I hate to beat a dead horse (I don’t know, do I? I’ve never tried it before, but I assume I wouldn’t enjoy it. If I saw a dead horse I’d probably run, knowing what I know after having watched the pilot episode of The Walking Dead) … but I digress.
What I hate to beat a dead horse about is the good wife on The Good Wife. As in, where’s she been, and why do I continue to feel as if she’s being completely underutilized? I know Alicia was at the heart of the wire tap discoveries on last night’s episode, but at the same time I don’t feel like we got enough of her. Maybe it’s just me … maybe Julianna Margulies is getting as much screen time as always, and I just want more of her now. But whatever the case may be, I want more.
And if the writers are trying to figure out where to find the time, they can start with her kids. In the beginning I enjoyed their roles on the show, but now they’re just irritants. Zach and his friend Becca (Dreama Walker) are incredibly annoying with the stupid web profile they created for Glen Childs Jr., and she’s even worse trying to shoehorn herself into Zach’s life. Plus good job upsetting the Childs’ campaign and gearing them up for revenge.
On the interesting end of the spectrum, last night’s case included reappearances by some old friends. In defending Alderman Matthew Wade (Mykelti Williamson) against a terrorism charge, the gang argued in front of our old friend Judge “In my opinion” Lessner (Ana Gasteyer). Smooth move by Will to warn Diane of the judge’s odd proclivity.
It was also fun seeing Lemond Bishop (Mike Colter) again — I wonder who his new attorney’s are — and I loved the henchman of his that was working behind the counter at the gas station … that was Bodie (J.D. Williams) from The Wire! Is it feeding into my theory about Derrick Bond having been Maury Levy’s old partner? Probably not, but a man can dream. Regardless, the fact that the Alderman took the money in exchange for ceding drug territory was a lot more interesting than another tired terrorism plot.
I’m not so into the show’s subtle (or not so subtle) usage of real Chicago things in its stories, like dropping Rahm Emanuel’s name last week — in the most useless of ways — or the cloud Rod Blagojevich has cast over Chicago politics this week. Even worse was the White House connection that was used as a means for getting the case dropped. Whatever our opinions of the real instances, unless the characters on the show have ties to them let’s just leave them out of it. Why get real politics mixed into our TV world?
Besides, the show has enough politics of its own going on. Eli being a target of the investigation was great; it validates his place in the Chicago political hierarchy. I hope it does bring Peter down, but I know that’ll never happen.
Meanwhile, Diane trying to use the wire tap information as leverage to get Eli to come with her and David Lee (Zach Grenier) — could she be leaving the show? — was beneath her. I don’t like her, but I’m not sure her character would have ever breached privilege like that. Good for Eli for essentially sticking with Alicia. For now, that is.
I imagine most people have accepted the fact that Blake is who Kalinda thinks he is, and that we’re seeing the case get stacked against her in advance of all hell “unexpectedly” raining down on his head. But I still think Cary’s either wrong about Blake, or he’s leading Kalinda astray with regards to Blake for an as-yet-unknown reason. Plus, while best case scenario I want them both to stay, a little part of me is starting to hope that Blake beats Kalinda out of a job. I’m just not liking who she’s become this season.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 24, 2010 @ 12:30 EST5EDT
None of you guys like the shows that you review. Maybe you all should change shows.
I think it’s possibly to like a show and not like every episode.
However, I disagree with Aryeh’s opinion about Alicia’s family, because the premise of the show is based on her status as a wife and mother (and a human being – including her own feelings toward Will). And opinion is the key word in that sentence – we all have our own! :)
*POST AUTHOR*
Jennifer’s right — only speaking for myself and The Good Wife, this is one of my favorite shows.
I’ll even go farther than her and say that one can dislike certain aspects of a show’s fundamentals and still enjoy the show as a whole. It’s frustrating that they waste their time with nonsense, but the nonsense doesn’t detract from the quality of the program.
Jennifer: You’re right that they initially set out to make the show about what you say, but I feel as if it quickly developed into simply this strong woman carrying on despite all of the noise at home. That premise would have been maintained had Peter remained in prison, a distraction for what he’d done and how it affected Alicia’s reputation, but not a distraction standing in her kitchen, causing her kids to make fake web profiles and get questioned by reporters. It’s that development that now detracts from what the show was for most of last season.
Being from the Chicago area, I really appreciate the real world names and how they are incorporated into the show. It creates authenticity within the stories.
I also liked how Alicia found out about the second voice mail from Will. I was disappointed when it seemed to have been dropped and wasn’t coming back. I expect that it will all play into whether Alicia stays at Will’s firm or moves on to the new firm (if that actually happens).
I don’t really know what to expect if the firm splits up. We already have Cary in the DAs office, not sure if having another “location” for characters would be good or not. I guess it would be interesting to see the new and old firm compete against each other. Not sure if I would like it or not.
*POST AUTHOR*
I guess I see what you’re saying, but that line two weeks ago when Peter walked into the Democratic Chair’s office — “That Rahm Emanuel, huh?” — felt kind of ridiculous to me, like, “let’s make this current and relevant, and considering the fact that Rahm is back and trying to run for Mayor let’s mention him.” By the way, I love how his tenant’s running for Mayor now! ;)
Talk about making it current…. they really do rip from the headlines…. the flap about the sodium thiopental in last night’s ep is a direct steal from a controversy now ongoing in TX. And the Al Gore rip-off…. hilarious but too similar.
That said, I love the Good Wife.
*POST AUTHOR*
Thanks for the TX reference, but Al Gore?