The Good Wife Gets Awkward When Dr. Cuddy, Esq. Opens Her Mouth

So The Good Wife  this week. Let’s discuss, because pretty epic things happened. Things that will radically alter the course of the show. Things that are big deals.

Mainly….

Kalinda and Eli are bonding over being conniving badasses.

We’ve been teased with this partnership since Eli joined the firm last season and now that we’re finally getting it it’s everything I hoped. Eli is conniving but he is by no means secretive. He lays all his cards on the table and drags your cards out as well. Kalinda has never told an entire truth in her life. Despite these two being extraordinary badasses who will root out all your secrets they’re very much the complete opposite of one another.

Elsewhere Dr. Cuddy, Esq. was peeved that Will is banging someone besides her. So she calls over Peter Florrick and all but says “dude is banging your wife.” It got awkward people.

When she wasn’t waving Will and Alicia’s affair in Peter’s face she was busy getting under Will’s skin and wearing an ugly ass blouse.

Dr. Cuddy, Esq I do not approve of this blouse. It's like you're binding your boobs poorly in some Shakespearean drama set in a 1980s law firm.

Also she tried to wood him away from Lockhart and Gardener so he could be BASEBALL COMMISSIONER.

I don’t even…WHAT. Granted the current commissioner retires next year (thanks Wikipedia!) and pulling sports politics/business into the show seems like a logical next step, but still…whaaaat?!

At the firm Will built things weren’t quite as game changing, but they were a significant departure from the show’s style.

The “case of the week” was told almost entirely from the client’s point of view and the cold open felt more at home on Bones or CSI than The Good Wife. And at first I had M.A.S.H. flashbacks and was afraid the entire episode would be told from his point of view and all the interesting little plot lines would unfold but only in front of him. Thankfully they kept the client’s plotline divorced from the meat of the episode.

While it was certainly interesting (an innocent man witnesses a murder a witness claims he committed) it was stylistically well out of The Good Wife‘s traditional form and the abrupt style change was…bizarre? I don’t want to outright knock it because I love it when big, popular shows experiment, but I do kind of wish they’d gone whole hog with the experiment rather than sprinkle it throughout the episode as it frequently left me questioning the purpose of it to begin with.

From a  narrative standpoint the case of the week actually tied into the overarching plot as it brought Diane to Legal Aid where she was so moved by their gumption and poverty that she offered them space in Lockhart & Gardener’s offices.

If this means more Romany Malco as the head of Legal Aid having crazy good chemistry with Christine Baranski I’m all in.

The only person not undergoing a big change this episode was Alicia, who for once, was the stable, happy and super awesome one.

But maybe too stable?

Because Will told her he loved her.

Then he panicked and hung up and she was all:

It’s something we’ve all done. I once told my accountant I loved them. Alicia told Jackie she loved her. But for one low-level neurotic it was kind of a big deal. Alicia spent the rest of the episode not particularly caring while Will spent the rest of the episode fretting over what he said.

Finally he tried to talk to her about it. And maybe he tried to tell her he actually meant it. And maybe, as a perfect emotional follow up to the end of the previous episode Alicia made it clear she was dating Will for sex and absolutely not in love.

If Will was secretly dark and evil and all I might be upset. Instead I was thoroughly delighted.

Notes

• Kelli Giddish, Kalinda’s fabulous investigator foil, left us for a dumb Law and Order show. So they brought in another season long villain/foil in the form of Nicole Beharie as federal lawyer, Imani Morehouse. She’s pretty fabulous if her smiling and soft-spoken but secretly BRILLIANT and AWESOME portrayal felt a little like Anika Noni Rose’s Wendy Scott-Carr. Her courtroom speech gave me serious Scott-Carr flashbacks. Hopefully she’ll expand into something a little more nuanced in the coming weeks as she gets onto Cary for his racist plea bargins.
• Harvey Fierstein! Doing stuff! Loved him allowing Alicia her Poor Man’s Deposition just because he was bored and a little curious. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him without a beard though…and it was pretty weird.
• Kalinda is still totally carrying a friend torch for Alicia. Watch her every time Eli brings Alicia up. It’s adorable. Now if only Alicia will get off her fat and happy and slightly selfish (lady deserves it) cloud and forgive Kalinda. Not because Kalinda should be forgiven but because I miss them getting drunk on tequila and talking in stage whispers all the time.