The Good Wife – All eyes on Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox is one of the greats. Shows these days have landed a whale when they find themselves casting him in a guest role. And I think that, for the most part, writers have done a great job working with the visible symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease — Scrubs and the quirky doc, Boston Legal and the dying millionaire, Rescue Me and the guy in the wheelchair — while also allowing for the fact that not everything need be explained away in order to provide the audience with a positive viewing experience.

Last night on The Good Wife Fox played Louis Canning, last minute counsel representing a pharmaceutical company facing a class action suit. And boy did Canning screw with Alicia and our merry band of Lockhart, Gardner attorneys. But sending Alicia outside for fictional ID was one thing; I was a bit surprised to see Fox’s character being given a neurological disorder that he proceeded to use as a gimmick in court. The actor’s ticks and uncontrollable movements turned into Canning’s way of distracting a jury and throwing opposing counsel off its game. Really?

But Fox himself was excellent as always. The man shouldn’t win acting awards merely for persevering (last night’s spot was not worthy of an Emmy nod), but as an actor he still brings it. I loved the little joy he got at the end when he told Alicia that he was due a bonus for saving his employer $55 million. Nice!

Grace was back in the campaign mix, this time attending a Wendy Scott-Carr (Anika Noni Rose) campaign event. If you’re still looking for a reason not to like Peter’s half of this little tale, look no further — the Florrick kids don’t get any more to do than be involved in his campaign and/or his scandal. I’d love to see Grace and Zach more, but let them be kids, running around in their own elements. Grace doesn’t need to be the one pointing Alicia toward the Wendy Scott-Carr breast implant video. I should say, though, that Grace is a pretty fair weather friend. She was mad at Peter when she thought that he was behind the video, and then she folded his shirts after discovering that it was Childs? She acts like that toward her own father? Don’t cross her!

Speaking of the video, is there really any way that Eli and/or his counterpart on the Childs campaign wouldn’t have done more due diligence on the breast implant thing? Without having any other information I knew that Wendy, as little as we’ve learned about her, wouldn’t be the type to get implants for vanity’s sake. I didn’t know she had cancer, but the surgery was obviously for a more serious reason than to enhance her looks. Eli’s instincts would have told him the same. That one’s on the writers.

Kalinda’s plot was nothing more than irrelevant sensationalism. Her sexuality’s been a topic of conversation on and off the show (I don’t know why anyone cares, but okay), so the visual of her kissing Donna (Lili Taylor) was intended to be some big explosive moment. Given the circumstances, I found it to be tasteless.

And Kalinda’s sudden relationship with Cary is weird too, but the information he got on Blake was interesting. Obviously it’s not as simple as “Blake’s involved with drug dealers,” but wouldn’t it be interesting if he was, and Derrick Bond (Michael Ealy) was somehow mixed up in it too?

They come from Baltimore, right? Imagine if this scenario were real: Maury Levy was Bond’s former law partner who disappeared mysteriously, and Marlo Stanfield pops up in Chicago one day looking for the money that he alleges Maury stole from him. Do I smell a crossover?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 10, 2010 @ 17:00 EST5EDT