The Oncoming Hope

Four years ago, after a spate of increasingly ridiculous sex scandals (vacation to Argentina, anyone?), CBS asked us to consider the woman standing on the side of the stage. They sold us a bleak scenario; home in tatters, a woman past her prime is forced to start over, not only to take care of the family, but to find her misplaced self.

That woman evaporated years ago, leaving us one of the most dynamic characters this side of Walter White. From beginnings so humble, Alicia Florrick is now the most powerful actor in this fictional world; she holds the fates of the Illinois Governor, Lockhart/Gardner, and a crew of young upstarts in her manicured hands. And she knows it.

It's remarkable that she's managed this ascent without ever playing the trickster; that she's playing that role now sets us up for high comedy and (one hopes) a new ruthlessness. The first casualty appears to be any last embers of the once great friendship between Kalinda and Alicia. (I always held that friendship up as one of the things that made the show unique, but in many ways, the show's refusal to easily rekindle that friendship makes it even more so. It's how these things work in real life.)

But who will she become? By running off with Cary, she implicitly rejects Will+Diane's moral indifference. I can't be the only one who cheered when, after a momentary hesitation, Cary's simple statement that "we are the new Will+Diane" causes her to double down. (Related but not: "What's going on? West Side Story?" may be one of the greatest line deliveries in a show tripping over itself with great line deliveries).

Wild card: Alicia+Cary vs. Will+Diane may spar in the main theater, but I wouldn't bet against the impact of the looming proxy war: David Lee vs. Kalinda.

GOOD FLORRICK, BAD FLORRICK

Alicia may have changed, but her central relationship hasn't changed much since my salad days of weekly reviews:

Whenever Alicia and Peter stand in the same room, there's a massive inflow of oxygen, ready to stoke the fires of everything that lies simmering under the surface. So much hatred, and also so much love, a love that pollutes and infects and prevents them from ever having a meaningful conversation about anything.

1. The show runners have decided that esoteric baroque strings are part of the show's new DNA, and I'm ok with that. It just makes me doubly excited about the return of our favorite dead client.

2. If we see Cary and Alicia slamming tequila shots in every episode henceforth, I might (MIGHT!) almost (ALMOST!) get over the loss of my darling Kalinda/Alicia superhero friendship.

3. Love that Robin literally put a bird on it:

4. These death row cases BREAK MY HEART. STOP IT, SHOW.

5. Um, I love Melissa George and can't wait to see where this story goes. Taste the pretty:

6. Today in Kalinda Accent-Watch: "Well, aye caunt leagly access their cawls."

7. This is the only premiere that lacks a gratuitous sex scene. Did the censors finally catch on, y'all?

8. "You're right, but that doesn't mean it's his." "You're right. But it does mean there's no convincing you." Why isn't Geneva Pine a series regular? Come on now.

9. "Please don't end up hating me." AAAAAAAAGH DESK ATTACK OF UNPRECEDENTED STRESSFULNESS.

10. I actually don't even know what to say about Monica the telecommuter, because I'm too busy laughing hysterically at how Alicia's throwback do-gooderness last season has blown up in her face.

11. I enjoyed how the show's new fissures were brought to life in the filmography. There's not a single shot of Alicia and Diane together where they're not crowding each other off the screen:

12. Not to mention Alicia and Will:

Next week: DESK ATTACK OF UNPRECEDENTED STRESSFULNESS!!!

The Good Wife's "Waiting for the Knock" felt like the middle section of a very long novel - the writing's sharp as ever, you're still having a great time engaging with it, but you can't help but feel like the writers are taking a little bit of a breather before they get to the really juicy stuff.

That said, I'm more than intrigued by the new tone the show's adopting. The show's always been happiest in the moral grey area, but its ethos always centered on Newton's third law - every action leads to an equal or opposite reaction - which, in The Good Wife, means that even the direst consequences stem from an action taken, even if those actions are long-forgotten.

But then, most of the driving factors from the episode centered from something that didn't happen, a void of an intern who seems to have a black hole in her head. That Peter didn't actually sleep with her turns the narrative into a Greek tragedy - Maddy found the excuse she needed to turn on Peter (indeed, it seems like she was looking for that excuse from the start), and the blogger hurls away from the void in his own rocketship, powered by grist from the rumor-mill.

But we're not Greeks, and we know that the gods don't actually punish us for our hubris, and yet, it's the only explanation. Without Eli's arrogant response to the journalist, without his quickness at employing the heavy hand of Lockhart Gardner, without his incorrect belief that lying to Maddy would be the right way to keep her on board, none of these need have happened.

It's strange for a mainstream CBS show to use such subtleties to drive its narrative, but of course we know that our show possesses those characteristics in name only - it really is a most uncommon show.

TRAGIC IRONY THY NAME IS GOOD WIFE!

OTHER

-Welcome back, Cary! I've missed your pretty face so! And kudos to the Kings for manufacturing hilarious homoeroticism between you and NATHAN LANE of all people. And thusly a thousand fanfics were born...(gif credit to fyeahcaryagos.tumblr.com)

-Diane would totally get into a dick-measuring contest with an opposing lawyer of any gender. Just one of the trillion reasons that we love her so.

-Kalinda, oh Kalinda. Stop involving thyself with douchebags, whether female FBI agents or British faux-thugs.

Finally, just posting photos of Cary Agos because hello! He finally had a role! And more because the gym trainer is clearly jealous of the love he shares with Nathan Lane.

It's a long time since Alicia ran out of the office with an expression screaming "DANGER WILL ROBINSON! NAUSEA! NAUSEA!". I admit, I kinda miss it. Julianna Margulies is at her best when Alicia's falling apart.

Last night, we saw Alicia drift on, borne ceaselessly into the past. Barely even touched by friction, she raced to a moment that's been building up for the past ten episodes or so: a temporary (and totally inevitable) reunion with Peter.

A variety of external forces attempted to fight against this - an intrepid reporter, an overzealous (and touched in the head) intern, and Alicia's own shenanigans. But none could stand in the way of the boulder rolling down the hill. You can fight gravity, but you'll always lose.

I'm not sure that Peter will be Alicia's last stop, but I'm happy for the show to explore this for a time. After all, when Alicia blips that she no longer cares what Peter does, Margulies' performance seems all too convincing. When she kisses Peter, one can easily believe it's driven by basic relief that she won't face a second round of public embarrassment.

The Case of the Week

You know those moments where you literally watch someone shrink before your eyes? A veil of worship lifts and the person you're looking out becomes small, perhaps even grotesque.

Well, this week's case was all about people trying to eye-shrink each other. Watching Will duke it out with gross Gross couldn't possibly have been more satisfying. The judge tore Viola and Ross to shreds, Ross tried (and failed) to tear Will to shreds, and somehow, even though the firm technically lost, we're left certain that they won. It's because Gross's "win" is so petty and, well, gross. Talk about a sore loser.

So of course our heroes laugh it off, and even Nathan Lane is forced to smile.

Kalinda and Horror-show: Let's just say, I have high hopes for Lemond Bishop's murderous instincts.

Play along in the comments! Thoughts on the ep?

Unlike previous seasons of The Good Wife, we're not starting the new season with a large unanswered question. This time, we start with a bunch of smaller questions, and by the end, we have a few more.

As a result, the premiere feels slightly directionless, even as it hints at the major themes of the year (more on these shortly). I assume part of the reason for the lack of cohesiveness is Alicia's physical separation from the Lockhart Gardner troubles. Dealing with Zach's sass-induced arrest has no relation to the financial issues at LG.

In many ways, she's also emotionally separate: she's in a good place in her life, she doesn't need to have everything in her life neatly defined (this is HUGE character growth for her), and the events of the past three years have left her with numerous fallback options, professionally speaking.

All of a sudden, she's moving very easily from politics to parenting to lawyering. One can only assume this cometh before a fall, as the most common trait of the jacks (and jills) of all trades is taking shortcuts. We see her do this in every way possible: she leans on Cary to use his connections, she leans on Peter to use his connections, and at the end of the episode, she makes the false assumption that she can have all of that and still be everything to Will.

I'd like to think that her newfound confidence comes from having her trusty sidekick/best friend by her side.

But now sidekick's got her own story! And I'm not sure I like it. Part of it's my rampant hatred of Marc Warren, who bears the honor of starring in the worst episode of Doctor Who ever, new or old. Also he's just LAME, with his midnight sun tattoo and his muscle shirts and his silver chain. I trust the Kings to show why he's any kind of match for Kalinda, but its going to take some effort.

That said, I'm mostly excited for the New Normal. It seems like The Good Wife's a rehab clinic for actors who've long ago been typecast as hopelessly broad (Alan Cumming, hello), and I'm as shocked/pleased as anyone at Nathan Lane's restrained performance. And I hope Kristen Chenoweth returns to spoil Alicia's comfortable uncertainty about the state of her marriage and to spoil Eli Gold's piece of mind.

So where are we going this season? Here are my guesses at the major questions for the season:

• How will Alicia be affected by no longer being the most important character in Kalinda's narrative?
• Is Zach more of an Alicia or a Peter?
• What is the state of the Florrick marriage? Does it even matter? Should we just be rooting for Alicia to make it on her own after all
• What strange costume will David Lee wear to the office this year?
• How will Grace top herself in the department of incredible yet entertaining lack of logic?
• WILL CHRIS NOTH BE ON THE SHOW FULL TIME???
• Will Chandler Bing's show please be cancelled so he can smarm his way through Chicago politics full-time?

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, will any scene this season top the pure ridiculous hilarity of this scene?:

Two episodes of Political Animals have left me with less of an opinion on the show itself, which is a sort of feel-good trashy romp with a facade of political relevance, but with more appreciation for the narrative construction of The Good Wife.

Superficial comparisons abound. While Political Animals explicitly bases its lead on Hillary Clinton, The Good Wife uses the story of the jilted political wife to deliver a deep dive into how politics, relationships, professionalism tie in with the consistently difficult task of being a woman.

So while the story has to go through some of the same beats (the iconic image of the wife standing by the husband on the podium as he admits his faults, the horror of discovery, the complexity behind the decision to stay or leave), it's telling which beats each story omits.

The Good Wife doesn't spend a lot of time on the tears; when we meet Alicia Florrick, she's competent, she's independent, and she's completely certain of what she needs in her professional life. The Good Wife focuses on how she moves forward, not what brought her to this point. We're shown exactly why Alicia doesn't leave Peter as yet, and we realize that in the end, dealing with Peter's the lowest priority in Alicia's life, given that her whole world has come down around her. In fact, it isn't until season three that we get the scene where Alicia first learns about Peter's indiscretions.

Political Animals, on the other hand, seems totally mired in the relationship between Bud and Elaine. One major problem with the show so far is how Bud seems to have such a hold on Elaine's life, even though there's no evident reason why she would ever have loved him, why she would have stayed with him, and why she relies on him now. We're shown, again and again, that she doesn't really need him in her personal life, so allowing him back in doesn't seem true to the character.

I'll allow that few shows get off to such a strong start as The Good Wife. It almost seems churlish to compare the two: TGW is a novelistic tale that teases out very serious themes, while Political Animals aims to be trashy entertainment (and succeeds admirably). Nor should they be more similar; Alicia and Elaine, despite the surface similarities, are very different women. If anything, Elaine's more of an example of when the world crashes down on a Diane Lockhart.

All that said, Political Animals does manage to mimic my personal favorite aspect of TGW: the Alicia/Kalinda. As with that favored pair, PA features a wonderfully prickly but respectful relationship between Elaine and Carla Gugino's fabulous reporter. It seems that in this show, too, the tensions between their deeper solidarity will drive the show forward. And I can't wait to see where it goes.

Two weeks late (and not a penny short), we return to recap our favorite show (to say that I'm in withdrawal is more than an understatement, especially after this doozy of an episode).

But it's ok, because I get to remind you of the most epic Alicia/Kalinda HoYay non-subtext in the history of the show.

"Flexible," Kalinda says, as Alicia restrains herself from jumping out of her chair with joy (I will take this opportunity to gloat at Hello, Tailor, who once accused me (mid season 2) of tinhatting in my firm belief that the secret story of this show is the relationship between Alicia and Kalinda). Parentheticals ahoy!

That's the last moment of happiness for our dearest Sexy Boots of Justice, as Alicia accidentally rips down the walls of her life with a single phone call. It's interesting that when Kalinda did the same to her last season, Alicia basically became this supermagnetic force, pushing away everything in opposition to her with almost lightning speed. Kalinda, on the other hand, attempts to reset to status quo by removing herself from the equation.

I've commented before that this show operates with an acute awareness of the laws of physics: energy cannot be created or destroyed; ions can't be shifted without having to rearrange everything surrounding it. By these laws, Kalinda can't just leave, not without creating a great imbalance in the show. Similarly, Cary couldn't come back until Will was pushed out.

But by the end of the episode, this fine dance of molecules doesn't matter anyway, as the entire Lockhart Gardner universe is faced with entropy. In the fine words of new-favorite-character Howard, "never, ever trust a man with a limp."

And in entropy, our only weapon is our freedom of choice. To quote a dearly beloved vampire, "when nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do." So when the chips are down, and Kalinda's at the end of her rope, she becomes decisive. And thusly we're left with my latest, greatest emo band name: Shotguns for Alicia.

(credit for this marvelous gif goes to ramarika.tumblr.com)

OTHER

-A very embarrassed part of me really hopes that Alicia/Peter work it out. Or work something out. Or just hook up for an night of angry passion based on their shared conquest of Jackie.

-Also, this episode has one of the most perfect comic awkwardness scenes in history:

Today we tell the story of a man whose self-regard is torn to shreds. You may wonder which man I refer to: the same could refer to Cary Agos, Peter Florrick, Will Gardner or even the protagonist of this episode, one Judge Cuesta.

Everything's connected; you may recall that Cuesta's the one who gave Alicia her first break, way back in the pilot. He gave her leniency because he respects Peter. If we remember that, we already know that his high opinion of himself is...scarcely deserved.

In a season that's been all about retribution for past mistakes, it's unsurprising that even the robed gods fall into the fray. And they're implicated by exactly the same biases and relationships that affect our protagonists. Some say that the season's been all over the place, but I feel like there's been one uniting theme: those who take shortcuts find their victories short-lived.

• Alicia embarks on a relationship with Will even though her personal life isn't in a place to support it.
• Cary assumes the road to success is quick, honest and free of tough decisions.
• Will and Kalinda, cross-gender doppelgangers, are finding their lives dogged by past sins. There's been a suggestion that Will's are well behind him, but in walks Lemond Bishop, reminding us that certain things never change. And as for Kalinda? Read on, Macduff.

Only Diane rises above the fray. It's impossible not to punch the air when she tells Cuesta off, then Howard, then Will. "Little children, why do you torment me?"

In Which Kalinda Meets Herself

Oh Kalinda. This is such a Kalinda episode. I've read a few other reviews, but there's only so many times I can read the word "fingerbang" without beginning to giggle, so I'll focus on the other girl-girl action in the episode: Kalinda meeting her future.

Kalinda shows a rare moment of sincerity with Lana (or does she?) as she comes face to face with her mortality. But that's nothing compared to what comes next. A wine merchant who still relies on her own sexy boots of justice plays the ghost of Kalinda's future, warning her against something that's not exactly clear.

I expect the finale to throw some light on our Indian lady of mystery. Who may or not want men on her deserted island.

And a private squee for the most important moment in any tv show this year:

And thusly we find ourselves with only one episode left. Stop crying, Judy!

At last, Jackie's malevolence comes front and center. As much as I've focused on Alicia and Diane as the opposite poles of feminine choice, I've ignored what came before: those who find total validation through manipulating the men in their lives.

She's a character as old as time: Jackie's the end product of Great Expectations and the Manchurian Candidate. She's every wicked fairytale stepmother, vengeful Greek goddess and Miss Havisham, all rolled into one. She's Betty Draper, with even more ambition.

But even when doing her worst, Jackie still has to pretend she's motivated by something greater than herself, that she's acting on behalf of her family. It's transparently false, but the fact that she has to make that lie says something about who she is.

She stands in direct contradiction to Kresteva, who doesn't even pretend to justify his subterfuge. He lies, and he loves it.

Even Peter, the closest we've had to a real villain on this show, lies to protect some image of himself as a family man and a just litigator. Kresteva's truly heartless, a cynical practitioner operating in service of chaos and entropy.

He isn't guided by the goodness of his heart or the assurances of his head or even the failings of his libido. He's a marvelous addition to the show, throwing everybody off of their games. In some ways, he's Kalinda, if she actually achieved the lonely heartlessness she (and Will) claims to desire.

But Kalinda's thirst for power finds direction through love, love of Alicia. Kresteva's lies inside of himself, taking over his entire being. He has to be defeated, because he's a black hole.

And that's why, despite a hundred objections, I'm firmly behind Alicia teaming with Peter to defeat Kresteva. It's gratifying that all the turmoil of the season has finally found a focus: preventing total entropy. Whether it's Jackie or Kresteva, the sociopaths must be stopped. And if they have to work together to defeat them, so be it.

OTHER STUFF

Kalinda and Alicia are friends again! I'll stop mentioning it when it stops making me grin from ear to ear.

Angry Peter is the sexiest Peter. It isn't difficult to see why Alicia was blinded by him for so many years.

Meanwhile, Will's become the legal equivalent of the star athlete struck down by mono, totally impotent, but still pretty convinced of his awesomeness (it's Will, so let's face it, he's justified).

Eli does something related to something tangentially related to the plot. That's all I'll say about that.

Also, there's a case. I think.

We open with a delightfully tentative tete-a-tete between the OTP of this show: Alicia and Kalinda. Things may not be "tequila shots and heart-to-hearts" just yet, but the episode confirms that they're back together, and when things get better, they'll be better that ever. Both have a firmer understanding of what they mean to each other this time.

So when Lana Delaney attempts to assert some sort of alpha relationship with Kalinda, witness Alicia's claws:

(credit to itberice.tumblr.com)

Please feel free to offer captions for that gif. But why invent shipper-y things when we have canon: "You got a little hot in there." But I digress...

Every time Alicia interrogates Kalinda, we know she's not just checking into K's finances. She's testing whether this relationship can work in any way that doesn't equate total entropy. Diane is placed at the center of this right at the start, just as she's placed at the center of Alicia's other big fight this episode: against the white patriarchy.

"I'm the woman." "I'm the black!"

It's so easy to be lost in admiration for our beloved Diane Lockhart that one can be forgiven for failing to notice how much she's changed. Alicia's not much younger than her, but she's still got some level of optimism about the law.

It has to be said, however, how quickly Alicia's bent her moral code. It's taken 30 years for Diane to become hardened, and Alicia's nearly there after just 3. It's fair to say that Diane's life has never been thrown as helter-skelter as Alicia's, but no one would say she isn't smart (except for the bizarre vaudeville threesome of Julius/David/Eli, obviously).

As a result, it's great to see Alicia (very nearly almost) stand up for something. But you can see the wheels turning in her head; she's almost ready to throw Peter to the wolves. Figuring out what's holding her back is more interesting than figuring out why she didn't lay down justice on Matthew Perry's head.

I figure that whatever stubborn thread prevents her from screwing Peter is also making her myopically insane about that old house. Even the flashbacks demonstrate that the happy moments buckle under the weight of the trauma...the good things live in memory, while the bad live on in every movement, every day. She may have forgiven Peter, but she can't change the past.

I'd like to think her obsession with the house is some last-ditch attempt to figure out who she was. We know (and Kalinda knows) that her new self is better. That said, I'm happy to see a good Jackie smack-down or three before Alicia realizes that.

Other:

-An officer named Zimmerman unlawfully kills a man for no reason other than the fact that he's black. The Good Wife oracle strikes again, this time far too close for comfort.

-Seriously guys, a lot of other stuff happened, and it was mostly amazing. I can only reiterate that I don't do recaps.

This episode featured the most important thing to happen in this year of The Good Wife: the restoration of my beloved Alicia/Kalinda. But not without a red herring, of course. Kalinda poured her heart into that bottle of beer, and Alicia smashed it onto the floor, along with my heart and soul.

Alicia's searching for a home, but at last, she finds Kalinda instead. (Which may or may not have resulted in my jumping feverishly upon the couch like a small child).

THE BALLAD OF ALICIA AND DIANE

I can but hope this puts an end to a storyline I'd describe loosely as "Alicia's head is spinning out of control", and she's allowed to return to some level of confidence.

It's become apparent that many of the headwinds in Alicia's life have been caused by a lack of choice; she couldn't choose the direction of her marriage, she couldn't choose her friendships in a way that suited her, she couldn't choose to continue a torrid affair that brought her some amount of pleasure.

Having financial freedom will, at a base level, allow her some level of choice. The freedom to choose where you live is freedom indeed. And that freedom, that restoration of a certain amount of control, allows Alicia to make another choice (the best choice): letting Kalinda back into her life.

Contrast with Diane, who's nothing but the amalgamation of choices well-made. Importantly, they're not the right choices for some false ideal of womanhood, but the right choices for her. When she pulls out her little black iPhone for a booty call, we cheer, for she deserves real lovin' from real men.

Even so, it's becoming so tense, watching these two very different women stand in the same room as each other, recognizing each other as both equals and opposites. When Diane tells Alicia off, you have to know that on some level she's proud of Alicia, that Alicia's finally gotten tough and taken control of her life.

And because Diane's not a hater, she recognizes Alicia as her equal, and gives her the damned raise. Well done, Alicia. Harvard Business Review would be proud (and so, I assume, is Canning).

OTHER THINGS

-As always, brief interactions between Cary and Alicia set the heart aflutter. A weirder, truer friendship has never been seen on television.

-Oh, Canning, and his fictional chauffeurs.

-I for one hope that Diane doesn't make a choice between Kurt and Jack. She deserves all the ruggedly hot men she can get her hands on.

-Tammy...still sucks. Though she seems to be the catalyst that brought Alicia back to Kalinda, so I can't hate her too much. Add to the fact that she uttered the following sentence aloud: "Will never not responds." So much grammatical hate. Also she says "It wasn't over between Will and I." So much more hate. Alicia, throw a book at that woman. Preferably a guide to grammatical English.

-Whoever staged the direction of this scene is my absolute hero:

The Last Supper symbolism isn't lost on me. Does this mean that David Lee is Mary Magdalene?

It's been a few weeks since I've jumped off the Good Wife blogging train, and I've missed you all dearly! Admittedly, it's harder to find the motivation to write during these "transitional" episodes, which seem more concerned with setting up future drama than with driving the story along in themselves.

I recently connected with another superfan, the wonderful writer of Lockhart Gardner. She matches my irrational love of all things Kalinda with an irrational love of all things Gardner, so we have a grand ol' time. Like Will's sisters, when Kalinda and Will are in scenes together, our heads explode (and probably the neighbors' as well, what with all the disconnected screeching. Anyway...).

Which allows me to neatly segue into the events of this episode, which might be neatly retitled The Merry Wives of Gardner. Not sure who's Falstaff in this situation, but I digress.

Once again, the episode was pretty Alicia-free, which makes me slightly concerned for the narrative of the show. Love or her hate her (and those who hate her, I know you're out there, but I really don't get it), the show's definitely about her. So while it's nice to see Will's domestic life for a change, it's a bit jarring, given that the plotline doesn't really tie back in to the story at large. And Will? Just go backpacking. No one said 6 months off means 6 months SITTING IN YOUR AWESOME-SAUCE APARTMENT.

Alicia spent most of her time this episode taking a backseat to Caitlin, which, first of all, EWWW CAITLIN, and second of all, really? Alicia's never been prone to professional jealousy (see: wonderful relationship with Cary in season 1), so it's weird that it's manifesting with Caitlin, especially given that she KNOWS Caitlin's gotten where she is with family connections. Not to say that Caitlin's incompetent, but David Lee transparently intervenes on her behalf. I look forward to finding out what Faustian bargain she's been forced to make with him in regards to the imminent political coup of extreme skullduggery and viewer joy.

This show's never more enjoyable than when it takes on office politics. It certainly helps that David Lee and Julius are such well-rounded characters, even though we can never tell exactly what they're planning next. In many ways, Eli's much more predictable in his behavior, so I'm not sure he's gonna land on top of this little play. We're starting to see a childish side to his character that I'm enjoying, as he scolds Peter and tries, yet again, to play silly power games with Diane.

I suppose what makes the whole thing so wonderful's that we know, deep in our hearts, that any number of David Lees, Julius's and Eli's still can't compete with one amazing Diane Lockhart. Though the writers will undoubtedly attempt to convince us (me) otherwise.

THE OFFICE OF THE STATE'S ATTORNEY

Oh Cary. There goes that moral higher ground, eh? I've been saddened by how ADA Pine's been repeatedly passed over, as she's clearly the most competent, driven person in the state's attorney's office. I smell a coup in the office, coming from her direction. She's not dumb enough to fall for Wendy's transparent manipulations, and she's dangerous. Cary's building a laundry list of enemies from women he used to fancy...apart from Kalinda, of course.

As for Peter? Was anyone even slightly surprised at his turn away from keeping his hands clean? Peter's fundamentally a party politician. When he behaves otherwise, it's because he knows that decision still serves himself. It's a slippery slope: I can only hope we get to bear witness to a whole shitload of Peter getting his hands dirty.

Apologies for my absence, folks! Owing to some exciting life developments (The Oncoming Hope Forges An Atlantic Crossing!), I've neglected my Wife-ly duties (and missed the chance to comment on two corkers of an episodes). I hope to make it up to you with not Good Wife post this week, but two, or possibly even three!

For now, let's look at the lay of the land following the conclusion of this episode.

The problem is, dropping Will's indictment doesn't defray the other bomb that could have gone off, and may have put a couple more in motion. Dana still possesses Alicia's forged document, and recorded testimony ties Peter to these accusations of judicial misconduct.

So while it appears that Wendy's crawling out with her tail between her legs, it also seems a little like she's still set events in motion to achieve her central goal: the destruction of the Florrick family (not to mention Will, but reporting him to the bar seems more like an act of pettiness than anything else).

The other problem is, Our Heroes won the case by entirely discrediting our resident Dead Eyed Psycho. They didn't manage to prove Will's innocence, so an investigation by the bar might yet ruin him.

FLORRICK VS. FLORRICK

Whenever Alicia and Peter stand in the same room, there's a massive inflow of oxygen, ready to stoke the fires of everything that lies simmering under the surface. So much hatred, and also so much love, a love that pollutes and infects and prevents them from ever having a meaningful conversation about anything.

So when they finally face-off, when Peter shows his hand (even though Alicia doesn't), we experience the emotional equivalent of standing in the epicenter of a bomb blast. Their conversation may have revealed more about where the two of them stand emotionally than anything else in the show, ever. They both feel deeply wounded by each other, and they both keep pouring salt into those wounds, and take no pleasure in doing so, but just can't help themselves.

Every new denial of her relationship with Will hits Peter like a bullet. So if we can assume that Peter now knows the truth, how will their relationship change? I can't even pretend to anticipate, but I hope that the writers send someone to kidnap Chris Noth from Broadway and force him into a bigger role on the show.

OTHER STUFF

(also known as the section where I get to drop any pretense of analytical detachment)

Kalinda: "My lips are sealed, but my eyes say I have a baseball bat with your name on it." Seriously guys, but I hope Dana gets her comeuppance in a big way. Then again, lack of foresight may be torment enough for someone in the legal profession.

Quote of the episode goes to Eli:

"You know the only problem with Sun Tzu: he never fought the Jews...we don't mess around with mind games, we useknives."

And guys? How hot is Alicia here:

(gifs courtesy of kabletown.tumblr.com)

What did you guys think of the ep? Play along in the comments, yo.

The New York Times livestreamed an absolutely fantastic roundtable conversation between the writers and stars of The Good Wife. The conversation touched not only on the show, but on the role of women in the media, on liberal tendencies to blind themselves to certain realities across the aisle, on censorship on network television, and most importantly, Josh Charles' erotic lunging.

I'm unable to embed the video, but you can (and should) watch it here: http://new.livestream.com/channels/387/videos/76513

What really surprised me was how little attention was paid to the romances and intricate plotting of the show, and how much was paid to the construction of particular characters. Unexpectedly, much of the conversation centered on Diane Lockhart, who has become one of the most revolutionary characters on television, but almost wasn't.

According to the rules of Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and whatever excuses for television they air on Fox, a woman over 40 is characterized by loud desperation. They leap to men like moths to a flame, despite the fact that the biological tick-tock has long ago stopped (for the most part).

And yet, Diane gets a sexy dalliance of her own. It's not even remarkable that she's an outspoken feminist Democrat, and he's a gun-toting tea party member. It's remarkable how normal their relationship is. It's sexy, it's exciting, and it's constrained, the way all relationships suffer from circumstance (Alicia would agree, I'm sure).

This is because time hasn't fundamentally transformed Diane Lockhart. Most women aren't transformed purely by time, there are usually other factors in the mix (again, ask Alicia). Diane is happy with her lot in life, and when she lashes out, it's against existential threats, not against the ravages of time or against "men".

Speaking of existential threats...

As Robert King points out, Diane was originally conceived as "the mentor who tries to sabotage the mentee," an idea that comes off as arch and a bit troubling in the the pilot. Luckily, the first episode is the last we see of that.

By the time real tension flares up between Diane and Alicia, Alicia and Will's liaisons are actually threatening Diane's entire livelihood, not some fictional idea of what it means to be a woman in a man's world.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to in the second half of the season is the development of the idea that Diane is an alternate universe version of Alicia. Until now, Diane has been a peripheral character in Alicia's world, and it makes sense that Alicia had to reach a certain point in her own journey for Diane to really enter her life in a more meaningful way than mentor-mentee or boss-subordinate.

Alicia almost had to put her private life to bed before she could enter the electron-proton dance with Diane. They're opposite sides of the same woman, and it's fascinating to watch these opposites fight against each other for primacy. I can't wait to see what happens, but if I continue this silly metaphor, I bet it'll be nuclear.

I think one of the best decisions the Kings made was to shift Diane from being an antagonist to Alicia to being a more general force of her own within the firm. She's never just protecting herself, she's protecting all those who work with her, even Will and Eli, who pretend they don't need a moral center.

She isn't bitter, she isn't regretful, this is her life, and she loves it. It's a character that stands apart from any other on television, where middle aged women are continually played as personifications of loss and/or longing (loss/longing of looks, loss/longing of years, loss/longing of choice, and so on).

Which is why the McVeigh storyline works so well: she experiences emotion as a normal human being, not as some cliché subset of gender and age.

She's an inspiration to all of us because, unlike so many other female characters on television, she's real. She gives us a roadmap for how to live our lives, how to balance our ideals with pragmatism. She doesn't live in a cloud, nor is she consumed by her own neuroses.

Diane Lockhart love letter...out.

(primary image credited to liveitout.tumblr.com)

Some of my favorite books explore what happens when you take a group of people who have co-existed for years and interrupt their already mixed-up relationships with a total wild card. Wendy Scott-Carr, our resident Dead-Eyed Smiling Psycho (DESP), is that wild card.

On the surface, "What Went Wrong" sets up the new normal in The Good Wife, closing the door on one relationship and opening up a whole mess of them (and not a few cans of worms). How's that for a mixed metaphor? Anyway...

Really, the so-called "normal" is the establishment of battle alliances (the mob should be so lucky as to have Diane Lockhart as their wartime consiglieri). The final beats of the episode reveal DESP's long-game: the downfall of Peter Florrick, who's making it easier for her by returning to his favorite pastime: quietly and calmly threatening people.

Meanwhile, Alicia does some less calm threatening of her own on behalf of Team Kalinda (woohoo!), while Diane draws Alicia into her inner circle (also sounding vaguely threatening).

DESP attempts to draw Will into her team by forcing out all his basketball buddies (say it with me...POOR WIBBLE WILL!!!) and then threatening him. When that doesn't work, she attempts to seduce him with the promise of Peter's downfall.

Will, proving once and for all to be the better man, says no. For now.

May I take a moment to congratulate Anika Noni-Rose on a truly fantastic performance? She's the first villain in this show that feels worthy of the opposition. Neither Bond, Blake, nor Glenn Childs felt quite so...dangerous. She has an agenda, and she'll do whatever it takes to achieve it.

That single-mindedness is completely new to this show, where everyone is dancing between a hundred different motives, trying to figure out which is most serviceable right now. Not her. She's all long-game. Don't be surprised if the entire city of Chicago goes up in flames by the end of this season.

OTHER

-In an episode that had Alicia getting wasted with Owen, you may ask, what drinking team could possibly be better? You got it -- Alicia and Diane.

-I'm counting down the moments until Kalinda punches Dana in the face.

-Owen is the best (via Karamelka):

Even better thing? Alicia and Kalinda, finally thawing.

Today, I'm going to string you all along until we get to the part we all want to talk about: Grace Florrick. Kidding!

In the storyline we all knew would happen, we get a face-off between Martha and Caitlin. Caitlin is no Mini Streep. The "cuteness" thing doesn't go too well for her in court (nor does it make her any more appealing to the audience). That said, Martha's no peach either. She validates L/G's hiring decision by behaving incredibly immaturely.

It's quite funny really. These young 'uns haven't had a chance to learn how to play dirty the way adults do, so they indulge in cheap playground tricks like giggling in the middle of testimony.

It seems oddly fitting that we have John Michael Higgins moderating this fight. I can't take him seriously as a lawyer for obvious reasons:

Oh look! There's Jennifer Carpenter! Ain't she pretty? Sadly, she's not a motherfucking professor of motherfucking English, but a Christian Reformist. C'mon Deb. Give me a swear word?

I admit, her beauty slightly dulls the fact that she's probably a very unlikeable person and incredibly difficult to defend from a moral standpoint.

But morality is irrelevant when Michael J. Fox is around! Alicia apparently has not learned not to dick him around, though it's absolutely hilarious when she scurries away from him down the stairs. It was the sporting thing to do.

He retaliates by...stealing from her handbag. After helping her out. I'm still not sure whether he was being genuinely helpful or just biding his time for an opportunity. That is the magic of Canning's mystery. Alicia, go work for him!

LOCKHART GARDNER STUFF

SMASH CUT to the adults. Diane lays down the law, Will mopes with Kalinda, and Peter realizes what a mistake he's made hiring Wendy Scott-Carr, dead-eyed psycho, looking for REVEEEEENGE!! There are hints that Wendy's more concerned with destroying Alicia than Peter, but I have no doubt that her scheming is vast and dangerous enough to encompass them both.

In my favorite subplot, Eli runs begging to Will. The HoYay is so blinding that I'm turning gay just watching it (the same can no longer be said for Kalinda/Dana, however. Hope that's the end of those "flirtations"). Eli is now officially allies with everyone on the show, which kind of makes him the King of the castle, though he probably doesn't realize it (how insufferable would he be if he knew?).

DEMON SPAWN

Grace, who exists only to give Julianna Margulies more clips for her Emmy reel, makes herself a bigger pain in the ass than usual by getting baptized by Internet Cheesus. And she didn't leave a note!

That's what this show needs: more dismemberment. Anyway...

I was not unmoved by Peter's swift moves into action. You can tell that Alicia's always been attracted to how powerful he is, even though she wasn't ready for the dark side of that.

The most exciting development here, however, is the return of Kalinda. I'm betting Alicia finds out next week, and their hostility finally begins to thaw.

THAT OTHER THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

A thousand Will/Alicia fans are sobbing into their tequilas this week. I'm sorry to see it end, but from a narrative perspective, it feels necessary. Again, they're adults, and they don't live in a fantasy world. Alicia recognizes this, and so does Will. Unfortunately, they arrive at opposite conclusions.

I have a feeling that Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation will burn the firm badly whether they're together or not, and if she is after Alicia, Will's in a better position to help her if they're not in a relationship.

That said, poor guy. He's in for a rough year.

OTHER

Are The Kills the official soundtrack for Kalinda's sexy-times? That just makes me miss Lili Taylor and Kalinda's OTP: baseball bat.

This was easily one of the best episodes of the show, period, so forgive me for going easy on the frivolity for a minute.

WHY SO SERIOUS, ONCOMING HOPE?

That opening scene was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on television. Not only does it set up the case, it answers the very question that the case asks of us: did the drone operator receive the message that there were civilians near the strike target?

I don't know what's more disturbing really: that she does know there are civilians and she doesn't care, or she doesn't know, but drone strikes are still accepted as an honorable/legal form of combat.

But to the show's credit, it never directly addresses the latter point. Unlike last week's heavy handed death penalty discussion (which went something like this: "My name is Saint Alicia, and I've never thought about morality in my 45 years of life"), this episode asks us to judge our defendant on the merits of the law. Who cares if the law stinks.

Which is why Judge Kuhn's final salvo is not even slightly comforting, even though it's 100% truth. This woman has been justly served, but so many other crimes have been let past. That doesn't mean this person doesn't deserve jail, but her conviction will be used as an excuse, as a way to say that yes, the system works.

ON THE "WTF" SIDE OF THE SHOW

Somehow, this show has made the word "cheese" into a swearword, if not a character in its own right. Can cheese play along with those playground bullies, vegetables and fruit? Not while Amy Sedaris is around!

Over at the state's attorney's office, nothing happens but innuendo. And I mean TONS of innuendo. I almost drowned with embarrassment, until it became clear that what we were seeing is Dana out-Kalinda-ing Kalinda. Which makes her a force too frightening to even contemplate.

Speaking of terrifying, it's the return of Wendy Scott-Carr! In last year's political contest, I could never put a finger on what made her so...scary. It's blankness, hidden behind a smile. There's nothing in those eyes but sheer bloodlust:

Diane, proving herself as awesome as ever, sees right through Wendy. There's none of the professional regard she shows other competitors; she sees Wendy for what she is - petty. And she wastes no time in marshaling the better devil: Eli Gold. And she doesn't just ask for help: she lords her superiority over him, basically forcing him to stop being a cry-baby. I have never been more scared of Diane. Or in love. Stacie Hall really will rue the day.

However, by bringing Wendy in, Peter's proven himself the wiliest of devils. It's amazing how the show has made his presence felt, even when he's onscreen for just minutes at a time, if that. But I wonder if using Wendy as a weapon might backfire. It's not a stretch to believe that she'd want to embarrass him.

In other news, Will's having another very bad day. In fact the worst. First humiliated by a military judge, then given a thread of hope by Kalinda, only to have Diana take it all away. I have no idea how this is going to play out, but I can't wait.

You'll notice that I haven't brought up Jackie. I have but one word: awesome. Alicia took her down in the best way possible, and it was AWESOME!

Next week: It appears that Grace has been kidnapped. We, the audience, are...sad?! Interrobang.

This week, I had the extreme pleasure of watching The Good Wife in Vienna along with an equally obsessed friend (you should see our email conversations, seriously. They all descend into capslock madness). I had a grand ol' time tormenting him with my Kalinda impersonation. But as we're reminded in this episode, no one torments people better than Kalinda herself...

Onward!

In my favorite side-plot, we see the return of Eli-Gold-Demon-Spawn, more commonly known as Marissa. Well, EGDS connives her way into hanging out with sweet Zach. Faced with the prospect of Gold-Florrick progeny, I immediately ran to the store to stock up on tin cans and bottled water, to better survive the coming apocalypse.

Seriously, Zach+EGDS=

Meanwhile, Fake Matt Dowd continues to earn my enmity by not only referring to our heroine as "Saint Alicia," but ignoring her when she's in the room. I should point out that Real Matt Dowd was one of my college professors, and is a fairly likeable guy, not a douchebag like this dude (though the physical resemblance is uncanny).

The scene between Will and Alicia reminds us that, yet again, this show is about romance between adults. As a result, they can address their problems the way adults do, with reasonable conversation, not teen angst. Though I confess, I was very worried that Alicia was going to go ahead and pull the plug.

In the A plot, we face the return of Moral Quandary Alicia! I thought we'd left her behind in season 1, and to be honest, I wasn't particularly keen on her return. That said, they're also ramping up funny Alicia, and after last week's pantomime of Elspeth Tascioni's mountain of paper, funny Alicia can stay. "A rumor is often a sign of...jealous...competitors...."

WHAT WE ALL WANT TO TALK ABOUT, REALLY

KALINDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! It's the magnificent return of Sexy Boots of Justice.

The chemistry between Dana and Kalinda can be summed up as:

Poor Cary is exactly one heartbreak away from turning into a Woody Allen character.

Apart from innuendo-ing it up with Cary and Dana, Kalinda continues her grand masterplan of winning Alicia back through Will. As always, they're charming and 100% hug-free. Though personally, I would have loved if he gave her a big bear hug only to have Diane walk in: "Dear God, Will! Are you sleeping with everybody? Is this why we don't dance in my office anymore?"

OTHER

In other news, whoever does the sound design for this season deserves about a million awards. Lately, they've been using sound and music with creativity that rivals Tarantino.

When Chris Matthews turned up on screen, I had to resist myself from throwing tomatoes at the screen. Really...really...hate...that...guy.

Love that Jackie's attempt to be an evil mastermind was foiled by Steve Jobs. "WHY DOES ALICIA'S LAUNDRY CONSIST SOLELY OF NEGLIGEES? DOES SHE EVER WEAR NORMAL UNDERWEAR?!?" followed by "HOW DO COMPUTERS WORK?"

Play along in the comments.