Monsters of Television

“Leela.”

Way to take away all the hope, show.

I mean, yeah, we knew it was coming eventually (it had to!), so it’s not that much of a surprise but I have to tell I was pretty devastated at the end of the episode. I wasn’t crying or anything, but given how the season has been building on Alicia’s accomplishments at work, how she’s been able to make decisions for herself, slowly rebuild her marriage,  and on and on and then to have it taken away (Undermined? Tainted?) by the man with the talking lion phone (notice the lack of comedy Andrew had this week?), I was pretty depressed with the end of the episode.

And will continue to be depressed until May 3. Which is one the next new episode is.

Is it May 3 yet?

We’ll get this out of the way first: The court case of the week made absolutely no sense. I’m sure it did, if I paid closer attention to it, but I was having a tough time keeping up with it (luckily I wasn’t the only one). Which isn’t to say that the court case didn’t have its highlights. There was Fred Thompson (yes, that Fred Thompson) who was never addressed by name and the show made mentions upon mentions of his political and acting career (I’m a bit disappointed that Law & Order exists in this universe, as it means that fanfic showdown between Will Gardner and Jack McCoy will now never happen), which injected some much needed humor into the episode. And, of course, brief appearances by Judge Lessner (the “In my opinion” judge).

But the rest of the court case felt increasingly convoluted, and I’m not entirely convinced that a “cameo” from Hugo Chavez (yes, that Hugo Chavez) was really necessary (or funny). Pile on Natalie’s sudden appearance (and her exposition burp to explain her previous experience on the show in case we forgot), and the court case just dragged down the episode more than a little bit for me. Indeed the quote from someone involved the lawsuit (“I had to tell him about Hugo Chavez’s involvement. He was confused.”) pretty much summed it up for me.

The drag is really pretty classic stalling technique. Build up this big convoluted thing, and maybe the audience will forget about what information Andrew very obviously has. And Alicia keeps putting him off, ignoring calls or brushing him off, another classic bit of first act stalling. It is all set up to make sure that the reveal happens at the end of the episode, leading us to the next episode (or act two, in my little metaphor).

So let’s deal with the last little bits of the episode that focus on Alicia, from the interview to the crying walk down the hallway while the campaign serenades Peter with “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” after beating Wendy Scott Carr. The interview was a pretty big deal for Alicia, who hasn’t been front and center on the campaign (as the episode kept reminding us). It reminded us at how good of an actor Alicia is (not Margulies, though that comes later) as Eli asks her, “It is true?” about whether or not she’s forgiven Peter. “Did it sound true?” she replies, with one of those Alicia smiles that you just can’t read.

As a result, we can’t be sure if she really has forgiven Peter when she says she has in response to the interviewer. But after Andrew drops Kalinda’s old name during their conversation at Peter’s campaign headquarters (“Always best to know the truth. No matter how much it hurts.”). So as she walks down the hall, crying, her Alicia mask finally cast off, we know that has forgiven Peter, and that she thought the worst was over.

It was noted on Twitter, and I had it in my notes as well, that not having Peter in the episode was really odd. I mean, it’s about him winning the election! Where is he? Where are the reaction shots from him about the interview or basking in the glow of victory? Yes, this is more from the show conserving its Chris Noth time so he can appear in the last few episodes of the season (where, frankly, he’s more necessary), but removing that from the equation, the episode felt unbalanced without him.

But by not having Peter in the episode keeps the focus on Alicia, and her dashed hopes. We don’t get the cut to Peter celebrating as Alicia walks down the hallway crying to drive home the juxtaposition of emotions in the scenes (“For He’s A Golly Good Fellow” is already doing that well enough for us). Peter’s absence in the episode becomes meaningful because of that last scene: No matter how much he may have changed, and Peter has changed, some wounds you just can’t mend, and that Peter will always be at a distance from Alicia. She doesn’t even know where he is at the headquarters, someone has to tell her. That’s how not involved she is with his life, and him with hers.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• I had a quick DM conversation on Twitter about how Alicia knew it Leela = Kalinda. I do not recall Alicia being privy to this information, but Alicia is a smart lady, and with the combination of it being someone who worked for the SA’s office, but not officially, and a different name, I assume she put two and two together. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
• [insert anything Fred Thompson said here]
• Jackie singing, and clearly pretty drunk: Awesome.
• Best tweet I got about the episode came from Todd Sodano.
• “Walk with me. Share your troubles.”
• “Oh my God. It’s like being in a Woody Allen movie.”
• “I’ve hit dead ends, and I don’t like dead ends.”
• “I think she’s fantastic.” “I think she just won him the election.” “You should tell her how fantastic you think she is.” “She knows.” “You should tell her. People like to be told.”