The Good Wife 6.01
Sep. 29th, 2014 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakOperation Catching Up With TV continues with last week's episode of The Good Wife.
In its sixth year, and the show is still firing on all cylinders. Awesome. The fourth season was a bit of a mixed affair, but the fifth was fantastic, and now the sixth has started very well indeed. Mind you, I spent a bit of the episode worried they're going to press the reset button re: Diane's bombshell of wanting to join Florick & Agos. But her conditions were all ic and reasonable (from her pov, more in a moment on the Kalinda-Robin factor), and if it doesn't happen, it won't be for artificial reasons.
The show does its brand of satire without caricature but with three dimensional human beings so well. Cary getting arrested and treated exactly like a druggie lowlife had its comedy element because of who Cary is - i.e. the anti demographic of who usually gets treated this way (white, male, rich, well educated, employed) - but the background was serious enough. When Alicia and Cary took Lamont Bishop the drug dealer with them as they left Lockhart & Gardner behind, they took one of their wealthiest clients, but also one of their constant sources of shadiness and moral ambiguity, to put it mildly. No, Cary didn't organize a drug transport for Bishop. But he, and Alicia, have been representing him for years and helping him to stay out of prison which in turn enabled him to continue to prey on the population at large. The difference between them andGrand Nagus Zek Wallace Shawn's character is only that Bishop isn't their only client and that they don't order hits. But when Sophia reminded Kalinda hat if she told Kalinda the name of the snitch in Bishop's organization, Bishop would have him killed, it was a stark reminder that Florrick & Agos aren't the persecuted innocents here.
This being said: loved Cary spotting the L & G client and using the opportunity to get a message out. Loved Kalinda figuring out what must have happened to Cary once she got his message. Loved Alicia coming to the rescue (or trying to) the moment she hears her partner isn't bailing on her but in trouble. Even loved Flynn Polmer and Alicia as adversaries on this one, because it was bound to happen as long as he's still working for the State Attorney's office and she's not. Now you'd think with Kalinda, Alicia and Diane all teaming up to save him Cary is saved, but no such luck. In fact, it currently looks like it was even more of a set up than it already looked like, and that the purpose for the high bail money was precisely so they'd have to use Bishop's money (via a middle man) and thus create an even more direct link between Cary and drug money. But who's the pull stringer behind this one, and why?
In addition to the Cary-under-arrest storyline which isn't resolved at the end of the episode and thus apparantly will be a longer one of the season, we get some set up re: the employment question of detectives if and when Diane joins Florick & Agos as a partner. Like I said, her insisting on bringing Kalinda with her is entirely justified from her pov. But it was a plot point last season that F & A can't afford Kalinda (especially at her rates) and Robin. And Robin just gave another proof of her commitment and loyalty, being ready to loan all her money to Cary for the bail (far more than the other partners were ready to give). Not to mention Robin is adorable. If they fire Robin in order to hire Kalinda, I will not be happy. Not to mention that as Alicia points out Cary's and Kalinda's relationship is loaded and if he's her boss and pays her salary... (It would also alter their dynamics which would grieve me since I'm somewhat fond of Kalinda's and Cary's relationship, screwed up as it is already.) Otoh I can't see Kalinda staying at L & G with Louis Channing and David Lee if Diane leaves.
Hm. If Diane decides to stay at her firm for Kalinda's sake and somehow outmaneouvres the scheming duo into submission, it would feel emotionally satisfying, but then we won't get an Alicia-Cary-Diane trio. Hm.
Though if Cary actually remains in prison for at least half a season the way Peter did at the start of the show, Diane could become acting partner in his stead at Florick and Agos, and maybe with her additional money they can afford both Kalinda and Robin? I'm defintely on Team Save Robin's Job, whatever happens.
Meanwhile, Eli's daughter is back and because I watched this back to back with Manhattan, I suddenly realised she's also Frank and Liza Winters' daughter, i.e. played by the same actress. I thought the way Eli manoeuvred Peter into being pro-Alicia-running-for-state-attorney was a tad predictable, but still, it wasn't Eli used as comic relief and WAS Eli shown as competent, which I'm always for. It also reminded the audience that Castro exists. I'd suspect him of being behind Cary's arrest out of a general grudge against everyone named Florrick and connected to same, but he strikes me as the type who couldn't resist gloating if that were the case.
Or maybe it's the NSA, feeling vengeful because of last season's embarrasment, she says, with her non-ending NSA grudge showing.
In its sixth year, and the show is still firing on all cylinders. Awesome. The fourth season was a bit of a mixed affair, but the fifth was fantastic, and now the sixth has started very well indeed. Mind you, I spent a bit of the episode worried they're going to press the reset button re: Diane's bombshell of wanting to join Florick & Agos. But her conditions were all ic and reasonable (from her pov, more in a moment on the Kalinda-Robin factor), and if it doesn't happen, it won't be for artificial reasons.
The show does its brand of satire without caricature but with three dimensional human beings so well. Cary getting arrested and treated exactly like a druggie lowlife had its comedy element because of who Cary is - i.e. the anti demographic of who usually gets treated this way (white, male, rich, well educated, employed) - but the background was serious enough. When Alicia and Cary took Lamont Bishop the drug dealer with them as they left Lockhart & Gardner behind, they took one of their wealthiest clients, but also one of their constant sources of shadiness and moral ambiguity, to put it mildly. No, Cary didn't organize a drug transport for Bishop. But he, and Alicia, have been representing him for years and helping him to stay out of prison which in turn enabled him to continue to prey on the population at large. The difference between them and
This being said: loved Cary spotting the L & G client and using the opportunity to get a message out. Loved Kalinda figuring out what must have happened to Cary once she got his message. Loved Alicia coming to the rescue (or trying to) the moment she hears her partner isn't bailing on her but in trouble. Even loved Flynn Polmer and Alicia as adversaries on this one, because it was bound to happen as long as he's still working for the State Attorney's office and she's not. Now you'd think with Kalinda, Alicia and Diane all teaming up to save him Cary is saved, but no such luck. In fact, it currently looks like it was even more of a set up than it already looked like, and that the purpose for the high bail money was precisely so they'd have to use Bishop's money (via a middle man) and thus create an even more direct link between Cary and drug money. But who's the pull stringer behind this one, and why?
In addition to the Cary-under-arrest storyline which isn't resolved at the end of the episode and thus apparantly will be a longer one of the season, we get some set up re: the employment question of detectives if and when Diane joins Florick & Agos as a partner. Like I said, her insisting on bringing Kalinda with her is entirely justified from her pov. But it was a plot point last season that F & A can't afford Kalinda (especially at her rates) and Robin. And Robin just gave another proof of her commitment and loyalty, being ready to loan all her money to Cary for the bail (far more than the other partners were ready to give). Not to mention Robin is adorable. If they fire Robin in order to hire Kalinda, I will not be happy. Not to mention that as Alicia points out Cary's and Kalinda's relationship is loaded and if he's her boss and pays her salary... (It would also alter their dynamics which would grieve me since I'm somewhat fond of Kalinda's and Cary's relationship, screwed up as it is already.) Otoh I can't see Kalinda staying at L & G with Louis Channing and David Lee if Diane leaves.
Hm. If Diane decides to stay at her firm for Kalinda's sake and somehow outmaneouvres the scheming duo into submission, it would feel emotionally satisfying, but then we won't get an Alicia-Cary-Diane trio. Hm.
Though if Cary actually remains in prison for at least half a season the way Peter did at the start of the show, Diane could become acting partner in his stead at Florick and Agos, and maybe with her additional money they can afford both Kalinda and Robin? I'm defintely on Team Save Robin's Job, whatever happens.
Meanwhile, Eli's daughter is back and because I watched this back to back with Manhattan, I suddenly realised she's also Frank and Liza Winters' daughter, i.e. played by the same actress. I thought the way Eli manoeuvred Peter into being pro-Alicia-running-for-state-attorney was a tad predictable, but still, it wasn't Eli used as comic relief and WAS Eli shown as competent, which I'm always for. It also reminded the audience that Castro exists. I'd suspect him of being behind Cary's arrest out of a general grudge against everyone named Florrick and connected to same, but he strikes me as the type who couldn't resist gloating if that were the case.
Or maybe it's the NSA, feeling vengeful because of last season's embarrasment, she says, with her non-ending NSA grudge showing.
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Date: 2014-09-29 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-30 02:26 am (UTC)