[omg wtf the good wife]

[tellitslant]

I just didn't have the time/brain to watch The Good Wife yesterday, and I almost didn't have brain today either, but I watched it anyway. And I still might not have brain, but I have to say stuff about it anyway, because WOW.



I have to say, there were bits of this that were intensely difficult to watch, in a way that I can only give the show credit for - but as the child of a relatively acrimonious divorce, whose mother could easily be Julianna Marguiles' sister? A little less realism would be nice.

Anyways.

I kind of don't know where to start, even. If Alicia broke our hearts this week, I think Kalinda is going to up the game next week, but she is going to have one hell of an act to follow. The whole nearly-wordless introductory sequence was just mindblowing.

I love how twisted these characters are. Loved Patti playing both sides towards the middle. Love, too, that we don't know what's going on with Cary - did he go to Peter's office in good faith? If Peter ends up using him, is that going to be with or without Cary's full understanding? Who knows! I am looking forward to finding out.

I really do love everyone on this show (except Grace, who continues to endear herself to me less and less). Jackie, who is as fierce a mother as Alicia in her own way. Peter, who even when he is a total dick has moments like telling Alicia not to blame Kalinda. Will, who recognizes and acknowledges when he's outgunned. Cary, who will try anything to get where he think he ought to be. Eli, who is finally showing more of the person than the politician.

The long game that the writers are playing is so impressive. None of this was unplanned. All of it reaches right back to that very first episode - the setup with Cary, the re-election, Kalinda checking out Alicia. All of it coming to a head two years later. That is seriously impressive. I think they got away with it because they disguised the show as a procedural and no one really expected this much plot to be part of it. And then, WHAM, character development! Because all of those forty-odd episodes up to now were leading up to those moments of Alicia breaking, and refusing to break, and being better and worse for it.

How has this not yet been renewed? More to the point, how is it the lowest rated scripted show on CBS Sunday-Thursday? This is why we can't have nice things! Because we break them!

Comments

[jae]

AGREED. ABOUT EVERYTHING.

I have watched it twice now, and my heart still raced at the same parts. My god, the scene with the KIDS.

-J

[tellitslant]

I don't know if I CAN watch it again - particularly that scene, because, you know, I have had that conversation. Yikes.

On reflection, I think one of my favourite things about this episode is that Alicia leaves Peter, then we get this great look at the things that Will does that she used to find rather offputting (using Patti despite the ethical grey area), and then Alicia participates in those actions fully (figuring out how Patti is taking advantage of the baby monitor). It's really interesting to see that maybe she has in fact changed enough that a relationship with Will would be feasible where it wouldn't before - though of course that doesn't mean that the show will actually go there.

[jae]

Wow, you are totally right. I noticed that Alicia was more cynically crafty than usual, but I hadn't really followed that through to its conclusion.

-J

[falena]

Hey, you don't know me from Adam, but I think I found you via jae...

I agree with everything you said, but this bit in particular:

The long game that the writers are playing is so impressive. None of this was unplanned.[...] I think they got away with it because they disguised the show as a procedural and no one really expected this much plot to be part of it.

THIS. SO MUCH.

How has this not yet been renewed?

What?!? I'm a clueless Italian, I had no idea The Good Wife has not been renewed for a third series yet. How is that even possible? :(

[tellitslant]

It still hasn't been renewed, which is kind of terrifying! I just want them to make up their minds now... the cast must be quite annoyed, too!

And it's the long game that makes me most upset about it maybe getting cancelled - having seen the last few episodes, it's so much clearer how many threads are still in the air and how much the writers are aware of and counting on that. I want more of this on my screen, darnit.

[dulcie]

See, and the scene with the kids wrecked me because Alicia has been trying SO HARD to protect them, and she can't, no one can protect their kids from everything or every hurt. Especially when they have to look out for themselves, too. Dang. Ultimate mothering guilt. Reader, I cried.

Why don't you like Grace?

How has this not yet been renewed? More to the point, how is it the lowest rated scripted show on CBS Sunday-Thursday? This is why we can't have nice things! Because we break them!

Oh shit! I didn't know either of those things.

[hobbitbabe]

I loved Grace in that scene -- of all the things she could have said, she put her finger right on the thing that hurt Alicia the most, but I don't think she did it to be mean -- and I think her breaking down made both kids more sympathetic to her.

Although we had three weeks to think about what Alicia would do and should do with the latest news of Peter's betrayal, Alicia had no time at all, and she still went ahead and did it better than I could have dreamed.

I also loved the way the episode ended, with the two expedient men trying to find out how they can use each other.

[tellitslant]

See, I do think Grace said that knowing it would hurt Alicia - maybe not knowing how much, but I see it as both a weapon and a truth, you know? A truth she said because she knew it would strike home.

That end scene is just fantastic. I can't wait to see where they go with that.

[tellitslant]

I think the fact that I don't like Grace is actually a sign of how well the show writes her - I mean, I don't like that sort of teenage introspection and selfishness, and she showcases it so well! She just rubs me the wrong way on a lot of things, and I hate watching her not realize the sacrifices Alicia makes, etc etc.

STILL NOT RENEWED, btw. What are they waiting for, season finale ratings? :(

[chaila.livejournal.com]

Oh man, you're making me lament my inability to get into this show. Everything anyone ever says about it plants it right in the middle of up my alley, and yet I've tried twice and just...*hands*. Maybe I picked bad eps. Now I want to try again. :)

[tellitslant]

Oh my god! How can you not like it! Especially as a Damages fan - I mean, this show is like Damages' slightly less vicious cousin. It's really meant to be watched right from the beginning - did you start with the pilot? I'm pretty sure the pilot intrigued me, but then it took a couple of episodes until I was hooked on anything other than how hot Kalinda is. *g* It really is amazing, and it rewards dedication, as with the really intense, slow build.

Plus SO MANY incredible ladies being awesome!

[chaila.livejournal.com]

I did start with the pilot, and was a bit...oh look, magic evidence, joy. And it just made me miss Damages. :) And then I tried again later after everyone was talking about how it was NOT a procedural. I don't even remember what ep that was, but it had a lot to do with Alicia/Mr. Big and Alicia/Dude from Sports Night which is...not as relevant to my interests. And I thought maybe fandom was falsely advertising it to me. But perhaps sometime I'll go back and try to watch a few eps from the beginning in a row and see if it grabs me. I REALLY OUGHT to love it.

[tellitslant]

Hee, I don't remember the magic evidence. But yeah, the legal stuff is probably the weakest link in some ways - there are definitely points where, if you have the slightest legal knowledge, you know that what they're doing is wrong. But there are also bits where points of law are used really well, and the emphasis is on how the characters develop through them, and... :P

Watch a bunch in a row, yeah. They really don't end up doing the expected, basically ever, and and and you should just love it because it's awesome, okay? *g*

[locketportrait.livejournal.com]

Your post reminded me to watch last night.

In a lot of ways, I'd been waiting for Alicia to do what she did (or something similar) ever since the show began, so the "what will it actually take?" question that had been burning in the back of my mind all through the past two seasons was finally answered in this episode. The thing with Cary and Peter (along with the short-term Patti plotline)) could very well transform my experience of the show as something like the manner in which I enjoyed Made In Canada, which was mostly awe and delight over the deviousness of the scheming, which while fun, (I mean, I loved Made In Canada) would kind of distract from the emotional resonance. I sort of hope it doesn't got that way entirely.