Monsters of Television

“It’s getting to her.”

At least the kids came out of their rooms this time.

“Mock” is an interesting case of letting the dust settle a bit after a fairly explosive episode the previous week. In the comments for last week, I mentioned how I didn’t feel they’d be able to keep up the excitement across their 4 remaining hours,, and I was right. This week’s episode isn’t terribly exciting in terms of the serialized elements in the show, but is a solid procedural episode.

Also, we find out that Kalinda can’t speak Hindi. Finally. Something she can’t do. Take note slippery characters of Chicago! Do all your business in Hindi!

Now when I say that the dust is settling, I don’t mean right off the bat. The episode jumps in at the end of the previous episode, with the fight heard from the kids’ perspectives and then heading out of the room to deal with the blaring alarm set off by Peter’s exit. It’s a taunt scene as the kids scramble to protect their dad. Grace is a horrible liar and Zack is surprisingly adept at hurting himself on purpose. And given that, initially, we’re not sure where Peter is, how far out of the building he’s ventured after Alicia, it’s kind of captivating.

Except for Anil. How hangs out in the threshold, watching the kids scramble around. Had it been Jackie then the scene might’ve worked a little more smoothly. Instead, Anil’s presence is a bit of a distraction since we’ve never seen him before (and have he or his mother been mentioned prior to this episode?). It serves as a bit of a ham-fisted way to start off the procedural plot of the episode.

Which actually plays out rather well despite its rocky start. The organic nature of how people get drawn into it is refreshing for a procedural. It makes sense for Kalinda to be continually involved given her heritage, as someone who can at least not look conspicuous in Little India (Alicia and Cary would kind of stand out). At the same time, they didn’t make the procedural about Kalinda or her background, giving small tidbits that her family immigrated legally into the States but nothing beyond that. It would’ve been all too easy to make this a very special Kalinda episode and that the show resists shows the degree of discipline they have.

I know this may seem like a weird compliment coming from someone who just last week wanted Kalinda to be fleshed out more, and that a very special episode would achieve just that. It’d be more rewarding if that development, however, came organically to the plot, and wasn’t standing in the threshold, hereforto unseen by human eyes.

How the procedural even draws in Cary, by having him think it’s the video gaming case he and Alicia were working in, is an amusing and fitting way to keep all the players playing. It also brings back into focus (as last week’s episode did) the junior associate competition between the two of them. That Diane acknowledges that it’s probably time to make a decision (it’s a month overdue) places it back into the table as a plot element, one more stressor on Alicia and on the firm.

And Alicia is trying to nip those stressors in the bud. Her sit downs with the kids and with Peter both play out as someone trying to stick their fingers in the holes of a sinking ship. Alicia can talk all she wants about honesty within the family, but as she makes clear to Grace and Zack there are things she’s not willing to talk about, and she pulls the “Adults have complicated emotions” card and leaves the room. Perhaps she thinks with enough plaster those holes will go away, but with Kozko’s suicide I doubt it’ll hold out for much longer.

I don’t have much to say about Will’s potential new romance with a 25-year old law student. The upside is that they set it up by having Will call Sadie after Alicia bails on the date, indicating that while he’s happy to be with Alicia, he’s also not going to wait around and pine if it becomes clear that Alicia’s not willing to leave Peter. Perhaps this will we-won’t we game will be the dagger Will draws to stab Alicia in the back…?

FINAL THOUGHTS

• I demand more of Elsbeth Tascioni. Seriously. What a breath of fresh air in that episode’s start. Razor sharp but flighty. And if there’s not a scene between her and Eli before the season is out, I think they show will have wasted an opportunity to have two great characters interact (I suspect that Elsbeth would leave Eli stammering).
• Appreciated the subtle immigration jabs the show took with Simran’s hearing. The disinterested judge looking at files and chiding Alicia about the microphone and then tuning off as soon as his verdict is given. I also like the show didn’t harp on it. I only need one procedural standing on soapboxes anyway.
• I don’t think mock trials, at any level, use Hansel and Gretel as their cases. It was kind of funny though.