Karl Delossantos

It’s the episode we’ve been waiting for since the Pilot and is a sign of the end for The Good Wife. Towards the end of “Shiny Objects,” Alicia takes the stage to announce her candidacy for State’s Attorney. However, the question posed throughout the episode was whether or not she would do it with Peter by her side. With Eli and her newly appointed campaign manager Danny breathing down her neck about the announcement, Alicia had little time to think about her case and the cyber attack on the firm. Yes, you read that right. A cyber attack.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, The Good Wife is unmatched by any network drama in its ability to grind on every detail of a storyline. This is best shown when Diane inadvertently causes a cyberterrorist to hack into the Florrick/Agos system and hold their files for ransom. With a 72 hour deadline, Diane enlists the help of Kalinda to try and prevent the deletion of their files. However, the storyline ended up being less about the ransom and more about Kalinda. Sadly, over the past couple of seasons Kalinda has been pushed to the sidelines in favor of more pressing storylines (*cough* Will Gardner *cough*), however with Archie Panjabi’s impending departure it seems that the writers are giving the character her due screen time.

With Kalinda’s relationship with Cary still in full view, she goes to FBI agent Lana Delaney to assist her in the case. Despite calling her out on only going to her when she needs something, Lana still helps Kalinda. Of course, it leads to where all of Kalinda’s storylines lead: in bed. As Kalinda listens to Lana tell her the story of her coming out, even being asked if she was out to her parents, she again closed up. Will we ever learn more about the mystery that is Kalinda? I have no clue, but I’m sure the Kings know we’re waiting.

The storyline also takes Diane to a different place than we would expect too. When the code that will save their files goes to her Lockhart/Gardner email address, she must go to David Lee to retrieve it. However, in usual fashion, he asks for the lease on the offices to be transfer to him and Canning. Of course, Diane calls his bluff and doesn’t take it in her usual fashion, but that coupled with the slowly deteriorating office conditions (as brought on by the brilliant plot device of a water leak) gives Diane the idea to take her offices back.

In this particular episode, the case of the week is delegated to the C-storyline. Emmy winner Carrie Preston returns to reprise her role as the wonderfully quirky Elsbeth Tascioni. However, like everyone in this episode, we dig deeper into her. Particularly her ADD. Or at least what I assume is ADD. She works against Alicia on a unlawful termination lawsuit that eventually leads to the government charging the company with theft of trade secrets, which forces both sides to team up to quash the suit. What this means for the series, I don’t know, but the last time a case went on more than one episode we lost a character. Hopefully, things turn out differently.

To see where Alicia has come is an absolute thrill for a fan of the series from the beginning, however this episode in particular. As Eli and Danny urge her to disinvite Finn from endorsing her at her announcement, she’s again faced with the familiar dilemma of doing what everyone is telling her to do versus what she wants to do. With a wonderful callback to the Pilot, she screams at Peter for giving her the ultimatum of dropping Finn or losing him as an endorsement during the announcement. It’s a stronger Alicia. Opposed to the woman in the Pilot who cried and slapped her husband after he announced his resignation, she now stands up for herself.

On the day of the announcement, we see an eerie similarity to Peter’s announcement in the Pilot. However, instead of Alicia standing beside her husband, he’s standing beside her cheering her on. My one gripe with the episode was the decision to end it with newspaper clippings with side by side images of the Pilot and this episode. While I understand that they wanted to point out the similarities, part of the charm of the series is their trust in the audience. The trust that we’re just going to get it. Either way, with a few more episodes to go in this half I’m interested in seeing how this storyline pans out for the season and the series.

“The future is weird.”

That quote has defined The Good Wife since its creative resurgence last year. There was a period of time during 3rd and 4th seasons that the show fell into a pattern of stagnant stories and the case of the week format. While that worked for the series for a while, it became clear that some forward momentum had to be thrown into the mix, thus the civil war of Lockhart/Gardner was born. The reason I mention this now is because this episode so subtly moved the story of Alicia Florrick and the world surrounding The Good Wife forward.

“Trust Issues” was nowhere near a perfect episode. It was reminiscent of those season 3 episodes where they would pack 2 or 3 continuing storylines, with 2 cases of the week and just have a mess of a story. However, a lot of the good out weighed the bad. Cary continued to sit in jail as Finn continued his crusade against Lemond Bishop. However, unlike last week’s premiere Cary was not the emotional center of the episode. Much of that lifting was given to Alicia and Diane, but more on that later. The case became more interesting with the introduction of a rat among Bishop’s associates and with his various attempts to pay Cary’s bail, however like almost every storyline in the episode, it felt half-assed. As much as some people despise the A, B, C storyline structure, it usually allows for there to be some focus in the episode.

Another facet to the story came from Eli’s persistent attempts to get Alicia to run, going as far as to commandeer a White House insider to coax Alicia. The best part about this storyline is that it became intertwined

This episode also saw the return of Lemond Bishop, whose illegitimate businesses landed Cary in jail in the first place. While the character is always entertaining because of the thin line between his legal and illegal dealings, what he brings out in the other characters is one of his more interesting qualities. The majority of the characters on The Good Wife are fueled by a few things: money, power, success. However, their own morals are so rarely tested. That’s where the character of Lemond Bishop comes in. Even we as an audience are tested whenever the character is on screen. In this episode in particular, Kalinda is forced to make the decision of whether or not to give a man’s name up and most likely have him murdered. It’s this type of character dilemma that we don’t see often enough in the show that were a welcome addition.

Alicia was given back some of the emotional heavy lifting as she continued to defend her stance against running for State’s Attorney. With Eli, Castro, and even some random benefactors wanting to back her, it seemed as if she had to cave eventually. However, in the end, it was anger that took over. It was a fire that we wouldn’t have seen in the first season. As it is often said, this series will always be an education of Alicia Florrick and this episode was no exception.

It was a disappointment to see that the original emotional center in Cary was short-lived, but whatever reprehension I had quickly faded away when the focus switched to Diane’s departure from Lockhart/Gardner/Canning. The majority of her storyline was spent trying to rope her protege Dean Levine-Wilkins into her move. Despite setbacks involving construction, an awkward Robin (“we’re like a coffee shop”), and a shirtless man named Gunter, he ultimately decides to leave LGC and move over to Florrick/Agos along with several other department heads. As Diane stood in her office, it felt like an even bigger emotional jolt than in “Hitting the Fan” when Alicia left. We learned throughout the series that that firm was Diane’s child. The one that she never had. To watch her leave it was an emotional tug. As the seconds counted down, she simply picked up her bag, the picture of her and Hilary Clinton (a wonderful callback to the Pilot), and left the firm with a posse in tow. An elevator door close later and it was the end of an era and episode, right?

Nope. We of course had to save Cary. The convenience of the ChumHum storyline was a bit bothersome here, but because of the show’s strong track record with realism, I’m going to let it slide. The money from the settlement was used to pay Cary’s bail, just as the partners voted to become Florrick/Agos/Lockhart & Associates. After his release Cary and Alicia hug, apparently for the first time.

Something felt off about this episode. It was great in some parts and weaker in others. However, its greatest downfall was the neat little bow that tied all the storylines together and bringing us to a cute, but convenient ending. That feels like the word of the day: convenient. However, the best parts of The Good Wife continue to be those small nuanced directorial decisions that give the show its trademarked realism. The strong point of the episode was the directing, which made the constant juggling of storylines and ideas bearable. Although the episode tied up some of these storylines a bit to early for my taste, it excites me to see where they take this set up.

I was both excited and concerned coming into the sixth season premiere of The Good Wife. Excited because they were coming off their best season yet and concerned because they were coming off their best season yet. It would be an understatement to say that season 5 was a game changer. We saw who was essentially the male lead of the show killed off, the firm that we’ve been rooting for the entire series become the enemy, and every character change drastically in one way or another. Alicia said it best in the season finale: “it’s been a weird year.” However, all those excitements and concerns were put to rest when a different, but still phenomenal series premiered last night.

In “The Line” we are thrown into a case that has an interesting character at its emotional center. From the beginning of the series, Cary has been the relatively straight character. Not to say he is a boring character, it just seems that the writers never saw an opportunity to use the character in any capacity outside the legal side of the show. However, this episode tests Cary’s resilience outside the courtroom. Turns out life isn’t so pretty on the other side of the law. We’re quickly learning that Cary may not be as strong as we originally thought. There was a degradation of his put together facade when he was faced with an arena that he isn’t used to or fearful of.

The most satisfying part of this episode is that Cary’s arrest, which happens before the opening credits, seems like such a gimmick. The Good Wife is a show that is based in such realism, so when something somewhat outside the norm occurs you know that something is up. It’s the same way I felt with Will’s death. It came off as jumping the shark, but it turned out to be just another step in what is an education of Alicia Florrick. Cary’s arrest came as a test for Alicia to see if she could handle the firm and decisions on her own. It’s also going to further complicate Diane’s transition into Florrick/Agos. With a name partner incarcerated and firm funds being tied up with his bail, it may be difficult to convince clients to come into the firm ($38 million worth, as Diane has said 57 times).

Cary’s arrest has an interesting tie to the rest of the series. Lemond Bishop has been an interesting character in that he makes nearly everyone he interacts with question their morals. The characters on The Good Wife are educated, successful, and wealthy people, who believe what they are doing is being done for the greater good. However, when you mix a man who has a corrupt business but also brings you revenue beyond your imagination, they’re morality is questioned. Are they bad people? Everyone down to Kalinda, whose morality seems so self centered even questions what she’s doing.

A side story line (which brought us a very… adult moment involving panties, or lack thereof) involved Eli’s attempt to get Alicia to run for state’s attorney. Her answer? Not in hell. However, Eli continues and discovers that she can in fact win. Let’s keep an eye out.

This episode is a wonderful reminder that this is a show about adults by adults for adults. The writers don’t attempt to baby their audience. They cut the bullsh!t and give us story. That’s why The Good Wife is such a successful network television series. This episode doesn’t really give us any clues about the rest of the season, usually the Kings are careful to bury those deep within the episodes, but it’s clear that The Good Wife is back at it.