The Good Wife 3.17 The Long Way Home
Mar. 12th, 2012 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Inara Mrs. Brodie Moreena Baccharin guest stars and surprises are offered.
Among them the part of the subplot where a poc points out bias, double standards and the racial background thereof, and the point of the episode isn't to refute the accusation but confirm, yes, there is automatic bias, double standard, etc.; Cary realising he benefits from said double standard was a neat (and given the way plots involving racial bias usually work, welcome) moment of shock, and good for him that he insists there have to be consequences at his expense, too.
The whole game of expectations was well played otherwise, too. Alicia, Will and Kalinda have mentally cast Caitlin as a young piranha and go-getter because, not least, that's how the game was and is played by them as well. It says something about the three years of increased cynicism on Alicia's part that the idea that Caitlin could not be after a better position at the firm at Alicia's expense hasn't occured to her until confronted with the news. (And of course the even more cynical David Lee never considers anyone or anything but Alicia could be responsible for Caitlin wanting to quit.) Mind you, the show could always serve yet another twist in which Caitlin either has lied or changed her mind and is really after revenge or scheming or what not, but that would be disappointing, because the way the story played out in this episode was a good subversion of cliché. (Whether or not Caitlin will regret having given up her job in a few years, nobody can say, but as was said elsewhere, the point of feminism isn't that all women make the same choices but that they have choices to make.)
Given that Alicia's client of the week was Colin Sweeney, skeeviness and zones of grey were bound to be part of the package, but I'm surprised nobody on team L & G pointed out on a Watsonian level that they were essentially using slut shaming tactics. However as the story itself pointed out lie after in Sweeney's claims, I'm okay with it on a Doylist level. (Especially since Isabel actually gets what she wanted.)
The skeeviness of the Sweney case combined with the subplot about Caitlin (who as Diane says does what Alicia did fifteen years ago) all contribute to Alicia's emotional reaction once she sees her old home again. (To which her children rather blatantly want to return.) But her real estate dealer's claim not withstanding: you can't go home again. Not really. You can physically, but you're not the same person you were back then, and neither is anyone else.
Among them the part of the subplot where a poc points out bias, double standards and the racial background thereof, and the point of the episode isn't to refute the accusation but confirm, yes, there is automatic bias, double standard, etc.; Cary realising he benefits from said double standard was a neat (and given the way plots involving racial bias usually work, welcome) moment of shock, and good for him that he insists there have to be consequences at his expense, too.
The whole game of expectations was well played otherwise, too. Alicia, Will and Kalinda have mentally cast Caitlin as a young piranha and go-getter because, not least, that's how the game was and is played by them as well. It says something about the three years of increased cynicism on Alicia's part that the idea that Caitlin could not be after a better position at the firm at Alicia's expense hasn't occured to her until confronted with the news. (And of course the even more cynical David Lee never considers anyone or anything but Alicia could be responsible for Caitlin wanting to quit.) Mind you, the show could always serve yet another twist in which Caitlin either has lied or changed her mind and is really after revenge or scheming or what not, but that would be disappointing, because the way the story played out in this episode was a good subversion of cliché. (Whether or not Caitlin will regret having given up her job in a few years, nobody can say, but as was said elsewhere, the point of feminism isn't that all women make the same choices but that they have choices to make.)
Given that Alicia's client of the week was Colin Sweeney, skeeviness and zones of grey were bound to be part of the package, but I'm surprised nobody on team L & G pointed out on a Watsonian level that they were essentially using slut shaming tactics. However as the story itself pointed out lie after in Sweeney's claims, I'm okay with it on a Doylist level. (Especially since Isabel actually gets what she wanted.)
The skeeviness of the Sweney case combined with the subplot about Caitlin (who as Diane says does what Alicia did fifteen years ago) all contribute to Alicia's emotional reaction once she sees her old home again. (To which her children rather blatantly want to return.) But her real estate dealer's claim not withstanding: you can't go home again. Not really. You can physically, but you're not the same person you were back then, and neither is anyone else.
