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selenakI watched these directly after another, so the reviews will be intermingled.
Ep 21 was mainly a comedy, with the case of the week being the client who makes things worse every time he opens his mouth to complain about the worries of the superrich. You could tell the scriptwriters had fun thinking up the most awful gaffes/insulting comparisons, and while embarrassment humor usually isn't my thing, I admit I couldn't help being amused. Meanwhile, there was the ongoing subplot with Finn Polmar's possible candidacy for state attorney, his opponent Castro's newest move being presenting Peter with a photo of Finn leaving Alicia's apartment early in the morning complete with observation that it would look bad if Peter were to endorse his wife's lover, and wouldn't it be better if Peter supported Castro instead. Predictably, this did get Castro some whiskey thrown into his face by Peter (seriously, Castro, this is not how you get Florrick support), but it also got Peter jealous which made for a subplot of Eli making a valiant attempt at marriage councelling and running interference between Peter and Alicia while also blatantly setting up Finn as Alicia's next love interest, as only 99% of viewers have surmised. (The scene where we casually learn Finn and his wife are divorcing being the most blatant, screaming "we do not want to put Alicia in a position where she would be the other woman and party in doing to another woman what was done to her" from the rooftops. I must admit, part of me thinks this is chickening out of what could be a genuine dramatic dilemma, but then again, I think even harder, more cynical Alicia of today would not do this to another wife and thus there would be no affair, and thus Finn is getting divorced to be guilt free available next season.) I note that both Alicia and Peter used the question "is that what she/he said?" a lot when talking to Eli as to what their current state is, which is understandable on Peter's part since the whole arrangement was Alicia's idea, not his, and thus she's the one setting the rules, but it's interesting that Alicia still doesn't want to commit herself to saying as much and instead seems to be curious as to what Peter thinks, or at least tells Eli, re: the situation entire. Also: thank you, Eli, for the continuity reminder that in the year before Will's death, Alicia and Peter were actually doing really well in their marriage. (More about this in a moment.)
Ep 22 aka the season finale presented various plot threads coming together and among other things the welcome return of Robin, whom I've missed in the last few episodes. The whole plot of Team Florrick & Agos being accidentally able to listen/watch into the Lockhart & Gardner conference room was a neat illustration of both the corruptive nature of having that power - which as Hayden Clark points out the NSA used on them - and, as if in a morality play, how it backfires on the one using it. Listening to David Lee and Louis Canning scheming against Diane turns into dividing Alicia and Cary on the question as to whether or not to merge with Lockhart & Gardner. I have to say my sympathies were with Cary here, on both a Watsonian and Doylist level - a merger would have been a step back both narratively and emotionally and while Alicia because of her position could be reasonably sure she would not end up getting frozen out/punished for the original firm leaving, this isn't true for the rest of the F & A gang. Which was why I was absolutely thrilled by the eventual outcome.
Diane not getting the judgeship was a big thing in the first half of the season. Here, she gets offered a shot at the state attorney's office, or the gruesome possibility of getting manouevred out of her own firm by David Lee and Louis Canning. (May I say that I appreciate after weeks of postumous Will glorification that the tool Canning has against Diane - L & G overextending themselves by opening east and west coast branches - were utterly and completely Will's fault, as Diane warned and warned him aganist doing that?) However, Diane when in form is a goddess and instead of going for breadcrumbs from the governor's table or the hurt of seeing her firm go down the drains or the indignity of losing it to the likes of Lee & Canning comes up with her own splendid alternative. By leaving L & G and joining Florick & Agos. This had me cheering on so many levels. As opposed to F & A merging with L & G, where they'd been the junior partner and stepping back, it's a move forward yet manages to bring Diane back into daily interaction with Alicia and Cary, and on new terms - she's joining their firm, they aren't her underlings anymore. Since Kalinda is loyal to Diane, not the firm, it will also mean Kalinda being back to working with them, too, though I really hope it WON'T mean Robin being gone - I love Robin.
Apropos Kalinda: this leads me to another illustration of how the ability to listen into conversations not meant for you backfires badly in this episode: when Cary, in the presence of his colleagues, has to listen to Diane saying "Kalinda has a way of dealing with Cary; we've been exploiting this repeateadly", and then Kalinda, still on camera, calls him. Now Cary obviously hasn't been under the illusion that Kalinda doesn't try to use him (though in terms of actual benefit, given that she's been misreading him on the last few occasions, I wonder how much that worked), but a) it's one thing to be aware of that and another to hear it spelled out for the benefit of two firms listening, complete with the implication that Diane knows all about his sex life, and b) he must have hoped that there was more to the relationship for Kalinda, too. Incidentally, while like I said I principally sided with Cary on the "to merge or not to merge" question, I also thought Alicia had a point that his anger at Kalinda was colouring his reaction to the merger question as well. (Mind you: even if Kalinda had given a "I love Cary Agos!" declaration on camera, I doubt Cary would have wanted to merge. As opposed to Alicia, he spent the majority of his time at L & G dissatisfied, and it would have been a gigantic step back for him.)
Diane being a candidate possibility for state attorney in the first place was due to Finn Polmar having used his attorney privilege to help his drug ridden sister, which as Eli states would backfire badly in a campaign (plus, of course, Peter being less than keen on Finn now that he sees him as a possible Alicia boyfriend). I expected the episode to end with Finn being back to being the candidate anyway after Diane's decision, but instead we got Eli concluding in the tag scene that Alicia herself would be a good candidate. This threw me in a variety of admittedly excited and contradictory thoughts. Firstly, how realistic would an Alicia candidacy be? I mean, yes, obvious Hillary Clinton parallel in campaigning for an office her husband held previously is obvious, but with Peter as the governor, would his wife even ben allowed to campaign for state attorney in the same state? Aren't there laws against nepotism? And if it's legal, wouldn't the Peter situation backfire on Alicia anyway instead of helping her, i.e. people would not see her as her own woman, Castro could accuse the Floricks of treating Illinois as a family fiefdom etc? Also, I'm invested in the Alicia and Cary partnership. (The fact that they just had a big argument doesn't change that. They had worse ups and downs in the past. So did Diane and Will.)
Then again: Alicia as state attorney is something the show hasn't done and which would be narrative revolutionizing, as she would not defend clients anymore but prosecute. This would even make sense of the fact the last few clients we've seen her with in cases of the week were of the decidedly unsavory type, potentially fueling her desire to do something different. And with Diane now at Florick & Agos, there would still be an ongoing plot thread of lawyerly defense arguments and partnerships. I can definitely see the potential there.
Lastly: the subplot with the two mothers, Veronica and Jackie, competitively inviting themselves to a Florick gathering retread comedy ground from earlier this season, not to mention that their dialogue was awfully clichéd. (I mean: both of them insulting the other by saying they were just like their respective offspring, really, show? Aside from everything else, it's not even true. Veronica isn't like Alicia any more than Jackie is like Peter.) (I also have to disagree with Veronica's assessment that Alicia and Peter get along better in an open marriage than they did when still having sex together, because I'm with Eli there, see above.) However, the mother were the occasion for Alicia and Peter sympathizing with each other on the phone in weary bemusement, which was fine by me.
In conclusion: a season that in many ways invigorated the show after it flagged a bit in s4 concludes. Bring on season 6!
Ep 21 was mainly a comedy, with the case of the week being the client who makes things worse every time he opens his mouth to complain about the worries of the superrich. You could tell the scriptwriters had fun thinking up the most awful gaffes/insulting comparisons, and while embarrassment humor usually isn't my thing, I admit I couldn't help being amused. Meanwhile, there was the ongoing subplot with Finn Polmar's possible candidacy for state attorney, his opponent Castro's newest move being presenting Peter with a photo of Finn leaving Alicia's apartment early in the morning complete with observation that it would look bad if Peter were to endorse his wife's lover, and wouldn't it be better if Peter supported Castro instead. Predictably, this did get Castro some whiskey thrown into his face by Peter (seriously, Castro, this is not how you get Florrick support), but it also got Peter jealous which made for a subplot of Eli making a valiant attempt at marriage councelling and running interference between Peter and Alicia while also blatantly setting up Finn as Alicia's next love interest, as only 99% of viewers have surmised. (The scene where we casually learn Finn and his wife are divorcing being the most blatant, screaming "we do not want to put Alicia in a position where she would be the other woman and party in doing to another woman what was done to her" from the rooftops. I must admit, part of me thinks this is chickening out of what could be a genuine dramatic dilemma, but then again, I think even harder, more cynical Alicia of today would not do this to another wife and thus there would be no affair, and thus Finn is getting divorced to be guilt free available next season.) I note that both Alicia and Peter used the question "is that what she/he said?" a lot when talking to Eli as to what their current state is, which is understandable on Peter's part since the whole arrangement was Alicia's idea, not his, and thus she's the one setting the rules, but it's interesting that Alicia still doesn't want to commit herself to saying as much and instead seems to be curious as to what Peter thinks, or at least tells Eli, re: the situation entire. Also: thank you, Eli, for the continuity reminder that in the year before Will's death, Alicia and Peter were actually doing really well in their marriage. (More about this in a moment.)
Ep 22 aka the season finale presented various plot threads coming together and among other things the welcome return of Robin, whom I've missed in the last few episodes. The whole plot of Team Florrick & Agos being accidentally able to listen/watch into the Lockhart & Gardner conference room was a neat illustration of both the corruptive nature of having that power - which as Hayden Clark points out the NSA used on them - and, as if in a morality play, how it backfires on the one using it. Listening to David Lee and Louis Canning scheming against Diane turns into dividing Alicia and Cary on the question as to whether or not to merge with Lockhart & Gardner. I have to say my sympathies were with Cary here, on both a Watsonian and Doylist level - a merger would have been a step back both narratively and emotionally and while Alicia because of her position could be reasonably sure she would not end up getting frozen out/punished for the original firm leaving, this isn't true for the rest of the F & A gang. Which was why I was absolutely thrilled by the eventual outcome.
Diane not getting the judgeship was a big thing in the first half of the season. Here, she gets offered a shot at the state attorney's office, or the gruesome possibility of getting manouevred out of her own firm by David Lee and Louis Canning. (May I say that I appreciate after weeks of postumous Will glorification that the tool Canning has against Diane - L & G overextending themselves by opening east and west coast branches - were utterly and completely Will's fault, as Diane warned and warned him aganist doing that?) However, Diane when in form is a goddess and instead of going for breadcrumbs from the governor's table or the hurt of seeing her firm go down the drains or the indignity of losing it to the likes of Lee & Canning comes up with her own splendid alternative. By leaving L & G and joining Florick & Agos. This had me cheering on so many levels. As opposed to F & A merging with L & G, where they'd been the junior partner and stepping back, it's a move forward yet manages to bring Diane back into daily interaction with Alicia and Cary, and on new terms - she's joining their firm, they aren't her underlings anymore. Since Kalinda is loyal to Diane, not the firm, it will also mean Kalinda being back to working with them, too, though I really hope it WON'T mean Robin being gone - I love Robin.
Apropos Kalinda: this leads me to another illustration of how the ability to listen into conversations not meant for you backfires badly in this episode: when Cary, in the presence of his colleagues, has to listen to Diane saying "Kalinda has a way of dealing with Cary; we've been exploiting this repeateadly", and then Kalinda, still on camera, calls him. Now Cary obviously hasn't been under the illusion that Kalinda doesn't try to use him (though in terms of actual benefit, given that she's been misreading him on the last few occasions, I wonder how much that worked), but a) it's one thing to be aware of that and another to hear it spelled out for the benefit of two firms listening, complete with the implication that Diane knows all about his sex life, and b) he must have hoped that there was more to the relationship for Kalinda, too. Incidentally, while like I said I principally sided with Cary on the "to merge or not to merge" question, I also thought Alicia had a point that his anger at Kalinda was colouring his reaction to the merger question as well. (Mind you: even if Kalinda had given a "I love Cary Agos!" declaration on camera, I doubt Cary would have wanted to merge. As opposed to Alicia, he spent the majority of his time at L & G dissatisfied, and it would have been a gigantic step back for him.)
Diane being a candidate possibility for state attorney in the first place was due to Finn Polmar having used his attorney privilege to help his drug ridden sister, which as Eli states would backfire badly in a campaign (plus, of course, Peter being less than keen on Finn now that he sees him as a possible Alicia boyfriend). I expected the episode to end with Finn being back to being the candidate anyway after Diane's decision, but instead we got Eli concluding in the tag scene that Alicia herself would be a good candidate. This threw me in a variety of admittedly excited and contradictory thoughts. Firstly, how realistic would an Alicia candidacy be? I mean, yes, obvious Hillary Clinton parallel in campaigning for an office her husband held previously is obvious, but with Peter as the governor, would his wife even ben allowed to campaign for state attorney in the same state? Aren't there laws against nepotism? And if it's legal, wouldn't the Peter situation backfire on Alicia anyway instead of helping her, i.e. people would not see her as her own woman, Castro could accuse the Floricks of treating Illinois as a family fiefdom etc? Also, I'm invested in the Alicia and Cary partnership. (The fact that they just had a big argument doesn't change that. They had worse ups and downs in the past. So did Diane and Will.)
Then again: Alicia as state attorney is something the show hasn't done and which would be narrative revolutionizing, as she would not defend clients anymore but prosecute. This would even make sense of the fact the last few clients we've seen her with in cases of the week were of the decidedly unsavory type, potentially fueling her desire to do something different. And with Diane now at Florick & Agos, there would still be an ongoing plot thread of lawyerly defense arguments and partnerships. I can definitely see the potential there.
Lastly: the subplot with the two mothers, Veronica and Jackie, competitively inviting themselves to a Florick gathering retread comedy ground from earlier this season, not to mention that their dialogue was awfully clichéd. (I mean: both of them insulting the other by saying they were just like their respective offspring, really, show? Aside from everything else, it's not even true. Veronica isn't like Alicia any more than Jackie is like Peter.) (I also have to disagree with Veronica's assessment that Alicia and Peter get along better in an open marriage than they did when still having sex together, because I'm with Eli there, see above.) However, the mother were the occasion for Alicia and Peter sympathizing with each other on the phone in weary bemusement, which was fine by me.
In conclusion: a season that in many ways invigorated the show after it flagged a bit in s4 concludes. Bring on season 6!
no subject
Date: 2014-05-21 06:54 am (UTC)I would be overjoyed with Alicia, Diane, Kalinda, and Cary working together at F&A, but this show is brave enough to -- as we Germans say -- shuffle the cards anew. ;)
no subject
Date: 2014-05-21 12:21 pm (UTC)