary this space is precarious as he doesn’t know what will welcome him when the doors open as he’s just heard a tape with Lemond Bishop threatening his life. It’s a tight claustrophobic, perhaps even coffin like location and at his building the shots are either in a close up or emphasizing how closed in he is. The flashes of someone with a gun coming up and shooting him add to the tension and fear. Elevators mean a whole lot on The Good Wife and we have seen them used as a place to sob alone, hook up or even as a host of awkward conversations; they can be equal parts private and public.

Cary’s home is no longer safe and in a bold move he chooses to visit Bishop in his after an encounter at the office reveals Cary’s new bodyguard (when the elevator doors opened – see you never know who is going to be on the other side) insinuating Cary has flipped. With Bishop’s son present in his home this is probably the safest place Cary could have gone to have this discussion with Bishop, but it still doesn’t stop Cary and the audience from feeling nothing but fear as Bishop’s presence alone is intimidating in any location. Cary is back on Bishop’s good side, but how long is this going to last with jail looming over Cary’s head?

Tags: "Sticky Objects", 6.09, Alicia Florrick, elevators, Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

The Good Wife and Entitlement: “I’m Marie Antoinette”

10 Nov

After the praise comes the negative feedback as Alicia hears the unfiltered thoughts of a focus group participant and spends the episode obsessing about it. While The Good Wife doesn’t go to the same lengths as Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation after a guy suggested something similar – he couldn’t see himself bowling or having a beer with Leslie – Alicia does learn some important campaign lessons from this incident while imbuing some very good advice to Cary also pertaining to an entitled attitude.

Every detail of Alicia’s life is being scrutinized from her religious affiliation to her achievements and her marriage is going to play a big part in someone’s general perception of her. For one older woman standing by Peter is a big tick in the Alicia column, whereas Sally a younger voter sees this as a negative point and she is the one who we see going back and forth on her Alicia opinions. Prior to Alicia announcing her candidacy the most anyone would know about her is from the press conference where she stood by Peter’s side and that was over five years ago; they are really reintroducing her to Chicago as a successful lawyer who has set up her own firm and for some it is hard to see beyond the woman who was all meek and pale while her husband admitted to sleeping with prostitutes.

A few weeks ago Alicia was getting nothing but praise as Eli was trying to convince her to run and this wasn’t just from a regular Sally, nope this was Valerie Jarrett and Gloria Steinem who were telling her she would make an excellent State’s Attorney. With Steinem it went a step further as she saw flashes of her bathed in a god like glow (mirroring the blue stage lights) telling her how amazing she is. This week they played with this notion of inner voice in a different way with an imagined version of Sally who made the initial entitled comment. In these scenarios she is both favorable and even more negative towards Alicia and while Alicia eye rolls at herself for this inner dialogue she still indulges in this behavior.

Negative comments like this that strike at the core of who Alicia is as a person are way more likely to cause obsession than if someone is complimentary so when Eli and Johnny tell her not to obsess about it this is a futile demand as all she can hear are the words ‘entitled’ and ‘selfish.’ And all she can see is this scrunched up face of disapproval:

Obsess is what Alicia does about these remarks and this calls for a chat with her new favorite drinking buddy who just so happens to be in his new office on the 27th floor. The current chair situation is the window sill so it’s a good thing Alicia brought her own glasses and whiskey. It is much quieter that their usual bar haunts and if a security photo of Finn leaving her building could harm her campaign couldn’t these very public bar meet ups do just the same amount for rumor stirring? I digress and Finn is currently confidant number one for checking in and dealing with any ‘how was your day?’ questions.

Finn is the only non family member/colleague/campaign person who is close to Alicia in any way and she doesn’t mind being vulnerable in front of him, most likely because when she first met him she was at her lowest ebb. There is a connection that goes beyond anything romantic that may or may not happen in the future (yes I yelled make out at the screen for the second week in a row) and Alicia is far less guarded with Finn than she currently is with anyone else on the show. Finn has also been told in the past that he is obsessed with his own pain/achievements by his ex-wife (the fact that she is now referred to as his ex-wife is also important in terms of future hook ups as it reinforces his singledom) and there is common ground here too.

In what was not meant to be a photo op Finn suggests to Alicia that she come volunteer at the same soup kitchen as he does – flirty banter times one million with the word saint being bandied around – and when she turns up in her super expensive suit from court they joke about what she is wearing. What is a joke between them including how he dresses down well (“you know I have a consultant”) turns into a bad news item for Alicia as she is photographed washing what looks like a clean pan while on the phone and in her fancy attire. This is not a good look to stop those entitlement claims and Alicia fixates on the already clean aspect of the pot the story is reporting. It is a small detail, but because she did actually do the cleaning it really pisses her off. The photo itself is kind of hilarious as it does make her look out of touch and shows just how easy it is to use the Saint Alicia brand against her. It’s the quotation marks around “works” that has got to hurt.

What this demonstrates is how naive Alicia is with campaigning and the press even though she has been through this process with Peter on several occasions. The soup kitchen was never meant to be a photo op situation and yet it became one as pretty much everyone has a camera in their pocket. Eli and Johnny are both incredibly experienced with every aspect of a campaign and Alicia finally gives herself over to them after this turns into a PR disaster. Protesting against using this as a moment to sell herself Alicia relents and goes through with an actual photo op dressed in suitably casual clothing – which explains this behind the scenes photo – although I’m surprised that Sally didn’t find this to be just as disingenuous as it is clearly a second attempt to get this moment right (even though the initial photo wasn’t staged). Alicia doesn’t actually have to become a better person, she just has to appear that way to the voters and if she really wants to be a good person; Eli will tell her “where to send the check.”

Alicia isn’t just getting called entitled, she is using it as a way to get through to Cary as his testimony in the mock trial is pretty much him raging and coming across terribly on the fake stand. If he does this in real court a jury will find him guilty. While Alicia has been mostly absent on commenting on strategy she does give him some excellent advice as he is so lost in his own indignation, he is making it impossible for anyone else to see the injustice. Cary is acting like a privileged brat and it is a front to cover how scared he really is; Matt Czuchry is doing a stellar job at showing the rage and fear. His ties and shirts continue to pattern clash including paisley and stripes followed by stripes and plaid. Cary still looks good, but the bold attire doesn’t do enough to cover the cracks. And never make jokes about Beyonce, the Beygency is always watching.

Part of him is all “I could never go to jail for 10 years” but the way he shakes the desk and yells at Diane reveals he is aware of the possibility and he can’t quite believe it. Kalinda has been a stabilizing factor, however she can’t be all that he wants her to be and not just because of the 30 feet rule that has been imposed as she is still in a relationship with Lana. It is hard to tell how much Kalinda cares for someone as there is always an aspect of self-preservation, but the hair down softer side and the breaking of the card Bishop gave her indicates this is more than just sex and a good opportunity to get information.

There is a variety of gender politics on display this week including the ripped from the headlines case involving rape on a college campus and how the universities are failing to protect their students. The focus group is told about this case and there is a divide in the room with it kicking off when one of the men refers to Alicia as a feminist activist like it is a bad thing. It is an important issue and The Good Wife has a track history of highlighting these kinds of real life crimes in a fictionalized form without sensationalizing it. Entitlement and perception comes into play with questions of how much alcohol was consumed and the only reason this student is expelled is due to a drug infraction. They win the case without really winning it.

We continue down the Alicia is still learning about campaigning tour with a valuable lesson of listen to Eli and Johnny, don’t fixate on one comment and accept that perhaps thanks to your privileged position you will come across as entitled. Also give good advice to your colleague who is in danger of going to prison and don’t listen to Eli when it comes to which cases you take on no matter how much it might impact your campaign as some things are worth more than voter points. Oh and now it’s just Alicia versus Prady as Castro has dropped out in a curiously out of the blue fashion.

Tags: 6.08, Alicia Florrick, Julianna Margulies, Red Zone, The Good Wife

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Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

Who is the Hypocrite on The Good Wife?

3 Nov

The desire to run for political office can be motivated by many things and The Good Wife has featured several characters stating honest and clean intentions. As Alicia is now running it has intensified the focus on campaign strategy and opened her up to a whole new level of scrutinization. In “Message Discipline” Alicia flails revealing weakness in how savvy she is when the preparation hasn’t covered all ground. Alicia also accuses the new opponent Frank Prady of being a hypocrite and while Prady seems sincere it is hard to buy his good intentions speechifying as plenty state honesty and are anything but.

Last week I discussed compromise and how Alicia had to make certain omissions about her belief system (in that she is an atheist and yet claimed otherwise during an interview) to stay in this race. Who is the hypocrite now? Even though it didn’t sit well with her, she still went ahead and played along using Grace for religious prep and citing a ‘struggle’ when it comes to religion; really the struggle is with politics. Alicia and family are two disconnected entities at the moment so when Frank talks about the Florrick family sitting at the dinner table talking politics this image seemed far from anything we have ever seen. Have we ever seen them have a dinner with just the four of them? If so it was very long ago as on other occasions Jackie or Veronica have been present and it has been chaos. Relationships are fraught as their marriage is a sham and Zach got an earful over the phone a few weeks ago regarding the abortion that Alicia only became aware of during oppo research. The abortion is referenced this week during interview prep and rather than giving the restrained answer, Alicia lets rip at Johnny (who is role playing as Prady) showing the full force of why you don’t go after Alicia Florrick’s family. This is something they can work with as controlled passion is fine, but don’t say ‘horseshit’ (which of course gets blanked out and in doing so it drives this point home). BS is fine.

The personal and the political are intertwined and previously Alicia had some say in limiting the access to their children, but now as she is running there are going to be plenty of softball questions about her family. This includes the ‘how do you find the time?’ opener that totally throws Alicia during her interview with Prady. Alicia is all about preparation and she is constantly taking notes; when something unexpected takes place Alicia finds it hard to react accordingly and she comes across as cold and stilted.

Alicia Florrick is one of my favorite characters on television and I love to see her mess up like this. Flawed, messy and complicated are all attributes I am drawn to and of course Saint Alicia is a brand construction that has little to do with the Alicia we have been watching for the past 5 years and she has made plenty of mistakes over this time. Very few of these flaws are seen by the public and now she is out of her comfort zone, which means there is a higher chance she will make mistakes on a larger stage. This occurs in “Message Discipline” as Frank Prady gets a series of gotcha moments (I wonder what horrors we didn’t see) going for the softball family questions when Alicia had prepped for abortion, affair and criminal activity. Her “I’m going home to get drunk” remark is meant to be a joke, but we know there is a bottle of red wine and a rather large glass waiting for her. Or at least another bar meeting with Finn (just make out already).

There are similarities between Frank Prady and Alicia if he is to be believed as they were both courted by an outside party and convinced to run for State’s Attorney. The other big similarity (also *if* Prady is being honest and who the hell knows if he is) is they both only entered after someone came after them with a personal attack as Alicia was tipped by Castro taunting her regarding Will’s death (and with Gloria Steinem’s encouragement) and an essay leak prompts Prady’s decision to enter. This is a piece of work Alicia didn’t want leaking and if he is telling the truth then Eli and Johnny made a mistake in alerting Castro to this essay. Of course Prady could be full of shit and his nice guy demeanor might all be part of his campaign strategy. It does feel like Alicia is making a mistake by calling him a hypocrite as she is basically doing to him what Castro did to her by making it personal. Prady’s unannounced visit is enough to rattle her and seeing Alicia reaching for her glasses and pretending to do work when he comes in is hilarious in how transparent it is.

Johnny and Eli are a dream team of scheming and manipulation when it comes to campaigning and while Eli knows Alicia very well (he still misjudges the whole Prady leak) they can’t prepare her for everything and it is clear much more work needs to be done. They know politics and Alicia knows the game to a certain point, but her involvement up to now has been very much as a periphery player and how many of her values can she really hold onto now she wants to win? Alicia does still say no to the things she thinks are dumb or beneath her, but she is malleable and it is up to Johnny and Eli to mold Alicia into a viable candidate and this includes doing the things that seem stupid.

A quick note on costuming before I turn my attention to the Cary situation and the episode is bookended with simple monochrome outfits while Alicia is at the office. The two jackets Alicia wears while visiting Prady are striking and she is wearing richer power colors for the campaign in contrast with her general work attire of late, which has been sticking to neutrals.

The blue Escada* toggle jacket (with matching toggle-detail dress**) contrasts with Prady’s burgundy tie (which mirrors the color of Alicia’s jacket during their first meeting) and yet she ends up blurring into the blue of the background. It is bold jacket and strong blue tone, but she doesn’t stand out here and it is indicative of how horrible this experience is for Alicia.

*The tuxedo style jacket Alicia wears in the final scene is also Escada and this outfit instantly reminded me of this season 5 outfit when Alicia returned to L/G for the first time after the big split (this jacket is also by Escada).

** Update! The Escada toggle dress and jacket despite looking very similar is not what Alicia is wearing in the above scene instead as per costume designer Daniel Lawson it is a Pucci suit.

While Alicia has to scramble for half of the episode, Cary continues his journey down shitstorm alley when Finn discovers yet another potentially devastating piece of evidence relating to Cary and Lemond Bishop’s drug empire. Cary is also dealing with the Kalinda 3o foot rule and never has an iMessage conversation been so sad on television. The longing looks that punctuate this conversation between Cary and Kalinda is matched by the equally heart wrenching phone conversation at their new former offices. Their office space has walls now, but when they are made of glass they are perfect for intense and emotional forbidden discussion moments. They can’t stand next to each other and yet these are some of the most intimate interactions we’ve seen between this pair. Castro’s desire to get Cary has nothing to do with Cary; it is all Alicia related so it makes it worse that Alicia is so preoccupied with her campaign she has no idea just how much shit Cary is in. A desperate last minute ‘good luck in court’ is not enough. Alicia promised last week they would work at this as a team and so far she is failing to come through with this claim; their relationship is already strained and I wonder how much more Cary can take.

Finn has quit the SA office as a result of Castro’s tunnel vision with this case so if Alicia does win this frees up any kind of power disparity between the pair. There also happens to be a whole floor of office space available and late nights are very much a thing on the cards. Finn still can’t reveal anything about the Cary case to Alicia, but maybe after a few more drinks he will spill.

Alicia hasn’t always been the confident lawyer she is today and her campaign missteps are reminiscent of her early court days. Someone else who bears a resemblance to Alicia is Ramona; the mother of the intern who favored sans underwear and a Florrick family friend. Like Alicia, Ramona is returning to the law after raising her family and Alicia ends up asking all the questions she got when she also came back to her former profession. There is warmth here amid the slightly patronizing tone and Alicia really hasn’t kept up to date with her friends from her ‘good wife’ days. Ramona has good instincts where she lacks in confidence and I have a suspicion there might be a Peter/Ramona connection a la Will and Alicia, as Peter stumped for her in the same way Will did for Alicia in the beginning.

When it was just Castro versus Alicia it was about the bad versus the good with a dollop of personal animosity in the mix; now Prady has entered the race the dynamic has completely changed. The energy David Hyde Pierce brings in this first episode is entirely different as his temperament is very mild mannered, but beneath the surface he comes across as incredibly savvy and I am so happy to have him on board to mess with both Alicia and Castro.

Tags: "Message Discipline", 6.07, Alicia Florrick, costume design, Escada, Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

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Categories The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

The Struggle is Politics: The Good Wife and Compromise

27 Oct

At one point in “Old Spice” Alicia comments that she “doesn’t like pretending to be someone she is not” as a result of the religion focused interview she has just taken part in. The question of who Alicia is or rather who Alicia wants to be (or even who she is perceived to be) is at the heart of The Good Wife from the title of the show itself to every move we have seen Alicia make from first-year associate to starting her own firm.

Alicia’s life has been entangled with politics since Peter entered this professional sphere, but it is the opening scene of her standing next to her disgraced husband that blurred the line between public and private; while we have seen glimpses of who she was prior to this our relationship to her has been primarily from this moment onward and it was only from this point that the press really cared about who Alicia Florrick is. Now there is a new update to the Alicia Florrick story and the media went crazy for the next chapter in Alicia’s life as she takes a leap from lawyer to political candidate.

There is a lot of talk about honesty this week as Alicia struggles with the idea of lying about her faith (or lack thereof) to secure votes and this ends up not only compromising her, but also Grace who has been helping her brush up on her religious knowledge (treating it like courtroom prep). It’s a bad position to be put in and when Alicia ponders whether she should simply refuse to answer the question she gets told there is no way around this; “it is none of your business” is not an option to this personal question, even if it should be enough. It is an interview that could sink or swim her campaign, a campaign she has only just entered and if she told the truth about her atheist stance as she has done in the past then she is torpedoing her campaign before it has even begun. Alicia complains to Johnny that the “political rules keep changing” but the religious question is one that has been prevalent for some time now and I’m surprised Alicia is surprised her lack of religion will be an issue (it shouldn’t be, but here we are).

Alicia talks of a struggle and when Grace presses the question wondering what this struggle is exactly; Alicia’s answer is “Politics.” Alicia doesn’t feel the need for God or faith and this circles back to her answer a few weeks ago about why she became a lawyer:

“I like clarity. I like rules.”
“And you wanted to help people with those rules.”
“No. I know I’m supposed to say yes. I just wanted to be inside something that made sense to me. I never thought about—”
“People?”
“Yeah.”

This is a pragmatic answer rather than an empathetic one and Alicia tends to work at things from this angle including her reasoning last season for why she ended things with Peter aside from their marriage as a political tool bump “It’s a decision. I like decisions.” This is pretty much Alicia’s mantra on life as she likes to know what the boundaries are and it is why she is thrown when someone is dishonest with her from Kalinda’s long ago betrayal to Zach’s more recent indiscretion and subsequent cover up. Now she is making these compromises herself and while this walking around the religion question by claiming she is open to the idea of it, is of course a barefaced lie it means she is still a viable candidate which is of course the goal of this entire exercise. There are two points where Alicia bristles during the interview; the first is when Will gets brought up and she doesn’t deny that she searched for faith at this time. Instead the opposite is true as when Grace approached her mother and told her that Will was with God now, Alicia rejected this notion and the idea of why this tragedy happened.

The second moment of looking uncomfortable during this interview and attempting to sidestep the question is when Grace is referenced and it is one thing twisting the truth entirely about her own beliefs, but it is clear she feels extra shitty when her daughter’s beliefs/guidance is mentioned. It’s not like Alicia can come clean to using her daughter as a religious cheat sheet for both this interview and earlier this season for a case. Grace gets praised at her Bible group and she looks extra guilty for this lie she is caught up in as her friends are so happy she has ‘reached’ her mother. Grace uses the same ‘struggling’ euphemism to sidestep how she reached her ‘hardened’ mother and this further compromises Grace.

Alicia’s ability to answer these questions without committing too much to anything shows she is already learning one of the all important tricks to the trade, in fact it is something she has been good at for a long time; it’s just she doesn’t normally have to use her daughter to notch up a win. Whenever Peter has run for anything Alicia has always been insistent that their kids are not involved and inadvertently both Zach (because of the oppo research) and Grace are already part of the SA campaign. It was inevitable that they would be a fixture of questioning and sadly the family/work balance is a question a woman is more likely to get than a male candidate and her role as mother/wife is something that will be taken into consideration even if it has nothing to do with the position she is running for.

The Saint Alicia brand has nothing to do with religion of course, but it would be a dent in that persona if she had stuck to her atheist guns and I can’t help but wonder when the other accusations of infidelity are going to be unleashed. My money is still on some kind of iCloud hacking ‘ripped from the headlines’ scenario.

Elsewhere, Cary is still getting himself into bother as he technically breaks his bail conditions landing himself a list of stricter terms including a ban from interacting with Kalinda; this is what she gets for calling him “the most honest person I know.” If Cary is going to break any of these restrictions this is going to be the one. Alicia hasn’t been very present at work and particularly with Cary as she wasn’t even aware that he had been rearrested until the next day and despite their many recent disagreements she refuses his suggestion of taking a break from work; in it together and all that. There is a lot on Alicia’s plate at the moment and as the season/her campaign progress I wonder what will fall by the wayside first.

While it was a meandering episode for the most part and even though I love Elsbeth I am finding it hard to care about the case she is part of or even the flirtation/hook-up with the just as kooky Josh Perotti. Except for the part where she got him with the single party consent, which was pretty awesome. Oh and every frilly shirt is an Elsbeth costuming dream.

The end is what really sells this episode and the return to their former Lockhart Gardner (& Canning) offices that have been trashed by the previous inhabitants (taking all the ‘F,’ ‘A’ and ‘L’ from the keyboards) is full of former ghosts and references to where they have come from.

Insisting that Alicia takes her old office, Diane is turned down and there is something fitting about Alicia taking the office that holds so much meaning. I had reservations about the return to this office space, but the look shared between Alicia and Diane as she sits at what was once Will’s desk it is enough to convince me that this isn’t regression at all. This is all through very misty eyes of course and I don’t know why I hadn’t considered who would get Will’s office, but this hit me like a sucker punch of emotions. His name isn’t even uttered in this episode; however his presence is clearly felt.

Diane standing defiant in her office while wearing yet another magnificent pin is something I will never get bored with; she thought she was doing the kind thing by offering to take Will’s former work abode by suggesting she needs a new start, but she sees Alicia will be more than fine in these surroundings. The slight mirroring between Alicia and Diane in this scene comes in part from their attire as both are working a zipped look, with Diane’s No. 35 jacket being far more showy with fur cuffs and trimmings than Alicia’s Akris belted grey dress and this fits their style as Diane tends to lean towards opulent detail whereas Alicia sticks to clean lines. Emotions are running high for both women and it is a big moment for them and us as an audience watching this exchange.

The Alicia we met in that pilot episode is so far removed from the one we see now and while Diane has been an influence on her, Will’s impact was far more than just romantic and when Alicia references how different things are from six years ago in her interview Will is a big part of that. Returning to the place where she started is not a step back for Alicia, it might be a regression for Cary who has been pushed to the side once again as his legal problems continue. Cary has always played second fiddle in these offices and it is understandable why he voted against moving back here no matter how many infrastructure problems their current home has. All control is getting wrestled away and while Alicia reassures him that they are in this together with him tucked away in David Lee’s former office and Alicia being so close to Diane they are aligned in both proximity and most recently with their decision making. Cary is the one making all the work compromises and it probably won’t be long before Cary makes a terrible hook-up decision as he did in “Old Spice.”

Tags: "Old Spice", 6.06, Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife, Will Gardner

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Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

Sucking it Up on The Good Wife

20 Oct

From Scorned Wife to State’s Attorney Candidate! The political press has been gifted a great fairy tale of sorts with Alicia’s announcement and it is not surprising to see direct callbacks to The Good Wife’s pilot this week; the media use the shot of Alicia standing by her man at the prostitute confession press conference to frame this narrative and the audience revisits the corridor of confrontation where Alicia slapped Peter in the very first episode and it acts as a Peter/Alicia showdown location once again.

This is a strong visual parallel and “Shiny Objects” is primarily concerned with the idea of compromise and while we’ve seen Alicia make a lot of sacrifices for Peter in the past, she’s no longer the meek looking woman standing beside him when he needs her to be the ‘good wife.’ If a relationship is all about the give and take, then Alicia is using this moment to show Peter how serious she was when she said their facade of a marriage would benefit them both.

Since Will’s death Alicia has questioned her role in the legal world, wondering if she made a mistake becoming a lawyer and this crisis of faith (the faith being the law) was completely understandable given the personal trauma. A new fire has been lit inside her and despite all of Alicia’s persistent remarks that she wasn’t going to run, it was very clear from the first episode of season 6 that Alicia would enter the SA race. Flattery is a big part of her decision and who wouldn’t want to run after multiple people (including personal heroes) have said how good she would be. On this stage Alicia is the shiny object and Peter is the one dishing out all the compliments and no matter how much disdain she has for him earlier in the episode, Alicia can’t hide how much pleasure she derives from Peter showing up like a hero at the crucial moment.

Peter might come across as the good husband at the end of the episode, but it is only after he has acted like a spoiled brat not wanting to share the stage with a dude who he thinks Alicia is sleeping with. It’s all about pride of course and during this argument Peter isn’t willing to concede. Instead he resorts to pathetic innuendos when Alicia tells him to suck it up, suggesting this is what Alicia has been doing with Finn. No, nothing has happened between this pair beyond so much flirty banter on the phone and in bars (just kiss already please). Alicia is the one with the power in her personal relationship with Peter as she laid out the rules of their marriage and there has been no wiggle room for reconciliation; these are Alicia’s terms and she’s not letting him get close again. This is until he swoops in to offer his endorsement after Finn has delivered his; this is quite the master manipulation moment and I wonder if this action will open Alicia up to a more cordial and receptive relationship with her husband.

The marriage for show arrangement to help both their careers is going to get more difficult as the spotlight will be firmly back on their every move and they might have to spend more time together to sell the whole power couple thing to the public. Alicia brought up the prostitute scandal to emphasize why Peter was out of turn for objecting to Finn’s involvement and considering the location of the argument (the same corridor from the slap in the pilot) it isn’t surprising that Alicia’s mind went there. Plus it is her trump card in any given situation considering she “stood by you like a grinning fool” – sidenote there is no grinning on display when Alicia stood by his side 5 years ago – and he really does owe her for this. Peter tells her to “Let it go” (cue singing) and is he justified in this response?

Eli and Johnny are both concerned that if Peter is on stage when Alicia makes her speech it will recreate the scandal photo and Peter knowingly stays on stage despite this strong visual reminder. It looks like he is making a sacrifice for Alicia by doing this, but to me this is all about creating an image of humility and it also removes any kind of spotlight that might have been on Finn. Alicia tells Peter that Finn is sticking his neck out with his standing in the SA office and if he is indeed jeopardizing his already wobbly relationship with Castro then Peter is making sure Finn is doing it for no plaudits whatsoever. Finn claims he isn’t sacrificing anything when Alicia tries to bump him from saying a few words by using concern for his job when Peter is the actual reason. The scene in the bar points to a couple of things; it is another case of flattery convincing Alicia as his words prompt her defiance in the face of Peter’s petty objection and Finn is rather attuned to Alicia’s moods as he can tell she’s not giving him the real reason. This is something we have seen time and time again with this pairing (including earlier on the phone in this episode) and there’s a real sense of compatibility here beyond the crackling chemistry.

Other than the positioning of which side they are standing on the two photos from the scandal press conference to the endorsement couldn’t be more different and it is perfect fodder for the MSM (oh Eli). Alicia hasn’t worn red for quite some time now and it is significant that she chooses her power color in this moment. It projects strength and it is the polar opposite of her ‘wife of a politician’ houndstooth suit and pearls; there is no way she would wear something like the 2009 suit now (in my head she had a burning ritual of all her ‘good wife’ outfits, or at least gave them away). The 2009 shot shows a washed out, meek woman standing by her husband in this humiliating moment. Today she is standing strong, her hair looks fantastic and her husband is the one at her side and he is beaming with pride. Alicia is in command and she made this happen by not taking any of Peter’s macho BS earlier in the episode while pointing out how this works in his favor too. Peter’s pride is a big factor in his earlier ranting and rather than back down from her position, Alicia makes him see how his bullish behavior isn’t going to work and the compromise is going to work for him if he will let it.

There are other sacrifices made this week and after Diane clicks on a link that makes her look pretty naive it takes her back to her former firm and the position of asking David Lee for help. It’s not something Diane is all too happy about and she approaches her old office tentatively, before returning to a power walk when she is in view of her old office and David Lee’s new one. Diane’s return to her former workplace attire as is still Diane Lockhart levels of chic, but the Akris houndstooth coat is relatively understated.

Particularly when compared to the bold leopard jacquard Escada coat and chain statement necklace outfit she wore when she finished her last day at the firm. Same killer red lip color. Diane stalking the corridors of LG (or whatever its name is now) is always a joy to behold as she moves with such grace even when she is out of her comfort zone.

Diane has a pretty shitty week and the romanticism of a start-up firm is trumped by the less than perfect surroundings that she has become accustomed to and the cockroach in her drawer is the final straw. Diane reveals what David Lee told her about the LG lease that is still in her name and while he tried to use it to gain the upper hand he has given Diane the leverage to move her new firm back to the old one. To me this feels like regression and I can’t imagine Cary will be on board with this plan even if it does fuck over David Lee and Louis Canning. There are so many memories attached to their old offices and this power play could disrupt the already precarious workplace politics.

Meanwhile Kalinda continues to do what Kalinda does and use all of her sources to get the job done and this means no personal sharing even after the most intimate of acts. Kalinda has strong boundaries and she could end up pushing everyone away if she doesn’t learn to open up to those closest to her. Now that it has been announced that Archie Panjabi will exit by the end of the year I hope they will build upon these trust issues beyond just the rotation of former lovers in positions of power.

Returning to Alicia and the new phase this character is entering as we have already seen how much this decision has impacted those closest to her by essentially alienating her son and brother. Pushing people away is something Alicia is very good at as a form of self-protection – and it’s something she shares with Kalinda – and this campaign will test the limits of those closest to her.

Tags: "Shiny Objects", Alicia Florrick, Christine Baranski, costume design, Diane Lockhart, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Goode, The Good Wife

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Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

These Boots Were Made for Walking: A Few Thoughts on The Good Wife’s Departure News

16 Oct

Yesterday was pretty much the everything entertainment news days – HBO announcing plans for a standalone service, all of Friends on Netflix, NPH hosting the 2015 Oscars – but the one item that prompted the biggest response from me personally is the news that Archie Panjabi won’t be renewing her contract on The Good Wife. Rather than going the Josh Charles ‘secret exit even though we knew his contract was up for negotiation at the end of the season’ route, Panjabi has signed a development deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television which means it is time to announce her Good Wife exit.

This is a good move for Panjabi and hopefully whatever project she ends up with will serve her well. For me this news was met with an array of conflicted feelings ranging from well this makes sense considering how little Kalinda has had to do over the past few seasons to sadness that this character has really been left flailing for so long and it’s a shame they never really figured out what to do with her. It also means The Good Wife cast has got a whole lot less diverse.

Kalinda has been reduced to the magical case solving unicorn on The Good Wife and the person who can seduce anyone of either sex. She knows everyone and is generally the solution to narrative issues generally regarding whatever case of the week they are dealing with. Kalinda’s personal life was stomped all over when they introduced her ex-husband Nick in season 4 and while the Kings were quick to realize how much pretty much everyone who watched this show hated this character/storyline (and I still have the image of Nick smashing eggs on Kalinda’s chest etched into my mind) the damage was done. Everything after this has come across as clutching at straws with Kalinda including her several romantic relationships which tend to lean on getting some kind of professional leverage in the form of seduction. Cary is perhaps the only one who doesn’t fit this pattern; however she did use her closeness with him to get information for Will about Cary and Alicia’s exit from Lockhart Gardner resulting in trust issues between the pair.

The two people Kalinda has been closest to in a non-sexual capacity are Will and Alicia; Will is gone and Kalinda and Alicia haven’t shared a scene (other than over the phone) in 34 episodes. The latter friendship was destroyed when Alicia found out Kalinda had slept with Peter before they had met and while Robert and Michelle King were more than happy to dispose of Nick in a swift manner, they haven’t succumbed to the calls for Alicia and Kalinda to reconcile. Just look how good they were together.

A complex, close friendship can be just as compelling as a romantic connection and the breakdown of platonic love can be just as heart ripping out sad as the end of a passionate union. Lady friendships that don’t include petty jealousy or arguments over dudes are still too far and few between on television and even though this one ended because of a guy, prior to this it included all the tequila/beer drinking and the kind of strong rapport that makes this kind of pairing so special. Kalinda is part of the reason why Alicia grew more self-assured and confident in her abilities. The dissolution of their friendship also goes some ways to explain why both of them are pretty prickly and wary when it comes to getting close to someone new; they let down their guard with each other and got hurt in the process. Just thinking about Kalinda’s elevator sobbing after Alicia found out breaks me. Without Will or Alicia, Kalinda has been set adrift in a sea of flirtation and trying to figure out whether there is an ulterior motive to the actions of the person she is interacting with.

Alicia has also lost Will and Kalinda, but instead of reducing her to one aspect of her character she has thrived since (although I still think she needs more friends) and she does have a few drinking buddies she can trust on hand. Plus Alicia is never going find herself as a story afterthought; she is the title character after all.

Leather jackets, knee high boots and a notebook at hand (okay the above photo only has two out of three) are the Kalinda signature; however a character needs much more than costuming and props to be a fully formed thing and there’s been this constant struggle to find the right fit for her. So yes I am sad Archie Panjabi is departing, but I hope this means they will give her a kickass story to end on and hopefully one last shot of tequila with her former best friend (even if she disagrees with the ‘best’ part).

[Source]

Tags: Archie Panjabi, cast news, Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Comments 8 Comments
Categories The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

The Good Wife and Secrets: “Were we up to Something Naughty?”

13 Oct

When we first met Alicia Florrick she had been thrust into the spotlight as a result of her husband’s dalliances; a casualty of a political scandal that hit at the personal. Before this she had lived in complete obscurity in Highland Park as ‘the good wife’ having lunch with her tennis chums, picking the kids up from school and drinking a glass of wine at five o’clock. When Peter’s indiscretions became a matter of public record, this anonymity was no more. Alicia has since restarted her law career and gone on to start her own firm, remaining somewhat in the public eye. There has been attention from the press of course as her husband is the Governor of Illinois, but now Alicia has come around to the idea of becoming a politician herself, despite her numerous attempts over the past few episodes to claim otherwise. The final push coming courtesy of a flattered ego (word up real and imaginary Gloria Steinem) and a not so veiled threat invoking the personal.

Alicia claims she is still unsure whether she will run at the start of the episode (even though it’s pretty clear she will) and she reverts to her long ago hostess role preparing food and making sure there is wine. So much wine. Alcohol becomes important later on in the episode and while I don’t think Alicia has booze problem, it is easy for the opposition to spin it in such a way suggesting she does. If she had done the reckless thing and stayed in the bar for another drink with Finn and got a cab home instead of driving then there would have been no story. Or maybe a more salacious one.

The oppo research Eli has undertaken is extensive revealing deep dark secrets including Zach’s girlfriend Nisa’s abortion the previous year, her mother Veronica spanking a 5-year old boy in a department store and her brother’s affair with a married guy who also happens to be a porn star. Each of these things could have a negative impact on the campaign, but it also reflects how in politics even the people who aren’t directly involved are a target and represent a risk. Alicia’s personal life became fodder for the press when Peter slept with prostitutes and now her family will be placed under the microscope if she runs. The reactions vary greatly as Owen at first jokes about his mother’s actions and then is so disgusted by what Alicia tells him they have discovered – and I think he is far more annoyed at Alicia than Phil – that he dumps his wine in the sink and leaves without saying another word. Veronica plays along with Alicia’s demands and attempts to apologize to the mother of the child she spanked until she can’t exclaiming how she “should have spanked you, you bitch!”

Zach is the one who prompts the greatest reaction from Alicia as she can’t believe he would lie to her about something like this and the use of Zach memory pops in this episode underlie the feelings of betrayal, but should Alicia really be this surprised? There is no context as to what was going on with Alicia on August 5th the previous year and at first I wondered if this was when the Will shooting happened, but nope if Finn was seen leaving Alicia’s apartment on March 18th with his sling on, then this was long before Will’s death. Maybe it was around the time Alicia first decided to start a new firm, regardless it is easy to believe that Zach would and could keep a secret like this from his mom, no matter how open she has tried to be with her children. Everyone has secrets. Well everyone except Grace – Christianity 3 Atheism 0 – and her role in the episode is to provide the comedic interludes with her school choir practice and her old tutor/street dancer Jennifer.

A combination of playing voicemail tag and ignoring his calls means Alicia doesn’t have the conversation with Zach until the end of the episode and by this point Peter has alerted him to his mother’s rage. Alicia is angry at Zach for lying and she’s hurt not because they had an abortion, but because she was left out of the loop and it stings further because Nisa’s parents were there (in part because at 16 they have to legally be informed). It is likely this story will come out and if so Alicia wants Zach to tell a different story of how it went down; Alicia knew about it and told them she would help raise the baby, but they went for another option. This reeks of hypocrisy and it shows how Alicia can spin a story that has hurt her personally into a positive for her campaign “I need you to say I am a good parent.” Is she a bad parent for not knowing what Zach did? No of course not, teens can be sneaky and as Zach wasn’t the one who underwent the medical procedure it is something he could easily cover up with a story about visiting a college. She might not be a great parent for asking him to lie the second after she has yelled at him about lying to her, just so it will help her campaign.

The Good Wife centers on the education of Alicia Florrick and over the time we have spent with her we have seen multiple moral quandaries and compromises she has made whether in the courtroom or in her personal life. This is a show where the grey area is expansive and while words like ‘good’ and ‘bad’ get thrown around every character is complicit in some manner (yes even Grace Florrick). Darkness at Noon (Alicia’s favorite TV show) now has an accompanying post discussion show (so much AMC shade throwing in the episode) that’s not even a little subtle in its Talking at Noon title and includes guest star Joe Weisberg (creator of The Americans) discussing the symbolism of an elk (ha!) and who is the biggest badass on the show. They are talking in definitives and the question of whether someone is good or bad (or a badass) is in part redundant as these terms are abstract and can mean different things to different people. The middle ground messiness and flaws is where the fun is and while these digs at cable prestige dramas might come off as a touch petty, the sheer brassiness of these references adds to the hilarity.

Peter’s maybe recent dalliances are not discussed with Alicia and Eli finally gets his wish to fire Lauren, the intern with an aversion to panties and penchant for flirting with Peter. Eli’s raised ‘oh fuck’ eyebrow gets a later workout when he sees Peter flirting it up with Lauren’s mom who happens to be an ‘old family friend’ and also super hot. Eli’s putting out fires all over the place when it comes to the Florricks and their extra martial affairs with Alicia coming up with suitable answers for both surveillance photos of her with men who aren’t her husband. The one with Will cuts like a knife and that wound is still very fresh; it’s a picture from the hotel five years ago at the end of season 2 and if this one exists then surely there are more from their other hotel ventures. The second is another we have seen before and it was used by Castro last season to stop Finn from running as it shows him leaving Alicia’s apartment at 8.30 am. It’s all completely innocent as this was the day she was helping him prep for the disciplinary hearing.

For a brief moment Alicia contemplates staying for another drink with Finn and as with all their other interactions the chemistry is palpable – even when they are yelling at each other in court it is underscored with sexual tension – plus there is the natural warmth between them that has been present since their first meeting. Instead Alicia does what Alicia tends to do and go for the sensible hesitation option; it’s what we saw her do last season when she didn’t go into the bar to meet Richard Alpert from Lost and it is what she did on multiple occasions with Will. Alicia guards her heart for better or worse and even though it makes sense for her at this point to avoid any further messiness with personal entanglements I have to admit I was disappointed (though not surprised) to see Alicia not indulge in anymore witness prep.

One thing worth noting is how Alicia’s costuming goes from the high necked Jason Wu blouse, signifying an aspect of feeling guarded and covered while she is undertaking a personal undressing of sorts with Eli and her potential campaign manager Johnny Elfman to the slight décolletage revealing purple blazer in the bar. It’s not like she’s suddenly opting for all the cleav and nor would this outfit look out of place in court, however the contrast to her outfit in the first half of the episode is significant. Alicia’s relationship with Finn is already complicated considering his role in the Cary case and yet there are no hard feelings at this point. Finn is also a pair of eyes and ears on the inside with Castro as he warns Alicia that Castro will hit her where she is vulnerable. This isn’t exactly brand new information as Castro has already invoked the words ‘lover’ and ‘Will’ in the skeeziest of ways, however it is good to know that Finn is very much Team Alicia. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if he is one of the people who has donated money on the page set up by another Alicia supporter. Finn like Alicia has a habit of joking about matters that can be taken out of context and his comments about doing something ‘naughty’ is enough to give Eli all the eyebrow reactions.

Nothing is completely clean on The Good Wife and Lemond Bishop is no longer a client of Alicia’s instead he has set up a PAC that has raised a lot of money in just a few days and before Alicia has even announced. If there was a source of funds hearing on this money (legal Q – is this even a thing or is that just for bail?) then this would be problematic even if Bishop is a few people away from the source and it looks like Bishop is hoping to have the future SA in his pocket. Corruption follows everyone. Alicia has a more current problem to try and quell with the rumors of alcohol issues thanks to the DUI stop that just so happened to get caught on camera. This race has already hit the smear levels and she’s not even officially a candidate; just how low is Castro going to sink and will Alicia join him in the mud? Saint Alicia no more.

Tags: 6.04. "Oppo Research", Alicia Florrick, Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

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Categories Review, The Good Wife
Author Emma Fraser

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