The Good Wife - Season 5 (1 Viewer)

[NolanJ]

I agree with this being the best season yet. I also think it might be the best show on network television.

I'm not sure what the ratings are, but I surely hope it isn't in jeopardy of a termination. I hope it gets ER longevity

 

[DaveF]

Everything is working this season. They've wound up all these characters the past four years, and now' they're completely unspooling them. All the relationships are playing out.

The side plots are tighter. The secondary story with Grace feels more integrated than some efforts in past years. And while I loved the mystery of Kalinda from S1 and S2, impressively, it's better now that's dispensed with and the story is focused on Alicia and Wil.

Mesmerizing TV!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Anthony Wright Edelman just committed perjury on behalf of Lockhart/Gardner. Diane may have convinced herself that the partnership offer was just a means to solicit his honest testimony, but she should know that that's a line Alicia would not have crossed. When this blows up in Edelman's face -- and it surely will -- Lockhart/Gardner will be implicated in gross legal impropriety. There may not be anything that will stick to the firm itself, but it won't do them any favors.I'm wondering if the case of the week will resurface again; where it left off, it seemed poised for a third act explanation. I'm not sure if the point was just that clients lie, but it really seemed to just sort of end.It's really nice to see Nathan Lane back as Hayden in a capacity where we're not left constantly guessing at his intentions.I was struck by how clueless Alicia's brother is. Yes, what he deduced was sound. But he has to be incredibly naive to think it'd make any difference. Once Alicia made the choice she made, that was it. Whatever she and Will had was done. That was the intent, and she got the finality she was looking for. Too much has happened since to roll things back.The story thread with the webcams creeped me out. I can't say I was comfortable with how that was handled; it was treated as ultimately a schoolyard fight, but what we're talking about here is intimate footage of an underage girl taken without her consent and broadcast across the internet. Depending on what footage was uploaded, it might be a crime merely the access the footage, and regardless it was certainly a serious crime to capture and publish the footage. Zach should have gone to Alicia with this. The kid at school may have just been trying to make a quick buck, but for the site he sold the footage to it's serious business.

 

[mattCR]

You know making him a partner is going to backfire in all sorts of ways at L&G. I think one of the outcomes of that is that Kalinda will be not-plussed with this. To now, she's stayed with L&G.. but she knows Alicia is being setup.

 

[Matt Hough]

I felt there were a lot of untied plot strings this week which left me rather unsatisfied with the episode. Alicia is still accountable for $6 million so they've got to continue with that plot. The DNA kid who allegedly lied: I, too, felt there HAD to be more to the story than just that. And the webcam stuff: Grace's nudie videos are still out there. Zach's punching out the perp didn't erase those from the site. I can't believe he wouldn't get his mom or dad involved since neither of them did anything wrong; they're victims.

On the other hand, Nathan Lane will be a most welcome and (hopefully) calming presence to the chaos that is Florrick/Agos. And the new firm is due a win one of these weeks. They've been drowning in one defeat after another since they started up.

 

[Patrick_S]

Since Alicia left they have added two new partners via the bride in order to get the testimony they want method. There is a serious lack of ethics inside L&G that far exceeds anything the new firm has done.Hopefully this latest one will comeback to bite them hard in the ass. It would be nice if Alicia won some sort if large settlement because what they are doing to her could seriously damage her career.Also, the working out of the home things has got to end. There are thousands of Executive Offices available for rent by the month in Chicago. These offices come with receptionists, networks and meeting rooms that would get them by until they get real offices.They could easily get there original office renter to foot the bill because they failed live up to their end of the contract to provide offices when promised.

 

[mattCR]

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/12/21422496-suspect-in-sextortion-of-miss-teen-usa-other-young-women-pleads-guilty?lite

Ahead of the headlines. Story breaks that a hacker installed software to manipulate and grab images & content (including webcam) from a Miss Teen USA to extort her.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Probably why I still don't have a webcam at home (makes it tough to do Google hangout sessions. Haha).

 

[Stan]

I'm loving this season. Don't think I've ever seen so many bitchy, icy stares in my life.

This is war between the two firms and I'm enjoying it.

 

[Matt Hough]

Finally a victory for Florrick/Agos, but after all that work, it doesn't look like it's going to result in a rich paying client for them. A shame.

I'm glad Robyn's finding a place. I saw that Josh Charles directed the episode. I guess that's why we got SO much of him with his "party girl." I found it a bit much myself.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Finally a victory for Florrick/Agos, but after all that work, it doesn't look like it's going to result in a rich paying client for them. A shame.

How so? When Natalie brought her purse strings-controlling (African American) boss to Lockhart/Gardner *ahem* "LG", the first person he speaks with off the elevator is Howard Lyman, who proceeded to immediately offend him with racial stereotyping. That combined with Florrick/Agos winning the case would seem to be an unqualified win for the new firm.(Speaking of Howard Lyman, how great is Jerry Adler in the role? His scenes just kill me.)

I'm glad Robyn's finding a place.

Me too. Jess Wexler has a pretty good career going in independent features, and she's still only a guest star so I was worried that they were writing her out with this episode. Glad to see the opposite is true. And her storyline demonstrates how everyone in this world becomes morally compromised sooner or later. What I liked about seeing her out investigating is how different she is than Kalinda. Kalinda pulls off moves that Robyn could never get away with, but Robyn pulled a couple moves that Kalinda could never get away with. It helps keep the show fresh, seeing the same sort of scene executed in a different way.

I saw that Josh Charles directed the episode. I guess that's why we got SO much of him with his "party girl." I found it a bit much myself.

I thought it was a bit much too, but I don't think Josh Charles being the director had much to do with it, since TV directors have no control over the script and no right to final edit on their episodes. I think that stuff was in there, combined with the Lockhart/Gardner rebranding, to show that Will a little bit in mid-life crisis mode. He just got dumped in the way that matters to him the most -- professionally -- by the love of his life. Whether he knows it, he's out to prove he's still a virile alpha male. Wanting to be the biggest baddest hippest firm is part of that and the party girl is part of that.I know if I wanted to be represented by a serious respectable law firm, I'd rather go to a firm called Lockhart/Gardner than a firm called "LG." That's an electronics manufacturer, not a law firm.Other thoughts on tonight's episode:That Marilyn is trouble. I wonder if Alicia picked up on it when Peter stopped by her office. Marilyn's increasingly charmed by Peter, and Peter's getting off a bit on being charming. I don't know if anything's going to happen there, but it certainly seems to be heading in that direction.I love where the Florrick/Agos offices ended up. If they'd started in nice or even standard offices, you wouldn't get a visual sense of the firm's progression. Having worked in old industrial complexes myself, there's a lot of charm and uniqueness alongside a lot of downsides.

 

[Patrick_S]

Good episode but I'll state it again, the whole LG expanding into one of the true power firms in the country is absurd and am rather disappointed that a show that has had such excellent standards in the past is developing such a story line. It is story line that is insulting to the audiences intelligence.

 

[mattCR]

It reminded me a lot of an office I worked with in Kansas City in the "West Bottoms" a former meat house, a large building that looked so much like the new offices I laughed. Just so it can be said, after 5 months and some hard work, the internal of those offices had a really unique and cool vibe to them that couldn't be replicated.Really enjoyed this week, but I like the contrast in successes and failures the two staffs will have. It's becoming obvious that they are playing this straight and no one is going to 'win them all'I think Will's branching out to NY is going to be the kind of thing that bites them.

 

[Stan]

Missed this episode, for some reason thought it was on at 10, not 9 p.m. DISH and I are having a temporary feud, so had to install one of those goofy digital converters, rather than catch it on the DVR.Sounds like they finally got new offices and aren't working out of Alicia's apartment. Anything major that I missed?

Thanks guys.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Hi Stan,If you've got decent internet, you can watch the episode in its entirety on CBS's website:http://www.cbs.com/shows/the_good_wife/video/EE1AF094-C55D-7D71-539D-534A5CE68845/the-good-wife-the-next-month/

 

[Stan]

Thanks for the info Adam. My connection is about 27-30 Mb. so should be perfectly fine.With things like this, it's getting closer to where I may just cut the cord and not need satellite or cable. I'll have to watch it on my laptop, but just need to buy the right connectors to use it with my TV.It's funny because Comcast totally screwed up my internet/phone connections, switched me to their HDTV package, send me two new receivers, neither of which worked. Got a bill for $430 and just about fainted. They tried to put me back on my old plan, which was $100 a month, but no longer available, so now I'm actually on a $60 plan for a year, same speed, etc. but big mistake on their part.I worked for Cingular briefly years ago when they were still around. As long as you stay on your plan, things are fine, but once you make a change, the older plans are no longer available, the software won't allow you to access them any longer. So Comcast's screw-up cost them $40 a month along with all the processing of the extra unneeded equipment they sent me, which I'm returning at their expense.

Totally off topic, I apologize, but nice to vent once in a while. Looking forward to the episode I missed. I sure hope this gets renewed for another year or two, it has really improved this season and probably one of my favorite shows.

 

[DaveF]

I love seeing Eli twitterpated. Somehow, with a flip of the hair and widening of the smile, Alan Cummings turns his character from uptight pro, to nervous teen.I don't have a clue what's happening with Melissa George's character. Her pregnancy came on unexpectedly a few episodes ago. I thought it was a ploy for sympathy from Alicia. But it's real. Maybe a hasty addition to the script. I'm not sure how I feel about Hard Robyn. But it's interestingly

 

[Simon Massey]

I really think they need to be careful with Lockhart Gardner. They are in danger of making Will unlikeable and the show would be far better at keeping both sides sympathetic to a certain extent as it makes the conflict between them that much better

 

[Matt Hough]

Though I thought it was really TOO convenient that the L/G hit train wiped out the F/A offices right when there were no lawyers there to stop them (or that the secretary wouldn't have immediately been on the phone to check with her bosses about something which she was not expecting), it all ended with Alicia finally being able to wipe that smugness off Will's face even if it was only momentarily in court.

Kalinda's investigation should be a lot of fun in the upcoming episode(s) though what she uncovers may put her in harm's way.

The show certainly does have a way to twist one's stomach in knots with ALL of its various storylines.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I loved what happened at the Irish mob bar where Will tried -- and failed -- to namedrop the "LG" brand. There are definitely cracks emerging on that side of the fence.The whole case this week was spawned by the FBI investigating Alicia's client, so it was kind of odd that that plot thread just sort of fell be the wayside.Not sure how I feel about Jason O'Mara's character yet.I really liked that for Diane, seeing the Florrick/Agos offices triggered a moment of sympathy, a moment of placing herself in their shoes. As Simon mentioned, if they turn Lockhart/Gardner into full-on antagonists, it's inherently less interesting than if the audience sort of has a foot in both camps.As much as I normally can't stand Jackie, I loved watching her at work taking down the state supreme court nominee who'd slept with her husband.