The Good Wife 3.10 Parenting Made Easy
Dec. 5th, 2011 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakBefore I head off to catch my train again:
Sharing being an obvious theme in this episode. Eli gets lectured by Diane (and later in a different mode by Will) about needing to do so looks like a meandering subplot until you consider that sharing, or not wishing to, is what dooms the Alicia/Will relationship as far as its romantic aspect is concerned, with things coming to a head here. Alicia hadn't wanted her children and Will to interact in normal situations, and when worried about her daughter's possible abduction, she doesn't want his emotional support, either. At the end, Diane wrongly assumes Will broke it off with Alicia because she asked him to, for the good of the firm, but it's Alicia who broke off the affair with Will and Will not arguing against it because he got the message from all those non-sharings anyway. I'm actually slightly torn about this whole thread because it reminds me a bit of the Buffy/Riley breakup in season 5, with people still arguing about quite what the authorial message was there (i.e. was Xander the voice of the narrative, or just his own voice). But then again, with Alicia and Will it's all been prepared through the season, and I'd rather have her break it off with him anyway, and not as a part of a triangle choice. (Which it's not; Alicia and Peter in this episode act together because they're concerned parents, not for romantic reasons.)
Will asking Eli to find out Peter's motives was another connection, of course, which reminds me: if I combine Julianna Marguilies' comparison between Peter and (Bill) Clinton in an interview two months ago and this episode's scenes with Wendy Scott-Carr plus the show's love for picking up real life parallels, I think basically Wendy is Kenneth Starr. (Who, lest we forget, was originally appointed by Clinton as special prosecutor to investigate corruption accusations of Hilary's firm. Not to come up with stained dresses of interns.) That Andrew Wylie the primary caretaker dad investigator is back in our narrative also confirms my speculation here, because Andrew knows about the Peter/Kalinda one night stand. Add to that that Wendy presumably still wants to pay back both Peter and Alicia for her defeat last season, and I'm sure of it: the whole investigation will be used by Wendy to try and ruin the Florricks, not Will Gardner (whom she probably just sees as a tool). At which point I think Cary and Dana will pick different sides.
(Incidentally, I'm a bit iffy on Dana being increasingly characterised as trying to play Kalinda and Cary out against each other, but we'll see where it goes.)
The return of Martha (with a grudge) in combination with that of Louis Canning was very entertaining, and well, Louis has a point about his clients and L & G's clients not being that morally different. He could have brought up Bishop in addition to Colin Sweeney. And of course the professor herself, played byDebra Morgan Jennifer Carpenter, was a good illustration of bias being everywhere; a lesser show would have made her the Democrat and the man who fired her the Republican. I also liked that while Caitlin got off to a nervous start she did hold her own later on, and Martha was understandably grudgey but also really competent.
Grace: no cookie for you this week. It's not like Alicia would have forbidden her getting baptized by what's his name the internet preacher. That was dumb (and as opposed to most of review writing fandom, I like Alicia's kids.) On the other hand, Kalinda got to demonstrate both her skills and her wishing-now-acknowledgement support that way. Awwwwww. (Naturally, I hope Grace tells Alicia anyway, despite being asked not to.)
...and of course Canning went through Alicia's mail while being sincerely supportive with the potential Grace abduction. I'm so glad they keep rehiring Michael J. Fox, since I really get a kick out of the character.
Sharing being an obvious theme in this episode. Eli gets lectured by Diane (and later in a different mode by Will) about needing to do so looks like a meandering subplot until you consider that sharing, or not wishing to, is what dooms the Alicia/Will relationship as far as its romantic aspect is concerned, with things coming to a head here. Alicia hadn't wanted her children and Will to interact in normal situations, and when worried about her daughter's possible abduction, she doesn't want his emotional support, either. At the end, Diane wrongly assumes Will broke it off with Alicia because she asked him to, for the good of the firm, but it's Alicia who broke off the affair with Will and Will not arguing against it because he got the message from all those non-sharings anyway. I'm actually slightly torn about this whole thread because it reminds me a bit of the Buffy/Riley breakup in season 5, with people still arguing about quite what the authorial message was there (i.e. was Xander the voice of the narrative, or just his own voice). But then again, with Alicia and Will it's all been prepared through the season, and I'd rather have her break it off with him anyway, and not as a part of a triangle choice. (Which it's not; Alicia and Peter in this episode act together because they're concerned parents, not for romantic reasons.)
Will asking Eli to find out Peter's motives was another connection, of course, which reminds me: if I combine Julianna Marguilies' comparison between Peter and (Bill) Clinton in an interview two months ago and this episode's scenes with Wendy Scott-Carr plus the show's love for picking up real life parallels, I think basically Wendy is Kenneth Starr. (Who, lest we forget, was originally appointed by Clinton as special prosecutor to investigate corruption accusations of Hilary's firm. Not to come up with stained dresses of interns.) That Andrew Wylie the primary caretaker dad investigator is back in our narrative also confirms my speculation here, because Andrew knows about the Peter/Kalinda one night stand. Add to that that Wendy presumably still wants to pay back both Peter and Alicia for her defeat last season, and I'm sure of it: the whole investigation will be used by Wendy to try and ruin the Florricks, not Will Gardner (whom she probably just sees as a tool). At which point I think Cary and Dana will pick different sides.
(Incidentally, I'm a bit iffy on Dana being increasingly characterised as trying to play Kalinda and Cary out against each other, but we'll see where it goes.)
The return of Martha (with a grudge) in combination with that of Louis Canning was very entertaining, and well, Louis has a point about his clients and L & G's clients not being that morally different. He could have brought up Bishop in addition to Colin Sweeney. And of course the professor herself, played by
Grace: no cookie for you this week. It's not like Alicia would have forbidden her getting baptized by what's his name the internet preacher. That was dumb (and as opposed to most of review writing fandom, I like Alicia's kids.) On the other hand, Kalinda got to demonstrate both her skills and her wishing-now-acknowledgement support that way. Awwwwww. (Naturally, I hope Grace tells Alicia anyway, despite being asked not to.)
...and of course Canning went through Alicia's mail while being sincerely supportive with the potential Grace abduction. I'm so glad they keep rehiring Michael J. Fox, since I really get a kick out of the character.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-06 12:39 am (UTC)Dana is just...not well-characterised; the writers are using her as if she were a chess piece, to block and attack -- not as a fully realised person with her own story and human motivations. I'll reserve judgement for a moment, but, hmm...