The Good Wife – “Two Courts”
“Microbursts of contempt.”
Man, did the court case just get in the way in this episode or what?
Normally I like the case of the week in The Good Wife as it allows for a breather in between whatever arc developments — law firm politics, Alicia/Will, Peter’s campaign — occur in the episode. But, here in “Two Courts”, the courtroom/procedural plot (the jury whisperer and Will’s feud with the judge) is decidedly underdeveloped, which is to the detriment of the episode as a whole.
Luckily, the on-going stories are strong enough to carry the episode, so that it is still decidedly entertaining, but not up the show’s regular standards.
So, let’s get it out of the way: The Good Wife is poking fun at Lie to Me. The “jury whisperer”, Medina, is a pompous and twitchy parody of Tim Roth’s character on the FOX series, prone to overusing the phrase ‘microburst’ and misreading the jury of a case wherein someone who likes to dress up as a Nazi killed someone (his father, I think?). While Medina’s schtick is amusing at first, it quickly grows tiresome and never really goes anywhere. I find it odd that Will would pay so much money for lack of a sure thing, but I also see him as viewing Medina as more of a status symbol, a sign of LG&B’s ability to spend, even in these difficult economic times.
And this could be part of the reason why Medina frustrated me. He becomes more a point of contention for Kalinda and Will than an actual force in the episode. I like that Kalinda stands up for herself, demanding more money when it’s clear the firm can afford it, but I would’ve preferred that turn rely more on Blake’s “promotion”, thus doing something to strengthen that cul-de-sac of plot, than on Medina’s presence.
Will’s battle with the judge of the case likewise is painfully played out and dull. While I’m sure that this sort of thing happens (or has happened), it makes for low stakes drama. That the case is kind of amorphous to begin limits the impact that the outcome of Will’s feud has (same applies to Medina’s role in the case), which makes these sections of the episode dead on arrival.
The rest of the episode, however, is great stuff. Eli’s confrontation with an old fundraiser of Peter’s creates a nice, comedic subplot involving Jackie’s influence over Peter. Sure, the episode could’ve played this straighter than it did, but the bits of sarcasm and levity (“Even Nazis need to be defended.”) help keep the episode moving and varied. And it gives a scene with Cumming and Margulies, and those scenes are always a great deal of fun: Eli loosens up Alicia, and it makes for nice scenes.
But the law firm politics are the real juicy bits in the episode. At the mention of the superpack, I knew exactly what Bond was after, and helped pay off Bond’s presence in the season as a stealth antagonist for Will and Diane. It was fun watching all of this play out, particularly Will and Diane’s lunches (“And we were both lying.”), and things heat up within the walls of LG&B. I’m eager to see how the series continues this arc, and if Bond had planned for such a contingency of Will and Diane figuring things out and turning back against him.
That said, I do feel a little sad at the missed opportunity to divide the cast in half and have them face off against each other every now and then in court. And even though he only has two scenes in the episode, Cary is increasingly one of the most interesting aspects of the series, a presence I look forward to every episode. His back and forth between the State’s Attorney’s and considering re-joining LG&B (at a higher pay and rank than Alicia) puts him actually in a similar position to Kalinda as they’re both two characters under-appreciated wherever they are, but always in demand.
So while not a great episode, not a horrible one either. I still want Blake just to disappear, but what else is new?
- January 20, 2011
- Noel
- Episode Review
- The Good Wife
