#tgwrewatchproject

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #112: 5x22-- A Weird Year

Summary of the Case: The adoption case from 5x07 comes back to haunt LG and F/A.

Liveblog + Comments:

Would it have hurt to have mentioned this $6 million suit once between 5x07 and 5x22?

Eli calls Alicia. “What’s up?” she asks. “DISASTER!” he exclaims. Oh Eli, never change.

Loooooove Diane laughing at the absurdity of her current predicament.

Carey and Clarke are physically fighting over the teleconferencing phone. Children!

Eli is not pleased about the lack of doors and walls at F/A.

YET ANOTHER EPISODE THAT THROWS TO CREDITS WITH A “WE HAVE 48 HOURS TO SAVE THE WORLD” TYPE SENTENCE. AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH.

There’s a little dispute about whether, on the teleconferencing software that’s been left on, Canning and David Lee were discussing a “wife” or not. Carey, unhelpfully, volunteers that he heard “waif.” I don’t know; it makes me laugh.

“I think Mother Macbeth would’ve made more sense,” Peter jokes. Um, WOW.

Eli’s in a joking mood. It’s a little strange.

I predicted Diane would be asked to run for SA! *feels good about self*

Julius is back again!

Peter calls Diane; Diane asks Kalinda to accompany her to Peter’s office. Kalinda? Does not want to do this.

“It’s smart,” Carey and Robyn argue in favor of a plan to use the teleconferencing software to their advantage. “It’s slimy,” Alicia counters. But she does it anyway.

Omg Howard Lyman deposing Alicia omg omg omg omg lollollol

I didn’t realize Alicia had been planning to panic at the sight of Will’s office until the Kings explained it in an interview (IIRC). Damn, Alicia. (I’m still not convinced it’s apparent that it’s a ploy.)

They got the same actress to play Deena Lampard (“Mrs. ChumHum”) even though she’s in two seconds of blurry webcam footage where she looks like a blonde blob.

“She’s a lot like me and Peter’s a lot like you,” Veronica says about Alicia. Strangely, if you reverse that sentence—Veronica is like Peter; Jackie is like Alicia—you’ve got a much better thesis. Not a good one, but one that makes more sense than Alicia having the same personality as her mom.

“I see where Alicia’s drinking comes from,” Jackie attacks. “And Peter’s rudeness,” Veronica responds. Ouch.

Veronica rubs Alicia and Peter’s open marriage in Jackie’s face. I presume Veronica isn’t thrilled with it either (if Owen’s not, Veronica’s not), but boy is it fun to tease Jackie with the information.

Grace walks into the apartment to see her grandmas trying to work together. That must be fun.

The easiest way to get Alicia and Peter to work together? Give ‘em a common enemy. Like, say, their mothers.

“Kalinda has a way with Cary. We’ve exploited this before.” Not gonna get into this again. Click here if you want my take.

And out of nowhere, Cary and Alicia are fighting and acting like F/A has been falling apart and in grave danger all this time. Um, okay. Things escalate and Alicia says they need walls. For some reason, even though this is a very reasonable statement to make, Cary goes on the attack (he’s in a bad mood already): “Like Lockhart/Gardner?” (Um, no, probably like the comments Eli’s been making week after week.)

Alicia and Cary take their fight outside and start screaming at each other, and seriously, it comes out of nowhere. Both of them are angry for other reasons, but we’ve seen absolutely nothing to indicate that F/A is in trouble (save for this $6 million suit that’s nothing new and the state of being overextended that Cary isn’t concerned about  at all) (I know they’re at risk of losing their clients now thanks to Canning, but how much better would this fight be if there were no sudden threat  or if there were a sudden threat and everything in ensuing argument felt like the result of tensions that had clearly been bubbling under the surface this whole time?). And this fight, guys. It’s so stupid. Alicia and Cary have good arguments to make (Alicia that she values stability and a merger would be a chance for guaranteed stability; Cary that this move would only benefit the people at the top) but instead, we get Cary complaining that his name won’t be on the letterhead and Alicia screaming that she’s tired. Like that somehow means the entire firm should be led based on that. And then they start screaming at each other about Kalinda and Will and Alicia threatens to call for a vote. I’d go line by line but it’s 7:27 and I’m watching Madam Secretary in an hour.

Friendly reminder that there are more scenes in s5 where Peter and Kalinda interact in person than there are scenes where Alicia and Kalinda interact in person.

“And they didn’t come to me first and they only came to me because I was pre-vetted?” Diane is not thrilled with the offer to run for SA, nor is she thrilled with Eli’s bluntness about why the offer’s been extended to her.

Yeah, no. Not getting into the C/K almost rape scene again. Click here for thoughts. (Just think how great this scene would’ve been, how interesting it would’ve made the C/K relationship, how wonderfully it would fit in to Cary and Kalinda’s character developments, if it hadn’t been set in a bedroom and hadn’t verged on rape!)

Cary hears from Carey that they don’t have the votes to defeat Alicia. So Cary, naturally, decides that this means the world’s against him and that he has to take matters into his own hands (a very Cary thing to do—this episode would be wonderful for Cary without that godawful scene with Kalinda) and go to Canning. He takes the vote off the table completely, undercutting allies and enemies alike.

Veronica tells Zach that Alicia left after graduation—on graduation night—to get away from her. I... guess I can accept this as canon? The strangest part to me is that Veronica says Alicia had nothing lined up. Alicia would’ve had a plan.

Eli’s on Jackie and Veronica duty. That’s the part of the job description for Governor’s Chief of Staff they don’t tell you about!

No one remembers Cary’s name, and he’s a name partner. That’s got to hurt. Everyone at F/A finds out that he went to Canning and he’s disrespected by Canning at the same exact moment. Poor Cary.

This second fight works a lot better for me, first because they’re talking about the actual issues (like managing employees and the goals of the firm) and second because it has some foundation (even if that foundation is mostly just the fight from earlier). “Go to hell, Cary!” Alicia screams at one point. “That is your answer to anything you can’t deal with!” Cary screams back. HAAAAAAH! TRUE.

“There’s no good timing these days,” Alicia tells Finn. Wonder if that’s supposed to be a reference to anything. Hmmmm.

I hate, hate, hate that Diane loses control of her firm over this (and I still don’t have a damn clue  what motivates Canning other than bitterness), but I love that there are repercussions from Will’s awful management of LG post-Hitting the Fan.

God, poor Diane. I hate seeing her broken and weak like this. (And by hate, I mean that it’s hard to watch, not that it’s bad TV. It’s excellent TV.)

“I don’t think I have the... the fight left in me, Kalinda. If Will were still here, I...” Diane sighs. “I’m here,” Kalinda reassures her. Awwww! But Diane has an idea that’s neither staying at L/G nor running for SA...

“I’ve come here to ask if you will take me,” Diane offers. “Holy crap,” Robyn exclaims. “Me, and my $38 million a year in client billing,” Diane adds. Well. That changes things. (Props to Kiki, who predicted Diane—and only Diane—would end up at F/A by the end of the season on August 9th, 2013.)

Alicia’s just in time to watch Zach graduate. But Alicia, I thought there was no more good timing! (I understand the writers’ desire to add emotional stakes. I don’t understand why they expect us to think that Alicia would ever even consider missing her son’s graduation for anything. If they wanted emotional stakes, couldn’t it just have been the family dinner and not the graduation ceremony?) Anyway, I appreciate that we get to see Zach graduate. But it feels so contrived.

At least the next scene, where Zach leaves home, is really sweet. I had a feeling the writers were never going to do a teary goodbye at the airport (thinking of Parenthood now) or anything like that. But I didn’t think it’d be like this, either.

“It’s been a weird day,” Alicia tells Eli at the end of the day. “Weird year,” Eli responds. Yup.

And then: “Alicia? Would you want to run for State’s Attorney?” “What?” (thoughts on that here)

Overall: The time crunch doesn’t work so well in this one. While everything moves along well, it also feels like everything’s been constructed to move well. It’s like it’s written to the plot more than to the characters, which isn’t to say that the characters aren’t well written (they are, mostly) but rather to say that the maneuvering isn’t concealed at all. This episode needed more build up. The writers had several episodes to set this up, and they didn’t.

Grade: B+ (overall), B- (Case)

Season 5 Overall: Alright I’m rushing so I’m just gonna do bullet points. This makes me sad; I’ve been working all summer on this sadly neglected piece of meta about s5 as a whole, which I’m sure I’ll never finish now that s6 is almost here. Anyway.

Season 5 is probably the best season of TGW, but it’s hard to compare to the earlier seasons because it’s a different show. The storytelling’s evolved with the characters, and there are pros and cons to this more serialized approach.

Season 5 is undoubtedly the best structured season. Its weak spots disappear when you look at the season as a whole because it’s one complete story (starting from season 4’s The Seven Day Rule, arguably) and every time it’s about to slow down, it starts right back up again. The smartest thing the Kings did this year was structure the season in 5 episode arcs, ensuring that there’s always forward motion and that any dull moments fade away. Hitting the Fan, The Decision Tree, and Dramatics, Your Honor were all incredibly different episodes—one was payoff long-term;  one was character based without being exactly eventful; one was a random shock—but all happened at the exact right moments. The last 7 episodes are a little more scattered, but the momentum never fades.

Still on structure: s1 is uneven and has a very simple structure with a few plotlines that pay off towards the end of the season. S2 starts slow and only really picks up at the end of the season. S3 is a mess. S4’s second half is strong, but its first half is disconnected and... not the best quality. S5 pretty much wins by default. I hope the writers keep the 5 episode arc structure for season 6; it works well.

The Kings also talked about s5 as a detour on a cross country road trip, like they stumbled across a quaint little town and decided to spend some time there before getting back on the road. I think that’s a very good way to describe s5, which does a remarkable job of getting things back to “normal” without feeling like a pointless circle.

S5 only worked because the show has been so consistent in its characterizations for the four previous seasons. S5 would be nothing without the buildup in all of the relationships and all of the world building. It gets lost in the excessive praise of season 5 that the other 4 seasons were also great.

Now for the bad: Item of business number one has to be Kalinda Sharma. What the hell were the writers doing with Kalinda this year? She had minimal screentime, zero interaction with the show’s lead, and awful, disconnected subplots. And she was reduced to nothing but her sex life, save for the few episodes where it looked like the writers had figured out how to write her again only to fall right back into the same traps. The fact that the writers are still capable of giving her good material makes it even more unacceptable that they’ve failed to write her well.

Season five has major issues with pacing and focus within the 5 episode arcs. 506-509? All solid episodes. But were those episodes the most efficient use of screentime? No way. We needed more focus on Florrick/Agos. We needed fewer of the terrible subplots (Marilyn, hot!Grace) and more development of, say, Kalinda and Will’s relationship. The writers had a plan for season 5, so they should’ve spent this time doing things that would’ve made that plan come across as best they could. If they wanted issues at Florrick/Agos at the end of the season, they should’ve emphasized them at the start (rather than implying, and there should’ve been actual problems looming over the firm that caused a lot of struggling). If they wanted Will’s death to be about Kalinda and Diane, too, they should’ve done more with Will and Kalinda and Will and Diane while they had the chance, rather than relying on what those relationships had been in earlier seasons.

On that same note, Alicia and Will? Tiresome and repetitive. It makes sense in retrospect and I don’t fault the writers for wanting to use Josh as best as possible while they still had him. And Will’s anger was a good way of justifying having every case be LG v F/A. But there were other things that needed screentime more, and the rest of Alicia’s life took a backseat to Will’s anger.

511 and 512 were both wasted. These episodes focused on an arc that all but disappeared and were very case heavy. They prolonged arcs that seemed to have concluded already and dragged things out. These are the two episodes that really should’ve been repurposed.  (In the writers’ defense, they had actor availability issues with Goliath and David and the winter Olympics meant that these two episodes aired in their own little block, separate from everything else.)

We didn’t see Alicia’s home life at all from 5x09 through 5x12. And the only time we saw her at home in 5x08 was a 30 second long scene where she had a glass of wine. I think that says a lot about where the show was focused during those episodes.

(Alicia and Peter’s relationship probably also would’ve benefitted from some more screentime.)

517 through 522 suffered because of the lack of buildup. Castro’s name isn’t mentioned once before 5x17, and all of a sudden there’s an election going on. Finn’s introduced in the episode where Will’s killed off. F/A is doing mostly fine with no serious worries until 5x22, when everything starts to fall apart suddenly. Alicia doesn’t have to do any FLOIL things (except one photoshoot in 5x03) until 5x14 and then she has to do a ton of them. The writers couldn’t go full speed ahead after Will’s death because they needed to transition and couldn’t just move on after killing off a major character. That put them in a difficult space, but it would’ve been a less difficult space to be in if, earlier in the season, they’d set up some of the threads they knew they were going to need to rely on.

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #111: 5x21-- The One Percent

Summary of Case: Jury selection for a case involving the F/A client Paisley Group proves difficult when Mr. Paisley gives an interview comparing his status as a member of the one percent to Anne Frank’s life.

 Liveblog + Comments:

Pie is thrown.

No one at F/A likes doors.

No one at F/A likes walls, either.

Finn cut his hair.

This week on Finn Polmar’s Difficult Life: A divorce.

As Paisley gives a disastrous interview, Alicia talks to the computer screen: “No! No.”

Peter gets mad about a photo of Finn leaving Alicia’s apartment. Dude. Let Alicia live her life or tell her you’re unhappy with the state of your marriage. You can’t pretend to be on board and then sulk and try to control her life.

Peter throws two glasses of water on Castro, which is hilarious even though it’s a mean thing to do. I haven’t laughed this hard at the water throwing gag since Dan and Natalie on Sports Night (P.S. WATCH SPORTS NIGHT).

Simon Fishbein, a witness from 5x02, appears in this episode. Cool!

I cannot deal with this Lauren intern. I don’t need this subplot in my life.

And, of course, Eli overreacts to Lauren’s presence and probably makes things worse.

Speaking of making things worse, Paisley gives another interview... “STOP TALKING!” Alicia screams at the computer.

Peter storms into Eli’s office, upset that Eli told Lauren to stay away. Hmmmm, I wonder if perhaps there could maybe possibly sort of kind of be another problem in Peter’s life right now???

“I will not be contained in a bubble. I have to be with people; that’s who I am,” Peter declares. It’s at that moment that Eli recognizes that this is a big deal. He says Peter should plan that vacation with Alicia (haaaaaaaaaa right).  Eli walks away from the conversation needing to talk to Alicia—ASAP, and in person.

Meanwhile at the Florrick apartment, Alicia and Grace are excitedly waiting for Zach to emerge from his room in his cap and gown. Proud mommy Alicia with her family is basically the cutest thing you’ll ever see. Eli arrives and wistfully says something about how nice it is, “watching a family... be a family.” Poor guy is so invested in the Florricks.

Alicia asks why Eli is talking to her about her marriage. “Because I care,” Eli admits, then reasons that she should believe that he cares because it’s to his benefit to have Alicia and Peter a happy couple. Hah.

“Is this about Will dying?” Eli asks. “This is about everything. I’m just tired, Eli. I’m just done,” Alicia explains. “Getting a divorce?” Eli wonders. “No,” Alicia says simply.

“You love him. And if you don’t, he loves you.” Okay, well... I guess there’s some universe where that might be what Alicia needs to here, but I don’t think this Alicia gives a damn if Peter loves her or not. (Which is a big part of the problem: she’s dictating the terms of the relationship and it’s making Peter unhappy, but he’s not doing his part and taking his unhappiness to Alicia. Instead, he’s ogling interns.)

Rayna Hecht is in play again—she’s finding “life with Tascioni a bit too constricting.” I’d sort of love a glimpse into that firm.

“I don’t have a life. Your life is my life,” Eli informs Peter. It’s not a joke.

“It doesn’t work. It will always come out,” Eli advises Peter against an open marriage. THANK YOU, ELI. (And thank you, writers, for portraying this open marriage deal as problematic.)

Alicia acts so shocked around Paisley and his wealth, like she has nothing in common with him. Paisley’s wrong (imo) about a lot of things, but he’s correct to point out that Alicia is the one percent. Alicia’s privilege—that’s something to watch. She’s got a lot of it, and she doesn’t like to think she does. In her $2 million apartment and her $700 shoes and $1900 jackets and $4000 watch, she seems to sometimes think she’s working class. (Methinks Alicia’s privilege is going to be a major theme of s6.)

Alicia hates Ayn Rand’s books. Strangely, this is the third consecutive episode to reference Ayn Rand. I couldn’t explain why.

Eli asks Alicia if she’s sleeping with Finn. She tells him to ask her another question, but he doesn’t have any. “Then go to hell,” she says, refusing to entertain the idea.

Great, a Cary and Kalinda scene. (I do not care.) (I wish I did.)

Alicia and Cary spend a little time hanging out and bonding while waiting for a focus group to finish crafting an apology for Paisley to record.

Alicia (inadvertently) mixes up two black male reporters while giving an interview. (Methinks Alicia and Peter’s bad history with racial issues is going to also be a major theme of s6.)

Rayna’s a no show at LG, and Diane blames F/A. She storms over there, then realizes that it was Canning who screwed her over, not F/A. Cary takes the opportunity to attack Diane (this is still personal; he is still angry): “So you’re being marginalized by the partnership at Lockhart/Gardner? I know what that’s like.” Alicia’s more interested in helping: “Diane. If there’s anything we can do.” Alicia may be happy she left Lockhart/Gardner, but she doesn’t hold every bad decision against Diane and still has a lot of respect for her. Cary just has a lot of bitterness.

Alicia’s still (now?) Peter’s desktop background, and he stares at her image, sad about the state of their marriage. Then Lauren walks in and asks if he needs anything, and the episode ends. Hey, Peter? I feel bad that you’re in this situation and that you’re sad. But if you want things to change, you’re allowed to change them. Rather than staring at interns (in Peter’s defense, she seems to be doing most of the flirting) and looking at pictures, start a conversation. File for divorce. Do something. If Alicia’s created a relationship Peter’s unhappy in, he can change that situation or end the relationship.  And even if he’s not comfortable divorcing, he could at least talk to her about it.

Overall: This episode is alright. Nice to see some counterarguments against the open marriage, and nice to get confirmation that this is not the arrangement Peter wants. Everything else is just okay.

Grade: B (overall); B (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #110: 5x20-- The Deep Web

Summary of Case: Diane’s friend’s grandson is accused of setting up illegal drug trades online and Diane has to defend him.

Liveblog + Comments:

We open with a bird’s eye view of the courtroom—jury selection. All the potential jurors are on their phones; no one’s talking to each other. Anya Marina’s “High on the Ceiling” plays over this scene (and much of the episode).

Just an fyi, I am obsessed with Alicia’s jacket in this episode.

Alicia sees a man give up his seat for an old woman, and she does the same for a pregnant woman. The man catches Alicia’s eye—a little bit of physical attraction. They start chatting.

Eli’s hair is noticeably darker this episode (because Alan’s splitting his time with Cabaret). It does not look good.

Alicia and Daniel keep chatting (and flirting a little). “Why do you look familiar?” he asks her. “I don’t know. I have one of those face,” Alicia lies.

Daniel asks Alicia if he can lie about his profession and say he’s a lawyer. She says he’ll get in trouble, so it “depends on his taste for adventure.” Heee.

Strange to see Diane and Canning working together against Finn.

Daniel doesn’t lie, which amuses Alicia. Then it’s her turn. She states her name with a smile, knowing she’s not going to have to be in that room for another second. Everyone recognizes the Florrick name now. About time.

Alicia tries to head back to the office, but Cary (looking very in control and busy) tells Alicia she needs a day off because she hasn’t taken any days off in a year (really? And what do we call 5x17?). His supportiveness is wonderful to see. (As is the strengthening relationship between Diane and Kalinda.)

“I feel like I’m channeling Will’s ghost,” Diane tells Kalinda, almost as though she’s surprised and afraid to be feeling this way.

Alicia wants to watch a movie at home, but she can’t work the TV and has to call Zach. She finally gets it working, and then not!Netflix starts buffering backwards. BWAHAHAHA! (The only thing better than the absurdity of the percentage decreasing is watching the bewilderment on Alicia’s face as this happens.)

Alicia tries to go back to the office and Cary won’t let her out of the elevator. As she leaves, her mom phones and asks to have lunch. “I’m a bit busy today,” says Alicia, who has nothing to do. She backtracks a second later and accepts the invitation. “Wow, you really are bored,” Alicia says to herself after she hangs up.

“It’s unreal. Like he’s still there, you know, or that he was never there at all,” Alicia describes life post-Will to Veronica. Veronica advises her daughter to talk to Will, silly as it sounds. (A lot of people read Alicia talking to herself later in this episode as Alicia talking to Will, so rather than harping on that point, I’ll just say right here that (1) Alicia talks to herself at several stressful moments over the course of the entire series (2) If that’s not enough of a pattern, Alicia begins talking to herself in this episode before she has lunch with Veronica so I do not subscribe to the “Alicia’s talking to Will” interpretation at all.)

“I don’t know what I’m doing with my life, mom,” Alicia begins candidly. “Just working seems pointless. I don’t know if I want to be a lawyer anymore.” So: Alicia wants more than just work in her life (Unless the line was meant as “Just... working seems pointless” and not “Just [only] working seems pointless.”) And Alicia’s not happy with her job anymore—she expressed that same sentiment in 5x17, too.

With Alicia in tears and, for once, having a nice, open conversation with her mom, one of Veronica’s gentlemen friends arrives early. Alicia can’t stand the thought of having lunch with this man and promptly excuses herself.

David Lee’s been asking Diane’s assistant to forward her calls to him. “You’ve been missing things since Will died,” David explains. Uh huh. Sure. Seems to me like he’s just trying to get Diane to doubt her own abilities and throw her off her game.

“Kalinda, why do people let you onto crime scenes?” Finn wonders. Excellent question there, Finn.

Alicia goes back to the courthouse, hoping to run into Daniel, who asks her to lunch. At lunch, Alicia’s enjoying herself and laughs loudly. A table of men stare at her; she feels like she’s being judged and instantly recognized (she probably is!). A bit later in the conversation, Alicia becomes keenly aware that Daniel’s not wearing a wedding ring—and she is. She feels guilty and uncomfortable and retreats to the bathroom, where she begins to panic. “What is wrong with you, just tell him you have to go! I’m so stupid,” she rebukes herself. Whatever she’s feeling for Daniel makes her deeply uncomfortable. She looks, if it’s possible, more anxious than she looked in 4x22 when she was planning to upend her life and start her own firm. She goes back into the restaurant and awkwardly makes an exit, but Daniel first invites her to drinks that night.

“You’re under the impression this interview’s about the truth?” Eli snaps at new State’s Attorney contender Finn. Since this endorsement has to look good for Peter, Eli has a vested interest in Finn’s campaign.

This case goes on and on and on, and there’s a lot of Finn. Not sure he’s interesting enough yet to hold an episode together.

“You’re isolating me. You’re gaslighting me,” Diane magnificently calls out David Lee and Canning.

Alicia totally wants to go meet Daniel for drinks. She’s watching the clock. (And watching a very on-the-nose episode of Darkness at Noon about sex.)

Finn gives a good interview with Mandy Post, Awful Reporter, and Eli’s impressed.

“That’s when you know you’re a true politician. When you don’t [tell reporters to go to hell],”Eli compliments Finn. Wait, what? How many times have we heard Peter tell reporters to fuck off or go to hell? I suppose for the most part, Peter is very good at establishing a cordial rapport with reporters.

“I always thought you two would get back together,” Alicia tells Veronica, who’s at her apartment, making up for the scheduling conflict earlier in the day. “We tried. Some people are just better being friends,” Veronica explains. Now that’s a side of her we haven’t seen before! She tried? I don’t doubt that, but in the past, she’s always made it seem like she didn’t care and just moved forward. The Veronica we usually see doesn’t want to talk about her life, dwell on the past, or acknowledge the complexities of relationships. When she sets that aside and truly steps up to help and comfort her daughter, she’s actually pretty great and caring. The writers have done a nice job of fleshing out Veronica and allowing her to have a lot of different sides; unlike Owen, she’s not a plot device to get Alicia talking about her love life.

“I’m like [dad], aren’t I?” Alicia frets. “What do you mean?” “Stuck being the good one.” Alicia says this last line like it’s a bad thing. She feels trapped, like she’s getting in her own way, like she’s her own worst enemy, and like she wants to change.

“He talked about work. How he’d always stay late cleaning up after everyone. Dad said, ‘There are people who make the mess and people who clean up,’” Alicia relates. “And you two are the cleaners,” Veronica finishes her thought. “I don’t know what I am anymore. Nothing’s as simple as it used to be,” Alicia laments. Oh Alicia. You’re definitely someone who cleans up other people’s messes—and that’s not a bad thing. But if you want to be someone else, or feel like the categories aren’t as binary as that, that’s fine, too. Poor Alicia has no idea who she is or who she wants to be. Will’s death is affecting every element of her life, not just her love life.

“What’s going on, Alicia?” Veronica worries. “I’m spinning, mom. I can’t stop. I shouldn’t have stopped working,” Alicia breaks down.  Poor thing. I want to give her a hug—luckily, she has Veronica there to hug her. It’s a strange role reversal, seeing Alicia collapse in tears and Veronica acting as the adult. Usually, Alicia’s cleaning up Veronica’s messes and comforting her. (The “stopped working” line refers to this day, not maternity leave, yes? Like, she should’ve just kept going so she would have to keep it together?)

“He wants to turn me into a hero,” Finn tells Alicia. “Yes. Eli is good at that,” she laughs. “That’s right. He already turned you into a saint.” Okay. I don’t foresee this happening, but if I ever start shipping Alicia and Finn enough to give them a shipper tag, it’s totally going to be “the hero and the saint.” Hell, I may even use it on things about their friendship or whatever relationship they end up having just ‘cause I will never be over the Saint Alicia thing.

I already wrote about the final scene and “who am I being faithful to?” so check “from the archives” for that.

I love the last shot of the episode. The camera spins around (Alicia’s spinning, after all) (Brooke Kennedy also uses the spinning motif in one of the deleted scenes, where we see Alicia, spinning, from the POV of her dryer) and Alicia crosses the street. Literally, she’s spinning and at a crossroads. Where does she go next? Who does she want to be? How does she move on?

Overall: The Alicia stuff in this episode isn’t the best writing the show’s ever done, but it’s pretty meaty and gives me a lot to work with. I like that. But as a whole, this episode is very disjointed. Cary gets almost nothing to do; the LG stuff seems to be on a different, lesser show. There’s a lot of Finn, which I’d be fine with if his screentime was put to good use. Otherwise, give me more Kalinda and Cary (but separately, please).

From the Archives:

Alicia’s identity crisis (or, my thoughts on the ending of the episode and the “who am I being faithful to?” line)

Grade: B (overall); B- (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #109: 5x19-- Tying the Knot

Summary of Case: Sweeney’s new fiancée murders her friend during a party. Alicia ends up becoming a witness.

Liveblog + Comments:

The episode opens with... a clip from 1x22 of what is very clearly season 1 Alicia getting out of a taxi. You thought we wouldn’t notice!

Alicia inquires about Isobel, Sweeney’s fiancée from seasons 3 and 4. “I had to get rid of her,” Sweeney sighs. Alicia looks at him suspiciously. “Through divorce,” he clarifies.

At Sweeney’s party, Alicia’s juggling a million things at once. Work, politics, parenting, friendships...  it’s overwhelming.

LAURA BENANTI is in this episode!!!!!!!!!!! She’s great as Renata,  Sweeney’s new fiancée, but how I wish she’d been cast in a recurring role that wouldn’t mean that we have to deal with Sweeney (I can only handle one Sweeney episode a season, thank you very much) to get her back.

Renata mentions that Alicia’s a “saint.” Saint Alicia!

Zach’s caught online holding a bong. He says he was taking it away from someone. This sounds like the oldest excuse in the book, but... I believe him. He’s Alicia’s son, after all.

“He’s not talking to a reporter, Eli,” Alicia insists, protective as ever.

The girl who hosted the party calls Alicia to tell her Zach has a serious problem. Uh, okay. This just gives me more confidence that Zach is telling the truth.

Alicia becomes a witness, and we see her remember the events we already saw. She remembers the victim running off to call a “Demetre” (his name is actually “Demetrius”) and it’s clear where this episode is going as soon as this we see this. (I happened to catch this the first time I watched because I know someone named Demetre.)

Owen! Hi, Owen! I’m still trying to forgive you for 5x07.

Poor Nora; I don’t know how she does it. I’d go crazy if Eli barked at me 24/7.

Owen gives some comments about pot that end up online (much in the style of his introduction in 2x03).

Uh oh—Alicia’s having cross racial identification issues. (Pleasantly surprised TGW allows its white lead to come across as racist. This is a good step. This does not excuse the fact that TGW needs to have a more diverse cast.)

Castro wants to fire Finn and is trying to create cause. Alicia hatches a plan: if Finn says he’s running for State’s Attorney, Castro can’t fire him. Finn laughs off the idea... until he realizes that his old friend Jimmy really is going to throw him under the bus. (Victim!Finn!)

Filed under things that will shock no one: I love the way this show explores memory in this episode. Everything blends together in Alicia’s mind, and the writers do something cool where Eli, who was on the phone with Alicia, shows up in the crowd at the party. It’s a way of using a visual medium to convey the chaos, the way Alicia experienced the situation, and the way these things blend together.

22 minutes in and we finally get to see Diane. Kalinda shows up even later, but that’s standard for this show. (Though Kalinda has like two lines in this entire episode; that’s not standard. And this episode’s free from the LG office politics: proof that just shifting focus isn’t enough to make things good; the focus needs to be shifted in order to explore something important.)

In court, Finn can’t stop thinking about the shooting and he’s thrown off. I’d like to see the writers either explore or acknowledge his PTSD in season 6. I don’t want to see too much about Finn or dwell for too long on the events of 5x15, but it’s now an important part of his character and I want it to inform his actions.

And there’s Kalinda. And now she’s gone. Hi, Kalinda. Bye, Kalinda.

Alicia insists that Owen help her with her “intervention” for Zach. Ha. That’s bound to work well.

Zach changes the subject, expressing his frustration at being asked to “keep up this façade of perfection like you and dad.” Wait, what? Zach knows? Is this something new he’s picking up on, or has he been confused about his parents’ marriage since they got back together? Why don’t we get more on this? Why are we wasting time on a subplot about Zach and a bong when we could be getting a subplot about Zach and Grace feeling hurt by their parents’ arrangement and picking up on the distance?

Castro is so threatened by Finn filing to run against him that he goes to Peter for an endorsement, which makes Peter angry. Castro talks about his “increased scrutiny over prosecutions” and Peter responds: “Like Jeffery Grant?” OUCH. This meeting is not going well at all. If Castro would’ve waited to approach Peter and not seemed so obviously on the run, he might not have made an enemy.

Diane is able to undercut Alicia as a witness by talking about her admission that she might’ve mixed up the two men earlier and a set-up she staged where Sweeney asked Alicia to lie for him. Nicely played, Diane.

“I don’t want to cry anymore, Owen, so let’s not,” Alicia says when Owen brings up the subject of Will. He quickly switches to discussing the façade Zach mentioned. “It means we’re married. We stay married. But that’s it,” Alicia explains. “He does what he wants, you do what you want?” Owen follows up. “Well, he does what he wants anyway,” Alicia allows Owen to blame Peter.

Owen doesn’t think this is a good idea (EVEN OWEN SEES THIS IS A SILLY PLAN, ALICIA!). “It’s a decision. I like decisions,” Alicia affirms. That says it all—she said it so she’s going to follow through. It might not have been a rational decision, but it’s a decision she made so she’s committed to it. (Owen asks how it’ll work if she wants to be with someone else. GOOD QUESTION, OWEN.)

So much for not wanting to cry: Alicia heads back into her room and cries, sad about the situation and perhaps realizing that there’s some truth to what Owen said.

Peter impulsively decides to spite Castro by endorsing Finn. You’d think Alicia would’ve informed Eli of what she was doing, but I guess Peter acts on his own. Poor sad victim Finn having more bad things happen to him! (Seriously, we’re now at: was shot, lost a child (his wife miscarried),  blamed for shooting, betrayed by best friend, at risk of losing his job, and now forced to run for an office he doesn’t want. This is his fifth episode. And next week, we find out that his sister was a drug addict who committed suicide. And then we find out that he’s divorced. Um. That’s a lot.)

The ending with Sweeney and Renata is just unnecessary and creepy. No thanks.

Overall: I like this episode more than most people do because I’m a sucker for the memory pops. But it’s so case-centric, the Zach screentime is a waste, Owen’s used sparingly but not as best as possible, Kalinda’s totally sidelined, and the Sweeney stuff is trying way too hard to be creepy.

From the Archives:

Here’s a little bit about the Alicia/Owen scene.

Grade: B- (overall); C (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #108: 5x18-- All Tapped Out

Summary of Case: Jeff, one of the NSA workers from 5x02, comes to F/A because he needs representation against his employers. He’s taken home confidential information (coincidentally—he wasn’t using it for anything) and is now under investigation. This leads F/A to find out that their phones are being tapped.

Liveblog + Comments:

Jeff is wearing a Chummie shirt. I want one! (But I don’t want to spend the money to get one since I know I’d only ever wear it as a pajama top.)

“Cary’s on with Clarke. They’re worried about Alicia,” one of the NSA workers reports. Cary and Clarke are indeed talking about Alicia and how to make decisions without her because “clearly she’s having some difficulties.” I get that—the firm can’t stop because Alicia’s having a breakdown. But there’s some tension building...

Cary doesn’t want to merge with LG. Diane says Alicia was amenable to the idea, but Cary reminds her that there’s an “Agos to her Florrick.” Poor Cary. No one treats him with respect or like he has any legitimacy.

“Our natural state is to be overextended. You’re mismanaged,” Cary reasons. Hmmm. Alicia seemed concerned about being overextended in the last episode. (Also, wouldn’t this have been a good time to mention the $6 million suit looming over F/A?) Anyway, Cary can’t resist the urge to insult LG and its management practices. Someone’s holding a grudge...

It’s somewhere around this point, so I’ll mention it here: there’s a great shot of Alicia on the phone with Finn where you can see three Alicias: the real Alicia, and her reflection in two mirrors.

Julius, who hasn’t been seen since late season 3, has apparently been in the New York office (opened around 5x09) this whole time! Amazing! He was there years before it existed! That Julius has good instincts!

GET. CANNING. OUT. OF. HERE. (Putting the fox in charge, I see what you did there, writers.)

Alicia goes to meet with Castro and sees him leading a meeting (he’s really pretentious, btw). There are gory crime scene photos everywhere, which of course makes Alicia think of Will. These photos are a part of Alicia’s everyday life—she defends criminals. That’s her job, or at least part of it. Now that it feels personal, it makes her uncomfortable in a way she hasn’t felt since s1.

Canning is sitting in Will’s office now and demanding respect from Kalinda. Naturally, she throws a baseball at him, he misses the throw, something glass shatters behind him, and Kalinda declares: “You’re not the new Will.” No, you are not, Canning. GTFO. (Canning is such an unnecessary villain. I’ll say this again, but I like the idea of an arc where Diane no longer feels at home at her own firm, but I just... the Canning/David Lee stuff is boring and mustache twirling and I’d rather not have to see it.)

(I like Canning... in small doses. When it’s not the same thing over and over and over. And when his motives make sense. All I’ve got for his motives here is “Canning is the world’s most sore loser.”)

The case this week is exciting and, interestingly, Cary and Clarke are the ones handling most of it. (Though Alicia’s also in court, helping Finn.) There’s a fun sequence where Cary tells Jeff what to say, and at one point Cary’s voice comes out of Jeff’s mouth. It’s super cool and innovative. Really nice choice!

“You’re not the enemy. You’re the devil,” Diane informs Canning. Yes, basically.

Canning starts with the “Will cut some corners” thing here. Interesting—I didn’t realize the writers planted the seeds for Canning having that card to play this early.

Alicia’s off her game in court defending Finn, making multiple mistakes and seeming nervous and almost incompetent. Her entire demeanor seems different. She’s easily defeated as the panel she’s arguing against blames Finn directly for Will’s death and Jeffery’s mental condition.

Poor Finn—this week, he’s blaming himself for something that he doesn’t need to blame himself for. I can’t say he’s not at fault since he did put Jeffery in gen den, but he has enough weighing on him already without being made to look like the reason this all happened. But Alicia can’t support him or comfort him because she’s too close to this and sort of wondering if Castro maybe has a point.

Back at F/A, Alicia asks Clarke to take Finn’s case, but she soon overhears a meeting with Jeff and figures out that the NSA must be listening to them. She calls Grace (a very confused Grace) and threatens to reveal Jeff’s identity over the phone. He comes clean about the wiretap and tells them it’s because of the Danny Marwat case (3x07), which makes Alicia shout, “OH DEAR GOD, ARE YOU FRIGGIN’ KIDDING ME?” at the absurdity.

Another episode where Robyn’s mentioned by not seen—good. (That she’s mentioned even when she’s not in an episode.)

Since Alicia’s being wiretapped, Peter is, too, and Alicia rushes over to the governor’s office to let him know. Or, rather, to let Eli know, but Peter’s there. Awkward. (This “we don’t interact ever” thing is working quite well, isn’t it?) Eli picks up on the tension right away: “Is there something I should know about you and Alicia?”

Again: really nice to see Cary handling a case.

Alicia and Peter both use the knowledge that their calls are being monitored to do the same type of thing. Peter tries to get the wiretapping shut down by discussing some shady things on the line with someone who doesn’t want to be wiretapped (shady things done by the person he’s talking to, that is); Alicia plays a joke on Canning by mentioning things she knows will be huge warning flags in a conversation. Hah! Alicia and Peter think alike and are a great team... imagine how wonderful they’d be if it weren’t for all those pesky emotions and flaws.

Peter’s trick to stop the wiretapping works. “I am not worthy,” Eli says as he bows down to Peter. Hah!!!!

Dealing with this crisis at F/A has Alicia back in the swing of things, so when she goes back to court on Finn’s case (which she’s prepared to work on now), he says, “You seem happier.” “I had a good night’s sleep,” she responds.

This court scene is just hilarious. Castro couldn’t have picked a worse phrase to use than “go down”—gives Alicia plenty of fodder to make a fool out of Castro. It’s also hilarious.

And now Finn, who was probably doubting Alicia’s abilities before, sees what she’s capable of. He’s shocked and impressed. Alicia has that effect on people.

GO AWAY, CANNING.

We end on Alicia and Peter, going over their schedules (so much for “we only communicate through our assistants”). This scene has a very different tone than 5x17. It’s almost regretful, sad in how matter-of-fact it is. It’s calm and quiet, not as fun or liberating as it sounded in 5x17 (forgot to say it there, but I just can’t view that scene as anything empowering for Alicia. She’s not ending things or taking control; she’s being irrational and tying herself closer to Peter without taking his feelings into consideration at all). This is their life now—is it really what Alicia wanted? (Let alone what Peter wants?)

Overall: This episode is just plain fun. It’s comedic at a lot of moments, it’s coherent, and it’s a relief to watch after three consecutive episodes of trauma and grief. The brilliance of this episode, too, stems from the fact that the grief isn’t forgotten; in fact, it informs the plot and still looms over everything. But the writers here find a balance between trying to move forward, acknowledging the past, and giving the viewers a little break from all the intense emotions. (The episode still has intense emotions, but it doesn’t have anything like 5x15/16/17.)

Grade: A (overall); A (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #107: 5x17-- A Material World

Summary of Case: It’s something about a divorce and who gets custody. LG represents the father; F/A the mother.

Liveblog + Comments:

We begin the episode right after Will’s funeral. Diane and Alicia are at a bar together, getting drunk and talking about the service. “We were like the two mistresses at the Irish funeral,” Diane says. “Yup,” Alicia agrees. “Oh, I’m sorry, I meant that metaphorically,” Diane apologizes. Heh.

“You’re elegant. I always wanted to be like you,” Alicia tells Diane. Interesting. I’ve always gotten the idea that Alicia respects and admires Diane, but I never felt like Alicia looked up to her or wanted to be like her. I think there are qualities of Diane that Alicia wanted to emulate, but I’m not sure that I buy the idea of Diane as Alicia’s role model.

The way drunk!Diane says “David Lee” is the best ever.

The idea of a merger gets put on the table, and by the end of the conversation, Diane and Alicia are drunkenly agreeing on the idea. (Apparently LG is overextended and F/A is, too.) (We’ve seen LG be overextended... since when is F/A in serious trouble, though?)

David Lee makes LG a terrible place to work for Diane and tells her (probably not incorrectly) not to make big decisions when she’s angry/sad. She decides to make the big decision of moving his office to an undesirable location. Ha!

Damian’s back. Go away, Damian. I know you’re on your way out and I still want you to leave faster.

As Alicia thinks about Will’s death, the score is the same as the theme that played throughout 5x16. Nice touch.

Alicia threatens to quit F/A if Cary takes on the new Jeffery Grant case. A bit extreme there, but yeah, I can see why she might not be happy with that...

For the first time in s5, we see/hear about the state’s attorney. I think it was a mistake not to mention him earlier. Feels like a lot of shuffling going on trying to get the show ready for its post-Will state... couldn’t this foundational work have been done earlier?

Alicia and Peter are doing an appearance together—isn’t it convenient that Alicia suddenly has all these First Lady duties now that there’s tension in the Florrick marriage? Nothing’s been on her schedule in the past and now there are like five events in four episodes. Okay then. (See the above point about being better with the foundational stuff.)

“Would everyone just stop thinking I’m falling apart at the friggin’ seams?” Alicia grumbles when Peter asks her how she’s doing. Alicia, people might be asking that because you are falling apart, but I get why you’re annoyed.  Alicia wants her own space, and no one’s giving it to her. No one’s making her feel better.  

Peter notes the word “everyone” in that sentence and asked when he became “everyone.” The distance between Alicia and Peter is growing...

For the first time in a while, the title music is the actual TGW theme!

I love Diane’s exasperated laugh: “Let them friggin’ come after me.” (Seems the writers discovered the word “friggin’” for this episode.)

Kalinda volunteers to help Diane. A new alliance is forming...

Kalinda finds a box of Will’s things (baby pictures; a Georgetown hoodie) which includes a picture of Will with Kalinda. This moment would be a million times improved if a picture of Kalinda and Will had been used rather than one that is clearly Archie and Josh.

Hi, State’s Attorney September. I mean Castro.

Something doesn’t go Alicia’s way in court and she takes it out on Diane: “Always nice to see how Lockhart/Gardner works.” Um, what, Alicia?

Writers, you were doing so well with Kalinda these last few episodes. And then... sex, sex, sex, exploding watermelon.

One of the rare cases on this show where there’s a parallel between what’s said in court and what’s going on in Alicia’s life: they’re talking about the meaning of life and what happens after death.

Finn’s set up as a victim—every ep put some new tragedy on him. I need that pattern to stop. At least he’s not self-pitying.

Kalinda experiences a tragedy and the best the writers can come up with is, “let’s make this about her sex life, too!”

Alicia rushes out of the court room and panics, breaking down on a bench in front of the court room. She starts wondering who she is, what she wants, and who she wants to be. Then she sees Grace’s tutor from season three. Wouldn’t you love to know how it came up in the writers room: “I know! Let’s have, at this really emotional moment for Alicia, Grace’s dancing tutor from two years ago show up!”

“I think I made a mistake,” Alicia tells the tutor. “What mistake?” “Being a lawyer.” “You don’t like it?” “No. I don’t know. Sometimes I do.” Interesting—Alicia sees her career as part of the problem.

“What would you do instead?” “I have no idea. I wish I did.” “Do you want to dance with me?”  Brb laughing at the image of Alicia dancing like the tutor.

Alicia has a bowl on the table under the mirror near her door where she always, always, always puts her keys. Here, she comes home and crawls under the covers (NO ONE GETS UNDER THE COVERS LIKE THAT BUT IT LOOKS NICE SO SURE WHY NOT) and drops her keys on her bedroom floor. Nothing is right.

Zach and Grace step up to take care of their mom! Awwwww!!! <3

Castro says he wants to run an office that’s fair, and obviously Castro does not do this because he is horrible, so I’m left wondering: does “fair” have any meaning on this show or is it just a word people like to throw around?

YAY! Damian’s last scene!

Darkness at Noon is on, and they’re talking about black hats vs white hats. On and on and on and on. Hats can have different colored linings, blah blah blah. It should’ve stopped, like, five lines earlier than it does, and just when you think this pretentious nonsense is over... “There are striped hats.” Oh my God. It never gets old.

“We’re heading for a lot of hurt,” Diane taunts David Lee. Poor Diane. No one wants her around at her own firm.

Jenna exits after this episode too—Kalinda betrays her; Jenna gives Kalinda a big slap and walks off. (Kalinda sacrificed the relationship with Jenna to get rid of Damian, I guess.)

It’s Finn’s third episode and he already gets to be in Alicia’s apartment!

Peter runs into Finn on his way into the apartment and gets jealous. Are you serious, Peter? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

“I really wish everyone would stop asking me that. I’m fine,” Alicia responds when Peter asks if she’s okay. She missed some other political event (again: convenient, right, that she has all this First Lady stuff to do now?) and Peter’s worried. I think he thinks that by coming over here and trying to talk Alicia through her grief and make her feel like it’s irrational, he’s helping her through some sort of tough love that’s going to make her wake up, but he goes about it all wrong... and he’s too angry to keep his cool through this fight. If he’s going to try this approach, he can’t let Alicia get to him.

For some reason beyond my understanding, Peter decides this is an appropriate time to act possessive and remind Alicia that Will wasn’t her husband. “You didn’t lose your husband,” he lectures. That pisses Alicia off: “I lost my husband a long time ago,” she spits.

And then that pisses Peter off. He tells her she can’t go back there. She says she can because she’s “still living it. Every day.” Uh huhhhhh. If that’s the case, Alicia, it was on you to say something about that at some point over the last five years. If that’s been under the surface every single day, that’s a problem you needed to be working on with Peter, not an insult to throw at him when things go wrong. I do think she’s been living it every day and that she’s been happy to keep Peter at a distance and occupy her time with other things because that’s a way of not addressing the issue while maintaining a status quo she’s happy with.

Instead of taking this in stride, Peter resorts to the “it didn’t mean anything” bullshit. “When I cheated, IT DID!” Alicia yells in reply. Funny how the one time Alicia chooses to frame her relationship with Will as a heavily emotional affair (vs a short term sexual relationship) is when she can use it to insult Peter and when Will’s dead. This line is as much (if not more) about hurting Peter as it is about giving legitimacy to the “what if” of Will.

“Well, I can’t compete with a dead man...” Peter begins, correctly. That’s part of the problem here. No matter what Peter does, Alicia, in her grief, can imagine that Will would’ve been better. Of course, Peter could also, you know, not be acting like such an asshole. He also calls her out on her “idealized notion of a man you’re not even sure cared about you,” which... sort of? But Peter doesn’t get to be the one saying this, not at this moment.

Alicia calls him a bastard, and Peter responds by calling her a “selfish bitch.” Ok, so, I get that Peter is trying to play Alicia’s game and call her out on her shit (he has a point with “selfish,” after five seasons of this triangle business), but PETER! YOU CANNOT CALL YOUR WIFE A “SELFLISH BITCH.” YOU CANNOT CALL ANY WOMAN A SELFISH BITCH! ERASE THAT PHRASE FROM YOUR VOCABULARY RIGHT THIS SECOND.

“We’re all that we have,” Peter pleads. That’s his definition of marriage. Alicia pauses, thinks for a moment. Then she puts forward her own definition of marriage: “No. Not anymore. Don’t worry; I’m not going to divorce you. You’re too valuable to me professionally, just like I am to you.” If Peter thinks marriage means supporting each other by default and that just because they’re married, Alicia needs to confide in him about everything, Alicia turns that on its head. This marriage isn’t about that, she effectively says. This marriage is about connections and power.

She declares that they have an open, political marriage not because this is the arrangement she necessarily wants or because this is the arrangement she’s thought through but because she’s angry with Peter. Once Alicia decides, her decisions stick, but this is not a rational decision. There are parts of it that are rational (I wouldn’t doubt that this idea has crossed her mind before) and it sounds rational, but it stems from Alicia trying to one-up Peter.

She tells Peter that they’ll only see each other at political events (and what about family events?) and that they won’t coordinate schedules together; he should call her assistant. She says he can sleep around if he wants to, just as long as the kids don’t find out. I’m sure that’s going to work really well: the “we don’t talk unless we need to” thing breaks down like 15 minutes into the next episode and I don’t see how it’s possible to only see each other at political events without the kids noting the distance. This is anger; not rationality.

Peter has the temerity (I learned this word from Cary in an earlier episode, hehe) to ask Alicia if this is because she wants to sleep with someone else. Um, no?????????? Alicia doesn’t even have the energy to fight that, and walks away: it’s not worth it. Peter stands in the kitchen, processing.

And for some reason, the episode doesn’t end there and we have to see David Lee phone Canning and ask for a merger. I... don’t care. Like, at all.

Overall: A solid episode that explores Alicia’s grief very well. I’m still thrilled the writers allowed us to see Alicia so broken, devastated, and irrational, and I like the choice to have Alicia act like she’s fine and then snap a few days after Will’s death. I also like seeing Diane’s grief in this episode, and I’d like Kalinda’s plot if more of it was like her looking at Will’s things and less of it was about exploding watermelons. This isn’t the best episode, but it’s an important one that does a lot of big moments well. The biggest problem I have with it (aside from the ending feeling tacked on and cheesy) is that... can you imagine how much better it would play if we’d heard Castro’s name even once before this episode? If we’d seen that the political events were a part of Alicia’s life, even if it was just references to events she has to attend or a meeting with an image consultant or speech writer? The writers had ample time before Will’s death to quietly get the groundwork ready for the arc that carries us through to the season finale, and they wasted it.

Grade: A- (overall); B (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #106: 5x16-- The Last Call

Summary of Case: There isn’t one.

Liveblog + Comments:

We pick up where we left off: Alicia’s reaction.

Kalinda tells Alicia that Will’s been shot. Alicia can’t understand the meaning of these words, even though they’re incredibly straightforward. “He... what do you mean?” When Kalinda clarifies, Alicia says: “I don’t understand, by who?” This makes so little sense to her that she doesn’t think to ask if he’s okay—her first question isto ask who shot him. She hasn’t processed it at all.

When Kalinda breaks the news, Eli tries to support Alicia by putting his hands on her shoulders. She walks away from him. One thing I noticed on rewatch is that a lot of people try to comfort others with physical contact, and some characters don’t want to be touched while others only want to let certain people in their personal space at certain moments. I’ll probably make a few notes about this.

“But I just saw him yesterday,” is Alicia’s illogical response to the news that Will is dead.

Alicia’s called to the stage immediately after finding out about Will, and she gives Eli a panicked look, unsure of what to do and knowing she can’t possibly give a speech at this moment. Eli says he’ll cover for her.

This is probably the one moment of the episode that doesn’t work for me. It’s a tired gag, it goes on for much too long, and I don’t buy for one second that Eli would think it was appropriate for him to read Alicia’s speech. He would’ve either previewed it before or hired the speechwriter who wrote it and known if their style was to be personal or not. Also, what kind of speech talks about “the man I’ve shared my bed with for the last 18 years?” Why wouldn’t you say “life”? And it’s cringeworthy. I hate second-hand embarrassment.

Alicia drives away from the event and remembers Will—the good moments and the bad moments. She melodramatically imagines a stereotypically violent client shooting Will, like something out of a bad movie. Then she spots a woman keeping her child from running out into the street, and she realizes just how random and dangerous life is. That’s when she breaks down in tears. (This isn’t my favorite moment of the episode, but it’s Emmy-bait-y, so I’ll say here: SOOOOOOO HAPPY JULIANNA WON AN EMMY FOR THIS!)

Diane arrives back at the office, distraught.  But it’s business as usual there. The partners are waiting for her to call a vote; Will’s empty desk reminds her of the tragedy all over again. She cries for a brief moment, then walks into the partners’ meeting with as much strength as she can muster and announces that Will is dead. I don’t know how she can do it.

Okay, next complaint: How does no one know that shots were fired at Cook County courthouse????  You would think that would make the news in about a split second. And even if it somehow didn’t make the news (which we see that it does, the second after Diane shocks everyone with the news), this is a firm of lawyers. The writers mean to tell us that not a single lawyer or judge texted or called a single other lawyer or judge and that the Chicago legal world was just going about their lives totally oblivious?????? It makes the episode play better to have the characters find out one by one, but for a show that’s constantly engaging with the media and social media and topics like that, it’s a glaring mistake to ignore this.

The writers chose to take the time to show us David Lee’s reaction to Will’s death, a brilliant move that gives us insight into David Lee’s character. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s upset about this, but it gets to him. I’m not sure if it’s affection for Will, the shock of it being someone he knew, or the idea that it could’ve been him (or a combination of these and other things), but whatever it is it upsets him.

In contrast to David Lee, an intern is crying loudly and making a big show of her sadness out in reception. This irritates Diane, who fires the intern on the spot. This grief doesn’t belong to the intern, from Diane’s POV. We all grieve differently, and firing the intern is part of Diane’s grieving process.

Alicia, unsure of where else to go to mourn her former friend, boss, and lover, heads to LG. Diane embraces her right away, a tight, comforting hug. Remember what I said about personal space? Alicia lets Diane in.

Jenna’s in this one, and I actually like her here. She’s connected to the main plot (and not to Damian, thank God), and she’s acting like a friend to Kalinda. She does Kalinda favors and offers her support as necessary with no ulterior motives. If we’d seen more of this Jenna, I might’ve liked her and her relationship with Kalinda.

Alicia gets the facts from Diane, but there’s still no logic to any of this. “That was supposed to be my case,” Alicia realizes.  There’s really no logic to this—why was it Will? Why did it happen? How did it happen?

Cary calls Alicia—she’s missing Candace’s deposition—and Alicia tells him the news. Cary can’t make words come out of his mouth he’s so shocked. He asks Alicia if she’s okay once he remembers he’s talking to her, and then goes right back to being shocked. (Candace, the client here, was also around in 5x05. She has pretty bad timing, too.)

“My best friend just died,” Diane tells David Lee. Best friend! BEST FRIEND! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

David Lee says he has to make calls—he doesn’t want to be making calls, but he has to. (This parallels the Peter/Eli conversation about Nelson Dubeck a few scenes later.)

Diane tries to comfort David Lee. He recoils, not wanting to be touched.

Alicia sees a voicemail from Will, and it catches her by surprise. She almost can’t bring herself to listen, but she does. And the voicemail raises more questions than it answers: there’s no logic to it, either. Alicia becomes determined to make sense of it. She looks into Will’s office across the hall and sees a man walk in and mistakes him for Will without realizing what she’s doing (it’s like a sad twist on 4x22). It’s not Will, of course. It’ll never be Will.

Alicia’s first thought about the voicemail is that Will was angry with her about something. She must’ve done something wrong. Diane says Alicia can blame herself, but Will was “movin’ fast on a lot of fronts, he was...” in a strange acknowledgement that in his final months, Will wasn’t himself and wasn’t acting rationally. (For an episode about Will’s death, this episode has surprisingly little to do with Will or honoring his life.)

“I loved him,” Diane says. “I know,” Alicia responds (lots of characters on this show say “I know” in response to deeply personal statements). “He loved you,” Diane tries to comfort her, thinking Alicia needs to hear this to be okay.

Diane grabs Alicia’s hand—more physical contact—as Alicia gets up to leave.

In the elevator, Alicia runs through a number of potential (and melodramatic) scenarios about what the voicemail was meant to be about. Her mind goes first to the best option—Will saying the feud is stupid and that he doesn’t want it to come between them. That’s not it; she shakes her head. If she’s going to believe that, she needs proof. She needs facts, she needs logic, she needs something. Her next scenario is Will screaming at her to leave his clients alone.

God, these scenes with Jeffery are hard to watch. He’s so broken. (Note that he’s often referred to as “the kid” and that people feel bad for him and view what happened to him as a tragedy in itself while holding him accountable for his actions.)

Time for complaint no. 3, and it’s basically just a variation on complaint no. 2: Why the hell isn’t Peter aware of this the second it happens? A huge tragedy in his former office in the biggest city of the state he’s the governor of, and he’s not aware of what’s happened? Eli thinks it’s good advice to have him on stage and talking to reporters about other matters? What? THIS IS NOT HOW THE MEDIA WORKS. Peter should be talking to the reporters: he should put together a statement and deliver it.

As soon as Peter hears the news, he wants to call Alicia. He doesn’t quite know what to say, but he knows he needs to talk to her. (He also refers to her as “my wife” the second time he tells Eli he needs to get in touch with her, which is a very possessive way of referring to Alicia.)

It might be less interesting to have everything come to a halt, but would this lawyer opposing Cary really be wanting to work at this moment? Wouldn’t this rock the entire Chicago legal world?

Alicia goes to talk to Judge Politi to see if he knows what happened and what the purpose of Will’s call might’ve been. Politi doesn’t know, but he says Finn Polmar might. (He also reveals that Will tried to get the gun away from Jeffery—at least Will gets to be a hero here.) “Polmar stayed with him the whole time?” Alicia asks, impressed and intrigued.

Alicia ignores Peter’s calls but picks up when Peter calls from Eli’s phone. Uh oh. This is a tough position for Peter to be in: he wants to say the right thing and be supportive, but there’s no right thing to say. On the other hand, if he says nothing and makes no effort, then it seems like he doesn’t care. He’s screwed either way, and he’s cautious with his words. Well, up until he says “I’m your husband, and I should be there.” Um, no????? Alicia complains that the press would follow Peter if he came to her. She sounds genuinely upset about this, like it’s more than an excuse, like she doesn’t want Peter there but what would really break her would be for the press to be all over her.

Peter spots Nelson Dubeck’s name on Eli’s recent calls list. “Can we just take a minute?” he lectures, expecting the whole world to stop because he said so. How I wish Peter would appreciate the way that Eli’s learned to live his entire life around Peter’s powertripping and his whims.

In the hospital, Alicia imagines Will, perfectly fine, tapping her on the shoulder (physical contact!) and telling her it’s all a mistake and he’s fine. Oh, God.

Alicia hears from Finn’s assistant that Will might’ve been mad at her for stealing another client. This is unacceptable to her. She doesn’t appear to want the truth as much as she wants facts that allow her to believe what she wants to believe. (Though I’m sure the truth would help her, too.)

“That’s what Will would do,” Diane says, resolved to absorb Will’s best qualities and let his legacy live on. Awww!

Over at F/A, Cary’s angry. He’s channeling his anger and grief and emotion into his deposition: “I said sit the hell down.” WOW, CARY!

Pasting in some old tags (# removed and slightly edited) about Kalinda looking at Will in the autopsy room. “I also really want to talk about the way Kalinda’s standing in that cap [at the end of the scene]. Perfect acting from Archie there: she looks like she’s trying to make herself as strong as possible, standing tall, her legs apart. Confident at a moment that’s incredibly emotionally draining.”

“I don’t know what to do, Kalinda,” Alicia phones Kalinda helplessly. Alicia wants to do something. Kalinda doesn’t have time to help (and she’s dealing with her own grief), and she already knows what she’s going to do, which is get as many facts as possible and regain control over the situation (and over Jeffery).

Diane says, to an awful client, that she’s firing him as a client and that she’s just talked to Cary and he won’t take him either. I love the idea of all of these hungry lawyers coming together for just a few hours.  

At the Florrick apartment, Grace brings her mom a glass of water and tries to comfort her by talking about God. Alicia’s a bit insulting, but Grace keeps pushing and answering Alicia’s questions openly. (Grace holds Alicia’s hand at one point, more physical contact.)  Grace asks if Will was a good person. “He... he did some bad things. But he did them because he wanted to be good,” Alicia explains. That’s enough for Grace, but Alicia’s not sure what it means or how to come to terms with all of this.

Alicia says believing in God is “wishful thinking,” and she doesn’t want to be participating in any “wishful thinking.” I believe it was @willastyrells who suggested that what Alicia does with the voicemail is wishful thinking, and that she takes comfort in wishful thinking, too.  I’d add that Alicia wants to feel like her wishful thinking has some substance by finding “facts” so she can feel like it’s not a belief (even though it totally is).

“Mom, I just want you to be happy.” “I will. I will, eventually,” Alicia responds. She has some perspective!

What Kalinda does to Jeffery is ice cold, but it’s very much in line with Kalinda’s idea of justice. The belt she dangles in front of Jeffery’s face is like a ball of yarn dangled in front of a cat. Kalinda pulls the belt away from Jeffery slowly, deliberately, methodically. Will was a good man (no doubt about it here). Kalinda loved him. Jeffery hurt him. So Jeffery has to suffer. It’s as simple as that to Kalinda.

Finn, or at least high on painkillers Finn, has a really distinctive voice and way of phrasing things. I can’t describe it, but I like it a lot.

Finn tells Alicia that Will was mad about “some guy” stealing clients (she’s off the hook!) He also tells her that Will asked about his wife and son’s names, which is exactly what Alicia needs to hear. She can take Will’s anger at Damian as confirmation he wasn’t angry at her, and hearing that Will expressed interest in someone’s family is just barely enough to make Alicia think that Will might’ve been good for her. It’s not much, but it’s enough for her to let herself build a fantasy on. She still has no facts, but she has just enough to indulge herself in some wishful thinking.

Peter gets to hug Alicia—he gets to be in her personal space. But he doesn’t get a hug back, and Alicia doesn’t look happy at all to be hugged. Alicia’s not even there, really: she’s too busy fantasizing about what she wanted Will to say: “I want to be with you. And only you. Forever. Call me back, please.” What’s stopping her from idealizing that relationship now? What use is there in looking at specific moments and fact checking and thinking pragmatically? He’s dead, and now it’s illogical to apply logic to the what ifs. She’s allowed herself to think that thinking about what if makes sense, so now it’s anything goes. (That makes no sense, but it’s midnight and I’ve been writing all day so just go with it.) (Also, the word “forever” is about fidelity—obviously an important issue for Alicia.)

Overall: A remarkable episode that explores grief in a lot of different ways. I was going to write something about the episode’s structure, but I’m pressed for time and I’ll just narrow it down to a couple points:  (1) We get to see everyone react to the news. Diane, Kalinda, Eli, Alicia, David Lee, Cary, Peter, Grace... it’s an episode that’s not just about one character and not just about honoring Will (though characters do, of course, honor Will in various ways over the course of the hour). (2) Alicia’s quest to find out what Will wanted to say ties the episode together: she comes in contact with every character in the episode in some way or another and either phones or goes to all of the sets used. She weaves around the story and helps everything feel more connected.

Grade: A (overall); n/a (case)

[florrickandassociates]

TGW Rewatch Project #105: 5x15-- Dramatics, Your Honor

Summary of Case: A continuation of the Jeffery Grant case from 5x07.

Liveblog + Comments:

This episode has a previously on. Make that stop.

We begin with a close up on Jeffery’s face, slow motion. He’s already disoriented.

Hi, New Series Regular Finn Polmar.

This episode starts out seeming a little strange. It’s more COTW based than usual, with a lot of effort in the writing and directing to make us care about the court scenes and the client, and Will is the focus. I knew what was going to happen before I watched (though I didn’t know how it would happen), but it’s really noticeable how abnormal this episode feels from the start.

Alicia (wearing a jacket with a collar I don’t like at all) happily watches business as usual at F/A and comments to Cary, “I was just thinking, none of this existed six months ago. [...] Thank you.” “For?” “Making me do this.” Awwww. Please don’t give up on their partnership, writers! Please explore it—the good and the bad!

Cary tells Alicia he’s seeing Kalinda. Alicia’s like, “I thought she was gay.” Um, Alicia, her exact words on the subject to you were, “I’m not gay.” Cary says she’s bi.

“Kalinda, I could kiss you,” Will jokes when Kalinda brings him evidence. “Not here,” Kalinda responds. You ever get the feeling something bad is about to happen...?

“Do you need a lawyer?” Eli asks Alicia, referring to her upcoming interview with Nelson Dubeck. “No, I have Cary,” Alicia responds. Awww!!! (Eli doesn’t seem to think highly of Cary, does he?)

I like the Finn we see in this episode; it’ll be interesting to see if Finn becomes more like this again in season 6. We’ve really only seen a brief glimpse of pre-shooting Finn and a lot of post-shooting Finn trying to deal with his PTSD and get back to normal. So, what’s Finn like as a character and not a victim?

“You think I’ve lost my perspective?” Will asks Diane. (Yes!)

I thought Jeffery was guilty the first time I watched. I thought Will was wrong. Heartbreaking.

“I’ll be in the courtroom next door,” Diane informs Will. I didn’t realize they’d hinted at Diane being in the courthouse at the same time as Will </3

Will and Diane get to joke around a little. At least there’s that. (I want to cry.)

Jeffery’s parents ask Alicia to consider replacing Will as Jeffery’s lawyer, and Alicia rejects them and takes the information to Will (she says something about cooling things down or thawing the ice to Cary as she’s leaving; this is Alicia’s attempt post-5x14 to get rid of the tension). “I decided to warn you,” Alicia tells Will.

“Hey. We may have our differences, but you’re the better lawyer,” Alicia tells Will. “I am, aren’t I?” “And the more humble,” Alicia responds. So friendly! And civil! At least their last interaction wasn’t a fight. Things weren’t fully better between them, or even close to that point, but this is better than where they were in 5x12...

Over drinks (and maybe dinner), Kalinda asks Will, “How long do you need to replace me?” She wants to quit—and not over money and not to join Alicia. “Just I wanted to, I dunno, I wanted to do something different,” Kalinda explains. “What, farming?” “Will, I don’t want to be doing this for the next 20 years.”

“You and I were built for this, Kalinda. It’s what we do. We can look at normal people and want to be like them, but we can’t, really.” Why wasn’t there more of the Will/Kalinda friendship in s5? WHY?

“Life is overrated. And—you’ll miss it, that feeling you get when you figure something out. You live for that. Anyway, I’ll miss you,” Will says. Will talking about life the day before he dies? These writers are evil. (And honestly, it’d be so obvious what was about to happen if this were any other show. This foreshadowing is so obvious and the way the episode is centered on Will and gives Alicia, Diane, and Kalinda nice final scenes with him should’ve been a warning sign.)

This entire Kalinda/Will scene is really great. And do you know how much I’d love to get some more insight into why Kalinda thought she wanted to leave and what she planned to do?! All this time we spent on Damian and Jenna could’ve been spent on an arc where Kalinda becomes increasingly disenchanted with her job and starts to wonder about what would happen if she changed up her life. How great could that have been?  How many awful sex scenes would we have been spared?

Dubeck somehow knows that Alicia and Will slept together (maybe because he’s heard the NSA call about how Alicia might have “influence there” according to Eli???) and I...  either people know or they don’t know! They can’t just know when it’s convenient to know!

Dubeck turns the interview personal and Alicia holds her own, pointing out that when things get personal, the interviewer is losing.

There are more stuffed ballot boxes, it seems. “A conspiracy of middle men,” Alicia, who was unaware of these other boxes, says.

Uh oh. We’re in court now. Will and Finn approach the bench. “Dramatics, Your Honor,” Finn says. The slow motion starts. The music begins. Jeffery spots the gun—you all know what happens next. It’s hard to watch even knowing that they show nothing.

 In a brilliant move, this sequence is edited so that we go from Jeffery eyeing the gun to Diane arguing in her court, where things are calm and proceeding as normal. Then the shots are fired, and Diane turns around, horrified. She knows. She can hear it’s coming from Will’s court, and she rushes into the hallway as everyone else hides.

Kalinda spots Will’s shoe and a shoeless foot. Here we go.

There are tons of powerful images in this episode, but the one I couldn’t shake was Jeffery crying and trying desperately to take his own life only to find he’s already used up all the bullets.

Kalinda finds Will, gasping for air and bleeding. Horrifying. Archie/Kalinda can barely get the words out and her voice breaks. She sounds so raw.

At the hospital, Diane wants to call his sisters—and Alicia. How sad, that the third most important person to call is his former lover he’s been fighting with. Poor Will. He never got the chance to build the life he wanted.

Kalinda, Diane, and the audience (presumably) think Will’s in an operating room, but he’s already dead, just sitting behind a curtain a few feet away. Kalinda spots the body of a man with one shoe missing—Will. Kalinda and Diane approach his bed (cot?) and Diane gasps when she sees. Kalinda moves closer to him, and both women begin to cry. OH MY GOD, THIS IS HARD TO WATCH.

The episode’s not over yet-- a million thanks to the writers for not doing this as a cliffhanger. That would’ve been manipulative and unbearable.

Kalinda tries to get ahold of Alicia by calling Eli. I hate watching everyone react to the news... but I love that the writers allow us to see everyone’s reactions. It’s the first time we have to hear the words “Will is dead,” and it still feels shocking.

Eli interrupts Alicia, who’s on FLOIL duty at a luncheon, and she answers the phone. THEN the episode ends. In true TGW style, the cliffhanger—if it can be called a cliffhanger—is about how a character will react to the news, not about an event.

Overall: I’m not sure I ever want to watch this one again. I don’t want to talk about the choice to kill Will off here—I’m linking to my first reaction post below and if you really want to read MORE words from me, feel free to ask for an update. I want to talk about the episode structure. It’s odd to have an episode that’s so Will-centric and case-based. It’s a little too convenient to get the scenes that give us nice final moments between Will and Kalinda, Will and Alicia, and Will and Diane (though theirs is very minor). The episode is slow moving but with a surprising amount of energy at first. But what happens in the last two acts is amazing, painful television, and excuses a lot of the flaws of the first three acts (‘cause really, the scenes aren’t too sappy and the COTW focus is fine as long as it makes sense). It was an incredibly smart choice to not show the violence and focus on the characters instead. It was also an incredibly smart choice to kill Will off at ~41 minutes into the episode (that’s if you’re watching with commercials) rather than having Jeffery fire the gun at the end of the episode. A cliffhanger would’ve been horrible. And it was a smart choice to have Will killed by a senseless, random act of violence rather than through some melodramatic soap opera cliché. And, because I don’t want to write any more about this episode, the last thing: it’s a brilliant choice to let this episode give Diane and Kalinda time to react to Will’s death before even bringing Alicia into the loop. I can’t stress enough how important it is that the show didn’t make Will’s death about Alicia. Better to give Kalinda and Diane the spotlight here and save Alicia’s reaction for 5x16.

From the Archives:

I wrote this post about my thoughts on Will’s death at like 3 am the night the episode aired. (And I really wish I’d been less Alicia-centric in it.)

Also, because it might be worth sharing, it didn’t fully hit me that Will was dead until about a month later when I was in a theater watching some movie. There was a violent scene in the movie, and all of a sudden, I thought of Will and cried and cried and cried. That was a strange experience.

Grade: (this grade based on the quality of the episode and how well the writers wrote Will out, not how much I like/dislike the episode) A- (overall); n/a (case; since it’s incomplete)