Finale Discussion! 2 X 23 "Closing Arguments"

[rhyfeddu]

Putting this up early if anyone wants to chat, speculate and/or flail.

Keep in mind, if you haven't seen the show yet, this will NOT be a SPOILER free zone!

And if SPOILERS don't bother you, check out this Kalinda info:

Kalinda Sneak Peek VID
Kalinda Sneak Peek PICS

Comments

[virtus753]

So I finally go to post this, and the thing is too long for one post. I think that's sufficient warning. :P Anyhow, here goes, pretty much my two(x1000) cents scene by scene:

First up is the glove scene and the ensuing chain of reactions. I wonder if Alicia might have been tempted to call for Kalinda before the revelation of the ONS. At any rate, she clearly can't pick up the phone and has to call for Courtney (sp?) to get Diane. Kalinda walks by immediately after, interrupting whatever thoughts Alicia might have had as to what to do next. I take the point about Alicia asking for Kalinda's help as a bit premature, but her body language (and actual language) in that scene and throughout the episode screams contempt and dismissal. First, she knows she has to get Kalinda in on this ASAP (especially lest Mommy Diane and Daddy Will find out she let Kalinda walk by without saying a word). That said, she calls out to Kalinda simply by saying "Hey" in a very guarded tone. Kalinda, as becomes par for the course in this ep, snaps to attention as if Alicia had cracked a whip. Kalinda's attitude towards Alicia is very much submissive, making her control over Sofia very pronounced. In Kalinda's eyes, the ball is always in Alicia's court. When Alicia alerts her to the situation, Kalinda handles it like the old Kalinda - she knows exactly whom to call and in what order. She might be deferential to Alicia, but she's getting back on her feet otherwise, and proof of that is how she handles the glove situation. She isn't quite up to her usual standards, but she isn't suffering from that hungover stagger we saw last week. Similarly, Alicia's bitchiness has settled down to a simmer, and she's curt with the PI to the point of rudeness (cf. almost all of their later dialogue, especially the conference room discussion of case files). Kalinda takes it without complaint (though those eyes say so much), another reversal from previous episodes: it used to be Kalinda in complete control, and Alicia feeling like her life was falling apart.

A lot of Alicia's attitude during the long scenes with Sofia and Diane can probably be attributed to the stress from the bloody glove and her inability to move her arms very much (enough to drive a saint mad, I think). But she can't be happy with Kalinda being there either, despite it being necessary, and Kalinda's physical closeness (she's really pressed up against Alicia to get a good look at the glove) must be pushing her limits, too. Alicia also reacts quite noticeably (all in the facial expressions, since she's keeping quite still) to Sofia and Kalinda, looking back and forth between them warily as they switch between business and pseudo-flirtation. There was also some interesting dialogue after Kalinda got off the phone with Sofia: Alicia had a rather jealous-sounding "Who was that?", and the expression she makes when Kalinda replies "A friend" is priceless. My guess is that Alicia knew the person on the other line was female and assumed Kalinda said "friend" to cover up for a less intimate and more sexual relationship, and I think perhaps Alicia took it as a dig between the uncertain status of her own friendship with Kalinda and Kalinda's claim that she now has a (non-Alicia) friend when just last episode she seemed to deny that.