The Good Wife 4.12

[selenak]

You know, I'm starting to suspect one member of the scriptwriting team has European issues to work out. :)

Comments

[abigail_n]

I also enjoy Elsbeth, but as with Canning last week, I wonder if the writers haven't taken her "quirks" to extremes. I had always assumed that, like Nancy Crosier and Patty Nyholm, Elsbeth's weirdness is at least partly an act - maybe less so than Nancy and Patty, but still, the woman made it through law school and has a successful career in a cutthroat business, so she can't be as loopy as she comes off. And yet this episode has her not only fail a psych evaluation but clueless about how to do so. It feels of a piece not just with Canning but with Christina Ricci's character a few episodes ago - who couldn't curb her outrageous behavior when her career and millions of dollars were on the line - and maybe even Nick and Kalinda too. As if the show has lost its grip on its character writing and is now just playing up its most outrageous characters in order to get a laugh.

As I think I mentioned the last time this issue came up, I'm uncomfortable with the running theme of Peter's bias, because though on the one hand its handling within the show is quite good - as you say the scene with Geneva is very well done, with Peter clearly trying to reach out and yet unable to control his kneejerk defensiveness - but on the other hand it feels like the show giving itself an out for constantly casting black characters as incompetent antagonists - see, it's not our fault, it's the characters who are prejudiced. Did anyone really want to see Matan - a character who has been depicted as unpleasant and snide, and gets hardly any wins against our heroes - get a job over Cary, who is fun and clever? It's one thing to say, as Geneva points out to Peter, that the white characters don't listen to the black characters and don't get to know and like them the way they do other white characters. But you could do that without encouraging the audience to do the same, and here I think the show has failed.

When Eli dinged Zach for speaking to him like a peer, I couldn't help but think "I've been watching this show for four seasons, and in that time Zach has done immensely more for his father's career than you ever did, Eli."

[selenak]

It's one thing to say, as Geneva points out to Peter, that the white characters don't listen to the black characters and don't get to know and like them the way they do other white characters. But you could do that without encouraging the audience to do the same, and here I think the show has failed.

Oh, I agree. (I would except Dana, but she's gone.) Geneva herself is a good example - outside of this scene, she's rarely written as likeable and/or interesting, we already know Laura Hallinger, who is new, much better than Geneva who's been around since when, season 2? And Matan who has been around since s1 remained throughout on the same level than L & G's one black partner - he had a function in the plot but was never fleshed out in terms of personality.

Elsbeth & the problem of quirks versus plausibility of success in general - I see your point, and, thinking about it, agree.

Eli and Zach: was thinking the same thing, albeit phrased a bit differently, i.e.: Zach the teenager has come across and still does as more competent in helping his parents ever after Eli got Alicia the edge over Cary at the end of s1, and that's the problem of Eli in a nutshell. Talk about plausibility versus laughs.

[reverancepavane]

The thing about Elsbeth is that she is brilliant. Definitely super-genius material there. She sees connects and links continuously that most people are blind to. She knows that not everyone else can see the links, but do realise they exist when pointed out by her. She probably had the benefit of being able to deal with intelligent people who recognised this in her during her life. But she's definitely not a mandane lawyer - a standard law practice would have resulted in her hanging herself in short order. And she must have an excellent personal assistant (Catherine IIRC - only name-checked once and never on screen) that keeps her roughly on track and deals with the minutia.

It's great working with such top-flight people like this. But they work best as part of a team - an idea generator that just won't turn off. That's where the depiction of Elsbeth breaks down. She doesn't have the support of a brake on her ideas to stop her following links that range too far afield, and to put her designs in motion in a coordinated manner. Elsbeth on a bad day will come up with more intriguing ideas 9and almost immediately disregard them for a new one), than most people will in a lifetime.

I like Elsbeth. =8)

[ide_cyan]

I worry the show's going to overuse her and overemphasise the humour in her scenes to the point of turning her into a joke, as with the psych evaluation and handwriting in the court scene, but otherwise -- wow, do I love Elsbeth.

She's exactly how a female version of the Doctor -- if Doctor Who weren't all about the Doctor's stupid manpain anymore -- should be. A lateral thinker, quirky enough to be underestimated or dismissed as kooky if you're not paying attention to the meaning behind her digressions, but brilliant and able to save the day with unexpected approaches to problem-solving.

[daybreak777]

I'm uncomfortable with the running theme of Peter's bias, because though on the one hand its handling within the show is quite good - as you say the scene with Geneva is very well done, with Peter clearly trying to reach out and yet unable to control his kneejerk defensiveness - but on the other hand it feels like the show giving itself an out for constantly casting black characters as incompetent antagonists - see, it's not our fault, it's the characters who are prejudiced.
I saw it as maybe the show pointing out its own biases or what people do in real life. I mean they wrote the five firings before Peter could actually do it on screen. I'm glad they've made the issue text and have laid it before us, the viewers, to evaluate ourselves.

But what will happen? Will the writers make the people of color more likable? The ones who are likable, like American Ferrera, are written out. And the POC characters themselves remain mysterious and inscrutable, kind of like Kalinda.

Hmm. I'm thinking. I think the show tends to characterize some some characters as 'bad' and one-dimensional and I don't know why. Like Nick and Blake and even Alicia's intern at the beginning and now the intern that she didn't hire. I think they like to play with the audience not liking them and then having some insight or reveal depth about the character later. The writers actually do that quite a bit, especially with the clients. But sometimes like with some of the characters who work for Peter, it's too late. Not that I won't like the characters but I think we as viewers grow tired of the continual bait and switch.