The two women who loved Will the most continue to deal with his death in very different ways.
Alicia is struggling. While Will’s death provided clarity on her sham of a marriage, it has made her question most other things about her life—particularly her career. “I don’t know if I want to be a lawyer anymore,” she tells her mother. Is it because being a lawyer is a constant, ever-present reminder of Will?
While in this emotional state, Cary insists that Alicia take the day off. Maybe Cary is just trying to be nice, but in general this made me suspicious—I mean, he wouldn’t even let her into the office. Part of me thought, “What’s he up to?”
Alicia meets the dashing Daniel Irwin (guest star Nestor Carbonell) during jury duty. He knows she looks familiar, but can’t quite place her. This seemed to me like a bit of a stretch —not only is she the Governor’s wife but she was at the forefront of a huge public scandal. You would think people would remember her face. Alicia is immediately attracted to him, and accepts his invitation to lunch (after the faux excuse of returning to the court to look for her wallet). The two hit it off during lunch and he invites her to meet him there that evening for a drink. Alicia struggles with whether or not she should go and stands outside the restaurant saying, “It’s one drink. Why is that a problem? Who am I being faithful to?”
Obviously, she’s being faithful to Will. But this whole storyline didn’t quite track for me. Yes, she and Peter have come to an agreement but Alicia is a smart woman and I think it would occur to her to use some discretion. People will notice the Governor’s wife laughing and having a drink with a man who is not her husband. I understand wanting to have a drink with Nestor Carbonell—and his eyelashes—but really Alicia needs to be smarter about these things.
During all this, Alicia agrees to have lunch with her mother, a woman so self-centered she invites her new boyfriend to the lunch, which marks the first time she’s seeing her daughter since Will died. Later Veronica (returning guest star Stockard Channing, who is so good in this role) apologetically appears at her daughter’s doorstep. “I don’t know what to do,” Alicia tells her mom. “Oh baby, nobody does,” her mother replies.
While Will’s death has left Alicia rudderless, it has given a new focus to Diane, who is suspicious that David Lee and Louis Canning are colluding against her. Both have tried to steal her clients, and David even suggests that he was trying to do Diane a favor since she has been letting things drop. Even when Louis tells her the reason he’s been meeting with David outside of the office is for estate planning because he’s dying and has less than a year to live, Diane still doesn’t believe him. Turns out she was right to be skeptical. “He is dying, and he’s trying to screw you,” Kalinda tells her.
I haven’t talked much about the case of the week because I knew the grandson was guilty from the moment we met him—didn’t you? The Good Wife loves to be at the forefront of discussions concerning technology, and I think this was just a way for them to work “Bitcoin” into the conversation.
Meanwhile, Finn is suddenly ensconced in a race for State’s Attorney that he never intended on entering. He deals with Eli prepping him for interviews and encouraging him to be self-deprecating. When he laments that he didn’t tell a reporter to “go to hell” after she asked a question about his sister’s suicide, Eli tells him, “That’s when you know you’re a true politician.” Finn realizes Eli is turning him into a hero, in the same way he turned Alicia into a saint.
Once again, this wasn’t one of my favorite episodes because Alicia’s storyline in particular didn’t make a whole lot of sense. But even an average episode of The Good Wife is still better than most of what’s on television. Here’s hoping that the show returns to its Emmy-worthy glory in the final two episodes of the season.
Other thoughts on “The Deep Web”:
•Zach’s 18? Has he been applying to colleges this year? Alicia has definitely not paid enough attention to this.
•I love that Diane accused David and Louis of “gaslighting” her. If you’ve never seen the 1944 movie Gaslight is the basis for this term —you really need to.
•I didn’t quite buy that Alicia, a woman with A LOT going on, would be bored with a sudden day off. I can think of a million things I would do if I had an unexpected day off.
•I want whomever is responsible for dressing Diane to dress me every morning—her outfits and accessories are fabulous.
•Diane feels like she’s channeling Will, and Alicia feels like he’s still there. I say this means we need to see Will Gardner one more time before the season is over.
•Alicia can’t figure out how to work her TV without Zach, her TV buffers backwards and she continues to be enthralled with the murky drama Darkness at Noon. The showrunners clearly have some issues they’re working out and I’m fine with this because I still find it highly amusing. But how long can this inside joke go on before they just seem bitter?
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Amy Amatangelo is a Boston-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to Paste. You can follow her on Twitter or her blog.