The Good Wife 2.22. Getting Off
May. 11th, 2011 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakMy first thought after having watched it was "wait, that can't have been the season finale - can it?" because for some reason I thought it was, but no, thankfully I found out the season finale is the next one. Phew.
On to analysis. Briefly, for lack of time.
Last week, being done with Peter, Alicia was the embodiment of righteous anger and determination. This week, which deals mainly with her relationship with Kalinda, we see the flipside, the underbelly of the anger feeling betrayed evokes, the urge to lash out and hurt in return, no matter whether it's fair or not. Not that Alicia doesn't have reason to feel hurt and betrayed by Kalinda; as the episode reminds us, she did ask Kalinda very early on in season 1, not too long after they met, after hearing Kalinda used to work at the state attorney's office, whether Kalinda ever had sex with Peter, and Kalinda said no. (She also passed on her last chance to tell Alicia the story herself before someone else did a few episodes ago.) However, Alicia's refusal to hear an explanation from Kalinda crosses the line to unfairness and is than the friendship that developed between them in the last two years is owed. Mind you: this is not a criticism of the writing. Alicia, generally speaking, is such a good person and usually so selfless that a character back in s1 nicknamed her Saint Alicia; it's a measure to the strength of the emotion she feels for Kalinda that this one night stand from the past is the one drop too many which causes the flood, and causes her to vent all those feelings she usually surpresses, vengefulness, the capacity to hurt, the capacity to want the other person to suffer.
The case of the week deals among other things with adultery, but that's the least important aspect. Alicia's discussion with her client about what makes a marriage, about jealousy seems to have its pay off when the client's husband, supposedly on board with their open marriage without sexual fidelity, turns out to have killed her lover out of jealousy, but then we see the actual pay off is the client continuing to love her husband and standing by him after this revelation. Which I don't take as the show supporting murder as proof of devotion, obviously, nor "stand by your beloved, right or wrong". Just that it's complicated. Alicia leaving Peter isn't really about his long ago one night stand with Kalinda, it's because what the discovery made her realize, that she's no longer in love with him, that nothing he can say would cause her to fall back in love with him, and that it's time to move on. Kalinda, however, is another matter, not just because she's working with Kalinda but because her feelings for Kalinda are in the present, not the past. So the question will be whether she can accept Kalinda back; whether the sexual slight outweighs the emotional loyalty Kalinda has given her, and there we have our parallel question to the case of the week.
(Which I am far more interested in than in the inevitable Alicia/Will hook-up we're bound to get in the next episode. Still not keen on that 'ship, but if we finally get it over with, at least there won't be any more romantic misunderstandings etc. to annoy me. I still think the stupid misplaced phone call business was one of the missteps of the season. Mind you, I like Tammy, and I suppose if the show had let Alicia fling herself in Will's arms early in the season the character would not exist.)
L & G divorce lawyer: as entertaining as ever. And of course he bills Alicia now.
Nancy the wholesome: also as entertaining as ever. This show's returning opposition lawyers are among my favourite aspects of the series.
Jackie: I feel sorry for her while completely understanding where Alicia is coming from. It would be helpful if either Peter or Alicia filled Jackie in with the Kalinda business, mind, but I suspect that even if she knew she'd have acted as she did with Grace and Zack.
On to analysis. Briefly, for lack of time.
Last week, being done with Peter, Alicia was the embodiment of righteous anger and determination. This week, which deals mainly with her relationship with Kalinda, we see the flipside, the underbelly of the anger feeling betrayed evokes, the urge to lash out and hurt in return, no matter whether it's fair or not. Not that Alicia doesn't have reason to feel hurt and betrayed by Kalinda; as the episode reminds us, she did ask Kalinda very early on in season 1, not too long after they met, after hearing Kalinda used to work at the state attorney's office, whether Kalinda ever had sex with Peter, and Kalinda said no. (She also passed on her last chance to tell Alicia the story herself before someone else did a few episodes ago.) However, Alicia's refusal to hear an explanation from Kalinda crosses the line to unfairness and is than the friendship that developed between them in the last two years is owed. Mind you: this is not a criticism of the writing. Alicia, generally speaking, is such a good person and usually so selfless that a character back in s1 nicknamed her Saint Alicia; it's a measure to the strength of the emotion she feels for Kalinda that this one night stand from the past is the one drop too many which causes the flood, and causes her to vent all those feelings she usually surpresses, vengefulness, the capacity to hurt, the capacity to want the other person to suffer.
The case of the week deals among other things with adultery, but that's the least important aspect. Alicia's discussion with her client about what makes a marriage, about jealousy seems to have its pay off when the client's husband, supposedly on board with their open marriage without sexual fidelity, turns out to have killed her lover out of jealousy, but then we see the actual pay off is the client continuing to love her husband and standing by him after this revelation. Which I don't take as the show supporting murder as proof of devotion, obviously, nor "stand by your beloved, right or wrong". Just that it's complicated. Alicia leaving Peter isn't really about his long ago one night stand with Kalinda, it's because what the discovery made her realize, that she's no longer in love with him, that nothing he can say would cause her to fall back in love with him, and that it's time to move on. Kalinda, however, is another matter, not just because she's working with Kalinda but because her feelings for Kalinda are in the present, not the past. So the question will be whether she can accept Kalinda back; whether the sexual slight outweighs the emotional loyalty Kalinda has given her, and there we have our parallel question to the case of the week.
(Which I am far more interested in than in the inevitable Alicia/Will hook-up we're bound to get in the next episode. Still not keen on that 'ship, but if we finally get it over with, at least there won't be any more romantic misunderstandings etc. to annoy me. I still think the stupid misplaced phone call business was one of the missteps of the season. Mind you, I like Tammy, and I suppose if the show had let Alicia fling herself in Will's arms early in the season the character would not exist.)
L & G divorce lawyer: as entertaining as ever. And of course he bills Alicia now.
Nancy the wholesome: also as entertaining as ever. This show's returning opposition lawyers are among my favourite aspects of the series.
Jackie: I feel sorry for her while completely understanding where Alicia is coming from. It would be helpful if either Peter or Alicia filled Jackie in with the Kalinda business, mind, but I suspect that even if she knew she'd have acted as she did with Grace and Zack.
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Date: 2011-05-12 09:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-13 04:41 am (UTC)