The Good Wife: 5x10 The Decision Tree.
This is going to be a more difficult review to write than what the show has been doing for maybe one and a half years ago, but bear with me. One of the core elements of a drama show about lawyers is the court room itself, and how the two sides tell different stories about an event, and try to support it with evidence. It's also about truth and lying an all those other things - although sometimes, and TGW is so good at that, it's also not as simple as a distinction between true and false or wrong and right - but it definitely is about two competing narratives, two stories. Matthew Ashbough wrote a last will and gave all his money to his wife; Matthew Ashbaugh wrote a last will and gave his money to an odd charity, and Alicia Florrick - two stories about a lot of money, and an eccentric man who was in love with Alicia Florrick (because that's a story that nobody would actually deny).
But then outside the court room part of this episode, and outside the court room part of the show itself, there are two competing stories as well - two stories about Will and Alicia. Alicia's story is that she made a choice for Peter and against Will, and left the firm mostly for all the things Cary told her after Will offered her the managing partnership. Will's story, told this episode (because we've known this, the reason for his sense of betrayal, but it's never been so clearly articulated) is that Alicia used his feelings for him against him, manipulated him, and then walked away with everything he cared about (any kind of potential future he might have imagined for them together, and his clients). In a way, it doesn't even matter necessarily if you think that Alicia is the kind of person who would do that, or if she actually did it for those reasons - because this is Will's truth, the version of Alicia he's created in his head (a version we see when he maps out his strategy, imagining her response, because she used Matthew Ashbaugh's love to get what she wanted, and she used his love to get what she wanted, and he's going to reveal all of it to the public - this is Will's truth).
Revenge is the only way Will knows to deal with his feelings, and interrogating Alicia, getting her to admit to her flaws and her betrayal, is how he will get his revenge. This is how he thinks it will go, one of the versions in his head -
Alicia: I didn't intentionally use him.
Will: Not intentionally, I see, so it's just the way you are with men.
Alicia: No. I cared for him. I liked him.
Will: So it was all right to use him?
Alicia: You make things sound so simple. I'm married.
Will: You always use that, don't you. Married. You're conveniently married when you wanna be.
Alicia: That's not fair. I loved you.
Will: You made me believe that so you could steal my clients.
Alicia: No. Will.
Will: You stop it. I don't like it when you're weak.
He identifies with Matthew Ashbaugh, this is why he sinks his teeth in so deeply (and he remembers the jealousy as well, recognizing that look on Matthew Ashbaugh's face when he's watching Alicia, and we see a flashback of all three of them, Matthew seeing how intimate Alicia was with Will, and then threatening to fire her because it didn't fit with the version HE had of Alicia in his head). It's a two-sided thing, though. On the one hand, it feels like a violation, imagining someone (which I guess always happens in any kind of relationship, but in this case it's heightened because presumably, Will has spent a lot of time imagining Alicia, both before they got together and after their break-up - imaginary conversations, imaginary hook-ups, all those things that slightly alter memories as time passes). On the other hand, and that's why this episode is so good, it's also what gives Alicia power, and she did use that power, just in a different way than Will thought. She was asked to use it, by David Lee, and she did, to get that first will signed that profits Ashbaugh's wife. He never saw that twist coming, but Alicia knew exactly what would happen if Will put her on the stand - she was ready, even though we never saw her prepare for it - and she isn't weak. And it seems to change things, at least that final phone call - Will telling her that there are four more wills, because that's the kind of person Ashbaugh was (and I'm sure there's a lot more stuff like that down the line, little things set in place so Alicia will never be without him) - made it seem like it's different now.
To lighten the emotional heaviness, F/A's Christmas party takes a hilarious turn when only a bunch of people RSVP, so Cary asks Alicia to invite Peter (and then invites him himself), whereupon like 900 people intend to come, incidentally. A shocked Eli (because Colin Sweeney!) tries to make it Marilyn's problem, and she almost manages to escape, until Eli brings up the fact that Peter once illegally cut a deal with Colin (hey, remember that?), so they both try to pull strings to keep Peter away from the party, which incidentally ends up in both Jackie and Veronica going - and fighting about wine and religion and stuff, as per usual - and both Peter and Donna Brazile (who wants to talk about "2016") coming as well, and ending up in like a thousand pictures with Lemond Bishop. Plus guess what name Marilyn chose for the unborn male child in her belly?
I'm not sure where things are going with Kalinda Sharma, who opens the episode (how long has it been?), and spends a good part of it car-chasing Damian through Chicago, which he thinks is foreplay (and the slightly amused smile on her face indicates that she's delighted by it as well, to some extent). Damian seems to be capable to play that game about as well as she does, and gets rid of her by having her caught by a cop - and regardless of whether that was the original plan, and it may as well have been, she spends part of the night in the back of her car, and the rest of it in her bed, trying to find out more about Damian, but failing because "It's too bad I like Damian more than I like you". Hm. Both Damian and the cop seem not necessarily unfazed, but at least fazed in a very different way than usual, by Kalinda Sharma (but surprisingly, Kalinda doesn't seem particular unsettled by the fact).
Kalinda: What do you owe him?
Jenna: Wow. You can't turn it off, can you. Just stop being an investigator for like ten minutes.
Kalinda: Will that help me?
Jenna: Sure.
Kalinda: Okay.
Jenna: Charm me.
Kalinda: What?
Jenna: You want out off your cuffs, turn on the charm.
Kalinda: I don't do charm.
Jenna: Okay, then sit tight.
Kalinda: What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back.
Jenna: What.
Kalinda: A stick.
The last time Kalinda stopped being an investigator, she made a friend. And then Alicia left and never said a word. Or it's really just a really bad joke about boomerangs (and sometimes they come back and hit you in the face), I don't know.
- Zach: Sometimes I think of you as mom and other times just as this interesting person who lives at our house.
- I'm not entirely convinced that the show still cares, but I do: so in the continued absence of any kind of interaction between Alicia and Kalinda, it's interesting to note how much "almost" there is, especially now that Kalinda is tailing Damian.
- Also - interesting to see how different the dynamic between Robyn and Alicia is, but it's delightful nonetheless, quirky fuck-ups aside (because Robyn knows how to play to her strengths, which are different than Kalinda's).
- Cary sends Hayden into his first examination and he adorably almost falters under the pressure until he, much to the delight of the sex worker who is the witness, totally owns it. Cary x Hayden x The Law is currently my OTP I think.
- Free space? There's a Virgin Mary statue now. Your desk? A whole pile of angels. Little baby Jesuses, everywhere. Jackie's magic purse is bottomless, and she's IN CHARGE OF DECORATIONS, Eli!
- (also Alicia's panicked "Jackie?" when Peter asks if he can bring his mother along)
No comments:
Post a Comment