[i don't like breaking commitments]

[tellitslant]

I don't have a place to go with this yet, but I find it intriguing that we have two competing tales of marital reconciliation at work in this episode, and by extension this season. Obviously there are some fairly serious differences between the Alicia/Peter and the Kalinda/Nick relationships, but there are some interesting similarities too, right down to the fact that they have third parties negotiating with/for them, heh (oh Eli).

Alicia is very bluntly questioned about her role as the good wife by Peggy, the reporter, but does the comparison suggest Kalinda could be taking on aspects of good wifeliness? If so, it's a rather damning indictment of the term. What I think is interesting, though, is the parallels evident between the 'bad husbands.' With Nick, it's obvious: he is set up as the bad guy: he physically overpowers and (all-but-)rapes Kalinda and then compounds his sin by being smarmy, self-assured, and insensitive to Kalinda's desires. But we only get this scene after we get a much subtler scene in which Peter uses his - not physical, but political - power to ignore the validity of the desires Alicia had previously expressed to him in her bedroom, when he calls up and threatens the other state's attorney. These are remarkably similar actions when you think about it, and the comparison paints Peter's 'gallant' action - which of course has its own knock-on effect and will no doubt continue to do so - in a rather different light.

If Alicia is the wife who stays, Kalinda is the wife who leaves (though of course now she won't leave Alicia). So where does that leave the other side of the dynamic? What are we supposed to be rooting for with Alicia and Peter?

(If you want to extend the metaphor I think it's also possible to see Will&Diane operating on a similar level with the law firm, rather than a marriage, hanging in the balance. They, of course, are the couple for whom reconciliation has led to a positive outcome - because they are equal partners and each treats the other as such.)

Comments

[sophia_gratia]

Oh my god. Any chart in which Eli and Bill line up in parallel positions is bound to produce some interesting results.

Love your reading of the parallel between Nick's violence and Peter's less obviously problematic aggression – a sensitive bit of insight.

I never understand "what we're supposed to be rooting for" with Alicia and Peter – I genuinely don't know what the show wants me to feel about them. I can't really believe in or emotionally invest in anything about Peter; he's such a non-entity for me. Or rather, he's a device that drives a lot of other things that are interesting to me. I can't tell if that's the show's problem or mine (or Chris Noth's). Shrug, basically.

[tellitslant]

Any chart in which Eli and Bill line up in parallel positions is bound to produce some interesting results.
Hee hee. Yes. :P

I think what I root for has less to do with Peter as a character and more to do with what I want Alicia to feel/experience/enjoy/whatever. Like, if I were rooting for them tog et back together, it wouldn't be because I wanted Peter to feel better, but because I thought alicia would be happiest to re-form her family and come back to it stronger. Which is not the case, but illustrative. But I'm not sure what the show is trying to say she wants or needs, at least not at the moment.

[oparu]

I love the comparisons, especially how Will and Diane fit in there. Their 'marriage' is the strongest because they are equals. Peter can't seem to see Alicia as one, though Eli does and Kalinda....sweet lords of Kobol, she needs cuddles.

[tellitslant]

Kalinda needs ALL the cuddles.

And yes, I love that Will and Diane are just a team now. They went through the 'counselling' period and now they're together for better or worse! I love it.

[oparu]

They're just too fabulous those two. I have so much love for them. They're united and on that show, that is such a sacred thing.

[hobbitbabe]

Ooh, interesting thoughts.

What's fascinating about Will and Diane is that they weren't always so sure of each other. And then they got so sure that last season they played with it, letting other people think they were swayable.

Also, I love that it is such a great model of friendship between a man and a woman who are equals, who can dance with their drinks and murmur in each other's ears and even the audience knows that they will never hook up, and not just because Will is attracted to women with less power than he has.

[tellitslant]

Yes - I definitely think Will and Diane are a model of people who went through a difficult period and came out stronger for it. I don't think that's going to be the case with Nick and Kalinda (...I hope not), and I remain unsure whether that'll be true for Alicia and Peter (though I lean towards suspecting not). But it is so important to me to see that strength as cemented by something other than romantic and sexual interest! I love their dancing, sigh.

[hobbitbabe]

Yeah, I feel so strongly about the Will and Diane relationship being what it is that the idea of Will/Diane fic gives me the same kind of bad wince (see what I did there! it was an accident!) as Sam/Dean fic in Supernatural.

[swatkat]

What the Alicia/Peter and Kalinda/Nick parallels also clearly underline is their respective class backgrounds, and the difference that makes - the sophistication with which Peter undermines Alicia, and the contrast Nick and Kalinda present. Over the last couple of years, the show has steadily questioned the meaning of 'the good wife', and 'goodness' itself - I'm excited to see more of that!

[jae]

Except that we don't actually know Kalinda's class background! Anything we could imagine about that would be a guess. And Nick certainly is presenting himself as of a certain class, but if he's as slippery as Kalinda in terms of being able to pin him down, we might not know his, either.

-J

[tellitslant]

jae importantly points out that we don't necessarily know Nick's class, but I think you have a point as well, that Peter's sophistication is meant to make him somehow less problematic. It doesn't, but man, it almost feels like - okay, here's Peter being a bit of a dick, and here's Nick being physically abusive, it could be worse, right? But that undercurrent is undermined as well.

...I don't know. I just think there are so many layers, always, in this show, and it's great. :P

[jae]

Man, I love your brain.

What are we supposed to be rooting for with Alicia and Peter?

What I'm rooting for is no definitive resolution in any direction until the show is about to end for good. But that's about the narrative rather than the characters, admittedly. :)

Is Nick a permanent character? If so, I think we will eventually see Nick being more than just a villain. If not, he will be this season's Blake.

-J

[hobbitbabe]

I was sort of fitting him in the Blake slot, but I guess this show defies slots.

[tellitslant]

Haha. My brain loves you! ;)

I believe Nick is non-permanent; Archie Panjabi has said he's kind of like the Blake. So I suspect he will remain villainous.

And yes - I really don't want there to be any resolution until the last episode or whatever. But we've already seen them 'get back together' and it not work, so frankly, I wouldn't believe it if I saw it again... I don't think... unless I did...

augh this show. Hey! New ep tonight! :D