Reading the In-House: Home (1x03)
Home (1x03)
Air Date: 6 October 2009
It’s becoming a habit of Kalinda’s to appear at opportune moments. We see her for the first time in this episode, again almost as if through Alicia’s eyes, in the middle of Alicia’s relatively secluded discussion with Kenny, a young man whose parents she knew in Highland Park and whom she considers a second son of sorts. Like Will a moment before, Kalinda can be seen peering through the panes of glass in the door, back in dark colors and notebook in hand. Unlike with Will, however, spotting Kalinda motivates Alicia to interrupt her discussion and get the investigator’s attention. It’s easier done than said in this case: Kalinda has stationed herself a few feet from the door through which she saw Alicia, and she immediately stops writing in her notebook and looks up when she hears the door open, already focused on Alicia as she emerges from the room. It strikes me as a bit fabricated, as if Kalinda were waiting for Alicia should she need help. Although there was no sign of the in-house in the conference room when Courtney announced Alicia’s “son” had shown up at the office looking for her, Kalinda knows (from the rumor mill?) that Kenny - or rather, the kid who came to SLG to see her - is supposedly Alicia’s child. For those like me who lose track of timelines by watching episodes and reruns in random order, Kalinda hasn’t actually met Zach yet, so she (presumably) doesn’t know what he looks like or how old he is. However, the wry delivery of Kalinda’s ensuing remark (“Your son is older than I thought”) and the flash of a teasing smile that accompanies it, together with her natural inclination to find things out, lead me to think that Kalinda suspects Kenny might not actually be Alicia’s son. (If Kalinda had been in the conference room and the camera somehow missed her, she would have heard Courtney say, “I think it’s your son.” [my emphasis]) That said, I wouldn’t call it a foregone conclusion, given the brief glance Kalinda spares at the glass door immediately after Alicia clears things up. Regardless, Kalinda’s glance towards the door is certainly an indication that she is allowing herself to be openly interested now that she knows Kenny isn’t really Alicia’s (cf. her almost wary unwillingness to engage more than necessary with Grace). I can see Kalinda being somewhat surprised that Alicia supposedly had a child before 22 and raised him in law school, but we see none of that surprise in the investigator’s tone or expression, which we might have expected given how (relatively) open Kalinda seems to be with Alicia by now. At any rate, Kalinda certainly uses Alicia’s admission that he isn’t hers as an opportunity to find out who Kenny really is (should we have expected any less?). Kalinda wants that information because it’s in her nature to learn as much as she can, but also because it’s in her nature (“in her DNA,” actually, according to the actress) to care for and look after Alicia, and Alicia’s relationship to Kenny quickly becomes essential information given that he’s so important to her as to warrant being taken for her son.
A detour on ages: Kenny is revealed to be 18 years old at around 11:15-20 into the episode, when Alicia has a face-off with the lawyer chosen by Kenny’s parents to represent him. Alicia graduated from law school 15 years previously (2 years at a firm + 13 years not practicing law), so assuming she got her bachelor’s degree at 22 and went straight to law school for three years, we can probably put her age at just shy of 40 (the pilot script says “late-30s”, but it must be very late unless she skipped ahead in school). The difference in years between Kenny and Zach isn’t all that great: Alicia cited “the kids” as a reason for quitting law two years in, and we learn within a few episodes that Grace is 13 and Zach is a year older. Admittedly, there’s a difference between early 20s and mid-20s when it comes to having children, especially with the additional matter of law school.
It’s back to business when Alicia asks a favor (or rather, asks if she can ask a favor) of Kalinda. She’d like the in-house to find out if there was any police activity in Highland Park the previous night, if Kenny Chatham is a person of interest, and if there are any warrants out for his arrest. All of this Kalinda dutifully notes down then with equal seriousness asks Alicia who Kenny actually is. To Alicia’s response - “I knew his mom” (‘it’s the simplest way to explain,’ her expression says) - Kalinda nods knowingly (‘enough said’). The camera focuses on Kalinda as she watches Alicia go with the same sort of attentiveness Alicia called her on in the pilot: I can well imagine her wondering what sort of trouble Kenny might be in, and how he might end up dragging Alicia into it. After all, it will be Kalinda’s job to bail them out.
Kalinda just barely manages to give Alicia the news that there’s an arrest warrant out on Kenny before Alicia finds out for herself by virtue of the fact that the police are already cuffing him on the front lawn of his parents’ house. (The drive from Chicago proper to Highland Park appears to take about an hour in traffic, so that might give us some idea of how quickly Kalinda works. As to the completeness of her information, Kalinda warns Alicia that the arrest warrant wasn’t related to the marijuana, but she simply doesn’t have the time to tell her its precise nature before a housewife interrupts and draws Alicia’s attention outside for the dramatic reveal.) Unfortunately for Alicia, she identifies herself as Kenny’s attorney before she finds out that he’s being arrested for felony murder. Cut to Kalinda explaining the whole situation, files in hand, back at Alicia’s office. A certain deleted scene from the pilot episode makes its way in a much revised form into this scene. When Alicia asserts that Kenny isn’t capable of killing the security guard, Kalinda asks how well Alicia knows him. (Perhaps she’s thinking that this could well turn out to be another case where Alicia believes the client until proven mistaken in that belief.) Alicia answers, “Very, his mother was my first friend in Highland Park.” Kalinda’s cynical “Oh, yeah?” makes clear her abysmal regard for Alicia’s “friends” in Highland Park and prompts Alicia to admit that Kenny’s mother was also the first person to stop talking to her after the Scandal. Kalinda’s expression isn’t the sarcastic “duh” we might expect her to be thinking; rather, it’s almost regretful or sympathetic, something we haven’t really seen from her at all except when it comes to Alicia. Kalinda's cynicism here, reiterated in her conversation with Alicia regarding the manicured lawns, will be borne out towards the end of the episode when Alicia deals with Lauren realistically after the trial.
Kalinda next appears along with Alicia and Cary at Kenny’s school in Highland Park, the same one Grace and Zach used to attend (a certain Capstone Preparatory School, according to the sign, though the only one of those I could find online is in Kenya - I suppose the Cook County State’s Attorney living in Kenya is probably just as likely as him living in Lake County, where Highland Park is located). From the moment she steps out of the car Kalinda is continually evaluating - and visibly disdaining - what she sees. (Side note on accessories: The horse-shoe necklace she’s wearing is a universal sign of good luck. While I don’t see Kalinda as terribly superstitious, I can easily see her thinking a little luck never hurts - that, and it goes well with the outfit.) When she notes that “these kids go to a fancy campus” (she must know this is where Alicia’s kids went, or doesn’t she want to think of them?), Cary says it reminds him of his old high school; Kalinda replies that it reminds her of the schools she used to vandalize, drawing an amused eye-roll from Alicia. While Kalinda is clearly willing to engage in banter with Cary, it seems almost as if Alicia is like a lynchpin connecting the two: Kalinda sits behind Alicia in the car, while Cary sits in the passenger seat, and they walk towards the school on either side of Alicia at first. As Alicia and Cary set out to find Spencer, the kid whose house Kenny and Brian supposedly broke into, Kalinda goes in search of Brian. After Cary shows us exactly how well he relates to preppy 18-year-old boys, Kalinda rejoins them with news that Brian has quite a temper and that he isn’t the sort to stick up for his friends - no offense, Kalinda, but is this actually news now that we know Brian is willing to cop to a burglary he didn’t commit in order to set up his friend for a murder he did? Nevertheless, Kalinda has done her piece and quietly gets in the back of the car behind the driver’s seat, wanting nothing to do with Cary and Alicia as they get into it over whether or not to “investigate the situation.”
We get the answer to Kalinda’s next question (“Where’s Cary? Shouldn’t he be out here canvassing as well?”) before she even asks it: He’s trying to take opposing counsel out to lunch in order to agree on a plea deal. Without the benefit of his presence, Alicia and Kalinda are back to their tag-team ways, trying to figure out what really happened the night of the murder by revisiting the scene. (Warning: personal space invasion at 20:26. I have plenty of issues with personal space, and I don’t think even I’m quite as wary about intimacy as Kalinda, so her actually sidling up to Alicia of her own free will is a definite sign that she likes being close to her. It strikes me as almost subconscious on her part, as if she’s naturally gravitating towards Alicia. I probably wouldn’t think twice about it if Kalinda were getting something out of it business-wise, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.) The long walk across the street and up a driveway gives Kalinda the opportunity to scoff at the manicured lawns - no more than 2” tall, per the Neighborhood Association’s guidelines, Alicia wryly informs her. To this Kalinda says: “Pretty, but doesn’t seem like a good fit, though. You living here. Was it?” Alicia doesn’t take much time to think about it: “I did it for ten years. I liked it at the time.” She gets a typical Kalinda response: “Ignorance is bliss, I guess.” Double-speak is her tongue of choice, it seems: Alicia has shown that she has much more in her than “Mrs. Florrick,” and it’s those bits of something stronger that intrigue Kalinda and are endearing Alicia to her. Kalinda has no qualms about showing Alicia just how much disdain she has for the sort of women that are content to live in this Stepford Wives-esque world - the sort of woman Alicia was before she began to emerge from that Matrix-like shell as it cracked and fell away around her (“Ignorance is bliss” is the comment offered by Cypher when he asks to be re-integrated into the Matrix in the first movie). For the first time we really see Alicia as Kalinda’s equal in canvassing as they question Shelly, the nurse who works across the street from Spencer’s house.
After a brief interlude in which Cary gets his way with the A.S.A. over lunch, we find Alicia and Kalinda walking and talking through the crime. Kalinda surprises Alicia with the statistic that “the average teenage boy sprinting would likely be in the range of eight to ten miles per hour.” (Side note, because I’m a nerd: The result of Kalinda and Alicia’s test shows that a person could have run the unspecified distance “in the range of eight to ten miles per hour” in a “pretty tight” but “doable” time of “just under five minutes.” Assuming Alicia’s speed averaged out to nine miles per hour, we can put the distance at three-quarters of a mile. One relatively simple way to come up with a sensible range for a teenager’s footspeed: take an average mile time of roughly 7 minutes, figure out the corresponding mph (8.6), then stick a margin of error on either side. Kalinda’s range of 8-10 mph yields a 6-7.5 minute mile - not to spoil her Mystical Knowledge or anything.) When Alicia asks how she knows that, Kalinda pulls her leg: “Would you believe me if I told you I was a track coach in a previous life?” Alicia’s not having it, especially not after the tequila thing, and Kalinda all too willingly lets it go, Alicia none the wiser. (It’s called Google, Alicia. I actually think Kalinda might be the type to look up the answer when she wonders really random things, or maybe that’s just me.) In this case, however, her clearly joking response about “a previous life” might be worth keeping in mind; for all we know about Kalinda at this point, she may well have had several.
Alicia’s creeping along at 8-10 mph piques the man behind her, and in a fit of road rage he races by them shouting, “Learn to drive!” Kalinda casually sticks her hand out of the passenger window, middle finger raised (but artfully hidden from the camera), and loudly calls him an ass. Alicia isn’t thrilled (“Nice. Nice.”), especially not with Kalinda’s suggestion that she “ought to try it sometime.” (Her tone is almost reminiscent of a mother dealing with a misbehaving and quite unrepentant teenager.) ALICIA: What, flipping someone off? KALINDA: It’s good for your soul. It’s as if Alicia has been suddenly reminded that she doesn’t have a stick up her ass anymore; instead of getting angrier, she starts to laugh, and Kalinda even joins in when she sees Alicia’s response. Kalinda isn’t ever really carefree or open, but she’s a little less guarded when she’s around Alicia now, and she seems even playful at points, whether she’s needling the associate, teasing her, or simply making her laugh. Who knew inventing traditions about tequila could be such an ice-breaker?
Kalinda has just finished snapping some photos and is commiserating with Alicia over their lack of access to the S.A.’s office when Mr. Rankin storms out of the house. It’s a slightly different arrangement of the Kalinda-Alicia-top political dog triangle that we saw last episode with Childs in the final position. This time Kalinda holds her ground, refusing to engage Rankin but glancing casually back at Alicia as if to say “This isn’t going to end well.” (Alicia acknowledges her wordlessly.) On the other hand, Alicia looks as if she has something to say to Rankin, but she never gets the chance simply because he won’t stop talking. Despite Rankin’s angry tone, neither Alicia nor Kalinda seems inclined to retreat; Kalinda in particular, though she’s closer to spitting distance, betrays very little other than slight frustration (she really doesn’t need to be scolded like a teenager), but she’s definitely interested in Alicia’s reaction, turning back to her once again as Rankin goes back inside.
Back in Alicia’s office at SLG, Kalinda has made herself at home in a chair while Alicia and Cary argue over the plea deal he made and just as quickly lost. When Cary tells Alicia that he cleared his plan with Diane, essentially going over Alicia’s head without informing her, Alicia looks at Kalinda with an expression of pure disbelief. Legs crossed and notebook in lap, Kalinda merely looks at Cary as if to make sure he finishes leaving Alicia’s office. When he doesn’t, instead engaging with Alicia as to what testimony each side has and proclaiming that SLG doesn’t have a case, Kalinda finally speaks up, noting bitingly that the prosecution doesn’t have “conclusive physical evidence.” Kalinda’s taking sides with Alicia seems to push Cary out the door, and he leaves with the excuse that he has to prep for court. When Kalinda turns back to Alicia with a knowing smile, Alicia’s questioning expression prompts Kalinda to reveal that Cary has never been to trial before. Alicia is rather stunned (“How is that even possible?”), and Kalinda explains that he’s pleaded out every court case he’s had. Again, Kalinda sees all and knows all - Alicia clearly had no idea about Cary’s track record. On the other hand, I bet she’d feel much better about that little revelation if he weren’t her first chair.
And now for something completely different: James sustains an objection from the A.S.A. during the next scene “if for no other reason than the use of pluperfect tense.” Now, despite being somewhat brilliant, The Good Wife does occasionally get things wrong (horrors!), and this is one of them: Pluperfect is a perfectly valid tense, and Cary uses it in a perfectly valid way (in this scene, at least). Correct usage of the pluperfect tense should never be grounds for sustaining an objection, and certainly not from a judge who is probably smarter than the lawyers in her court. (A lawyer I knew once told me that the students who get As in law school are the ones who go on to become judges. I’ll take his word for it.)
Kalinda makes her last appearance of the episode after Alicia’s triumph in court and subsequent conversation with Mrs. Chatham. First plea bargain, the in-house says, calls for a gin martini: “another Stern, Lockhart tradition.” Alicia smiles broadly, knowing it now for a line, and politely declines. Kalinda lets her off - this time.
Air Date: 6 October 2009
It’s becoming a habit of Kalinda’s to appear at opportune moments. We see her for the first time in this episode, again almost as if through Alicia’s eyes, in the middle of Alicia’s relatively secluded discussion with Kenny, a young man whose parents she knew in Highland Park and whom she considers a second son of sorts. Like Will a moment before, Kalinda can be seen peering through the panes of glass in the door, back in dark colors and notebook in hand. Unlike with Will, however, spotting Kalinda motivates Alicia to interrupt her discussion and get the investigator’s attention. It’s easier done than said in this case: Kalinda has stationed herself a few feet from the door through which she saw Alicia, and she immediately stops writing in her notebook and looks up when she hears the door open, already focused on Alicia as she emerges from the room. It strikes me as a bit fabricated, as if Kalinda were waiting for Alicia should she need help. Although there was no sign of the in-house in the conference room when Courtney announced Alicia’s “son” had shown up at the office looking for her, Kalinda knows (from the rumor mill?) that Kenny - or rather, the kid who came to SLG to see her - is supposedly Alicia’s child. For those like me who lose track of timelines by watching episodes and reruns in random order, Kalinda hasn’t actually met Zach yet, so she (presumably) doesn’t know what he looks like or how old he is. However, the wry delivery of Kalinda’s ensuing remark (“Your son is older than I thought”) and the flash of a teasing smile that accompanies it, together with her natural inclination to find things out, lead me to think that Kalinda suspects Kenny might not actually be Alicia’s son. (If Kalinda had been in the conference room and the camera somehow missed her, she would have heard Courtney say, “I think it’s your son.” [my emphasis]) That said, I wouldn’t call it a foregone conclusion, given the brief glance Kalinda spares at the glass door immediately after Alicia clears things up. Regardless, Kalinda’s glance towards the door is certainly an indication that she is allowing herself to be openly interested now that she knows Kenny isn’t really Alicia’s (cf. her almost wary unwillingness to engage more than necessary with Grace). I can see Kalinda being somewhat surprised that Alicia supposedly had a child before 22 and raised him in law school, but we see none of that surprise in the investigator’s tone or expression, which we might have expected given how (relatively) open Kalinda seems to be with Alicia by now. At any rate, Kalinda certainly uses Alicia’s admission that he isn’t hers as an opportunity to find out who Kenny really is (should we have expected any less?). Kalinda wants that information because it’s in her nature to learn as much as she can, but also because it’s in her nature (“in her DNA,” actually, according to the actress) to care for and look after Alicia, and Alicia’s relationship to Kenny quickly becomes essential information given that he’s so important to her as to warrant being taken for her son.
A detour on ages: Kenny is revealed to be 18 years old at around 11:15-20 into the episode, when Alicia has a face-off with the lawyer chosen by Kenny’s parents to represent him. Alicia graduated from law school 15 years previously (2 years at a firm + 13 years not practicing law), so assuming she got her bachelor’s degree at 22 and went straight to law school for three years, we can probably put her age at just shy of 40 (the pilot script says “late-30s”, but it must be very late unless she skipped ahead in school). The difference in years between Kenny and Zach isn’t all that great: Alicia cited “the kids” as a reason for quitting law two years in, and we learn within a few episodes that Grace is 13 and Zach is a year older. Admittedly, there’s a difference between early 20s and mid-20s when it comes to having children, especially with the additional matter of law school.
It’s back to business when Alicia asks a favor (or rather, asks if she can ask a favor) of Kalinda. She’d like the in-house to find out if there was any police activity in Highland Park the previous night, if Kenny Chatham is a person of interest, and if there are any warrants out for his arrest. All of this Kalinda dutifully notes down then with equal seriousness asks Alicia who Kenny actually is. To Alicia’s response - “I knew his mom” (‘it’s the simplest way to explain,’ her expression says) - Kalinda nods knowingly (‘enough said’). The camera focuses on Kalinda as she watches Alicia go with the same sort of attentiveness Alicia called her on in the pilot: I can well imagine her wondering what sort of trouble Kenny might be in, and how he might end up dragging Alicia into it. After all, it will be Kalinda’s job to bail them out.
Kalinda just barely manages to give Alicia the news that there’s an arrest warrant out on Kenny before Alicia finds out for herself by virtue of the fact that the police are already cuffing him on the front lawn of his parents’ house. (The drive from Chicago proper to Highland Park appears to take about an hour in traffic, so that might give us some idea of how quickly Kalinda works. As to the completeness of her information, Kalinda warns Alicia that the arrest warrant wasn’t related to the marijuana, but she simply doesn’t have the time to tell her its precise nature before a housewife interrupts and draws Alicia’s attention outside for the dramatic reveal.) Unfortunately for Alicia, she identifies herself as Kenny’s attorney before she finds out that he’s being arrested for felony murder. Cut to Kalinda explaining the whole situation, files in hand, back at Alicia’s office. A certain deleted scene from the pilot episode makes its way in a much revised form into this scene. When Alicia asserts that Kenny isn’t capable of killing the security guard, Kalinda asks how well Alicia knows him. (Perhaps she’s thinking that this could well turn out to be another case where Alicia believes the client until proven mistaken in that belief.) Alicia answers, “Very, his mother was my first friend in Highland Park.” Kalinda’s cynical “Oh, yeah?” makes clear her abysmal regard for Alicia’s “friends” in Highland Park and prompts Alicia to admit that Kenny’s mother was also the first person to stop talking to her after the Scandal. Kalinda’s expression isn’t the sarcastic “duh” we might expect her to be thinking; rather, it’s almost regretful or sympathetic, something we haven’t really seen from her at all except when it comes to Alicia. Kalinda's cynicism here, reiterated in her conversation with Alicia regarding the manicured lawns, will be borne out towards the end of the episode when Alicia deals with Lauren realistically after the trial.
Kalinda next appears along with Alicia and Cary at Kenny’s school in Highland Park, the same one Grace and Zach used to attend (a certain Capstone Preparatory School, according to the sign, though the only one of those I could find online is in Kenya - I suppose the Cook County State’s Attorney living in Kenya is probably just as likely as him living in Lake County, where Highland Park is located). From the moment she steps out of the car Kalinda is continually evaluating - and visibly disdaining - what she sees. (Side note on accessories: The horse-shoe necklace she’s wearing is a universal sign of good luck. While I don’t see Kalinda as terribly superstitious, I can easily see her thinking a little luck never hurts - that, and it goes well with the outfit.) When she notes that “these kids go to a fancy campus” (she must know this is where Alicia’s kids went, or doesn’t she want to think of them?), Cary says it reminds him of his old high school; Kalinda replies that it reminds her of the schools she used to vandalize, drawing an amused eye-roll from Alicia. While Kalinda is clearly willing to engage in banter with Cary, it seems almost as if Alicia is like a lynchpin connecting the two: Kalinda sits behind Alicia in the car, while Cary sits in the passenger seat, and they walk towards the school on either side of Alicia at first. As Alicia and Cary set out to find Spencer, the kid whose house Kenny and Brian supposedly broke into, Kalinda goes in search of Brian. After Cary shows us exactly how well he relates to preppy 18-year-old boys, Kalinda rejoins them with news that Brian has quite a temper and that he isn’t the sort to stick up for his friends - no offense, Kalinda, but is this actually news now that we know Brian is willing to cop to a burglary he didn’t commit in order to set up his friend for a murder he did? Nevertheless, Kalinda has done her piece and quietly gets in the back of the car behind the driver’s seat, wanting nothing to do with Cary and Alicia as they get into it over whether or not to “investigate the situation.”
We get the answer to Kalinda’s next question (“Where’s Cary? Shouldn’t he be out here canvassing as well?”) before she even asks it: He’s trying to take opposing counsel out to lunch in order to agree on a plea deal. Without the benefit of his presence, Alicia and Kalinda are back to their tag-team ways, trying to figure out what really happened the night of the murder by revisiting the scene. (Warning: personal space invasion at 20:26. I have plenty of issues with personal space, and I don’t think even I’m quite as wary about intimacy as Kalinda, so her actually sidling up to Alicia of her own free will is a definite sign that she likes being close to her. It strikes me as almost subconscious on her part, as if she’s naturally gravitating towards Alicia. I probably wouldn’t think twice about it if Kalinda were getting something out of it business-wise, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.) The long walk across the street and up a driveway gives Kalinda the opportunity to scoff at the manicured lawns - no more than 2” tall, per the Neighborhood Association’s guidelines, Alicia wryly informs her. To this Kalinda says: “Pretty, but doesn’t seem like a good fit, though. You living here. Was it?” Alicia doesn’t take much time to think about it: “I did it for ten years. I liked it at the time.” She gets a typical Kalinda response: “Ignorance is bliss, I guess.” Double-speak is her tongue of choice, it seems: Alicia has shown that she has much more in her than “Mrs. Florrick,” and it’s those bits of something stronger that intrigue Kalinda and are endearing Alicia to her. Kalinda has no qualms about showing Alicia just how much disdain she has for the sort of women that are content to live in this Stepford Wives-esque world - the sort of woman Alicia was before she began to emerge from that Matrix-like shell as it cracked and fell away around her (“Ignorance is bliss” is the comment offered by Cypher when he asks to be re-integrated into the Matrix in the first movie). For the first time we really see Alicia as Kalinda’s equal in canvassing as they question Shelly, the nurse who works across the street from Spencer’s house.
After a brief interlude in which Cary gets his way with the A.S.A. over lunch, we find Alicia and Kalinda walking and talking through the crime. Kalinda surprises Alicia with the statistic that “the average teenage boy sprinting would likely be in the range of eight to ten miles per hour.” (Side note, because I’m a nerd: The result of Kalinda and Alicia’s test shows that a person could have run the unspecified distance “in the range of eight to ten miles per hour” in a “pretty tight” but “doable” time of “just under five minutes.” Assuming Alicia’s speed averaged out to nine miles per hour, we can put the distance at three-quarters of a mile. One relatively simple way to come up with a sensible range for a teenager’s footspeed: take an average mile time of roughly 7 minutes, figure out the corresponding mph (8.6), then stick a margin of error on either side. Kalinda’s range of 8-10 mph yields a 6-7.5 minute mile - not to spoil her Mystical Knowledge or anything.) When Alicia asks how she knows that, Kalinda pulls her leg: “Would you believe me if I told you I was a track coach in a previous life?” Alicia’s not having it, especially not after the tequila thing, and Kalinda all too willingly lets it go, Alicia none the wiser. (It’s called Google, Alicia. I actually think Kalinda might be the type to look up the answer when she wonders really random things, or maybe that’s just me.) In this case, however, her clearly joking response about “a previous life” might be worth keeping in mind; for all we know about Kalinda at this point, she may well have had several.
Alicia’s creeping along at 8-10 mph piques the man behind her, and in a fit of road rage he races by them shouting, “Learn to drive!” Kalinda casually sticks her hand out of the passenger window, middle finger raised (but artfully hidden from the camera), and loudly calls him an ass. Alicia isn’t thrilled (“Nice. Nice.”), especially not with Kalinda’s suggestion that she “ought to try it sometime.” (Her tone is almost reminiscent of a mother dealing with a misbehaving and quite unrepentant teenager.) ALICIA: What, flipping someone off? KALINDA: It’s good for your soul. It’s as if Alicia has been suddenly reminded that she doesn’t have a stick up her ass anymore; instead of getting angrier, she starts to laugh, and Kalinda even joins in when she sees Alicia’s response. Kalinda isn’t ever really carefree or open, but she’s a little less guarded when she’s around Alicia now, and she seems even playful at points, whether she’s needling the associate, teasing her, or simply making her laugh. Who knew inventing traditions about tequila could be such an ice-breaker?
Kalinda has just finished snapping some photos and is commiserating with Alicia over their lack of access to the S.A.’s office when Mr. Rankin storms out of the house. It’s a slightly different arrangement of the Kalinda-Alicia-top political dog triangle that we saw last episode with Childs in the final position. This time Kalinda holds her ground, refusing to engage Rankin but glancing casually back at Alicia as if to say “This isn’t going to end well.” (Alicia acknowledges her wordlessly.) On the other hand, Alicia looks as if she has something to say to Rankin, but she never gets the chance simply because he won’t stop talking. Despite Rankin’s angry tone, neither Alicia nor Kalinda seems inclined to retreat; Kalinda in particular, though she’s closer to spitting distance, betrays very little other than slight frustration (she really doesn’t need to be scolded like a teenager), but she’s definitely interested in Alicia’s reaction, turning back to her once again as Rankin goes back inside.
Back in Alicia’s office at SLG, Kalinda has made herself at home in a chair while Alicia and Cary argue over the plea deal he made and just as quickly lost. When Cary tells Alicia that he cleared his plan with Diane, essentially going over Alicia’s head without informing her, Alicia looks at Kalinda with an expression of pure disbelief. Legs crossed and notebook in lap, Kalinda merely looks at Cary as if to make sure he finishes leaving Alicia’s office. When he doesn’t, instead engaging with Alicia as to what testimony each side has and proclaiming that SLG doesn’t have a case, Kalinda finally speaks up, noting bitingly that the prosecution doesn’t have “conclusive physical evidence.” Kalinda’s taking sides with Alicia seems to push Cary out the door, and he leaves with the excuse that he has to prep for court. When Kalinda turns back to Alicia with a knowing smile, Alicia’s questioning expression prompts Kalinda to reveal that Cary has never been to trial before. Alicia is rather stunned (“How is that even possible?”), and Kalinda explains that he’s pleaded out every court case he’s had. Again, Kalinda sees all and knows all - Alicia clearly had no idea about Cary’s track record. On the other hand, I bet she’d feel much better about that little revelation if he weren’t her first chair.
And now for something completely different: James sustains an objection from the A.S.A. during the next scene “if for no other reason than the use of pluperfect tense.” Now, despite being somewhat brilliant, The Good Wife does occasionally get things wrong (horrors!), and this is one of them: Pluperfect is a perfectly valid tense, and Cary uses it in a perfectly valid way (in this scene, at least). Correct usage of the pluperfect tense should never be grounds for sustaining an objection, and certainly not from a judge who is probably smarter than the lawyers in her court. (A lawyer I knew once told me that the students who get As in law school are the ones who go on to become judges. I’ll take his word for it.)
Kalinda makes her last appearance of the episode after Alicia’s triumph in court and subsequent conversation with Mrs. Chatham. First plea bargain, the in-house says, calls for a gin martini: “another Stern, Lockhart tradition.” Alicia smiles broadly, knowing it now for a line, and politely declines. Kalinda lets her off - this time.