The Good Wife “Taking Control” 

I’m going out of town this weekend so my one and only chance to catch up on this week’s TV shows was last night. And I picked The Good Wife. The network promoted the premiere as the episode where Alicia makes her choice. I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen – after all, drawing it out makes for an interesting work dynamic and great sexual tension between Julianna Margulies and Josh Charles – and it didn’t. There were some very interesting developments. And even though I usually love every little thing about this show, there were two things that bothered me.

The quibbles:

The problem: Will’s second voicemail to Alicia. I love that he intended to say something else in his first voicemail but that was before he turned on the TV to see Alicia standing by her man. And don’t get me wrong, I loved everything about the second voicemail until the end. Will doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would add the bit about ignoring his words if none of it makes sense to her. I just didn’t believe those words when they came out of his mouth. The fix: There isn’t one and there doesn’t need to be. It’s great to watch Will put distance between himself and Alicia, especially since we really know how he feels. The few awkward moments they have in the office are so well played. This estrangement is kind of exciting because we know it’s just a matter of time before the truth comes out.

The problem: I don’t know of a cell phone anywhere that will let you check your voicemail without putting in your password. I’m talking to you Eli Gold. And if you’re going to be devious enough to delete a voicemail you might also want to delete the call from the call history as well. Eli seems like he would have covered his tracks a bit better. The fix: I’ll allow it because this is a great setup for a future confrontation between Eli and Alicia. Can you imagine how she’ll react when she finds out about it? I’m sure there will be blowback for Peter as well. And I like it when they’re fighting or estranged. It’s such great drama.

The amazing:

Alicia continues to show us what she’s made of. It was very interesting to see her get roped into representing Mr. Sally (Jacob Pitts, who you may know from Justified or The Pacific). I like how she helped him be his own lawyer and I loved how she challenged the judge when he tried to get around a witness’s invocation of the Fifth Amendment. But perhaps the best part of that storyline is when Alicia tells her client she knows he’s guilty. She got the best deal she could for him and now he needs to stop fighting and take the plea.

Cary’s still in the game. I like that Matt Czuchry is still on the show and I think it’s kinda brilliant that he now works for the enemy, Glenn Childs. Glenn is only too happy to use Cary to get at Alicia, and by extension Peter. Cary does a great job of saving the case for the states attorney’s office but Alicia manages to outmanuevr him in the end. I’m sure he’ll be looking for some payback and it’ll be fun to watch that play out inside – or outside – of the courtroom.

Michael Ealy as Derrick Bond becomes a name partner at the firm. If he looks familiar you may know him from Sleeper Cell or FlashForward. I’m excited to see an interloper in their mist. You know he’s going to cause trouble and I can’t wait to see how he throws Will and Diane off their games. His two biggest changes so far: Derrick’s investigator Blake (played by Friday Night Lights alum Scott Porter) is throwing Kalinda off her game (more on that below) and he takes over (from Will) as Alicia’s mentor.

Kalinda isn’t who she says she is. This doesn’t really surprise me but I love that Blake keeps calling her on it. I like their dynamic and I’m hoping to see Blake push Kalinda so far that she really loses her cool. That would be something to see.

Will and Alicia. I love how they are playing the tension between these two. Even though Alicia thinks she know what Will wants, we can tell she’s still wondering if there’s something between them. I hope she takes Kalinda’s advice and talks to him. I’m really curious to see how that conversation goes.

Peter and Alicia. I’m not gonna lie, I really liked that bathroom scene. Thank God this is a 10 o’clock show. They have such an interesting, complicated relationship. Peter is far from done atoning and I’m not sure Alicia can ever really trust him again. But their dynamic is great. I hope Peter continues to be impressed with the changes in his wife. He is the one who brought them about after all.

Grace gets pulled into the political machine. Wow. I wanted to throttle those two college students for asking Grace such personal questions. I know no one is safe from the political maneuvering going on here, but it feels like neither one of the Florrick children are actually being allowed to experience a normal childhood. I don’t want to see Grace become more guarded, but I am interested to see if she tells her parents about this.

I’ll see you back here next week.