Jackie Returns And Alicia Gets Wasted On The Good Wife

Kalinda baby I love you but this break from you subplot that doesn’t know if it wants to be about kinky sex or domestic abuse is a relief and that worries me. I should want to see you being all mysterious and cool and pulling one over on the evil husband but instead it’s been way too murky and misguided and far removed from the rest of the show.

This week Kalinda was also far removed, doing her scenes in a vacuum. Also Archie Panjabi’s accent was out of control but that is neither hear nor there. She did some investigating and Eli once again asked if Peter would have a problem with her working for the campaign and Peter once again said no. Which means their brief dalliance will probably get out to the general public in no time.

Elsewhere Diane was fired up over a case involving a hazing incident that ended in a teenage boy being killed. The case itself had her a little fired up–what with dealing with Lex Luthor’s dad and his ever evolving idea of hate crimes that did nothing more but water down the intent of hate crime laws. But what really had her angry was the law firm’s loss of the 27th floor. Diane has been a pragmatic maternal figure at the firm for a while now. Where Will has his passion she has a cool head and focused plans. This was the first time we actually saw her appear to be more than mildly irritated about the firm’s recent misfortunes.

Beyond irritation she was angry. Between the case and the loss of the 27th floor and Maura Tierney blowing her off two weeks ago to be friends with Alicia Diane is tired of being cast aside. She’s often been framed as the choice Alicia could have made. The workaholic woman who puts aside a family to have a career, but she keeps getting kicked in the teeth for all her aspirations, hard work and commitment. Meanwhile Alicia flies right by her because she’s got connections.

Like her new friendship with Tierney.

Drunk Alicia two handing her drink after possibly wrecking her new friendship born out of blackmail. Adorable.

Honestly I have no idea what to make of that relationship yet. It’s clearly two women happily using one another–which doesn’t really lend itself to long-term friendship–but they also both acknowledge that blind use of one another. So there’s some kind of foundation–but can a relationship bought be genuine?

Hopefully they’ll explore it more, but if they just want to continue to take us on Jackie’s journey that works too. As that was what the bulk of this episode was devoted to. Jackie’s out of the hospital! She’s unleashed her flying monkeys! Flee!

Only the woman who was so broken in the hospital is still a little broken out of it. She’s recuperating from a stroke and at first it seems like it’s just a fragile Jackie–more out of touch than usual.

In fact the woman is hallucinating. And not the cool hallucinations I had that time I did salvia and thought I was wrapped in the womb of my past and had a water bottle growing out of my hand. No, she’s hallucinating hilariously bad CGI bugs.

We could look at a screenshot of those awful CGI bugs or we could look at Jackie looking at the bag. Clearly I made the better choice.

It’s telling that the only person to notice something is wrong with Jackie isn’t Eli (valid) or Peter (less valid) but Alicia. While Eli and Peter scratch their heads Alicia zeroes in on a problem–just as she did during Jackie’s first hallucination waaaay back in season 3. It exposes her empathy. Which is vitally important here.

Alicia spends much of her time battling a public image that casts her as a frigid matriarch who cooly answers personal questions posed by reporters with sarcasm and an ample dose of arrogance. So here they juxtapose that public image with her understanding of her horrible mother-in-law.

And lets be real, Jackie is a horror show. She’s the kind of woman that makes the rest of us cringe when she opens her mouth. The woman devotes an entire speech to vilifying the women who dare sleep with her son! Her son who has problematic relationships with women where he maintains all the power. Prostitutes, Kalinda, even Alicia before their separation were all examples of his less than stellar stance on ladies.

Notes

• Eli flipping out over Jackie’s “he has to beat them off with a stick” speech? The best! Just glad that they’re team was the only one recording the video or Jackie would be in even more trouble.
• Nathan Lane forcing Alicia and Cary into the same office to save money and knock Alicia down a peg was outstandingly smart. But the best part was when Alicia and Cary realized what was happening and then just shrugged.
• I love that this episode made “WHO WILL GET AN OFFICE” into something tense and discussion worthy. Like I was honestly invested in whether or not Diane kept her office or split one with Will.
• Will we get a moment where Will and Diane admit they f’d up?
• Next Week: Alicia waits patiently with the Bishop family for Lemond Bishop to be taken into custody. Kalinda and Diane watch from the sidelines. Eli probably freaks out in a room somewhere over what it could mean for the campaign