The Good Wife’s big fat conflict of interest

Today’s word? Middling. That’s the only adjective I can think of to adequately describe the season three premiere of The Good Wife. Not good, not bad … middling.

I have always been an advocate for case over personal nonsense on this show, and last night’s displays couldn’t have done more to reinforce my feelings (which isn’t to say that the case was very good). I continued to hold out hope that Will and Alicia had not consummated their chemistry-less love until that scene in Will’s home … I don’t know about you, but I felt violated after it was over. I agree with Grace that it’s nice to see Alicia happy, but that was really unpleasant.

It was amazing seeing Eli in a professional role that’s bound to ensure he remain a very present factor regardless of Peter’s future political aspirations. I think it’s absurd to imagine that Peter could be governor, but then again I can’t believe the fictional citizens of Cooke County were crazy enough to elect him for a second time. But I do hope that Eli’s future crisis management stories are better than the pathetic attempt at religious/cultural conflict that was last night’s Muslim/Jew fiasco … and that goes for the case-of-the-week as well.

I was really surprised at how The Good Wife ultimately shied away from the original hate crime interpretation of the murder. Maybe the writers believed it was clever to turn it into a lovers quarrel, but I saw it as a rather surprising retreat off of a hot button issue by a show that’s already had some pretty controversial cases. And they had been doing such a good (eh) job of it up until that point! I couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the video game as evidence testimony! If actions in a video game were any indication of a person’s tendency toward committing specific crimes, there would be a lot more vigilante soldiers and drivers on the lookout for major accidents than there are in reality. What I wondered was how Jamal’s (Satya Bhabha) avatar could continue playing if he had blown himself up with a suicide vest; shouldn’t that be the definitive end to an avatar’s existence in that type of alternate reality?

I miss Blake (Scott Porter). Not that I want Kalinda to still be hanging around, but if she must be it would be much better to see her battling Blake than to watch people trying to soothe her while she fights her silent battle with Alicia. And what was up with Sophia Russo (Kelli Giddish)? Is she seriously just going to make silly facial expressions and follow Kalinda around as she conducts investigations? Super!

Peter’s edict on not agreeing to any plea bargains for a few months is interesting, and I hope that it’s put to good use in stories. Not that Cary needed something else to make him stubborn, but it could be used in a really intriguing way, particularly on minor cases where the defense expects traditional leniency from the State’s Attorney’s office. But let me ask you this: how in the world can Alicia continue to try cases against that office without at least getting conflict waivers signed by all parties involved? Both Alicia and Peter using their intimate knowledge of one another to get a leg up on a case? Peter wasting his time hanging around Cary’s cases so he can goad Alicia and give Cary tips? It makes no sense for her to be allowed to continue trying cases against them. Am I wrong?

Anyway, like I always say with this show, it can be uneven from week to week … but when it’s on, there’s almost nothing better out there. Which is to say, next week could be a whole different story.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 26, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT