The Good Wife 5.14
Mar. 17th, 2014 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which one is tempted to sing the Veronica Mars theme song.
The ongoing subplot about Nelson the Curly Haired Integrity guy being after Will for his testimony re: Peter was almost secondary here, although it did offer more Elsbeth Tazioni scenes, and good ones, too. But mainly this was an Alicia character study, via mostly new flashbacks to her job hunt pre-pilot and her then getting the job at Stern, Lockhart & Gardner (as it was then still called) via Will, and her present, in which she's supposed to give a keynote address about female empowerment in law. At its best, this show has always been great and very honest about the myriad of different ways women handle their professional lives. Alicia knows hers is not a black and white straightforward empowerment tale. She got turned down by various prospective employers because she was seen as a housewife who hadn't been practicing law for thirteen years; when talking to Cary in the present, they both admit neither of them would today hire someone like Alicia, either. Meeting Will was a lucky break when she direly needed one, and yes, Will gave her that chance because he still had feelings for her.
But on the other hand, the bias the other prospective employers held against Alicia - that her age and those 13 years out of practice would mean she wouldn't be able to keep up or compete, even the bias which Kalinda unearthed in her former employers, who didn't believe Alicia had the killer instinct necessary for a lawyer - turned out to be invalid, which she never could have proven had she not gotten the chance. Her conclusion - that you need to use what you have - shows that, too. Doesn't mean she doesn't still carry some guilt with her, guilt she dresses up as her mother-in-law Jackie. Alicia's inner Jackie provides a slutshaming commentary to her memories, and accuses her of not wanting the job to provide for the kids but because "you like nice things". Which is an interesting look into Alicia's guilt complex because it is so very gender bound and universal, I think. Alicia reentering the lawyer life in order to provide for her two teenage children is an heroic, maternal act; Alicia doing so because she wants to keep up a living standard she likes would be selfish. Whereas a man going after a well paid job because of what that money can do for him (rather than for his offspring) would be seen as normal and valid. (Incidentally, I think Alicia wanted a job - rather than depending on the charity of her mother-in-law - for both reasons, and also because her self esteem was badly damaged at that point due to the public humiliation of the scandal, and she'd been a good lawyer; being good at something again was what she needed to go.) (Conversely, what Alicia points out in her speech - that a man would have to justify taking a thirteen years break far more than a woman does - is also true.)
Will, in the present, saying he resents her - well, "dislikes" was the word he uses - for leaving the firm and taking some of the clients, not because they had an affair, and that he'd feel the same for every other partner who'd have left - is either remarkably self deluded or deliberately lying. Because there's no way he'd have it in for, say, Cary alone the way he does for Florick & Agos. He would still have been angry at Cary leaving and taking the Fourth Years and some clients, absolutely, but he wouldn't be gunning for a hypothetical solo Cary the way he does for Alicia and Cary as a team. Speaking of Cary and Alicia as a team, I loved their scenes together in the episode, from her giving him her speech to read and his reaction onwards. Nobody would have thought it back when they met with him being cocky and privileged and her being poor but entitled, as they describe it looking back, but the relationship she formed with Cary is arguably the most enduring, mutually beneficial and equal one either of them began on this show.
The ongoing subplot about Nelson the Curly Haired Integrity guy being after Will for his testimony re: Peter was almost secondary here, although it did offer more Elsbeth Tazioni scenes, and good ones, too. But mainly this was an Alicia character study, via mostly new flashbacks to her job hunt pre-pilot and her then getting the job at Stern, Lockhart & Gardner (as it was then still called) via Will, and her present, in which she's supposed to give a keynote address about female empowerment in law. At its best, this show has always been great and very honest about the myriad of different ways women handle their professional lives. Alicia knows hers is not a black and white straightforward empowerment tale. She got turned down by various prospective employers because she was seen as a housewife who hadn't been practicing law for thirteen years; when talking to Cary in the present, they both admit neither of them would today hire someone like Alicia, either. Meeting Will was a lucky break when she direly needed one, and yes, Will gave her that chance because he still had feelings for her.
But on the other hand, the bias the other prospective employers held against Alicia - that her age and those 13 years out of practice would mean she wouldn't be able to keep up or compete, even the bias which Kalinda unearthed in her former employers, who didn't believe Alicia had the killer instinct necessary for a lawyer - turned out to be invalid, which she never could have proven had she not gotten the chance. Her conclusion - that you need to use what you have - shows that, too. Doesn't mean she doesn't still carry some guilt with her, guilt she dresses up as her mother-in-law Jackie. Alicia's inner Jackie provides a slutshaming commentary to her memories, and accuses her of not wanting the job to provide for the kids but because "you like nice things". Which is an interesting look into Alicia's guilt complex because it is so very gender bound and universal, I think. Alicia reentering the lawyer life in order to provide for her two teenage children is an heroic, maternal act; Alicia doing so because she wants to keep up a living standard she likes would be selfish. Whereas a man going after a well paid job because of what that money can do for him (rather than for his offspring) would be seen as normal and valid. (Incidentally, I think Alicia wanted a job - rather than depending on the charity of her mother-in-law - for both reasons, and also because her self esteem was badly damaged at that point due to the public humiliation of the scandal, and she'd been a good lawyer; being good at something again was what she needed to go.) (Conversely, what Alicia points out in her speech - that a man would have to justify taking a thirteen years break far more than a woman does - is also true.)
Will, in the present, saying he resents her - well, "dislikes" was the word he uses - for leaving the firm and taking some of the clients, not because they had an affair, and that he'd feel the same for every other partner who'd have left - is either remarkably self deluded or deliberately lying. Because there's no way he'd have it in for, say, Cary alone the way he does for Florick & Agos. He would still have been angry at Cary leaving and taking the Fourth Years and some clients, absolutely, but he wouldn't be gunning for a hypothetical solo Cary the way he does for Alicia and Cary as a team. Speaking of Cary and Alicia as a team, I loved their scenes together in the episode, from her giving him her speech to read and his reaction onwards. Nobody would have thought it back when they met with him being cocky and privileged and her being poor but entitled, as they describe it looking back, but the relationship she formed with Cary is arguably the most enduring, mutually beneficial and equal one either of them began on this show.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-18 01:16 am (UTC)