The Good Wife 2.23
May. 18th, 2011 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which we get a season finale without, gasp, a cliffhanger. What is the tv world coming to?
First of all, much as I'm not an Alicia/Will shipper, I'm glad the show finally let them have sex because another season of maybes and misplaced calls etc. just would have been annoying. I also have to admit they got the clichéd tv moment - UST finally consumated - done in a funny and self aware way, with the rooms booked, the elevator full, the keys not working etc. It made this non-shipper smile fondly. I always enjoy if the grand passion of the show includes some humour as well.
Though of course the big passion of the show to me is the Alicia and Kalinda relationship (platonically), so emotionally the season finale felt more like an epilogue to the previous episode. Wherein we see Alicia is professional enough to work with Kalinda without any further digs or glares, and Kalinda did indeed start the "I don't need anybody" process, poor woman. Also the show wasn't as coy about showing her bisexuality as it was this time last season, so we got the scene with her and the blonde investigator (Sophie?) in bed, which, lo and behold, was not played for tiltilation but for a further character point. I think the best example of how well done the writing was for me was that as soon as maybe-Sophie said Kalinda knew she was married because she showed her the photo of her husband at the office I did remember that yes, she did that, but not before. Same, I guess, for many another viewer, and same, I suppose, with Kalinda. Who could have processed that information but didn't, and it only hits her then, because of what happened with Alicia, and suddenly sex with married people is not the same anymore. Archie Panjabi did some great acting both in that particular scene and in the entire last episode.
I was somewhat afraid the show would suddenly go overboard in making Peter go from ambiguous to villainous antagonist, and breathed a sigh of relief when we got the scene revealing he was the one who sent the glove to Lockhart & Gardner. Which I think is a good note to leave him with and setting up his role as State Attorney next season; he won't make nice with Will, will probably get some verbal digs in, but at the same time as opposed to Childs he's actually interested in getting justice done more than he is in using his office to carry out grudges. Hence the helping behind in the scenes in a way that nobody can trace back to him (or would think to), and not trying to take credit for it with Alicia.
It was a given the show would find a way to justify Eli's continued presence, and creating a situation where he's technically Alicia's boss should be very interesting, as that will change their dynamic and yet guarantee many more scenes between them to come.
Hooray for the Return Of Owen, and Owen picking up teenager-sitting duties.
Lastly: the blonde investigator wasn't the only cheater in this episode. I don't know about you, but Will not calling Tammy does not equal him ending the relationship before jumping into bed with Alicia to me. Mind you, given that Kalinda told him last episode Alicia and Peter split, I wouldn't be surprised if the "Tammy is in London and was there with her bags when etc." story was made up on his part to cover for "I dumped Tammy as soon as I heard you were available at last". Either way, it contributes to my general distinctly cool attitude towards Will. Whatever he felt, he didn't tell Tammy she was only supposed to be around for as long as Alicia was off-limits; when he asked her to stay the last episode we saw her in, he gave her the impression of being ready for something more long term. I do wonder whether it has occured to Alicia that technically, she's the Other Woman now.
In conclusion: the big minus of the season was that Blake, whose purpose of existing in this story apparantly solely was to bring the Peter/Kalinda one night stand to light, got a lot of screentime devoted to his and Kalinda's feud without the scriptwriters ever bothering to make him into a three dimensional character. This is also true for his boss, Bond, who only existed to make trouble between Diane and Will and to be ousted by them once they teamed up again, and wasn't fleshed out, either. On the plus side, the season did every well by all the regulars, and introduced some very enjoyable new characters like Owen, Michael J. Fox's lawyer and Natalie. Also as you may have noticed above I do like Tammy though like Alicia she has bad taste in men. A good second season, and I'm very much looking forward to the third!
First of all, much as I'm not an Alicia/Will shipper, I'm glad the show finally let them have sex because another season of maybes and misplaced calls etc. just would have been annoying. I also have to admit they got the clichéd tv moment - UST finally consumated - done in a funny and self aware way, with the rooms booked, the elevator full, the keys not working etc. It made this non-shipper smile fondly. I always enjoy if the grand passion of the show includes some humour as well.
Though of course the big passion of the show to me is the Alicia and Kalinda relationship (platonically), so emotionally the season finale felt more like an epilogue to the previous episode. Wherein we see Alicia is professional enough to work with Kalinda without any further digs or glares, and Kalinda did indeed start the "I don't need anybody" process, poor woman. Also the show wasn't as coy about showing her bisexuality as it was this time last season, so we got the scene with her and the blonde investigator (Sophie?) in bed, which, lo and behold, was not played for tiltilation but for a further character point. I think the best example of how well done the writing was for me was that as soon as maybe-Sophie said Kalinda knew she was married because she showed her the photo of her husband at the office I did remember that yes, she did that, but not before. Same, I guess, for many another viewer, and same, I suppose, with Kalinda. Who could have processed that information but didn't, and it only hits her then, because of what happened with Alicia, and suddenly sex with married people is not the same anymore. Archie Panjabi did some great acting both in that particular scene and in the entire last episode.
I was somewhat afraid the show would suddenly go overboard in making Peter go from ambiguous to villainous antagonist, and breathed a sigh of relief when we got the scene revealing he was the one who sent the glove to Lockhart & Gardner. Which I think is a good note to leave him with and setting up his role as State Attorney next season; he won't make nice with Will, will probably get some verbal digs in, but at the same time as opposed to Childs he's actually interested in getting justice done more than he is in using his office to carry out grudges. Hence the helping behind in the scenes in a way that nobody can trace back to him (or would think to), and not trying to take credit for it with Alicia.
It was a given the show would find a way to justify Eli's continued presence, and creating a situation where he's technically Alicia's boss should be very interesting, as that will change their dynamic and yet guarantee many more scenes between them to come.
Hooray for the Return Of Owen, and Owen picking up teenager-sitting duties.
Lastly: the blonde investigator wasn't the only cheater in this episode. I don't know about you, but Will not calling Tammy does not equal him ending the relationship before jumping into bed with Alicia to me. Mind you, given that Kalinda told him last episode Alicia and Peter split, I wouldn't be surprised if the "Tammy is in London and was there with her bags when etc." story was made up on his part to cover for "I dumped Tammy as soon as I heard you were available at last". Either way, it contributes to my general distinctly cool attitude towards Will. Whatever he felt, he didn't tell Tammy she was only supposed to be around for as long as Alicia was off-limits; when he asked her to stay the last episode we saw her in, he gave her the impression of being ready for something more long term. I do wonder whether it has occured to Alicia that technically, she's the Other Woman now.
In conclusion: the big minus of the season was that Blake, whose purpose of existing in this story apparantly solely was to bring the Peter/Kalinda one night stand to light, got a lot of screentime devoted to his and Kalinda's feud without the scriptwriters ever bothering to make him into a three dimensional character. This is also true for his boss, Bond, who only existed to make trouble between Diane and Will and to be ousted by them once they teamed up again, and wasn't fleshed out, either. On the plus side, the season did every well by all the regulars, and introduced some very enjoyable new characters like Owen, Michael J. Fox's lawyer and Natalie. Also as you may have noticed above I do like Tammy though like Alicia she has bad taste in men. A good second season, and I'm very much looking forward to the third!
