The Good Wife Review: “Shiny Objects” (6×05)

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.