The Good Wife 4.11
Jan. 7th, 2013 12:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which two guest stars of old are back, and a new one or two are introduced.
Doylist observation/speculation first: since we don't hear anything about the unmissed Nick, I guess is this blessed state will continue for a few episodes more, but that his body will be found three or so eps before the season finale, it will look as if Kalinda did it (though the final revelation will be she didn't), and we'll get a cliffhanger of her arrest, with her defense by Alicia being a season 5 mini arc.
On to the actual content of the episode: it was great to see Louis Canning again (am I ever glad the show offered Michael J. Fox this role!), and his and Alicia's sparring is as enjoyable as ever, so the final twist of Louis Canning having bought the Lockhart & Gardner debts was a very welcome one. Since the episode bothered to introduce his wife, whom we previously had heard of but hadn't met, I take it she'll be a recurring character as well. Maybe with her we'll actually get the friendship against front lines for Alicia that seemed to be in the cards with Mattie but wasn't because Mattie had set it up as a Peter defeating tool?
I feel more ambigously about the return of Wendy Scott-Carr. First of all, as Diane and Eli point out, her bias is obvious (both because of the campaign against Peter and because of her prosecution of Will), so I don't know whether I can suspend my disbelief that she would get this job to begin with. Secondly, while it would be nice to have Wendy Scott-Carr written as a fearsome and competent opponent instead of a female Kenneth Starr, I somehow doubt this is where the show is going with her. But you never know.
Eli's new Number Two: old veteran versus younger ursurper is a tried and true comedy recipe and I predict that at the end of it all after various competitions, they'll bond. I also think that since Wendy Scott-Carr made it impossible for L & G to defend Eli, the show will bring back Elsbeth as his attorney.
Nathan Lane aka Clark Haydon: you know, when Diane said "we've extended every courtesy", I thought "no, you didn't. Instead, you behaved like paranoid jerks and took every chance to alienate him". My sympathies, therefore, were squarely on his side, not on Diane's and Will's, and I mourn for them using Cary against him and thus ending what was an enjoyable relationship to watch. Though given everyone screws over everyone else at least once on this show, this does not necessarily have to be the end.
Alicia and Kalinda in the hotel room: felt oddly distant, which I'm not sure was the intention. (As I had the impression the show was going for a friendship scene that showed their restored relatiosnhip.) But compare this with Alicia and Cary in a hotel room a few eps earlier, who felt far more relaxed and real with each other.
Doylist observation/speculation first: since we don't hear anything about the unmissed Nick, I guess is this blessed state will continue for a few episodes more, but that his body will be found three or so eps before the season finale, it will look as if Kalinda did it (though the final revelation will be she didn't), and we'll get a cliffhanger of her arrest, with her defense by Alicia being a season 5 mini arc.
On to the actual content of the episode: it was great to see Louis Canning again (am I ever glad the show offered Michael J. Fox this role!), and his and Alicia's sparring is as enjoyable as ever, so the final twist of Louis Canning having bought the Lockhart & Gardner debts was a very welcome one. Since the episode bothered to introduce his wife, whom we previously had heard of but hadn't met, I take it she'll be a recurring character as well. Maybe with her we'll actually get the friendship against front lines for Alicia that seemed to be in the cards with Mattie but wasn't because Mattie had set it up as a Peter defeating tool?
I feel more ambigously about the return of Wendy Scott-Carr. First of all, as Diane and Eli point out, her bias is obvious (both because of the campaign against Peter and because of her prosecution of Will), so I don't know whether I can suspend my disbelief that she would get this job to begin with. Secondly, while it would be nice to have Wendy Scott-Carr written as a fearsome and competent opponent instead of a female Kenneth Starr, I somehow doubt this is where the show is going with her. But you never know.
Eli's new Number Two: old veteran versus younger ursurper is a tried and true comedy recipe and I predict that at the end of it all after various competitions, they'll bond. I also think that since Wendy Scott-Carr made it impossible for L & G to defend Eli, the show will bring back Elsbeth as his attorney.
Nathan Lane aka Clark Haydon: you know, when Diane said "we've extended every courtesy", I thought "no, you didn't. Instead, you behaved like paranoid jerks and took every chance to alienate him". My sympathies, therefore, were squarely on his side, not on Diane's and Will's, and I mourn for them using Cary against him and thus ending what was an enjoyable relationship to watch. Though given everyone screws over everyone else at least once on this show, this does not necessarily have to be the end.
Alicia and Kalinda in the hotel room: felt oddly distant, which I'm not sure was the intention. (As I had the impression the show was going for a friendship scene that showed their restored relatiosnhip.) But compare this with Alicia and Cary in a hotel room a few eps earlier, who felt far more relaxed and real with each other.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-08 03:04 am (UTC)Fox is delightful as ever; unlike other tv antagonists, I genuinely don't hate him...but I definitely fear him: sign of a character well-done, I think. He's not a monster, but he is ruthless and thinks ahead -- aheader, if you will.
As for Wendy Scott-Carr, her return seems puzzling even for the US. Now that I'm more familiar with Professional Responsibility, I do wonder -- on a Watsonian level, that is. I sure don't on a Doylist; the Black characters on this show have never been written well, or well-rounded. At first I thought that was a coincidence, but now, so far into the show...
>>Nathan Lane aka Clark Haydon: you know, when Diane said "we've extended every courtesy", I thought "no, you didn't. Instead, you behaved like paranoid jerks and took every chance to alienate him".<<
I never felt Diane was nasty to Clark; she was however suspicious and of course never found any way to talk to him. And indeed, he was so very different from her, more so when it came to Will. Will never even tried, of course; no wonder Clark felt he could only bond with Cary. Then again, the miscommunication was only one element -- I think there was some genuine issue here, a dispute not about mere methods but the goal itself, or at least its timing.
Alicia and Kalinda, I agree, and it also made me sad that Kalinda still felt the need to apologise. I think she has upheld her end of the bargain admirably, being as honest and frank as she can be. To see Alicia being the one not opening up more is more than a tad disappointing.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-08 05:00 am (UTC)Even within the same episode, there is a contrasting scene - when Louis Canning tricks Alicia with his my-dying-friend story, and she tells him she delivered the eulogy for her father. She doesn't elaborate, and she only says it after a direct question - it would be ooc for Alicia to confide of her own into Canning, of all the people - but when she does tell him, there is direct eye contact between the actors, and you do get the impression she's letting her emotional guard down somewhat, even for a moment. (Which was why he did it, of course.)