This was not a good episode for me. First of all, I fail to understand the allure of Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh on The Good Wife. Sure it’s funny to see Billy Bob Bingo Bango Russell from The West Wing as a Tea Partier, but that’s about it. I haven’t enjoyed McVeigh, and I certainly haven’t enjoyed the requisite emphasis on Diane, and Diane and McVeigh’s relationship, that comes with his presence. And last night was no different.
In fact, the case of the “wrongfully imprisoned” Jason Beltran was really only noteworthy for some of the other guest stars making appearances. Beltran’s lawyer, Tommy Segara, was played by Dennis Boutsikaris … you know, the guy who’s not Andy Garcia (Who, for the longest time, was the guy who wasn’t Al Pacino. Boy was it confusing for me when they shared a screen together.) Anyway, it’s driving me crazy that I can’t remember what I just saw him in, but Boutsikaris was awesome in something that I just saw in. Helpful, right?
His was a normal guest spot. The abnormal prize went to Jerry Stiller as Judge Felix Afterman. Huh? Let me get this straight: Frank Costanza … Arthur Spooner … judge who falls asleep? Stiller must be a huge fan of the show, and he must have just wanted to say he was on it and meet the cast. Otherwise I totally don’t get his casting; even in the unlikely event that he can’t find work, he can always call up his son Ben and beg a part in Ben’s next movie. And that’s assuming he’d ever have to resort to that.
Wendy Scott-Carr, Eli, and the illegal immigrant nanny could have been interesting, but instead Eli was turned into somewhat of a pervert. Did he not look like a complete letch staring at Natalie Flores (America Ferrera) the way he did? And I have no feelings for her either way, but was that really the big “America Ferrera guest stars on The Good Wife” moment? Because she literally could have been any random no-name actress and she would have done just as mediocre of a job.
Grace totally should be voted off the island that is this show. However, her school’s t-shirt policy did raise an interesting question about the First Amendment. I’m not a lawyer, but I remember learning somewhere that schools need not adhere to the same requirements as the general public when it comes to free speech; something about “best interest of the students,” or something like that. That’s what allows schools to institute things like dress codes to avoid clothing being used as excluders and status symbols. So I wonder why an intelligent lawyer like Alicia failed to consider that thought when she was threatening Grace’s principal with a lawsuit.
Grace’s religious zeal is totally uninteresting. Not to knock it if that’s what she wants out of life, but why should we care as a viewing audience? What in the world does Grace have to do with what we’re watching the show for?
This one was a stinker. But I’ll leave you with some good moments:
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 23, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
Although I liked this week’s episode, I agree that the guest power seemed wasted. However, I couldn’t stop staring at Cole’s hypnotic porn-stache.
While I liked the warmer side Natalie brought out in Eli, his sudden ensoulment didn’t make sense, especially if the new pollster serves as his Eli while he continues to play that role for Peter.
I actually like Grace’s phase. I’m tired of TV doing the rebellious female teens driven to drinking and sex, so it’s nice seeing a new flip to the coin –
*POST AUTHOR*
I don’t mind the subtext of Grace’s plot as much as 1) the bumbling way I think it’s being handled, and 2) the discordant note Zach and Grace have started sounding when played against the rest of the show. Starting from Peter’s mother looking in on Grace and her friend praying like they were kissing, straight through to “Why do you hate Jesus,” it’s just felt so … I don’t know, but not good. :)
It was definitely an uneven episode, though I kinda like Gary Cole and Baranski together. Stiller was completely out of place. The show usually does a great job with quirky judges – this one didn’t work… in my opinion (see what I did there?)
America was fine, and I think CBS just used the name to promote the show. They are trying whatever they can to boost ratings, I think.
*POST AUTHOR*
I didn’t realize they had ratings worries for this show….
Unfortunately it is one of the lowest rated shows on CBS. Of course it would be a smash hit for NBC, but…
*POST AUTHOR*
Hey, it’s like I always say: If you can’t be happy with 12-13 million weekly viewers and critical acclaim … become a network executive?
So where do I start… there’s so much to pick from…
First of all all you didn’t pick up on the premise of this episode. It was “Hipocrisy”, which was part of all three storylines. Eli even states it.
Since you did not seem to get that, you focused on guest stars. I think this is due to the previews which I don’t watch so I think it’s understandable if they plug America Ferrara all week long that you kinda get into that direction. In the end, you solely relied on dissecting the show’s guest stars which in my very humble opinion is something… well it’s a beginner’s mistake when it comes to reviewing shows if you ask me. It really is a shame that when you write a review about a show that is most likely the most laudated and best-written drama on regular network TV (and I guess next to “Mad Men” the currently best written show on TV in general) you are unable to focus on the storylines. There was a lot to dissect there but alas you focus on your personal likes and dislikes of characters.
It really is a shame you know and I don’t understand why it is so hard not to do this for you. I could remind you of “Eli Stone” when Kiate Holmes guest-starred and the only reason why that episode (or the episodes) was good seemed to be because she was (in your opinion) so good. Story didn’t matter back then. Exposition didn’t matter either. All that was needed for you was someone who’s… well I don’t really know. Easy to look at? Part of Scientology? Who knows. I certainly didn’t back then and I still don’t.
There are so many things you did not pick up on. Eli didn’t have much of a backstory – you noted that he had a daughter and “who knew”. Well if you were actually watching the show with both eyes and your ears open you could’ve picked up on it in the episode where Alicia listened to the wiretaps (“On Tap” – Season 2 Episode 8) when Eli got the call from his daughter where she announced to him that she wanted to go to Israel (being 18 and all). It’s about 15 minutes in. Feel free to check it. How come I remember that and I don’t even review the show?
It is also the first time we see Eli conflicted in anything he did before for the campaign. This conflict of interest because he saw something more in that person who saw America as something good, something to work hard for to be able to stay in, an ideal, an idea. You know. The American Dream. You didn’t pick up on that either. All you could see was the superficial. The lech. Not that Eli was actually attracted to a woman who embodied the ideals he thought he was working for. He even said it. He said he was a hypocrit.
Then we have Diane who has to decide whether to defend someone who is representing the absolute opposite of her belief system. She is conflicted. All you see is the actor who plays that other person. Maybe you also just saw the sex the two had. You don’t see the conflict, just the shallow things here as well. Also it is the first time that McVeigh is obviously wrong and we see how that conflicts him (!). We see how he reacts to the other expert he does not seem to like and ask ourselves: is he, in fact, just a racist? McVeigh is supporting the Tea Party which apparently is racist – and the other expert is an immigrant. You did not mention this part of the story either, which could’ve also been topped off with the quote of the other expert who said his accent gets worse when he gets emotional, something he has in common with McVeigh who only takes on cases where he knows he’s right. This wasn’t worth a mention to you.
Finally we have Alicia who has a conflict of her own (not even mentioning that she had the C story in this episode, taking an absolute backseat even though she is the title character – to flesh out Baranski’s and Cumming’s charactes more, giving the show more deph). She is an apparent atheist who has a daughter who wants to know more about religion. The way she deals with that to you is just about Grace’s “zeal” – whatever that means. Alicia even says it in the episode. Grace is rebelling.
The show basically spelled everything out for you. Hipocrisy – Rebellion – Conflict.
It was all there. ALl you could do was focus on guest characters, absolutely unable to dissect the show. To be honest if I were a teacher and I had to grade your review, I would give it a D- because you managed to attach your name to it.
This is not the best of reviews for a review. I didn’t put that much time into it, I could’ve done more. Something you should’ve done instead of just barfing words all over this page.
It’s a shame you know. Every time you write something you are so far off of what COULD BE. It seems the only goal is to write something, anything about this show, no matter what.
It’s a disgrace.
My mother literally just called in in shock — “Who is Sebastian?!?” LOL, that’s all!
Oh my… don’t know what to say. I guess you had something to talk about then (me) – and if your mother is half as fun as you then I guess you both had a fun phonecall ^^;
I thought it was a good episode mostly with the Eli story line and Grace.