There is, as the saying goes, a fine line between love and hate.
And that sentiment was on display in full force in “The Next Day” as Will and Alicia traded veiled threats and pointed barbs. Alicia even had Will brought in front of the Attorney Disciplinary Board, the same group who sanctioned Will. To think, just a few weeks ago, Will and Alicia were steamingly reminiscing about the time they had sex in Will’s office.
Speaking of sex, the conflict has invigorated Will. He’s having all sorts of sex with a woman he met three days ago. She keeps joking about wanting to have his baby, and all I could think was, “Dear God. I hope he’s using protection.” Because that woman seems cray-cray. But I love this take-no-prisoners version of Will. No one is safe. Even David Lee cowered. (“David when I’m finished, you can talk,” Will tells him.)
Diane learns inadvertently that she’s out of the Supreme Court justice nomination and has this fact confirmed by Kalinda. The site of the mighty Diane sobbing in the bathroom was one of the hour’s finest moments. Diane rejoins the firm (temporarily killing my theory that she would eventually end up with Cary and Alicia), and she and Will vow to obliterate the competition. “He can hurt his wife all he wants but anyone else tries and he goes absolutely tribal,” Will marvels about Peter.
The big misstep in this episode is trying to convince the audience that Cary would talk to Marilyn and let her know that Peter was in the apartment when they lost Chum Hum. Cary is way too smart and savvy. He has to know that Peter’s speech was completely intentional and intended to get them Chum Hum as a client.
And what of Marilyn? Not sure why she has to be pregnant and throwing up every five seconds. Unless this was supposed to humanize her a little bit, have her and Alicia bond (loved it when Alicia told her not to read certain chapters in What to Expect When You’re Expecting) and assure us that she won’t have an affair with Peter. I don’t know about you but my first thought when she told Alicia she was pregnant was, “I wonder if Peter’s the father?”
Plus, I still believe that even if Alicia didn’t explicitly ask for Peter to intervene, she knew he would once he found out that they lost Chum Hum. She implicitly asked him. She knew what would happen. This problem is not going to go away.
Other thoughts on “The Next Day”:
—Just not sure what we’re doing with Grace. She was marveling at all the guns because?
—It drove me crazy, so I will tell you that Maria Dizzia, who played the client they were fighting over, also plays Piper’s best friend Polly on Orange is the New Black.
—Mamie Gummer was dramatically underused in this episode. Usually her Nancy Crozier is so much fun.
—Alicia is exhausted and is sleeping alone, and she is in a negligee? I think even the mighty Alicia would have chosen some nice comfy flannel pajamas after the day she had last week.