Rough day at the office sounds like sugar pie in comparison to the week Will Gardner’s just had.
The Good Wife "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"
After a deadly drone attack, Will and Alicia take on the female sergeant who has been accused of the murder of twelve victims. And there is nothing more amusing than seeing Will back in military court having another face-off against Judge Leora Kuhn (Linda Emond). It’s moments like these when I really appreciate Josh Charles’ comedic skills along with the incredible guest-stars the show always manages to snag for their judges.
As predicted, Cary and Kalinda didn’t skip off into the sunset holding hands after their kiss last week. In fact, we see Cary in bed with someone else. His colleague, Dana Lodge (Monica Raymund).
It was only a matter of time before Alicia got wind of Jackie’s snooping around her things. And when she does, there is no hesitation before changing the locks to her apartment. The good news is the kids are finally one hundred percent on team mom after learning of their grandmother’s mischievous business. When Jackie tries to use her key the next day, Alicia is there waiting for her. And boy, does she give it to her. With every one of Jackie’s attempts to diss Alicia’s parenting skills and self-worth, the good wife has a fiery response. She finally set Jackie straight by saying: “Look at me, Jackie. Look at my face. You no longer have the power to wound.” Julianna Margulies’ mix of sarcasm, wit and aggression throughout their confrontation was the perfect demonstration of how Alicia is one of the classiest bad-asses on television. And just when we think she couldn’t possibly get better than that, she goes to see Zach and…it’s too good of an exchange not to share word for word.
Zach: “Hey mom, what’s up?”
Alicia: “Jackie drives you over to Dad’s now?”
Zach: “Yeah, why?”
Alicia: “Grab your coat. Let’s buy you a car.”
I’m torn as to whether I’d want to be Alicia in all of her awesome glory, or have her be my mom. But what I do know is, either way, she is incredible. It’s nice to see her keep fighting back after being pushed around for so long.
On a more serious note, the States Attorney’s Office continues to make Will’s life a living hell. After Peter stepped down from the investigation, he made Wendy Scott-Carr (Anika Noni Rose) the prosecutor of the case. Even though the SA claims to be coming after Will for judicial bribery, Diane (being the sharp woman she is) sees right through it.
Diane confronts Will and finally has it out with him. She orders him to end it with Alicia, and won’t accept no for an answer. “I don’t need you to say anything to me, but you need to take care of this. Make it go away. Stop it. Alicia. Peter Florrick is coming after you because you are sleeping with his wife. It’s wrong; you are her boss, he is the State’s Attorney. Even if it weren’t wrong, it’s not smart. Stop sleeping with his wife. Do you understand me?” Not even giving him time to answer, she scorned him for his actions and walked away, leaving an enraged Will to take his anger out with his fist to a metal pole. (ouch?!) Poor Will, when’s the guy going to catch a break? First he had to spend two seasons pining over his college love, watching her stay obediently by the side of her cheating-husband. And now, once he’s finally got the girl, their love affair is filled with complication after complication.
The episode ends with a very powerful scene. After losing their case in military court, Alicia is not happy. She believes that their client was used as a ‘scapegoat’, and Judge Kuhn brings some enlightening words to the bitter lawyer. “The truth is there are 12 people dead, six children, because of Sgt. Elkins’ actions. You didn’t ask one word about them—children like yours, children like mine. This was a just verdict. The problem with the charge of scapegoating is it doesn’t acknowledge that at a certain point you have to hold people accountable. That is what’s happening here. That’s all.… Goodnight, Mrs Florrick.” One thing I love about this show is its ability to show the faults of our protagonist. She’s not perfect, she does make mistakes, she does have faults, but she does get called out on them.
It often seems that when I get ready to watch the new episode of The Good Wife, I know it’s going to be the best episode yet. But then, after another stellar hour of primetime television, the promo for next week’s episode is shown. And then I have to take back my previous statement and give that one the crown. It’s a vicious circle really, but one I definitely don’t mind being part of.
Catch an all-new episode of The Good Wife in two weeks on Sunday, December 4th at 9/8c on CBS.
