The Good Wife is a show known to frequently suffer from amnesia. Wherefore art thou Taye Diggs’ Dean or Jason O’Mara’s Damian? What ever did happen to Kalinda’s ex-husband?
So it was a complete surprise to have Eli bring up something that happened in the first season finale. Even I had kind of forgotten that Eli erased the heartfelt message from Will on Alicia’s phone (but I’ll never forget you Will, don’t worry). I love Eli so much now, it’s hard to remember when he behaved that dastardly towards Alicia.
But here’s what I don’t know—did Eli confess to Alicia because he truly wants her to be happy, or is Alicia pursuing a relationship with Jason all part of Eli’s larger scheme to bring Peter down? Was Eli so heartbroken after learning that he was just a fling for Courtney that he felt compelled to tell Alicia the truth, or is there something larger going on here?
It didn’t really make sense to me that Ruth would ask Courtney Paige to take Jason away from Alicia. Weren’t they just trying to convince Courtney that Alicia and Peter had the perfect marriage? But Jason heads to California to work for Courtney at $200/hour. He gets a few sexy smiles in his equally sexy sweatshirt and blazer, as Alicia awkwardly said goodbye to him. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a series regular this season, so I don’t think Jason will be gone for long. Alicia tells Eli that she’s not sleeping with Jason, and she’s simply mad because she’s now without an investigator—but I think she doth protest too much.
All the associates walk out on Lockhart, Agos and Lee. They don’t feel respected, blah, blah, blah and Louis Canning is making them an offer they can’t refuse. I’m not sure the season has really set the groundwork for the associates’ rebellion, since I really don’t care about them, but maybe that’s the point? But the associates are full of themselves. They haven’t even done the work they were supposed to be doing. Cary lures them back with the promise of more money and a five-year partnership track, only to fire them once he’s shared enough information on the case to preclude them from working with Canning. The whole storyline was kind of a bust, but it did lead them to finally hiring Monica. And at least we got to see more of Cary (and I do love casual Cary).
Alicia and Lucca are defending a respected pediatric cardiologist who posted hundreds of messages online about how he planned to kidnap, sedate and rape (the “KSR” of the episode title) the mother of one of his patients. The doctor’s thoughts are disturbing. (“It’s odd that someone can be so good, yet think things so bad,” Alicia muses.) But Alicia and Lucca’s argument is that the doctor’s thoughts were just his thoughts. He had no real plan in place to execute this crime, and you can’t be convicted based on your thoughts—no matter how disturbing they may be.
Alicia’s bond court judge Don Schakowsky is the judge on the case. As the case begins, Alicia thinks he isn’t treating her defense fairly and tells the judge he may be biased against her, because she knows he was the target of an FBI sting to bribe a judge. The judge orders her out of his chambers but later vacates her client’s guilty verdict. Once again, Alicia is in a murky ethical area. Did the judge vacate her verdict because it was the right thing to do? Or did he vacate it because Alicia knows he is corrupt, and that Eli warned him off of taking the bribe.
Usually the last episode of the year has a great cliffhanger that leaves us wanting more of Good Wife. That wasn’t really the case with “KSR.” Let’s hope the show starts off 2016 in a better place.
Stray Observations:
I could have sworn that was Janeane Garofalo playing the doctor’s wife, but it was Michelle Duffy. Don’t they look so much alike?
Exactly how many people have keys to Alicia’s apartment? Both Jason and Eli seem to be able to come and go when they please.
Did we know that Alicia knew Eli had warned the judge? I don’t think so.
With Jason gone, does that mean Grace will return to Veronica Mars mode. Please, no.
Amy Amatangelo is a Boston-based freelance writer, a member of the Television Critics Association and a regular contributor to Paste. She wasn’t allowed to watch much TV as a child and now her parents have to live with this as her career. You can follow her on Twitter or her blog.