The Good Wife 2.19
This one felt a bit like a filler episode, or perhaps "calm before the storm" is a better description. As always, there was good character stuff. I am increasingly fighting the urge to to ship Kalinda/Cary, but they're making it hard not to. And in a non-romantic, platonic antagonist way, Alicia/Louis Canning is almost as good.
Case of the week: was predictable in how it went down but good fun as it brought as it brought Louis Canning and Judge Abernathy (spelling?) back, plus Will's outraged face when Canning used their own mice footage against them was something to behold.
Exit Daniel Stern: made sense, not just because of his illness but because evidently the show has moved Canning in the position of recurring rival antagonist lawyer-plus-lawfirm-owner, and seemingly has secured Michael J. Fox on a more regular basis, given that Canning has now moved to Chicago. I approve. His scenes with Alicia are always great. In this episode, we got one of their differences spelled out via Louis Canning's remark on two moralities, one for his private self and one for the office. On the surface, that's just the opposite of what Alicia believes him... but is it? The season has made a point of letting Lockhart and Gardner handle some distinctly unsavoury cases; is representing Bishop the drug dealer (while Alicia of course would be horrified if her own children were getting into heroin) so different from representing big business (as Canning does in this episode again) with practiceses that screw over their employees big time? Canning says to Alicia that the difference is she feels bad about it because she still needs to see herself as the hero.
Diane and Will being fully aware that going after Stern's clients as soon as he breathed his last is tacky yet doing it anyway because that's the way the game is played is another case of the show's ambiguity. Meanwhile, Will seeing Stern's death as a reality check on mortality and committing himself more to Tammy was predictable and mostly seemed to serve the purpose of ensuring Alicia won't immediately sink into Will's arms after the ticking time bomb that is the tale of the Peter/Kalinda one night stand in days past goes off. That being said, liking Tammy and never having been keen on the Alicia/Will ship, I'm all for it.
The real meat of the episode, of course, were the Eli and Alicia scenes on the one hand and the Kalinda and Cary (with a sideline of Cary and name-sounds-like-Anton-to-me, and Cary and his detective pal) on the other. We already knew that Eli genuinenly thinks highly of Alicia and doesn't want to hurt her, but it's nice to see yet another example. Also my guess is that the reporter was tipped off by Blake himself, just in case testifying to the state attorney's office wasn't enough. It occurs to me that as far as we've seen in s1, Alicia actually hasn't asked Peter whether there had been anyone other than Amber the prostitute... but she did ask Kalinda, very early on, whether she ever had sex with Peter and Kalinda said no. Going by her face when the reporter asks the "co-worker" question, imo she knows it's entirely possible, but I really doubt it would ever occur to her now it could have been Kalinda.
The scene between Cary and Kalinda was heartrendering because of her reaction. Until now, I think it was open to debate whether Kalinda considered Cary more than a very useful back-up and in one instance emotional support, but not after that scene. That Kalinda wanted and wants Alicia to think well of her is no news; that she was horrified when she realized Cary now knew because she evidently didn't want him to was. As for Cary, what's most impressive is that it really doesn't make a difference to him as far as Kalinda is concerned, he's just as supportive and matter-of-factly. And sure that Alicia will understand Kalinda's position and continue to be her friend if Kalinda just tells her the truth, which btw also says something about how, all rivalry aside, Cary sees Alicia. Also, methinks
abigail_n is right that Cary will lose his job over this and this will be hired by either Diane or the new in town Louis Canning by the end of the season.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/669525.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
Case of the week: was predictable in how it went down but good fun as it brought as it brought Louis Canning and Judge Abernathy (spelling?) back, plus Will's outraged face when Canning used their own mice footage against them was something to behold.
Exit Daniel Stern: made sense, not just because of his illness but because evidently the show has moved Canning in the position of recurring rival antagonist lawyer-plus-lawfirm-owner, and seemingly has secured Michael J. Fox on a more regular basis, given that Canning has now moved to Chicago. I approve. His scenes with Alicia are always great. In this episode, we got one of their differences spelled out via Louis Canning's remark on two moralities, one for his private self and one for the office. On the surface, that's just the opposite of what Alicia believes him... but is it? The season has made a point of letting Lockhart and Gardner handle some distinctly unsavoury cases; is representing Bishop the drug dealer (while Alicia of course would be horrified if her own children were getting into heroin) so different from representing big business (as Canning does in this episode again) with practiceses that screw over their employees big time? Canning says to Alicia that the difference is she feels bad about it because she still needs to see herself as the hero.
Diane and Will being fully aware that going after Stern's clients as soon as he breathed his last is tacky yet doing it anyway because that's the way the game is played is another case of the show's ambiguity. Meanwhile, Will seeing Stern's death as a reality check on mortality and committing himself more to Tammy was predictable and mostly seemed to serve the purpose of ensuring Alicia won't immediately sink into Will's arms after the ticking time bomb that is the tale of the Peter/Kalinda one night stand in days past goes off. That being said, liking Tammy and never having been keen on the Alicia/Will ship, I'm all for it.
The real meat of the episode, of course, were the Eli and Alicia scenes on the one hand and the Kalinda and Cary (with a sideline of Cary and name-sounds-like-Anton-to-me, and Cary and his detective pal) on the other. We already knew that Eli genuinenly thinks highly of Alicia and doesn't want to hurt her, but it's nice to see yet another example. Also my guess is that the reporter was tipped off by Blake himself, just in case testifying to the state attorney's office wasn't enough. It occurs to me that as far as we've seen in s1, Alicia actually hasn't asked Peter whether there had been anyone other than Amber the prostitute... but she did ask Kalinda, very early on, whether she ever had sex with Peter and Kalinda said no. Going by her face when the reporter asks the "co-worker" question, imo she knows it's entirely possible, but I really doubt it would ever occur to her now it could have been Kalinda.
The scene between Cary and Kalinda was heartrendering because of her reaction. Until now, I think it was open to debate whether Kalinda considered Cary more than a very useful back-up and in one instance emotional support, but not after that scene. That Kalinda wanted and wants Alicia to think well of her is no news; that she was horrified when she realized Cary now knew because she evidently didn't want him to was. As for Cary, what's most impressive is that it really doesn't make a difference to him as far as Kalinda is concerned, he's just as supportive and matter-of-factly. And sure that Alicia will understand Kalinda's position and continue to be her friend if Kalinda just tells her the truth, which btw also says something about how, all rivalry aside, Cary sees Alicia. Also, methinks
abigail_n is right that Cary will lose his job over this and this will be hired by either Diane or the new in town Louis Canning by the end of the season.
This entry was originally posted at http://selenak.dreamwidth.org/669525.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.