You've come here for a specific reason. I won't be put in the position of guessing.
The theme of this week's the good wife: ALICIA FLORRICK WILL NOT BE TAKING ANYONE'S SHIT TODAY, THANK YOU.
Instead, she got shit DONE:
- Packing up Peter's stuff
- Finding and leasing a new apartment IN ONE NIGHT
- Dropping Peter and his stuff in it IN THE SAME NIGHT
- Blasting loud music and putting on her game face
- Fighting for her client
- Owning opposing counsel all over the place
- Telling off her nosy bitch of a mother-in-law
- Being honest with her kids
- Saying "NO" to a marriage counselor and any other reconciliatory bullshit Peter throws at her
- WINNING ALL THE AWARDS, ALICIA FLORRICK:
And lets talk about her uber-cool showdown with Jackie:
Alicia: My children are in school and I intend to see them afterwards and explain this to them.
Jackie: And poison them with your bias.
Alicia: Be cordial here Jackie or I will ask you to leave.
Jackie: I've watched Zach and Grace for 2 years now.
Alicia: And I thank you, but I don't need your help anymore.
Jackie: Excuse me?
Alicia: My children are grown. They don't need your help. But thank you and I'm glad you got time to spend together.
Jackie: How can you talk this way?
Alicia: Because I am this way. Your son made me this way.
GUUUUUUUUUURRRRRL
MAN that woman has had that coming a loooong time. I think I was fistpumping and high-fiving the air throughout this entire conversation. OWN IT ALICIA. Seriously, I want to be her when I grow up [not go through all the same awful crap, but be just as badass].
sidenote: while I find Patti's Nyholm's working-mom shtick ridiculously irritating (on behalf of Lockhart/Gardner - strangely I didn't find her tactics so annoying when she temporarily hired them and used her powers for good) I do so love when she shows up because we get some of the best exchanges EVER. Plus, I love the way Patti and Will play off of and snark at each other.
Patti: They fired me because I'm pregnant.
Will: Really - you're pregnant.
Patti: I am...It happens.
Will: Are you thinking of populating a small island?
Patti: You don't know what my firm has coming down the pike.
Alicia: Which you can't tell us or you'll get disbarred.
Patti: True, but I'm human and pregnant. And who knows what a pregnant woman in my state may say.
Judge: Ms. Nyholm, do you understand that there must be a strict division between these two cases?
Patti: I do.
Ken Cosgrove from mad men: Your honor, Ms. Nyholm just grinned and winked at us when you said that.
Patti: I did not, I don't wink.
Judge: Ms. Nyholm, without grinning do you promise to keep these two cases separate?
Patti: I do.
Patti: They were trying to fire me for having a working vagina.
So great. SO, SO GREAT.
As for Alicia and Peter's final showdown, I'm so glad she finally expressed some open anger and hurt at what he'd done to her and their life. Finding out about his affair with another woman and having kept it a secret was obviously the last straw. While I think she's devestated that it ended up being her best friend, I don't think that factored into her ending things and kicking him out for good. She knows they slept together before Kalinda and her were friends and that at least Kalinda wasn't betraying her personally (at the time) in that act - but they did both betray her by covering it up. And that lie was the last thing needed to push Alicia over the edge and put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship for her - because as much as Peter talks about how he's changed, a person can only ever change so much, and the fact that he carried around that secret the whole time he was trying to rebuild his place in his family probably told Alicia that he was still the same man who cheated on her before and lied to her before and who made highly questionable political moves, and good for her for finally deciding to cut her losses and get out before giving the same things a chance to happen again.
I know a lot of people thought Peter turned too quickly in that exchange - from pleading his case to throwing accusations about her relationship with Will - but I thought it was a pretty natural reaction. His wife had just abruptly moved him out of the house without much of a discussion after he had spent a year working to gain her trust and love and finally thinking he'd got his wife and family back, so he goes hoping to have a real conversation with her, wanting to make things work and seek counseling if thats what it took and to keep his family together, only to be shut down pretty quickly and having a past affair thrown in his face. What do you do when you're attacked? You get defensive and want to attack back. So his {admittedly, pretty weak) efforts have been rejected and he counters with the only thing he thinks he has in his arsenal - Will. He has no proof of them sleeping together, but he's seen them together and seen how important Alicia's job is to her - a job that includes working closely with Will - and he undoubtedly knows their history, so after being gone a year and knowing that Alicia rebuilt a life that didn't include him, he's got every right to feel insecure about her friendship with another man. Do I think he should have been so venomhant about it? No, but I get where he's coming from.
However, I don't know if I'm gonna like this Cary/Peter alliance. When he realized that Cary had worked with Alicia and had issues with her, it was like he perked up and saw Cary as an opportunity to get back at her. BUT BACK AT HE FOR WHAT? Kicking him out? Even though he kind of deserved it? I get that he's upset and hurt, but would he really be that vindictive?
But anyway, while Alicia finally allowed herself to have the full emotional reaction to all the shit that happened is a good thing, starting a new chapter of her life (again) - and ultimately a new chapter for the show - is daunting. But also exciting. And you know what?
Next week: KALINDA, OMG. You totally deserve it but I just want to wrap you up and hug you and make all the pain go away.
Instead, she got shit DONE:
- Packing up Peter's stuff
- Finding and leasing a new apartment IN ONE NIGHT
- Dropping Peter and his stuff in it IN THE SAME NIGHT
- Blasting loud music and putting on her game face
- Fighting for her client
- Owning opposing counsel all over the place
- Telling off her nosy bitch of a mother-in-law
- Being honest with her kids
- Saying "NO" to a marriage counselor and any other reconciliatory bullshit Peter throws at her
- WINNING ALL THE AWARDS, ALICIA FLORRICK:
And lets talk about her uber-cool showdown with Jackie:
Alicia: My children are in school and I intend to see them afterwards and explain this to them.
Jackie: And poison them with your bias.
Alicia: Be cordial here Jackie or I will ask you to leave.
Jackie: I've watched Zach and Grace for 2 years now.
Alicia: And I thank you, but I don't need your help anymore.
Jackie: Excuse me?
Alicia: My children are grown. They don't need your help. But thank you and I'm glad you got time to spend together.
Jackie: How can you talk this way?
Alicia: Because I am this way. Your son made me this way.
GUUUUUUUUUURRRRRL
MAN that woman has had that coming a loooong time. I think I was fistpumping and high-fiving the air throughout this entire conversation. OWN IT ALICIA. Seriously, I want to be her when I grow up [not go through all the same awful crap, but be just as badass].
sidenote: while I find Patti's Nyholm's working-mom shtick ridiculously irritating (on behalf of Lockhart/Gardner - strangely I didn't find her tactics so annoying when she temporarily hired them and used her powers for good) I do so love when she shows up because we get some of the best exchanges EVER. Plus, I love the way Patti and Will play off of and snark at each other.
Patti: They fired me because I'm pregnant.
Will: Really - you're pregnant.
Patti: I am...It happens.
Will: Are you thinking of populating a small island?
Patti: You don't know what my firm has coming down the pike.
Alicia: Which you can't tell us or you'll get disbarred.
Patti: True, but I'm human and pregnant. And who knows what a pregnant woman in my state may say.
Judge: Ms. Nyholm, do you understand that there must be a strict division between these two cases?
Patti: I do.
Ken Cosgrove from mad men: Your honor, Ms. Nyholm just grinned and winked at us when you said that.
Patti: I did not, I don't wink.
Judge: Ms. Nyholm, without grinning do you promise to keep these two cases separate?
Patti: I do.
Patti: They were trying to fire me for having a working vagina.
So great. SO, SO GREAT.
As for Alicia and Peter's final showdown, I'm so glad she finally expressed some open anger and hurt at what he'd done to her and their life. Finding out about his affair with another woman and having kept it a secret was obviously the last straw. While I think she's devestated that it ended up being her best friend, I don't think that factored into her ending things and kicking him out for good. She knows they slept together before Kalinda and her were friends and that at least Kalinda wasn't betraying her personally (at the time) in that act - but they did both betray her by covering it up. And that lie was the last thing needed to push Alicia over the edge and put the final nail in the coffin of their relationship for her - because as much as Peter talks about how he's changed, a person can only ever change so much, and the fact that he carried around that secret the whole time he was trying to rebuild his place in his family probably told Alicia that he was still the same man who cheated on her before and lied to her before and who made highly questionable political moves, and good for her for finally deciding to cut her losses and get out before giving the same things a chance to happen again.
I know a lot of people thought Peter turned too quickly in that exchange - from pleading his case to throwing accusations about her relationship with Will - but I thought it was a pretty natural reaction. His wife had just abruptly moved him out of the house without much of a discussion after he had spent a year working to gain her trust and love and finally thinking he'd got his wife and family back, so he goes hoping to have a real conversation with her, wanting to make things work and seek counseling if thats what it took and to keep his family together, only to be shut down pretty quickly and having a past affair thrown in his face. What do you do when you're attacked? You get defensive and want to attack back. So his {admittedly, pretty weak) efforts have been rejected and he counters with the only thing he thinks he has in his arsenal - Will. He has no proof of them sleeping together, but he's seen them together and seen how important Alicia's job is to her - a job that includes working closely with Will - and he undoubtedly knows their history, so after being gone a year and knowing that Alicia rebuilt a life that didn't include him, he's got every right to feel insecure about her friendship with another man. Do I think he should have been so venomhant about it? No, but I get where he's coming from.
However, I don't know if I'm gonna like this Cary/Peter alliance. When he realized that Cary had worked with Alicia and had issues with her, it was like he perked up and saw Cary as an opportunity to get back at her. BUT BACK AT HE FOR WHAT? Kicking him out? Even though he kind of deserved it? I get that he's upset and hurt, but would he really be that vindictive?
But anyway, while Alicia finally allowed herself to have the full emotional reaction to all the shit that happened is a good thing, starting a new chapter of her life (again) - and ultimately a new chapter for the show - is daunting. But also exciting. And you know what?
Next week: KALINDA, OMG. You totally deserve it but I just want to wrap you up and hug you and make all the pain go away.