[we're talking like normal human beings]
Oct. 10th, 2012 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellitslantThe Good Wife 4.02! I'm not going to get around to rewatching or writing up anything much about this ep (insert rant about too much teaching here), so a brief discussion of two scenes that I quite liked ...
First, the parallel scenes, actually, where Kalinda actually tells Alicia that Nick is her husband and then Nick unceremoniously departs from the LG offices. That Kalinda would be that honest - even if not fully honest - with Alicia makes me really happy for her. She's growing as a character! And she and Alicia are connecting again - Kalinda, who previously went to Will for money to escape, wouldn't tell him what's going on, but would tell Alicia. But the second scene emphasizes that she's doing so not to connect with Alicia, per se, but is using Alicia as a prop, in a way, to do things she can't do herself. Kalinda can't-slash-won't tell Nick to go away, so she has Alicia do it - and then we see her smirking at Nick from literally behind the Lockhart Gardner walls. We see her through the glass, sure, but that glass is emphasized by a decal across it, to make sure we know that she's putting something between her and Nick. Have we ever seen Kalinda hiding behind something before? Here she's using the firm, and Alicia, to be strong in a way she can't be on her own.
Second, the concluding scene between Alicia and Maddie. Okay, I love, first off, that the show explicitly fulfilled my "everyone fancies Alicia" belief. Obviously. But what I love more is that Alicia's response was not "I'm straight" but "I'm married," and then Maddie's further response was not "I'm not gay" but simply "I'm not hitting on you." Nothing groundbreaking, but still delightedly understated. And that the flirtation is not entirely shut down, and then the erotics of friendship, the aspect of friendly flirtation, are explicitly allowed to continue and are drawn out... I love it. I look forward to more fo this friendship, oh boy do I.
Bonus awesome scene mentions: Will and Diane at the beginning with Introduction to Trial Law! Alicia and Peter at the end, laughing at Eli (although if we're going to talk about the Fool, that's maybe some uncomfortable foreshadowing there?)! Peter refusing to let Eli force him to stay on message about his separation when he's talking to Maddie! Shoooow.
On the minus side, Kalinda getting yelled at by Will - was a great piece of storytelling, but ouch.
First, the parallel scenes, actually, where Kalinda actually tells Alicia that Nick is her husband and then Nick unceremoniously departs from the LG offices. That Kalinda would be that honest - even if not fully honest - with Alicia makes me really happy for her. She's growing as a character! And she and Alicia are connecting again - Kalinda, who previously went to Will for money to escape, wouldn't tell him what's going on, but would tell Alicia. But the second scene emphasizes that she's doing so not to connect with Alicia, per se, but is using Alicia as a prop, in a way, to do things she can't do herself. Kalinda can't-slash-won't tell Nick to go away, so she has Alicia do it - and then we see her smirking at Nick from literally behind the Lockhart Gardner walls. We see her through the glass, sure, but that glass is emphasized by a decal across it, to make sure we know that she's putting something between her and Nick. Have we ever seen Kalinda hiding behind something before? Here she's using the firm, and Alicia, to be strong in a way she can't be on her own.
Second, the concluding scene between Alicia and Maddie. Okay, I love, first off, that the show explicitly fulfilled my "everyone fancies Alicia" belief. Obviously. But what I love more is that Alicia's response was not "I'm straight" but "I'm married," and then Maddie's further response was not "I'm not gay" but simply "I'm not hitting on you." Nothing groundbreaking, but still delightedly understated. And that the flirtation is not entirely shut down, and then the erotics of friendship, the aspect of friendly flirtation, are explicitly allowed to continue and are drawn out... I love it. I look forward to more fo this friendship, oh boy do I.
Bonus awesome scene mentions: Will and Diane at the beginning with Introduction to Trial Law! Alicia and Peter at the end, laughing at Eli (although if we're going to talk about the Fool, that's maybe some uncomfortable foreshadowing there?)! Peter refusing to let Eli force him to stay on message about his separation when he's talking to Maddie! Shoooow.
On the minus side, Kalinda getting yelled at by Will - was a great piece of storytelling, but ouch.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 12:59 am (UTC)... I don't know, I'd be kind of okay with Peter screaming and crying in the rain.
Aaannd that is the most callous thing I have ever said about King Lear and I'm going to stop now.
Yes to everything else, and especially YES to that Maddie-and-Alicia scene. Though I think I'm more on board with that Will-and-Kalinda scene, which I find just so compelling in what it reveals about her weaknesses and her refusal to let anyone help her to address them – but you already know all about that. ... Speaking of screaming and crying. God, is the feelsdrunkness going to start extending to Wednesday, now? I'm never going to survive this season.
And I'm really going to need a Diane-and-whiskey icon.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 05:50 am (UTC)I found that scene fascinating, too, but I felt an element of "setting up for a fall" that made me feel tense. Like, the way Alicia says the no one ever just asks her for a drink without having some ulterior motive. I totally don't get why Maddie wants to support Peter's campaign, so I keep feeling like she has some plan re: Alicia. And if we have ruled out that she simply wanted to get it on with her, that only leaves rather hurtful alternatives. So I'm already bracing for some big betrayal from her. Maybe it won't happen, though. Or won't for quite awhile.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 05:35 pm (UTC)Me too, for the record. I don't trust Maddie. I'm open to trusting her in the future, but now? Nope.
-J
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-11 05:34 pm (UTC)I hadn't noticed this, but you're totally right! How interesting.
-J
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-18 02:33 am (UTC)It was delightful, wasn't it? Great scene.
Now if it wasn't Marc Warren, I'd definitely be squicked faster by this Kalinda storyline. But - but - I look at him and kinda laugh thinking of Danny Blue. Whoops.