The Good Wife 5.16
Mar. 31st, 2014 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI can't make a spoilery Buffy comparison above the cut, so let's just say: powerful episode.
The Kings probably watched and liked The Body. Then again, maybe dealing with the immediate aftermath of a death in this fashion - really focusing on the very next hour(s), the emotional numbness, shock, confusion and anger, no background music - is something that is obvious, I don't know. Anyway, it is a good choice that makes for a lots of great character stuff for everyone concerned. Alicia trying to find a meaning behind the last interrupted voicemail message Will left her - which could have been anything from a love declaration to an angry reproach for poaching a client - is a red thread, but I hoped we would not get a definite answer, and we didn't. Because that's the point. When a life is suddenly interrupted, you rarely have the opportunity for meaningful last messages. Whatever your last interaction was will be that last interaction forever. There is no going back to make sense of it all.
Diane channels her grief into rage when a client wants to exploit the situation, and her "firing" the client - and making sure no other of the top lawfirms will take him - was done in a ruthless yet elegant Diane fashion. Part of me is cynical and thinks in real life the other firms wouldn't have supported her, but part of me thinks that no, in this particular situation they would have. Certainly it didn't surprise me that Cary did, who reacts quite similar to Diane - well, he WAS her protegé originally - with his opponent who also wants to press for an advantage. "I want to deal with my anger and rage by destroying your client. Now sit."
David Lee, cynic of cynics at L & G, wandering out of the conference room and we think to use the situation as well but no, he's actually crying and doesn't want anyone to see him that way before he snaps back into business mode, was a great touch reminding us he's not an automaton of cynical one liners.
Kalinda deals by first using her detective skills to find out exactly what happened in the courthouse shooting - supported by her former girlfriend Jenna - , and then by confronting the kid who did it, in a scene that was among the most powerful and certainly the most chilling of the episode. I really had no idea whether or not the show would go there, let her goad the kid into suicide. At that moment, it seemed entirely possible she'd do it, hand him the belt to hang himself with. And then it made complete emotional sense that she didn't because he wanted to die. So often "to live is worse punishment" comes across as a plot device so a hero figure doesn't have to kill a villain and/or the show can bring back a character for another day, but not this time. It really felt like Kalinda was looking for the worst punishment she could deliver, and then did just that.
Attorney-who-battled-with-Will-then-tried-to-save-him has a name: Finn. The scene between him and Alicia was very moving, and I assume he'll be a recurring character now. (Also the show answered my question as to whether we've seen him before: no, last week was his introduction.)
And the conversation between Alicia and Grace. Raw, very raw, and felt so real. I like both that Alicia doesn't budge from her atheism and that Grace isn't vilified or made look stupid because she tries to comfort her mother according to her faith.
All around: terrific episode.
The Kings probably watched and liked The Body. Then again, maybe dealing with the immediate aftermath of a death in this fashion - really focusing on the very next hour(s), the emotional numbness, shock, confusion and anger, no background music - is something that is obvious, I don't know. Anyway, it is a good choice that makes for a lots of great character stuff for everyone concerned. Alicia trying to find a meaning behind the last interrupted voicemail message Will left her - which could have been anything from a love declaration to an angry reproach for poaching a client - is a red thread, but I hoped we would not get a definite answer, and we didn't. Because that's the point. When a life is suddenly interrupted, you rarely have the opportunity for meaningful last messages. Whatever your last interaction was will be that last interaction forever. There is no going back to make sense of it all.
Diane channels her grief into rage when a client wants to exploit the situation, and her "firing" the client - and making sure no other of the top lawfirms will take him - was done in a ruthless yet elegant Diane fashion. Part of me is cynical and thinks in real life the other firms wouldn't have supported her, but part of me thinks that no, in this particular situation they would have. Certainly it didn't surprise me that Cary did, who reacts quite similar to Diane - well, he WAS her protegé originally - with his opponent who also wants to press for an advantage. "I want to deal with my anger and rage by destroying your client. Now sit."
David Lee, cynic of cynics at L & G, wandering out of the conference room and we think to use the situation as well but no, he's actually crying and doesn't want anyone to see him that way before he snaps back into business mode, was a great touch reminding us he's not an automaton of cynical one liners.
Kalinda deals by first using her detective skills to find out exactly what happened in the courthouse shooting - supported by her former girlfriend Jenna - , and then by confronting the kid who did it, in a scene that was among the most powerful and certainly the most chilling of the episode. I really had no idea whether or not the show would go there, let her goad the kid into suicide. At that moment, it seemed entirely possible she'd do it, hand him the belt to hang himself with. And then it made complete emotional sense that she didn't because he wanted to die. So often "to live is worse punishment" comes across as a plot device so a hero figure doesn't have to kill a villain and/or the show can bring back a character for another day, but not this time. It really felt like Kalinda was looking for the worst punishment she could deliver, and then did just that.
Attorney-who-battled-with-Will-then-tried-to-save-him has a name: Finn. The scene between him and Alicia was very moving, and I assume he'll be a recurring character now. (Also the show answered my question as to whether we've seen him before: no, last week was his introduction.)
And the conversation between Alicia and Grace. Raw, very raw, and felt so real. I like both that Alicia doesn't budge from her atheism and that Grace isn't vilified or made look stupid because she tries to comfort her mother according to her faith.
All around: terrific episode.
