The Good Wife 4.20
Apr. 20th, 2013 07:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakMore fannish catching up
The case of the week was more affecting than most recently, though I'm not quite clear on how Fratboy's confession legally got Rainy (spelling?) out of jail, since she was held in contempt of the gagging order, which she did violate, not on whether or not her statement was true. Ah well, I am not a lawyer.
We had several conflicts of loyalty coming up in this episode. Diane's potential road to Supreme Court Justice of Illinois continues, and there are two decisions we see her being faced with as prices she has to pay. First, dropping a lawsuit by a client. Will asks whether she's still acting for the benefit of the firm or her own as future Chief Justice, which she doesn't reply directly to and instead evades by saying they've dropped law suits before, and her request should be enough. David Lee near the end of the episode, playing his role as cynical voice of truth, after finding out Diane is considered says point blank she needs to step back from the decision making because it's now impossible to say whether she's acting in the firm's best interest of in the interest of getting the Chief Justice position, and the episode itself backs him up on this.
Diane's other potential price to pay turns out, after a neat fake-out re: Kurt McVeigh, her partnership with Will. Which I think is the better storytelling choice, because "romantic love or professional success?" has been done far more often than "professional partnership and friendly loyalty or professional success?". Mind you, after four years of this show and Diane standing by Will throught the months of disbarment I don't think there is that much suspense in "what will Diane decide?", especially since I still doubt she's leaving the firm, but... there is an outside chance I could be wrong. Or at least that Diane will actually go through with the distancing herself from Will precisely because all previous history makes as think she won't, and then Peter loses the election which also means no Chief Justice seat for Diane after all, and in the next season Will and Diane have to rebuild from the smashing of their partnership.
The other loyalty test building up in the episode is Alicia's, as she finds out that Cary still intends to leave and take the other fourth year associates with him. (I guess Cary doesn't believe in Diane's "maybe you'll be made partner in six months" promise, or at least prefers independence to the dangling carrot.) She's in an especially precarious position since she's just reassured the other partners that Cary & Co. are NOT intending to leave (partly motivated by her guilt over deserving the other fourth years over a partnership), so I find it fascinating that upon finally hearing from Cary that yes, he will leave, she says she'll think about and doesn't tell Will & Diane immediately. The Will pining, about which I think, rinse, repeat, you've heard it before, actually serves a purpose in this episode, I guess, considering that her feelings for Will could be influencing Alicia in her decision re: Cary's plan. After all, if she does leave the firm, he wouldn't be her boss/co-worker anymore. Her scene with Grace emphasizes that her Will pining mostly makes her feel guilty as a mother, though, consistent with Alicia defining herself as different from her own mother through her all life.
The case of the week was more affecting than most recently, though I'm not quite clear on how Fratboy's confession legally got Rainy (spelling?) out of jail, since she was held in contempt of the gagging order, which she did violate, not on whether or not her statement was true. Ah well, I am not a lawyer.
We had several conflicts of loyalty coming up in this episode. Diane's potential road to Supreme Court Justice of Illinois continues, and there are two decisions we see her being faced with as prices she has to pay. First, dropping a lawsuit by a client. Will asks whether she's still acting for the benefit of the firm or her own as future Chief Justice, which she doesn't reply directly to and instead evades by saying they've dropped law suits before, and her request should be enough. David Lee near the end of the episode, playing his role as cynical voice of truth, after finding out Diane is considered says point blank she needs to step back from the decision making because it's now impossible to say whether she's acting in the firm's best interest of in the interest of getting the Chief Justice position, and the episode itself backs him up on this.
Diane's other potential price to pay turns out, after a neat fake-out re: Kurt McVeigh, her partnership with Will. Which I think is the better storytelling choice, because "romantic love or professional success?" has been done far more often than "professional partnership and friendly loyalty or professional success?". Mind you, after four years of this show and Diane standing by Will throught the months of disbarment I don't think there is that much suspense in "what will Diane decide?", especially since I still doubt she's leaving the firm, but... there is an outside chance I could be wrong. Or at least that Diane will actually go through with the distancing herself from Will precisely because all previous history makes as think she won't, and then Peter loses the election which also means no Chief Justice seat for Diane after all, and in the next season Will and Diane have to rebuild from the smashing of their partnership.
The other loyalty test building up in the episode is Alicia's, as she finds out that Cary still intends to leave and take the other fourth year associates with him. (I guess Cary doesn't believe in Diane's "maybe you'll be made partner in six months" promise, or at least prefers independence to the dangling carrot.) She's in an especially precarious position since she's just reassured the other partners that Cary & Co. are NOT intending to leave (partly motivated by her guilt over deserving the other fourth years over a partnership), so I find it fascinating that upon finally hearing from Cary that yes, he will leave, she says she'll think about and doesn't tell Will & Diane immediately. The Will pining, about which I think, rinse, repeat, you've heard it before, actually serves a purpose in this episode, I guess, considering that her feelings for Will could be influencing Alicia in her decision re: Cary's plan. After all, if she does leave the firm, he wouldn't be her boss/co-worker anymore. Her scene with Grace emphasizes that her Will pining mostly makes her feel guilty as a mother, though, consistent with Alicia defining herself as different from her own mother through her all life.
