The Good Wife #3.16 - After the Fall
Just when I’m really feeling down on The Good Wife, there airs an episode that makes me go, “Yes! This is what this show is about! This is why I love it!”
Oh, the casefile was slightly bizarre (and probably based on a real life case that I don’t care about at all), but at least it wasn’t distractingly bad. And Will’s sisters were overwrought, but at least they served a purpose (and we got cute Will/Kalinda scenes as a result! I’m really starting to ‘ship it, you guys :/).
But the Kaitlyn storyline was SO GOOD. And, importantly, completely unlike anything else on TV.
There is, depressingly, not one other show I can think of* that features multiple women in the workplace. Usually it’s one woman surrounded by men, or sometimes two women surrounded by men. Inevitably, the women become unrealistic, because they’re there to stand in for EVERY woman. But, by having a female-heavy cast, TGW can bring out the nuances of being a working woman.
What other show is able to capture the mix of emotions felt by an older woman who is only trying to be a good “sister” and nurture her young colleague, but then is essentially slapped in the face when that colleague (that pretty, young colleague, who has 40 years of working ahead of her) is promoted to her level?
A lesser show would have made Kaitlyn the bad guy. But she’s not. She’s really, really not! She’s just taking instruction and trying to do a good job!
(Incidentally, I hope the rampant speculation that Will is going to sleep with Kaitlyn is wrong, because that would make this storyline into a cliché, instead of the glorious soup of messy emotions that it currently is.)
And how can you not hear Lisa Edelstein’s character in your ear, saying “hire Kaitlyn and make her life miserable”? Because that’s what the canny woman has to do - undermine the underling’s confidence so that she’ll never challenge for your place at work.
Even though I think this is a conundrum suffered by men and women alike (nurture and mentor and maybe get your job stolen vs. undermine and obstruct and ultimately be a bad person), there is something particular about women’s experiences that this storyline captures. Because Alicia can’t bang on Diane’s desk and get up in arms, as a man might get away with doing (see: Julius) - she has to smile and be terribly ladylike. That’s what society expects women to do, after all.
*Oh, it occurs to me that there’s Grey’s Anatomy. So there are TWO shows on TV that feature multiple women in the workplace. ::slow clap::
Oh, the casefile was slightly bizarre (and probably based on a real life case that I don’t care about at all), but at least it wasn’t distractingly bad. And Will’s sisters were overwrought, but at least they served a purpose (and we got cute Will/Kalinda scenes as a result! I’m really starting to ‘ship it, you guys :/).
But the Kaitlyn storyline was SO GOOD. And, importantly, completely unlike anything else on TV.
There is, depressingly, not one other show I can think of* that features multiple women in the workplace. Usually it’s one woman surrounded by men, or sometimes two women surrounded by men. Inevitably, the women become unrealistic, because they’re there to stand in for EVERY woman. But, by having a female-heavy cast, TGW can bring out the nuances of being a working woman.
What other show is able to capture the mix of emotions felt by an older woman who is only trying to be a good “sister” and nurture her young colleague, but then is essentially slapped in the face when that colleague (that pretty, young colleague, who has 40 years of working ahead of her) is promoted to her level?
A lesser show would have made Kaitlyn the bad guy. But she’s not. She’s really, really not! She’s just taking instruction and trying to do a good job!
(Incidentally, I hope the rampant speculation that Will is going to sleep with Kaitlyn is wrong, because that would make this storyline into a cliché, instead of the glorious soup of messy emotions that it currently is.)
And how can you not hear Lisa Edelstein’s character in your ear, saying “hire Kaitlyn and make her life miserable”? Because that’s what the canny woman has to do - undermine the underling’s confidence so that she’ll never challenge for your place at work.
Even though I think this is a conundrum suffered by men and women alike (nurture and mentor and maybe get your job stolen vs. undermine and obstruct and ultimately be a bad person), there is something particular about women’s experiences that this storyline captures. Because Alicia can’t bang on Diane’s desk and get up in arms, as a man might get away with doing (see: Julius) - she has to smile and be terribly ladylike. That’s what society expects women to do, after all.
*Oh, it occurs to me that there’s Grey’s Anatomy. So there are TWO shows on TV that feature multiple women in the workplace. ::slow clap::