If you get lost, start over again
So I posted another The Good Wife fic. I have no idea why I can suddenly write again, but I'm happy to be posting things. Getting comments is such a high.
It's a small fandom, and I have no idea where the main conversations are happening, but for sure there are people out there who aren't crazy in love with Alicia Florrick, which is madness to me. And I say that as someone who has an enormous crush on Josh Charles, and likes to speculate sometimes about Will Gardner being the version of Dan Rydell whose life went horribly amiss, who went to law school instead of becoming a sports journalist, never met Casey, and whose life has mostly sucked thereafter. My point being, I have a ton of sympathy for Will, but he's also just as much of a snake in the grass as Peter, if not more, and I think Alicia has been sympathetic at every single turn. If I understand any bitter fans, it's the Kalinda/Alicia shippers, who for sure kind of got screwed over, for reasons I genuinely don't understand. I would be much happier with the show if they were still buddies, but that just seems to have fallen off the radar, which is sad whether you ship them or not.
But my point was that whether or not Alicia has always made the right decisions, I think they have always looked justified to her, and I think the fact that she can be so well understood is solid evidence for her being one of the strongest female characters on TV, by which I mostly mean she feels like one of the most real people on TV. I realized right at the end of writing the story posted below that I think part of my overwhelming satisfaction with the show lately hinges on Alicia really being done with Will, or as done as she could be while still being in proximity to him. I think she really meant it during "Death of a Client" when she told Will they needed to move on. She could have said, "Fuck everyone else," left Peter, explained it to her kids, and run a law firm with Will after Diane left, but she would have felt like a piece of crap on every other level except a romantic one. She's not with Peter because it was easy or for some emotionally manipulative reason--he cheated on her and he's power hungry, but she's guilty of both those things, and I think it's more important to her that Peter genuinely wants to be a good governor and a good state's attorney, and Will is more often shown steering Alicia towards morally grey areas than he is being an upstanding person. I don't think she owes Will anything, and the rumblings in fandom that she's being a bitch in any way really sadden me. Sure, it was a sucky thing to do, but so was the partnership mess that's the whole reason Cary left too. "Everyone's kind of shitty sometimes," could pretty much be this show's tagline. I love seeing Alicia learning how not to give a fuck.
But on my current favorite friendship fronts, Cary and Alicia are lovely, and Cary and Clarke are hilariously adorable, and the show's happy to show both of those relationships a lot. I mentioned in another comment somewhere that in my dream world, the series ends with Kalinda and Elspeth joining Alicia, Cary, and Clarke's firm, and they take over the world. Plus Laura Hellinger should come back. I mean, they could take over the world by force, but they'll probably be able to do it with rainbows and kittens and the power of friendship. I think it would make for a strong finale.
These abundant skies (3117 words) by dancinguniverse
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Wife (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Alicia Florrick, Cary Agos, Clarke Hayden
Additional Tags: Friendship
Summary: Alicia and Cary have fought hard against each other, higher powers, and themselves to get here from their early days of grudging respect and occasional outright hostility, and Alicia thinks that they are both equally enamored of every painful, precious step.
It's a small fandom, and I have no idea where the main conversations are happening, but for sure there are people out there who aren't crazy in love with Alicia Florrick, which is madness to me. And I say that as someone who has an enormous crush on Josh Charles, and likes to speculate sometimes about Will Gardner being the version of Dan Rydell whose life went horribly amiss, who went to law school instead of becoming a sports journalist, never met Casey, and whose life has mostly sucked thereafter. My point being, I have a ton of sympathy for Will, but he's also just as much of a snake in the grass as Peter, if not more, and I think Alicia has been sympathetic at every single turn. If I understand any bitter fans, it's the Kalinda/Alicia shippers, who for sure kind of got screwed over, for reasons I genuinely don't understand. I would be much happier with the show if they were still buddies, but that just seems to have fallen off the radar, which is sad whether you ship them or not.
But my point was that whether or not Alicia has always made the right decisions, I think they have always looked justified to her, and I think the fact that she can be so well understood is solid evidence for her being one of the strongest female characters on TV, by which I mostly mean she feels like one of the most real people on TV. I realized right at the end of writing the story posted below that I think part of my overwhelming satisfaction with the show lately hinges on Alicia really being done with Will, or as done as she could be while still being in proximity to him. I think she really meant it during "Death of a Client" when she told Will they needed to move on. She could have said, "Fuck everyone else," left Peter, explained it to her kids, and run a law firm with Will after Diane left, but she would have felt like a piece of crap on every other level except a romantic one. She's not with Peter because it was easy or for some emotionally manipulative reason--he cheated on her and he's power hungry, but she's guilty of both those things, and I think it's more important to her that Peter genuinely wants to be a good governor and a good state's attorney, and Will is more often shown steering Alicia towards morally grey areas than he is being an upstanding person. I don't think she owes Will anything, and the rumblings in fandom that she's being a bitch in any way really sadden me. Sure, it was a sucky thing to do, but so was the partnership mess that's the whole reason Cary left too. "Everyone's kind of shitty sometimes," could pretty much be this show's tagline. I love seeing Alicia learning how not to give a fuck.
But on my current favorite friendship fronts, Cary and Alicia are lovely, and Cary and Clarke are hilariously adorable, and the show's happy to show both of those relationships a lot. I mentioned in another comment somewhere that in my dream world, the series ends with Kalinda and Elspeth joining Alicia, Cary, and Clarke's firm, and they take over the world. Plus Laura Hellinger should come back. I mean, they could take over the world by force, but they'll probably be able to do it with rainbows and kittens and the power of friendship. I think it would make for a strong finale.
These abundant skies (3117 words) by dancinguniverse
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Wife (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Alicia Florrick, Cary Agos, Clarke Hayden
Additional Tags: Friendship
Summary: Alicia and Cary have fought hard against each other, higher powers, and themselves to get here from their early days of grudging respect and occasional outright hostility, and Alicia thinks that they are both equally enamored of every painful, precious step.