The Good Wife 6.05
Oct. 23rd, 2014 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakDue to having been on the road, I only got to watch this one now.
I feel churlish and Scrooge like for writing this, but Elsbeth Tacioni has stopped working for me as a character several seasons ago. To me, she comes across as the producters thinking "everyone loves Elsbeth, let's bring her back with some new quirks!" rather than writing a living being. Intermittendly I thought "well, Elsbeth versus Alicia in court was something they haven't done before, and it could be tremendously interesting, so her return is justified" but then, predictably, it ended up in the two having to team up (because no one wants to see Alicia going against an audience favourite for long). And as I type this I feel like, again, like a big meanie. Elsbeth is like puppies and kittens and penguins, and critisizing therefore feels like kicking same.
(All this being said, I was amused by the return of Kyle McLachlan.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the plot: I'm also sideeyeing where this Diane holding the lease for the L & G floors is going, because dammit, I'm FOND of the basement F & A look and don't want the show to move back to the sleek L & G sets. This being said, any time Diane crosses swords with David Lee the scene is entertaining.
Interesting 11th hour exploration: Kalinda and Lana the FBI agent have another encore, which gives us two very Kalinda angles - she's assuming Lana had a look at her files because that's exactly what Kalinda would do, and mutual using is the type of relationship she's comfortable with, and b) she's uncomfortable when Lana is telling her about coming out to her mother and even more comfortable when Lana asks her when/if Kalinda came out as her parents. Could be because Lana is using "gay" rather than "bi" in her question, could be because Kalinda doesn't like labels, full stop, could be because Kalinda doesn't like talking about her background before she became Kalinda. I dimly seem to recall her rejecting a similar question many seasons ago, maybe in s2 or s3, but I could be misremembering. Anyway, as far as "how does Kalinda feel about her sexual identity?" questions go, this one isn't unwelcome, but still feels very late, i.e. something you'd think more suited for late s1 or s2 when the character hasn't been around (and shown comfortable in her sexual identity, though not in her emotional commitments) for ages.
Alicia and Peter conflict: also felt a bit artificial, especially since not to episodes ago Eli specifically pitched the idea of repeating the pilot photo with reversed roles to Alicia and Peter (on a different occasion) as an incitement, and basically the conflict felt ilke it was there so we a) see Alicia winning, and b) get the photo repeated with some unexpectedness thrown in (i.e. no he's not coming, yes he is).
In conclusion: not my favourite episode, this one. Not because there's anything objectionable in it, just that because this show has such a high standard, when they just reuse plot elements (which are fine by themselves) it feels a bit stale.
I feel churlish and Scrooge like for writing this, but Elsbeth Tacioni has stopped working for me as a character several seasons ago. To me, she comes across as the producters thinking "everyone loves Elsbeth, let's bring her back with some new quirks!" rather than writing a living being. Intermittendly I thought "well, Elsbeth versus Alicia in court was something they haven't done before, and it could be tremendously interesting, so her return is justified" but then, predictably, it ended up in the two having to team up (because no one wants to see Alicia going against an audience favourite for long). And as I type this I feel like, again, like a big meanie. Elsbeth is like puppies and kittens and penguins, and critisizing therefore feels like kicking same.
(All this being said, I was amused by the return of Kyle McLachlan.)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the plot: I'm also sideeyeing where this Diane holding the lease for the L & G floors is going, because dammit, I'm FOND of the basement F & A look and don't want the show to move back to the sleek L & G sets. This being said, any time Diane crosses swords with David Lee the scene is entertaining.
Interesting 11th hour exploration: Kalinda and Lana the FBI agent have another encore, which gives us two very Kalinda angles - she's assuming Lana had a look at her files because that's exactly what Kalinda would do, and mutual using is the type of relationship she's comfortable with, and b) she's uncomfortable when Lana is telling her about coming out to her mother and even more comfortable when Lana asks her when/if Kalinda came out as her parents. Could be because Lana is using "gay" rather than "bi" in her question, could be because Kalinda doesn't like labels, full stop, could be because Kalinda doesn't like talking about her background before she became Kalinda. I dimly seem to recall her rejecting a similar question many seasons ago, maybe in s2 or s3, but I could be misremembering. Anyway, as far as "how does Kalinda feel about her sexual identity?" questions go, this one isn't unwelcome, but still feels very late, i.e. something you'd think more suited for late s1 or s2 when the character hasn't been around (and shown comfortable in her sexual identity, though not in her emotional commitments) for ages.
Alicia and Peter conflict: also felt a bit artificial, especially since not to episodes ago Eli specifically pitched the idea of repeating the pilot photo with reversed roles to Alicia and Peter (on a different occasion) as an incitement, and basically the conflict felt ilke it was there so we a) see Alicia winning, and b) get the photo repeated with some unexpectedness thrown in (i.e. no he's not coming, yes he is).
In conclusion: not my favourite episode, this one. Not because there's anything objectionable in it, just that because this show has such a high standard, when they just reuse plot elements (which are fine by themselves) it feels a bit stale.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-23 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-23 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-23 02:47 pm (UTC)I felt the same about Elsbeth, too--too much inside her head, to no gain. We could've guessed her mind was flighty like that, but the actual images and metaphors didn't add anything. No layers.
I liked the Alicia/Peter, though. Even though Alicia got to win it just feels like she's getting dirtier/more bitter all the time about how she goes about it. I think, combined with the "talks" she had with Owen, her mom, and Zach last ep, it just continues this theme that running for office is ultimately alienating her from everyone she could've turned to just to unwind. Well, Owen anyway, if not her mom!
no subject
Date: 2014-10-23 05:38 pm (UTC)Point about Owen and Zach. Though they're building up Finn Polmar as friend/future love interest to relax with and have been for a while. Then again: there's the Bishop subplot, where they're definitely on opposite sides.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-29 06:09 pm (UTC)Well, it was masked as an internal mail, and even lawyers are not necessarily tech-savvy. I think if they had shot the scene differently, i.e. framed it as her Diane waiting for a file from Alicia and hurriedly opening it on the go, it would have made total sense to me.
And I admit to eating it up with a spoon. There's something about the Margulies/Goode chemistry that really does it for me.