The Good Wife season 2 thread

My Mondays this season are way too packed to go into the detail I did last year, but I wanted to chime in with a few thoughts. I thought the season premiere was excellent, picking up where the show left off without missing a beat. The show neatly sidestepped the season one ending cliffhanger in a way that didn't feel false; Eli Gold deleting that voicemail was entirely in keeping with his character. I enjoyed seeing Alicia mentor the political wacko murderer, and the frustration that had to come from having an almost completely unprepared first chair.

 

Two extremely uncomfortable moments: 1) Childs's political operatives targeting Grace to score potshots against Peter. Judging by her expression, she knew she was trapped but who knows how a 15-16 year old girl reacts to such an ambush. It's one of those things that crosses the line so far it's not even funny, but has unfortunately become a part of our modern politics. 2) The bathroom scene between Alicia and Peter. We got a glimpse of the man who solicited those prostitutes, and it wasn't pretty. Julianna Margulies did a phenomenal job in the scene; her body language really sold the predatory nature of the advance. Even though Peter only ended up pleasuring her, the fact that she said no and he wouldn't accept that was very troubling.

 

I like the new partner. He's shaking things up without quite being a tornado. Pairing him up with Alicia keeps things fresh by forcing her to molder herself around yet another strong personality. The new P.I. is also interesting, because his actions give us the opportunity to observe how Kalinda reacts to them. He's a bit of a an arrogant jerk, and obvious competition, but her overreaction to his participation deepens the mystery of who this woman is. She is clearly damaged in some deep and important ways. And for someone who guards her privacy above all else, having a P.I. who's at least as good as she is has to feel like a very deep threat and violation.

VERY strong start to the season.   I like how the new characters were quickly introduced.   The case was interesting.    We managed to see Peter in full "creepy" mode, and we understand the mixed feelings she has.   I like the introduction of the new partner, which unlike a surprise was very properly setup last year with the "we need financial solvency solutions" episodes.  A merger answers that and it was setup and delivered well.

That was an impressive opener!

 

Everything squared away from last season and some many new threads opened up. Perhaps most intriguing and alarming: why is Kalinda being called "Lela" by the new investigator?!?

Very strong second episode, too. No sophomore slump for this one, either. I really enjoyed seeing Will and Alicia adapt to a military court room. I also liked that Cary did the ethical thing by testifying against the credibility of that witness, even though he thought it would result in a guilty man going free. He's willing to bend the rules, but he's not willing to break them. The Joe Trippi and Lou Dobbs cameos were fun, but I hope the show doesn't devolve into lots of real life celebrity cameos for high-profile clients. Is Becca playing on Childs's team, or is she still just trying to cause the maximum destruction she can get away with? What did Kalinda find out about Will and the new partner?

I don't know Dobbs, that cameo was initially on me. I gather he's a talking head of some ilk. And the other client ... Was he someone to be recognized?

It was a bit annoying to watch the kids struggling with whether to tell about the spies. Don't they remember last year? How'd that work out? Well , I guess keeping secrets works ok since nothing really came of hiding the extortion photos from their mom.

But as I said to my wife, teenage boys are such idiots

Another great episode. This is the best show on broadcast tv.

I loved last nights episode.  A great "mystery" about a botched prosecution and whether or not the state would pay for what had happened.  What got me most was that Alicia telling them "He's not in it for the money, he wants to exonerate his dad".. yet, the moment the money was on the table "well, that's predictable".    But the reason I liked that is because in the TV world, that wasn't predictable.  I'm sick of shows where the kid would say "This is NOT about the money!  They can't bribe me to shut up!" and a ran that goes to the courthouse.   The fact that the kid said "Money is proof I'm right!  Vindiciation!"  and was content with that seems a lot more realistic.   While the department will never say they f---d up, if people see the kid with $4M moving out and starting over, they can pretty much make that assumption.

 

I also liked the family dinner that went so wrong; but not wrong in a way that was ridiculous, but a very believable wrong.  A mother who has to say the well-intentioned but wrong thing, and a kid who has a different view then her parents and instead of being a whiny brat, wants to discuss it and make her point.  

Not to mention that the settlement frees the state's attorney's office to charge the sniper with all four counts instead of just the last one. Anyone who sees those headlines will know his dad was innocent.

 

My favorite scene was the Yom Kippur dinner, with all of the clashing personalities, ideologies and agendas. I particularly loved Peter's confrontation of Alicia's gay brother; it was the first truly selfless moment we've seen from him. And the brother, as much as he despises Peter, knows that he's right. I also liked seeing Grace torpedo Eli's carefully executed reconciliation campaign with her passionate pro-Palestinian stance while Peter's mother chimes in with alternating generalizations and misassumption about both gays and Jews.

This week's episode really mixed up the characters; as the DA looks to pull his punches to throw blame for his mistake, they realize there is a completely unknown third option out there for the job.. and now it gets real.

This show captures the reality of modern politics better than any other on television. I wouldn't want to pull the lever (or fill in the oval, I guess, now) for Florrick or Childs. The fact that this young seemingly ingenue enters the race by pulling off such a grandiose manipulation doesn't exactly put her in a good light, either.  All three have powerful patrons within Chicago's ruling elite.

Last week's: Whoa!

Will catch up on comments after I catch this week's

Glad to see Peter tell the groper's lawyer where to shove it. Great episode examining all of the facets that go into a law firm deciding whether to take on a high profile case. The potential plaintiff was quite a cypher; I spent most of the episode just as uncertain as the lawyers as to whether she was telling the truth or not.

This was one of the best episodes of this show I can remember.  And one of the best "legal drama" moments I've seen in anything since Boston Legal.   Rarely do you see a show take a look behind the scenes that says "maybe we believe you, he should get it.. but this is going to get difficult"

While this isn't always a nobel prize winner, it happens often where women are put into a position where they have to accuse someone who is popular in a community or school, etc.. and they have to deal with the blowback.   This was a great episode.   Strong performances and a real debate over "how does this work" and "what happens next".  I found the moments where the investigators were trashing her apartment.. which she will now go home to and find trashed (and robbed, as he took the money out of her drawer) to be devastating.. but a portrayal of how it may feel for her, and that moment will further her debate as to whether or not she can do it (spoilers avoided).

 

So, since it's the month to mention it, I'll just throw a link in here:  http://www.rainn.org/ 

 

This was exceptional TV.   It kept you on the edge and the end was incredibly effective.   There will be several cast members who may want to submit this episode for consideration... definitely the writing staff.

Amazing set of episodes. Two weeks ago is still my favorite. The intensity of it all: Carey questioning Alicia. Kalinda taking her rivalry with the other investigator. Knocked me out.

This weeks was a splendid bit of nothing filled with everything. It had all the hallmarks of a filler episode, a rippied from the headlines schtick, starting and ending nowhere further than where it started. But it was filled with character moments, like Dianne wrestling with her convictions and her hero. And it drove the story of Peter further.

And we were kept in the dark almost the entire episode on the A story.

Grrr... Had a long post written up, only for the website to spontaneously refresh and wipe away everything. The gist:

Michael J. Fox's character demonstrated the wheels within wheels that this show does best. Unlike some other recent guest starring roles that uncomfortably ignored the elephant in the room -- hello "Scrubs", casting someone with Parkinson's as  a surgeon -- this episode was built around his disability. And while Fox's character certainly wasn't above dirty pool, exploiting his disability to first co-opt and then distract the jury, he had a fine and calculating legal mind to back up the theatrics. Just when we think we have a handle on the situation, his conversation with Alicia at the party pulls the rug out from under us. In comparison to this top flight New York City lawyer, Lockhart Gardner and Bond look very small time indeed. They saw this class action and thought anything above $10 million would be huge. The pharmaceutical company looked at the same class action and thought anything under $90 million would be dodging a bullet. In order to be a hero, Fox's character only had to get Lockhart Gardner and Bond below $50 million. He probably talked Diane down to $35 million for his own amusement.

The waters around Kalinda are starting to get very choppy indeed, as we finally meet the long-rumored girlfriend. On one hand, the firmly sealed lid on her private life is starting to crack open. On the other hand, some of the characters that Bond brought with him from Baltimore are more dangerous than she imagined. We've known since the pilot that Kalinda has no problem using people. What this season is showcasing is that she does little else but use people. She reminds me of abandoned street children in the ghettos of the world, who didn't grow up with any parental affection and develop a survival instinct unblunted by codes of morality. Kalinda has worked hard to create an upper-middle class biography for her self and present a polished and cultured exterior. On the basic instinctual level, though, she's like those kids. Nothing will come between her and what she needs to keep going. Alicia is probably the closest thing she has to a human connection. Blake is instinctively a threat that must be eliminated. Before it was merely professional. Now that Cary has shown her how dangerous he is, the instinct to eliminate the threat must be that much greater.

Speaking of Cary, I love what they've done with his character this year. He's still harboring a grudge toward Will, Diane and especially Alicia. But he's not the asshole with the grudge. And he's still warm toward Kalinda, even though he knows how stone cold she is, because she didn't have anything to do with his firing. Even in cases where he could screw over Alicia, like in the military tribunal, he does what's morally right instead of what's emotionally satisfying. He tried to beat Alicia for the final spot through hard work and fair play. Even though that didn't work out for him, he's stuck with those principles.

I also liked Grace's storyline supporting Peter's opponent. The whole story was about her feelings toward her father, and yet Peter played no role in the entire incident. Her faith in her father was dented then restored, and he didn't have a thing to do with either. The one influence Peter had on the issue was his promise to Alicia that he'd run an (relatively) honest campaign. If Peter hadn't set the ground rules, Eli would have ran with the boob job story and destroyed his career while severely denting Peter's candidacy. As a last resort, he leaked it to the Childs campaign -- taking out a rival in the business while severely damaging the campaign of the opponent.

I also like the idea that the third candidate might really be the best person for the job, not Peter. Chicago being Chicago, I'm sure she has some sordid  bit of slime in her past or present, but I'm glad they're exploring the idea that we might not being following the best person for the job.

 

This show simply delivers, week after week.

As they were gloating over their class action settlement, that moment with Fox was DEVASTATING.   But it was also sooo good.  All I could think about was the John Grisham Book "King of Torts"... where at the end, the class action cases ate them alive because plaintiffs discovered they settled way too low and went back after them for malpractice.

Now, that won't happen in the context of this show, but that moment had to put the scare into Alicia.. did we do right by our client?   Because it was obvious that Lockhart-Gardner had not done the required research on what was really going into this. .. and that moment should have spooked them.

I liked the moment where the daughter discovered her fathers hands were clean of the frame up; and it basically did incredible damage to Childs in the race.  You really get the feeling that Gardner-Lockhart is really a mid-level firm, too eager to get money rolling in the door, to get out of the dulldrums.. a firm with a street-lawyer desperation to beat up the money to cover the costs.

 

That was a scene you don't see that often on television - the "good guys" getting what they think is a win, but they discover they were played the whole time.  Of course, the firm being in the state that it was at the present time, that was a lot of money coming in to keep things running (and then some).

 

I'm surprised that they haven't brought up again that this new candidate was involved in leaking confidential information about Childs. I am assuming they haven't forgotten it.
 

Great comments!

 

I was very impressed by both the writing, and Fox, for what they did with his character. It's not often we see an honestly cynical depiction of someone using their physical weaknesses to their own advantage.

 

My wife asked me why Kalinda and Blake were immediately antagonistic to each other. I don't really know, except they are both Alphas and they're both -- for lack of better metaphor -- mongooses. They're the animal the firm keeps to attack the cobras, to do the dirty work, to get things done unseen. And they're professionally, and maybe personally, paranoid. And when suddenly paired with an equal, they fear there can be only one, and they turn their work inward, to there perceived threat. 

 

We're also now shown explicitly that Kalinda is a user. She uses people for her own emotional needs, professional needs, whatever. And then casts them aside. But even though she can play an emotional role very well when it suits her, she can evoke empathy in others, it seems she's so emotionally damaged that she doesn't actually understand it. She doesn't recognize the harm she causes others, no the potential long-term harm that can bring upon herself.

 

And now: Blake. Possible hired man for Baltimore muscle. Scary. But in a show that holds its cards tightly at times, I'm still waiting to see if that's truely the story. Maybe he is that dangerous. Or maybe there's yet another layer that Carey didn't find.

 

 

Everything else: The daughter. The campaign. The case. Nice.

 

As a quibble: I was surprised that Gold entertained the breast-implant story so quickly. After being so completely snookered on her campaign announcement, it's foolish to take anything about her at face value. Breast implants? Dig deeper. Nothing about her suggests that's what she'd do, so why trust it so narrowly? But, he luckily diverted it to Childs' campaign. So while he inadvertently helped her campaign, he did serious damage to Childs. So he probably considers it net positive, even though we as viewers can guess that Childs is no longer Florrick's true threat.

Some thoughts about this ep I agree with-

 

[quote]Well, they can’t all be winners.  Before I continue this, allow me to say that a mediocre episode of The Good Wife is still 95% better than most television shows out there.  However, since the show is so consistently excellent, whenever a single hour slips even slightly the strain is visible. [/quote][[[[[

[/quote]

 

and

 

[quote]Also, while I'm complaining, let's talk about the two kids. Who likes these idiots? I mean, isn't the demographic of this show like exceedingly old? Why do the stupid kids need to be there? Do they appeal to the female 40+ or something?

I like that the show is a little further towards the "this is a game and we play to win" reality than the "every case is a civil rights emergency and the lawyer is a hero" David E Kelly fantasy, but her winrate is just completely at odds with this. [/quote]

 

and lastly

 

[quote]the son's sulking over breakfast in this episode seemed to be a thorough summary of his entire character's personality arc. [/quote]

 

True that.

Where did these quotes come from, Spero? Google says CultureMob and AV Club.

 

I thought this episode was great, and the casting of Miranda Cosgrove as the troubled preteen idol was essential to that. It would have been easy to stunt cast a genuinely troubled Lindsey Lohan or Demi Lovato to play a thinly fictionalized version of themselves, but instead they went with one who genuinely does have a squeaky clean image. The idea that the overblown lifestyle is an act to sell an image is a fascinating one; it would have been easy to make Sloan a mouthy little bitch behind close doors, but instead they went the opposite way. Sloan was polite and well mannered with Alicia, with the bad behavior and catty tweets purely for public consumption. No one wants to see these girls that the gossip rags chew up and spit out as children, but this episode forced us to do that. The scene where Alicia squeezes Sloan's shoulder as Sloan is about to break down is heartbreaking, because you get the impression that her own mother has never done such basic motherly act. The beat where Grace and her friend meet Sloan, and Grace's friend tries to proselytize her was very melancholy, as we see the reflection between 14-year-olds that actually are children and this girl not very much older who hasn't been a kid in a very long time.

 

Even more striking was the subplot with the church's endorsement. The connection between churches -- especially intercity black churches -- and racial politics is one of those third rails of public discussion. Pastor Isaiah Easton views his church as first and foremost a religious community, which is why he usually refrained from making endorsements and chose to endorse Peter when his hand was forced. His father Jeremiah views the church as first and foremost a political powerbase, and that means advancing African American candidates -- however much or however little their religious conviction. Wendy Scott-Carr (never just Wendy, always Wendy Scott-Carr) understood the latter dynamic, figured that lip service to the church's mission would be enough to lock up the endorsement despite Peter being in regular attendance, and was outraged when it wasn't. So she went over Isaiah's head to the former pastor, who didn't care much much his son being his own man once an issue important to him came along, and got him booted. Depending on how quietly Isaiah goes into the night, she's risked tarnishing her squeaky clean public interest.

In a way, people like Wendy Scott-Carr are worse than people like Peter and Childs. Peter and Childs are scumbags who do horrible things to advance their careers, but they don't pretend otherwise. You know what you're getting with them, for better or for worse. Wendy Scott-Carr plays the part of an angel, while illegally leaking subpoena transcripts to the press and fracturing congregations for her own personal gain. The problem with building a campaign around such an image is that it only takes one scandal to bring the whole thing down. For better or worse, voters expect dirty laundry from Peter and Childs. Their campaigns can absorb any dirty laundry that surfaces. Wendy Scott-Carr's whole campaign is built around being better than machine politicians like Peter and Childs; if the choice is between three sleazebags, she loses.

 

And I'm not a 40+ female who likes Alicia's kids quite a bit. Their viewpoints provide a unique window into how Peter and Alicia appear. The contrast between what Grace and her friend "knew" about Sloan and what we came to learn about Sloan is a perfect example of an understanding we'd never have gotten without Alicia's children.

AVClub was one as I read the reviews after the ep and agreed with those sentiments I quoted.

Gotcha. I was just confused at first, thinking you were quoting previous posters in this thread.

Adam, great analysis. Loved this episode; so many critical transitional events took place: the endorsement, of course. The power plays within the firm. Wil seemingly clueless abou all of it. Peter telling the DNC to take a flying leap and pursue his campaign. Eli, a shark for hire remaining loyal. And, the most crucial emotional riptide: Peter still doesn't understand that Alicia *likes* working. He still thinks it's just until he's back on his feet.

And I not only enjoy her kids but think they're essential to the character of he show. Without them, Alicias only a lifeless lawyer who has no loyalty but to the firm. They are emotional center. She may never love or trust Peter again, but Grace & Zack keep her tied to the family and help keep her grounded to her principles. And they limit who she can be at the firm. Even as their stories ebb and flow, theyre important framing to the shows structure

The kicker is, he wasn't clueless about it. He knew invading David Lee's fiefdom within the firm would be disastrous, and tried to stop Bond before the problem metastasized. Diane cut him off at the knees and threw her lot in with Bond. Then, when the inevitable happened and Lee started putting feelers out about breaking out as a partner in a new firm, Diane back stabs both Bond and Will. I can understand her wanting to get back at Will for not having her back, but this move is suicidal. Lockhart, Gardner and Bond is barely surviving as it is. If she fractures the firm in two, neither Lockhart and Lee nor Gardner and Bond would survive for long. There are times to be bold and there are times to play it safe. Diane wants to be bold when playing it safe is the only move that ends in survival.

Yep. It was an interesting sequence, with Diane first clearly repaying Wil for his disloyalty and then dodging the mess and working from a different front. Will's nonchalance with Bond...soothing Bond? Tyre lack if concern? Or directorial error?

We know Diane feels threatened and on the outside of a two-man Old Boys Club. How far will she take it? How much damage will she cause?

I think this has been brewing for a while.  I think that the idea that "it's suicide, they are barely making it.."  You have to remember, they just came off a 35M win (so 8M to the firm.  What she is clearly thinking is that family law is a consistent breadwinner.  And, combined with her take off that split, plus shares in the company, she would have a smaller firm with a whole lot less overhead.  I hear this argument from attorneys as they dissolve offices often ... "Oh, sure, I won't be making any more really, but my costs will go way down, and it will be more what I want".

 

 

Now, as to the episode, I thought this episode was brilliant. I thought it was interesting to see how the kids go through their own rationalization of how they deal with the situation. And I liked the daughter grasping the difference between how "cool" the scandal news was about someone else, and how it played out against her family, and I thought that was a great moment.

 

 

I thought the Church plot was a stunner. It was obvious that Florrick had spoken too soon; he had let Wendy know in time for her to bring pressure down on the board to change their mind. I think that could turn into a major point, but it is definitely clear she is a candidate who plays hardball. I liked it that Peter's campaign manager was smart enough to do the "I don't tell" but Peter couldn't resist tooting his horn.

 

I think the other thing that is ongoing is that Cary, the prosecutor, is obviously not a bad guy. He has his own set of very strong moral views on things, and he's always been a law & order type personality. This show almost flips the Law & Order setup, showing you how the defense really feels when we'd see the same gambits played in those shows by the prosecutor, here we see them from the side of the defense. I also really enjoyed the entire storyline regarding the need for people to pay respect to what was going on and stop "tweeting the trial". Great aside to how much we've given up the importance of events to reduce them to soundbytes - and it's not a new point, the show repeatedly comes back to the concept that soundbytes often tell us nothing of the story.

 

I forgot my favorite part: the dead-on mimic of the NMA animations! Not one, but two! It was so good, I believe they hired those people to make the animations just for that episode. TV normally does web and computers so badly, or at least so weirdly stylized for the sake of the visuals, that it was great to see something spot on.

 

 

 

I'm not sure I follow. Florrick told the DNC, but they wouldn't have told Wendy's campaing. And Eli did tell Wendy that they had the nomination. But, yes, the father coming in, with the church board, to kick the son out over the politics was stunning.

 

There have been episodes I liked better for the core story. But this one was marvelous in how it wove so many story elements together, propelling almost every major plotline forward.

This show goes week after week hitting high notes, keeping track of plot, and then managing to work old storylines back in through creative ways.  

Alicia discovers that Will left a second message, and she doesn't have it... and she has to confront Will about it, but can't.. and how does she find out?   By listening through wiretaps.  Not only that, but they use the rules regarding wiretaps to make it both effective and interesting as Alicia finds out that Ely, their campaign manager, is also on the tap list.  The feds have swung a big, wide net in hopes of seemingly catching somebody, anybody.  And when inadvertently they hear a White House staffer - which isn't unusual considering they are in Chicago and it's Obama's home turf, the show pulls absolutely no punches and doesn't wuss out, they play the hard lawyer card and say "we're going to spook the feds by threatening to start the subpeonas against the White House staffers, knowing if we make the kitchen hot enough, they won't stay".  That's a tough one for a lot of shows, but they took it.   There are lots of times we like to leave political reality out of the mix, but this was a good one that was played in such a way to seem both real, and not a cheap shot at any real office holder.  More a statement of "this is how it would work".

 

With so many different storylines, it was good that some of the lower storylines really started to pay off; Becca obviously went out of her way to work to sabotage the relationship that is brewing with Alicia's son by throwing his new girlfriend under the bus, using his grandmothers phobias against it.  And the kids poking fun at Child's son, who does appear to be a jerk, backfires and the Childs campaign comes gunning for the Florrick's daughter.

 

Meanwhile, again, Wendy stands out from the crowd and gets a free pass.  The B story also got big coverage; Pastor Issiah did endorse Peter... but he's lost his church, and the church still endorses Wendy.  A cheaper show would have had something immediately on these tapes showing she knew of these kickbacks, but here, she sails through again, seemingly untouched.   Wendy, who we know plays hardball, is apparently still above the fray and coasting. 

 

The breakup of the firm is seen as a way to preempt getting pushed out, and her strategy is a decent one.   Move on with clients you can get and take the most profitable portion.  While she was planning, Will coming to her and asking for her help was an bit of good interpersonal communication.. you had to think internally she was snickering at the fact he needed her, and soon, he wouldn't have her at all for these jobs.  The wry smile she gave him with "OK" was all the aside the audience needed to convey a lot of that.  

 

And now we know the PIs are going to play hardball.   There is something just wrong... with our new PI.  He's apparently tried to frame Kalinda, and she knows it.  Now the question is how far does Blake go in trying to change the outcomes.. we were implied that a witness was beaten because we assume he gave the wronged husband was tipped off.. or did Blake do it himself?   But the planting of Kalinda's fingerprints was a clear sign he's out to eliminate the competition.

 

The writers on this show should be commended for one of the deepest multi-level stories on broadcast TV (non-cable), and one of the best legal dramas in years.   This season has really been fantastic (IMHO)