brief thoughts on 'the good wife'
In my search for shows that do justice to female characters and their narratives and agency, I've had The Good Wife recced to me a few times. I started watching the show in Tasmania, since Ma's keen on it, so mother and I watched it with her- and we actually really enjoyed it! The plot was clever and engaging, lots of twists and turns, compelling characters...the one weakness? Alicia Florrick. The MAIN CHARACTER. *facepalm*
I swear I don't go into shows with the express intention of disliking the lead, but it happens so often! *sigh* I just cannot stand when shows coddle their protagonists, place them in a situation where they face a moral dilemma and then don't actually let them choose a side and deal with the consequences nor behave as a realistic human being would. Like, there's this case where Alicia is potentially liable for millions of dollars because she didn't get a form signed- so she's agonizing about admitting culpability for that or not, because on one hand, TRUTH FTW, otoh, ENORMOUS DEBT, OHNOES. That's fair enough. But then even when the form shows up, miraculously saving her ass (because shows like this would NEVER actually hold their lead accountable for a mistake like that), she still angsts like a complete moron because ZOMG, she doesn't remember signing that form? It seems suspicious?
Out of all the BILLIONS OF FORMS, she has no specific memory of THAT PARTICULAR FORM, and so she spends forever making mountains out of molehills, for no reason at all. I feel like the show is trying to ram down my throat that LOOK, THIS WOMAN IS REALLY CONSCIENTIOUS AND MORALISTIC AND LET'S BE SUPER PROUD OF HER, but it was a stupid issue for her to take a stand on, because goddamn, there is the form, there is her signature, she has no basis to doubt it, and yet she wants to be a drama queen! There's Kalinda and Diane bending over backwards to cover her ass and make sure she's okay, which pisses me off, because this is a ridiculously surreal fantasy world where Alicia gets to wallow in the luxury of her morals while everyone else is scrambling to protect her, willing to lie for her or keep her from being held liable, and it's just infuriating.
If she had to struggle with self-respect vs keeping her job, that's a valid conflict and very interesting (I loved how Carey behaved in the most recent ep here, where he outed himself for fraternization to Peter and requested he either resign or be suspended, because of his integrity, that was AWESOME), but as it is, the show gives us pretty iron-clad proof that Alicia WASN'T at fault, and then had her bang on and on about how she COULD'VE been at fault, POSSIBLY, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT COULD HAPPEN. Either give her a goddamn flaw or mistake to atone for, or DON'T. As it is, this just reeks of them trying to sell us on what a saintly character she is, when it's just plain dumb! Like, 'There was a hit-and-run accident on this road that I drive on all the time, maybe I killed him! It's possible!' Just. *seethes*
(this is why I tend to love villains, because at least they're allowed to be honest about their motives and desires, whereas heroes get dressed up as these flawless pillars of virtue, even when they're acting like idiots without an ounce of self-preservation, like that's a good thing, and then they always get vindicated by the storyline anyway, UGH)
So that was why I didn't warm up to Alicia from the start. Mother, Ma and I all rolled our eyes and sighed with disgust at her carrying on throughout that ep, and even though she hasn't been as self-absorbed in the few eps I've seen since, she's done another thing that absolutely pisses me off- been awful to Caitlin.
I just can't forgive this! Alicia is lucky enough to have two marvellous women who back her no matter what and will go to bat for her if she's in a tough spot, and then she has ONE GIRL to mentor and she's just unrelentingly cold and snide to her! Sure, she's never actually overtly rude to Caitlin, but her general tone and demeanor was aloof and condemning, and she kept her wings clipped, only allowing Caitlin to take a role in court based on her looks to beguile the judge! Then when Diane was impressed and promoted Caitlin, which was entirely deserved and made me happy for her, Alicia looks upset and disappointed, and then she lurks in the corner and looks daggers at Caitlin while she's moving into her new office. Just, wtf is with that attitude? It was so creepy, because Caitlin was all cheery and sunshine and happiness, and Alicia's this negative force emanating vibes of discontent in the corner. Caitlin isn't a threat to her, she's never schemed against her or tried to cut her down, and yet Alicia tries to inhibit her growth and takes offense at her promotion!
The worst part was in the latest ep I watched when Alicia actually criticizes Caitlin, in the guise of being a 'mentor', when actually it's her own ego and paranoia at work. Her comments were totally harsh and unfair, but does Alicia get called out for this? NO. Okay, sure, we have one dude tell her that her behavior is not on, but he's the dude that's pretty shifty and I don't think anyone takes him seriously, so that doesn't count (it's like Draco calling out Harry, nobody's gonna give his words any credit)- especially as Alicia feels guilty for all of two seconds, if that, before she's reassured that she wasn't at fault and Caitlin's only leaving because she's pregnant and engaged. If she had to deal with Caitlin leaving because she felt she was the victim of workplace harassment, that would've been a real consequence to Alicia's actions, but NO, the universe bends backwards to accomodate her crappy behavior and furthermore, FURTHERMORE, fully vindicates her by having Caitlin tell her TWICE what a great mentor she was and give her profuse thanks. THANKS. WTF, I CANNOT EVEN. *HEAD!SPLODES*
I'm really sad that Caitlin's leaving. I thought she was a really sweet, likeable girl with such passion and drive for the job, just very clever and promising, and I thought she could be a real force to reckon with once she got some experience. I'm a little miffed that she got written out so suddenly and with such a cliched female storyline- 'I'mma give up my career because I'm ~in love~ and pregnant!' but otoh, I respect her for not feeling like she has anything to prove and for being proud of herself, that she has the self-confidence that it's not seen as failure to leave her job to start a family. On the third hand, I don't think it was entirely convincing and the writers really half-assed that story wrap-up prob 'coz they realized Caitlin made Alicia look bad and they could've done so much more with her, but...oh, well. This is why I shouldn't get invested in recurring characters. *pout*
tl;dr Alicia doesn't own her flaws and every time there's a hint she might be in the wrong or in trouble, the plot does elaborate contortions to have her come out smelling like a rose without doing anything to earn it.
Otoh, there are awesome ladies like Diane and Kalinda (and omg, her story arc with Lie to Me chick! I was in total shock- 'are these two women of color interacting in MULTIPLE SCENES and having a storyline that isn't about men? That is actually complicated and intriguing and full of twisty layers? They're allowed to be ambitious and devious and that's portrayed as a GOOD thing?!' BRILLIANT). Plus, I really like Carey and Will (although I wish he wasn't hung up on Alicia. That one ep with his sisters thinking he and Kalinda were a thing was so precious, hee).
---
Vidspam: zomg, Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan (of OUAT fame) and to make this relevant, Archie Panjabi!
Oh, but before I get to that, seeing them in this vid reminded me of something I read a while back, so it's not current news, but they're apparently doing a series together!
Dornan will star as a serial killer who stalks his victims in and around Belfast with Anderson as a high-achieving detective parachuted in from the Metropolitan police force to catch him
I didn't care for him on OUAT at all, tbh, found Graham pretty flat and boring, but ZOMG, I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS! SERIAL KILLER + FEMALE DETECTIVE = OTP SUREFIRE WAY TO MAKE ME WATCH. :D Imagine the hotness!
I swear I don't go into shows with the express intention of disliking the lead, but it happens so often! *sigh* I just cannot stand when shows coddle their protagonists, place them in a situation where they face a moral dilemma and then don't actually let them choose a side and deal with the consequences nor behave as a realistic human being would. Like, there's this case where Alicia is potentially liable for millions of dollars because she didn't get a form signed- so she's agonizing about admitting culpability for that or not, because on one hand, TRUTH FTW, otoh, ENORMOUS DEBT, OHNOES. That's fair enough. But then even when the form shows up, miraculously saving her ass (because shows like this would NEVER actually hold their lead accountable for a mistake like that), she still angsts like a complete moron because ZOMG, she doesn't remember signing that form? It seems suspicious?
Out of all the BILLIONS OF FORMS, she has no specific memory of THAT PARTICULAR FORM, and so she spends forever making mountains out of molehills, for no reason at all. I feel like the show is trying to ram down my throat that LOOK, THIS WOMAN IS REALLY CONSCIENTIOUS AND MORALISTIC AND LET'S BE SUPER PROUD OF HER, but it was a stupid issue for her to take a stand on, because goddamn, there is the form, there is her signature, she has no basis to doubt it, and yet she wants to be a drama queen! There's Kalinda and Diane bending over backwards to cover her ass and make sure she's okay, which pisses me off, because this is a ridiculously surreal fantasy world where Alicia gets to wallow in the luxury of her morals while everyone else is scrambling to protect her, willing to lie for her or keep her from being held liable, and it's just infuriating.
If she had to struggle with self-respect vs keeping her job, that's a valid conflict and very interesting (I loved how Carey behaved in the most recent ep here, where he outed himself for fraternization to Peter and requested he either resign or be suspended, because of his integrity, that was AWESOME), but as it is, the show gives us pretty iron-clad proof that Alicia WASN'T at fault, and then had her bang on and on about how she COULD'VE been at fault, POSSIBLY, YOU NEVER KNOW, IT COULD HAPPEN. Either give her a goddamn flaw or mistake to atone for, or DON'T. As it is, this just reeks of them trying to sell us on what a saintly character she is, when it's just plain dumb! Like, 'There was a hit-and-run accident on this road that I drive on all the time, maybe I killed him! It's possible!' Just. *seethes*
(this is why I tend to love villains, because at least they're allowed to be honest about their motives and desires, whereas heroes get dressed up as these flawless pillars of virtue, even when they're acting like idiots without an ounce of self-preservation, like that's a good thing, and then they always get vindicated by the storyline anyway, UGH)
So that was why I didn't warm up to Alicia from the start. Mother, Ma and I all rolled our eyes and sighed with disgust at her carrying on throughout that ep, and even though she hasn't been as self-absorbed in the few eps I've seen since, she's done another thing that absolutely pisses me off- been awful to Caitlin.
I just can't forgive this! Alicia is lucky enough to have two marvellous women who back her no matter what and will go to bat for her if she's in a tough spot, and then she has ONE GIRL to mentor and she's just unrelentingly cold and snide to her! Sure, she's never actually overtly rude to Caitlin, but her general tone and demeanor was aloof and condemning, and she kept her wings clipped, only allowing Caitlin to take a role in court based on her looks to beguile the judge! Then when Diane was impressed and promoted Caitlin, which was entirely deserved and made me happy for her, Alicia looks upset and disappointed, and then she lurks in the corner and looks daggers at Caitlin while she's moving into her new office. Just, wtf is with that attitude? It was so creepy, because Caitlin was all cheery and sunshine and happiness, and Alicia's this negative force emanating vibes of discontent in the corner. Caitlin isn't a threat to her, she's never schemed against her or tried to cut her down, and yet Alicia tries to inhibit her growth and takes offense at her promotion!
The worst part was in the latest ep I watched when Alicia actually criticizes Caitlin, in the guise of being a 'mentor', when actually it's her own ego and paranoia at work. Her comments were totally harsh and unfair, but does Alicia get called out for this? NO. Okay, sure, we have one dude tell her that her behavior is not on, but he's the dude that's pretty shifty and I don't think anyone takes him seriously, so that doesn't count (it's like Draco calling out Harry, nobody's gonna give his words any credit)- especially as Alicia feels guilty for all of two seconds, if that, before she's reassured that she wasn't at fault and Caitlin's only leaving because she's pregnant and engaged. If she had to deal with Caitlin leaving because she felt she was the victim of workplace harassment, that would've been a real consequence to Alicia's actions, but NO, the universe bends backwards to accomodate her crappy behavior and furthermore, FURTHERMORE, fully vindicates her by having Caitlin tell her TWICE what a great mentor she was and give her profuse thanks. THANKS. WTF, I CANNOT EVEN. *HEAD!SPLODES*
I'm really sad that Caitlin's leaving. I thought she was a really sweet, likeable girl with such passion and drive for the job, just very clever and promising, and I thought she could be a real force to reckon with once she got some experience. I'm a little miffed that she got written out so suddenly and with such a cliched female storyline- 'I'mma give up my career because I'm ~in love~ and pregnant!' but otoh, I respect her for not feeling like she has anything to prove and for being proud of herself, that she has the self-confidence that it's not seen as failure to leave her job to start a family. On the third hand, I don't think it was entirely convincing and the writers really half-assed that story wrap-up prob 'coz they realized Caitlin made Alicia look bad and they could've done so much more with her, but...oh, well. This is why I shouldn't get invested in recurring characters. *pout*
tl;dr Alicia doesn't own her flaws and every time there's a hint she might be in the wrong or in trouble, the plot does elaborate contortions to have her come out smelling like a rose without doing anything to earn it.
Otoh, there are awesome ladies like Diane and Kalinda (and omg, her story arc with Lie to Me chick! I was in total shock- 'are these two women of color interacting in MULTIPLE SCENES and having a storyline that isn't about men? That is actually complicated and intriguing and full of twisty layers? They're allowed to be ambitious and devious and that's portrayed as a GOOD thing?!' BRILLIANT). Plus, I really like Carey and Will (although I wish he wasn't hung up on Alicia. That one ep with his sisters thinking he and Kalinda were a thing was so precious, hee).
---
Vidspam: zomg, Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan (of OUAT fame) and to make this relevant, Archie Panjabi!
Oh, but before I get to that, seeing them in this vid reminded me of something I read a while back, so it's not current news, but they're apparently doing a series together!
Dornan will star as a serial killer who stalks his victims in and around Belfast with Anderson as a high-achieving detective parachuted in from the Metropolitan police force to catch him
I didn't care for him on OUAT at all, tbh, found Graham pretty flat and boring, but ZOMG, I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS! SERIAL KILLER + FEMALE DETECTIVE = OTP SUREFIRE WAY TO MAKE ME WATCH. :D Imagine the hotness!
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