The Good Wife 2.04 and Undercovers 1.05
Oct. 21st, 2010 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThe Good Wife:
This really is the best show getting down to the machinations of power and politics since The West Wing, and it focuses on female characters and how they play the power game in a way the later didn't. I love how no one is villainized here, even when they're in opposition to our heroine, and the continuity use, as we see female guest starts return and all in an organic way. The various constructs of feminity. The blonde wholesome girl persona might or might not be a construct, but it works (on the judge and jury both), and Alicia acknowledges it as great strategy; she doesn't move against her not to comradely collegue until the other breaks shared defense rank first. Diane accomodates Eli's request for her own reasons (and the audience isn't patronized by flashbacks to the episode where Diane was asked to run but expected to remember), while her "mentor" might use skeevy tactics just like everyone else (re: leaking information) but has a brilliant surprise in store which brings back a character introduced in the season opener. Aside from being great strategy on a Watsonian level, Wendy is also inspired on a Doylist level because neither Childs nor Peter truly deserve to win, plus no matter how Alicia's marital situation works out, if her husband becomes State Attorney her position as lawyer in the narrative would not be the same anymore, and if Childs remains state attorney we'd be in for endless reruns of the first season and current status during what is hopefully a multi season show.
Plus, you know, I'm really looking forward to find out how Team Florrick will respond to this one. It's one thing to position yourself as the progressive candidate against someone like Childs, but against a black woman without your own questionable past? Ruthless campaigning against Wendy will look very differently than ruthless campaigning against Childs. It's an ongoing question in this show - how far will you go to win?
For Alicia, too, of course, and note she was willing to take up the blame-the-victim strategy and practised it before Kalinda found out about the security failure. "As a lawyer or as a human being?" is a rethorical question because you can't really divide the two.
One minor complaint: I've seen praise for Kalinda in this episode but I have to say I was less than impressed. Mostly because smashing cars is thuggish, not smart or tough, imo, plus I have to wonder who'll pay for this. (Financially, I mean.) I'd have much preferred it if she had responded to Blake in a way that showcased her intelligence instead of resorting to crude high school stuff like this. So, no Kalinda love this episode from me.
Undercovers:
Aaaand the hinted at conspiracy thickens, as Sam's sister Liz is on the phone with a mysterious someone indicating secrets kept from Sam in the teaser for this episode. If this were Alias, Liz would turn out to be an agent herself, because spying is a family enterprise in the earlier Abrams show, but given that someone had to mind shop during Sam's and Steven's absences, I don't quite see how she could be, time-wise.
No Leo this week, but Hoyt crushing as much as ever. That the double-crossing other agents are French made me roll my eyes in amusement because that is so American of the show. My suspension of disbelief which is generous with spy shows in general was still very stressed by the idea that non-Asians could move in and out of North Korea, of all the places, where they'd stick out like a sore thumb, but okay. The whole exchange about doing everything for your daughter/sister sounded like foreshadowing to me. Abrams shows are a bit layered about devotion to family members; often, it's a sympathetic and redeeming trait, but it also can end up in tunnel vision and horrible damage to other characters, see Michael on Lost. If the show does move to include angst, the speculation that Sam will come in a position where she'll have to choose between her sister and her job is pretty obvious.
No complaints about Korean villains as we also had Korean good guys and Caucasian villains. Also, who paid for the various air plan trips to and from Korea if the mission wasn't approved until after the fact?
This really is the best show getting down to the machinations of power and politics since The West Wing, and it focuses on female characters and how they play the power game in a way the later didn't. I love how no one is villainized here, even when they're in opposition to our heroine, and the continuity use, as we see female guest starts return and all in an organic way. The various constructs of feminity. The blonde wholesome girl persona might or might not be a construct, but it works (on the judge and jury both), and Alicia acknowledges it as great strategy; she doesn't move against her not to comradely collegue until the other breaks shared defense rank first. Diane accomodates Eli's request for her own reasons (and the audience isn't patronized by flashbacks to the episode where Diane was asked to run but expected to remember), while her "mentor" might use skeevy tactics just like everyone else (re: leaking information) but has a brilliant surprise in store which brings back a character introduced in the season opener. Aside from being great strategy on a Watsonian level, Wendy is also inspired on a Doylist level because neither Childs nor Peter truly deserve to win, plus no matter how Alicia's marital situation works out, if her husband becomes State Attorney her position as lawyer in the narrative would not be the same anymore, and if Childs remains state attorney we'd be in for endless reruns of the first season and current status during what is hopefully a multi season show.
Plus, you know, I'm really looking forward to find out how Team Florrick will respond to this one. It's one thing to position yourself as the progressive candidate against someone like Childs, but against a black woman without your own questionable past? Ruthless campaigning against Wendy will look very differently than ruthless campaigning against Childs. It's an ongoing question in this show - how far will you go to win?
For Alicia, too, of course, and note she was willing to take up the blame-the-victim strategy and practised it before Kalinda found out about the security failure. "As a lawyer or as a human being?" is a rethorical question because you can't really divide the two.
One minor complaint: I've seen praise for Kalinda in this episode but I have to say I was less than impressed. Mostly because smashing cars is thuggish, not smart or tough, imo, plus I have to wonder who'll pay for this. (Financially, I mean.) I'd have much preferred it if she had responded to Blake in a way that showcased her intelligence instead of resorting to crude high school stuff like this. So, no Kalinda love this episode from me.
Undercovers:
Aaaand the hinted at conspiracy thickens, as Sam's sister Liz is on the phone with a mysterious someone indicating secrets kept from Sam in the teaser for this episode. If this were Alias, Liz would turn out to be an agent herself, because spying is a family enterprise in the earlier Abrams show, but given that someone had to mind shop during Sam's and Steven's absences, I don't quite see how she could be, time-wise.
No Leo this week, but Hoyt crushing as much as ever. That the double-crossing other agents are French made me roll my eyes in amusement because that is so American of the show. My suspension of disbelief which is generous with spy shows in general was still very stressed by the idea that non-Asians could move in and out of North Korea, of all the places, where they'd stick out like a sore thumb, but okay. The whole exchange about doing everything for your daughter/sister sounded like foreshadowing to me. Abrams shows are a bit layered about devotion to family members; often, it's a sympathetic and redeeming trait, but it also can end up in tunnel vision and horrible damage to other characters, see Michael on Lost. If the show does move to include angst, the speculation that Sam will come in a position where she'll have to choose between her sister and her job is pretty obvious.
No complaints about Korean villains as we also had Korean good guys and Caucasian villains. Also, who paid for the various air plan trips to and from Korea if the mission wasn't approved until after the fact?
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 08:43 am (UTC)I <3 Kalinda!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 10:59 am (UTC)ETA: also, what sexual face-off? That was another thing that disappointed me, because to me that was sexual assault. Just imagine the gender roles reversed - Kalindus fondling female!Blake's genitals would have been grounds to go to the police right then and there.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 01:52 pm (UTC)I would have taken it as assault *if* it was a brand new relationship, but their friction has been building, and it's more like second or third date level of intimacy.
Trashing a car - she wasn't going to lay a hand on him, or attack his office desk, or go to his house - the car seemed like a neutral third-place sort of? And with the bat - I don't know, it just seemed designed not to intimidate because it wasn't aggressive, just cold and calm.
Damn, I love your TV reviews. I watch Dexter and then think oooh what will Selenak say? Ah, if only I could somehow get you to watch Cougar Town......
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 11:49 am (UTC)Speaking of consequences, I also wonder if Wendy Scott Carr will get into trouble for leaking the deposition about Childs (Wasn't she his lawyer? Doesn't attorney-client privilege apply between them?), or if anyone else will realize she's the other possible leak.
and the audience isn't patronized by flashbacks to the episode where Diane was asked to run but expected to remember
YES. I loved that. Also in the scenes between Cary, Alicia and Will, when he brought up the first case she had and how their lives/business relationships are all connected.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-21 08:34 pm (UTC)It's definitely breach of confidentiality. Says someone who knows American law only via tv shows. :) But yes, she could get in trouble, but I suppose both Childs and Peter have so many secrets of their own that it will balance and none of them will be able to force the other to quit the race.