The Good Wife – “Hi”
“More secrets than an O’Neill play.”
My decision to watch The Good Wife was motivated by a number of factors, and I feel it’s important to map out these factors. One of the primary reasons is that the show’s just been highly recommended to me by a number of people I know and trust (even if one of them seems fit to drag me kicking and screaming into liking Parks and Recreation). And while Julianna Margulies has never done much for me as an actress (and still doesn’t), that she was recognized at both the Globes and the SAGs indicates that people like what she’s doing.
Factor #2 is that if you look at this blog, you’d find that Nick and I stick pretty close to shows that are targeted to us (semi-well to do white males in 18-34 demo). Hell, you’d think that Chuck, HIMYM, and 3 out of the 4 NBC Thursday comedies were all that were on TV, with occasional dalliances with Life Unexpected and American Idol. Part of this is motivated by the fact that Nick and I like these shows, and were already watching them when we started this blog. Part of this is simply a matter of scheduling our lives (I don’t own a DVR, for instance, so I try and watch as much as I can live).
Which leads to factor #3. When Nick and I started discussing the blog, we wanted, ideally, a range of shows, but the range has been pretty limited (see factor #2 for the reasons). I’m proud of everything we write here, but I did want to venture into new shows through the blog, hence my decision to take on The Good Wife.
I knew the basic premise of the show: Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) pulls a Spitzer, hooking up with hookers, but is also put on trial (for something), while his wife, Alicia (Margulies) starts a new career to support herself and two kids at a law firm as a junior associate.
What people neglected to tell me was who worked at this law firm. Dan Rydell! Logan Huntzberger! Maryanne Thorpe! They also neglected to tell me who worked in the city. The Man in Black! The guy who invented SkyNet! Arthur Fancy! Had I known this was a character actor extravaganza, I would’ve been on board sooner.
But watching this episode I felt I may have come in on a weird episode. I wasn’t expecting as grisly a scene for the murder (or even a murder for that matter) of the babysitter. I also came in on a fairly important episode for the Florricks, as Peter is seeing if he can come home (and get a new trial). The stuff with Peter, and what he did (terrorists, what?) , was a bit outside my knowledge base, but the show did a so-so job of giving me enough details to somewhat orient myself within that narrative.
That said, the show is an incredibly competent genre show (though I would’ve liked to have seen the firm Alicia works at in the courtroom, but I’ll get to later, I’m sure). While I wasn’t totally thrilled with Kalinda being the one doing all the legwork (with a brief scene of Alicia doing a little bit of it), the unfolding of the narrative, watching these defense attorneys keep their clients afloat and protected, was quite effortlessly performed by the pace of the story and by the acting, in particular Josh Charles as Will.
I will say that I wanted to get in on the show over my winter break, but CBS only makes the most recent episode available on their Web site, and it’s not available (legally) elsewhere. This, I feel, is a bit of a problem. Clearly I’m outside their target demo for the show, but they do little to encourage crossover. I’m not the target demo for Men of a Certain Age, but at least TNT has the decency to make the episodes available on their Web sites, encouraging a younger demo to see their show (in between watching reruns of Angel and Supernatural). CBS doesn’t want me to catch up until the DVD set is released, but the problem is that I probably don’t need to do that to enjoy the show, I just may want to. But if I could’ve done it on-line, I might’ve been watching sooner.
In any case, next week, I promise a bit more of a review-centric review of the episode (even if it’s not new, I may still review it for my own sake). But I’m happy to get my feet wet here.
FINAL THOUGHTS
- Cary high on ‘shrooms for the entire episode was nicely played, it could’ve been hammered for laughs, but was used largely as short comical asides, which was nice. Plus, you know, I got to see Logan high.
- I have to wonder what this firm did before text messaging and smart phones. Geeze.
- Whatever city they’re in, and I didn’t pick up on it watching the show, must be a regular geographical oddity, because everyone was 10 minutes away from everything at any given time. 10 minutes from the artist’s loft, 10 minutes from the college.
- While I balked a bit at Kalinda doing all the leg work, it’s clear she’s not only used to this, but is known for it by detectives and the DA’s office. I’m interested in how that role developed, and where it’ll go.
- February 10, 2010
- Noel
- Episode Review
- The Good Wife
