It's not just that Wendy is so easily derailed here, in this particular situation, but that we've never seen her being actually good at her job. And that's a bad storytelling choice, to me. On the most simple level because it makes her less of a threat and less interesting, and on a more background logic level because Wendy nearly won the election and is supposed to have an excellent professional track record. It just breaks my suspension of disbelief.
Yes, exactly. She turns into a one-dimensional "bad guy," but even less threatening because we don't believe she can really win. Louis, for example, is much more threatening because he's so much more complex, and we know that he might well defeat his opponent because he's done it in the past..
I agree with you about Wendy's flustered-ness. Except if she was going to go for Peter I guess this was her chance. If she was going to harbor that grudge for years and have a five year plan to get him she could have been more subtle. It's interesting how her having sour grapes over losing to him seems so old now. That's totally last year's news. Best she try to discredit him later when he runs for higher office.
My question is that it seems next week Wendy really did report Will to the bar association. How does help her get Peter? It's getting kind of far afield for me.
Dana reacted sort of like a jilted lover with Kalinda or was that just me? I don't mind it because she may have been Kalinda-sexual and didn't realize it. Or she could have just have been genuinely mad about being used.
Interesting ep and this case against Will certainly didn't end how I expected.
Re: Dana, I think it's both. She tried to play and got played, and she wasn't immune to Kalinda's allure.
Next week can't come fast enough, but I really wish Wendy was written better. This is the second year in a row now (after Bond & Blake) that the writers just set up antagonists to fail without bothering to think through their motivations and give them layers, and the show should be better than this.
I'm less annoyed by this episode's treatment than I should be, because this is clearly where the show has been headed - Wendy (and Dana)'s humiliation as the people (mostly white men) around her recoil from tactics that start shading into desperation and hysteria. It was a well done episode but I really hope this is the last we see of Wendy, because the show's treatment of her is by now nothing short of painful.
That said, I did think that the way Wendy was undone was clever. Peter was always her goal, but by forcing that goal to the surface before she was ready to do so, and had amassed a power base that could withstand Peter's position, Will's team was able to nip her project in the bud.
I thought making Wendy angry enough with the bait and switch of the Kalinda provided file so she'd suppoaena Alicia and thereby go too far for all to see was clever, too, but again: it didn't feel earned by a previous build up of Wendy as a competent antagonist, so there was no emotional relief for me. Sigh.
I liked this episode more than you did. I thought Wendy had been very well established as competent before. We did see her in action as a lawyer working for Childs, and she was formidable. She was also formidable as a candidate; I never really thought Peter's campaign was in danger from Childs, but I did from Wendy.
In this episode, however, she's attempting new levels of complexity in her intrigue, and it doesn't work quite as well for her, but not because she's incompetent. Instead it's because she only has her own wits, a reluctant Cary and a Kalinda-blinded Dana on her side. Will, on the other hand, has Elsbeth, Diane, Kalinda, Alicia, and even David Lee (not to mention his own native wits) in his corner. Quite an army. And all their combined efforts are required to get him out of this.
Also, I like the Will-Kalinda buddy movie, and I LOVE the Will-Diane buddy movie, so this episode had some of my favorite elements.
I do get the unfortunate visual of having the sole black woman character (indeed, the only prominent recurring black character--Julius isn't nearly as important) be an unscrupulous and unsuccessful gloryhound attacking the beleaguered upper-class white law firm, though.
I'm in sympathy with your reading of WSC; I found the climax of the grand jury scenes, with its Victory For Common Sense vibe, a bit cringeworthy, and so much of the case she *did* have was based on the gossip of her subordinates, not her own skills. That said, in general I think she has been a more interesting and better-written antagonist than Bond in s2: we've met her family, we've seen her in various contexts, and we've seen before, in her interactions with Alicia, that she has a significant temper beneath that calm and smiley exterior: she's not just a villain for the sake of villainy. I also don't think she's out of the game yet
( ... )
It's true we have far more context for Wendy than we had for Bond, but that's still damning with faint praise, since we had virtually nothing for Bond at all.
Dana: agreed, especially because as you say we've seen her competent in the past.
Comments 13
Reply
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
My question is that it seems next week Wendy really did report Will to the bar association. How does help her get Peter? It's getting kind of far afield for me.
Dana reacted sort of like a jilted lover with Kalinda or was that just me? I don't mind it because she may have been Kalinda-sexual and didn't realize it. Or she could have just have been genuinely mad about being used.
Interesting ep and this case against Will certainly didn't end how I expected.
Reply
Next week can't come fast enough, but I really wish Wendy was written better. This is the second year in a row now (after Bond & Blake) that the writers just set up antagonists to fail without bothering to think through their motivations and give them layers, and the show should be better than this.
Reply
That said, I did think that the way Wendy was undone was clever. Peter was always her goal, but by forcing that goal to the surface before she was ready to do so, and had amassed a power base that could withstand Peter's position, Will's team was able to nip her project in the bud.
Reply
Reply
In this episode, however, she's attempting new levels of complexity in her intrigue, and it doesn't work quite as well for her, but not because she's incompetent. Instead it's because she only has her own wits, a reluctant Cary and a Kalinda-blinded Dana on her side. Will, on the other hand, has Elsbeth, Diane, Kalinda, Alicia, and even David Lee (not to mention his own native wits) in his corner. Quite an army. And all their combined efforts are required to get him out of this.
Reply
I do get the unfortunate visual of having the sole black woman character (indeed, the only prominent recurring black character--Julius isn't nearly as important) be an unscrupulous and unsuccessful gloryhound attacking the beleaguered upper-class white law firm, though.
Reply
Reply
Dana: agreed, especially because as you say we've seen her competent in the past.
Reply
Leave a comment