The Good Wife 6.10

[selenak]

In which I'm seriously starting to wimper about two characters.




To wit, Cary and Kalinda. In this episode, I was starting to get the dark suspicion that Finn Polmar isn't just meant to replace Will in Alicia's life, but also Cary, that Cary will actually go to prison and be reduced to very occasional guest star when someone visits him while Finn becomes the new partner at the lawfirm. Which I would hate. Nothing against Finn Polmar, and Matthew Goode is gorgeous, but dammit, Cary and Alicia as partners is something I wanted since season 2, and I already have to put up with everyone being back in the damm old office, and Kalinda is going to leave one way or the other because Archie Panjabi is - do not take away Cary from me, show. Don't you dare!

(Yes, Peter was in prison and could still become State Attorney again afterwards, but he never pleaded guilty and his conviction was overturned. So now that Cary realistically plead guilty in the face of impossible odds, how do we get him unrealistically free so he can practice law again and remain on the show? Help!)

Then I'm of course also afraid for Kalinda. I still say she will fake her death as opposed to actually die, but damm, they've made Bishop such a real and incredible menace this season, and now it's personal with Kalinda. Trying to blackmail him by using the social service threat re: his son was on the one hand both audacious and brilliant because the son is his weak spot, he already had a custody fight, and it's something Kalinda could actually do (whereas threatening him with prison is something he knows she could never pull off without ruining her employers). But on the ther, there's the dead wife as a graphic illustration of what Bishop does to people who cross him in this area even when he used to care for them, and he has no reason to restrain himself on Kalinda. He also just called her bluff by letting Dante testify - against Cary, instead of for him. I don't think Kalinda will go to social services - what would be the point? Which Bishop probably knew.

The subplot about a joke between mother and daughter going awry and becoming a political problem for Alicia was amusing in the usual Good Wife way, and btw, I think they're using Eli's daughter very well this season; her reactions aren't just comic relief (as when she wistfully comments on Alicia's way of interacting with Grace). (Though I still have odd moments when I recall the actresss is also Liza and Frank Winters' daughter in Manhattan.)

But dammit - Cary and Kalinda!

(BTW, this is not a complaint re: the storyline as far as Kalinda is concerned. On the contrary. This is the best use of the character since the later half of season 2.)


(It's also no complaint re: Cary unless it ends with him being demoted to very occasionally recurring guest star in favour of Finn Polmar. If this doesn't happen, it's good character stuff.)

Comments

[jae]

My completely-radical-and-probably-wrong theory is that Cary will indeed go to prison, but that they're going to do a two-year jump during the winter hiatus. Like I said, probably wrong, but it's an intriguing idea, no? The Florrick kids are now old enough that their aging wouldn't be an impediment to that sort of maneuver.

-J

[monanotlisa]

Oh, interesting -- time jumps have been done before, most memorably in Alias and Fringe. I would not bet any money on the Kings going for this interesting but rather genre-y route, but as I think Victoria P. said, if they do it it will probably work for me.

Especially given that we are already in a radically new set-up, and so new in the Alicia/Cary partnership, I doubt the show will let Cary rot in prison either, even for two years -- it's also something we have already explored through the short but visceral suffering on his part; this is not Oz and not even Orange Is The New Black. My aforementioned money is still on some legal (or extralegal) finagling on part of Alicia, Diane, and of course Kalinda that gets him out. Even the plea bargain has in-built outs, though I know too little about this very practical area of criminal law.

[jae]

Well, since the most recent major show to do a time jump like this was the sitcom Parks and Recreation (I don't watch the show myself, but I believe it was also two years?), I don't know if you can really call it 'genre-y'. :)

You're right, though, that he could go to prison for a while and then get out much sooner than two years from now due to something one or more of Our Heroes does.

-J

[jesuswasbatman]

Add Six Feet Under to non-genre shows that also did a time-skip.

[selenak]

Now that's an intriguing idea! You're right re: Florrick kids, and I wouldn't be against a time jump per se, but it wouldn't solve the problem of Cary unable to practice law after such a prison sentence and hence not having a role on the show. Meanwhile, I've learned you can withdraw a guilty plea in Illinois within thirty days, so here's hoping...

[jae]

It wouldn't solve the problem, but it would make that the plot issue to be untangled, which could in and of itself be interesting. But like I said, it's a radical idea and they probably won't actually go there. There are too many other ongoing storylines that don't have to do with Cary that would be affected.

-J