Monday, April 30, 2012

BRINGING BACK EVERY CAST MEMBER EXCEPT THE SMOKE MONSTER STATE'S ATTORNEY AND THE TALKING LION PHONE:  It's amazing, really, that the creators of The Good Wife were confident enough in everything else they've been doing that for the past ten-plus episodes they've completely avoided the question of Alicia's love life. Having dumped Will, she was focused on parenting and work, and that was that. And yet here we are again, with the emotional pull of what once was (with an increasingly admirable Peter) bringing her literally back to the doorstep, and more choices to be made.

Everyone's past came back this week: Kalinda's husband, Michael J. Fox and Martha Plimpton's acting history, Will's basketball games, the Facebook dude, elevators, the Evil Daddy PI ... but the frustrating thing is that a show that has so many threads to bring back might never bring back the ones you want soon enough. Where's Alicia's brother? Eli's daughter? The viral dancing girl?  David Lee?  Eli's crisis management business?  F. Murray Abraham?

Still, think about how far we've come in three seasons, from a show built off a one-line premise into a rich universe of lawyers and politicians, of extended families and so, so many grey areas. There are no artificial "cliffhangers" heading into season four, just a continuing series of human, difficult decisions for the characters to make, and the consequences which inevitably follow.

9 comments:

  1. Really annoyed with CBS--rather than doing a normal schedule, they, at the last minute, switched to a 9:01 to 10:02 slot for the show.  Because I had two recordings at 10 already, my DVR cancelled my Good Wife recording.  This is particularly annoying because I could have easily moved those recordings into late night (AMC and HBO both rerun their shows ad nauseam, and I wasn't going to get to them last night anyway).

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  2. So, the kid tooling around the office to the strains of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" - pure comic effect or did I miss how it was some sort of strategery?

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  3. I was looking at Michael J. Fox and Martha Plimpton thinking that since they were both teenage actors at the same time, they must have acted together... but I couldn't think of when.  Thanks for the clip!  I love both actors and it was such fun to see them team up in this episode.

    I really loved this episode, and I liked how they brought the Will/Peter/Alicia triangle subtly back into the forefront, especially Alicia and Will's awkward elevator moment, when it seemed clear to me that they were both remembering another elevator moment.

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  4. Devin McCullen11:53 AM

    One thing I couldn't quite follow - what was the deal with the information that Tim Guinee had given Canning & Nyholm that he wasn't supposed to? 

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  5. The scene in front of the elevator where the tension keeps building as each new person enters the group was such a good moment. Every character, in turn, realizes how awkward the moment is and no one has to say anything because everyone who entered the moment before them already knows. It was a great way to move forward, but acknowledge the history is still there for everyone.
    And the Will/Alicia elevator ride was good, as well. They gave us a lot of small scenes that were enough of a reminder of the stories that they've built and the storeis that make us want to watch.

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  6. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems that Tim was only allowed to tell Canning and Nyholm about things he had actually testified about to the grand jury.  He told them about witnessing Will give the judge money, which he saw, but didn't testify about, so it wasn't fair game. 

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  7. Correct as a matter of plot; I have no idea if it's correct as a matter of law.

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  8. Marsha5:27 PM

    Pure comic effect, so far as I can tell. I wondered the same thing - though i suppose that everything was a distraction tactic in some way or another.

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  9. Marsha5:33 PM

    Agree on how far the show has come - I remember in the beginning being annoyed by how much time the show spent on life at the firm, when what I wanted to see was the Alicia-and-Peter fallout. Now, I love the balance and the complexity of it all. I love the ways clients (LeMond Bishop, Mark Zukerclone), lawyers, and judges all recur and are all tied together loosely. It never feels contrived (like a certain reveal on law night's Nurse Jackie, for those who are watching), just creative and fun.

    Great season. Looking forward to the fall.

    Hey, while I'm here - does anyone know of a summary of this entire season of House that I can read before I watch the series finale? I quit the show about 2 episodes into this last season.

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