Peter Florrick is one of those TV characters I can love and hate all in the same episode. When James Castro shows Peter a security camera picture of Finn leaving Alicia’s apartment, Peter throws not one, but two glasses, of water in Castro’s face. LOVE.
But moments later, like a petulant child acting out, Peter is blatantly flirting with a young office intern. So he’s upset that he thinks Alicia is having an affair with Finn and needs to boost his ego by making a twenty-something giggle? UGH.
The thing that’s always been so great about Chris Noth’s performance is that I believe this man is savvy enough to become Governor and still stupid enough to try to have an affair with an intern. Eli is immediately suspicious of Peter’s behavior and goes to talk to Alicia. He learns of Peter and Alicia’s don’t ask/don’t tell agreement. “Is this about Will dying?” asks the ever-perceptive Eli. “This is about everything,” Alicia responds. “I’m just tired. I’m just done.” Alan Cumming was great in this scene. I really believe that while Eli is mostly concerned about what this current arrangement will do to Peter’s career, he truly cares about Alicia and knows that she’s suffering. Also Eli is the only one who seems to realize that this whole setup isn’t going to work, as people talk. Alicia and Peter aren’t going to be able to date other people and have no one notice.
We also learned this episode that Finn is divorced. Yes, Matthew Goode did look particularly adorable in this episode (love the new haircut Finn!) but I’m still not ready for him to be a viable romantic interest for Alicia. I kind of like the idea of them as just friends. I’m wondering if the writers decided after Goode had joined the cast as a series regular to make him divorced. It certainly seemed like he was currently married the first time he referred to his wife – he didn’t call her his “ex-wife.”
The reason Castro goes to Peter with the photo is because the final report on the Jeffrey Grant case has come out absolving Finn of any wrongdoing and placing the blame squarely on Castro. I still would like a little more closure on the whole Jeffrey Grant case. Did the professor really commit the murder he was accused of? Where is Jeffrey now?
Tom Skerrit is back as Alicia’s wealthy client James Paisley. This time, like the real life venture capitalist Tom Perkins, he’s suffering a serious case of foot-in-mouth disease. He compares his plight to that of Anne Frank and calling poor people losers. Alicia is desperately trying to ensure Paisley’s merger goes through as he continues to sabotage himself. It was kind of fun to see what goes into a public apology (a focus group?) but the case wasn’t all that interesting.
Meanwhile, Jill Hennessy is back as power lawyer Rayna Hecht. She wants Diane to join her on a class action suit, but Louis Canning is seeking to represent the company being sued. He sabotages Diane’s efforts by lying about her and spreading the rumors that Will’s death has left her unable to work effectively. Despite Cary’s warning that it’s not their fight, Alicia offers to help Diane in any way she can. As I said a few weeks ago, I’ve always liked the idea of Diane joining Florrick/Agos, but the problem is that if she leaves Lockhart/Gardner/Canning, there will be no one there I care enough about to make the firm a true adversary.
In many ways, “The One Percent” felt like a bit of a placeholder as the show gears up for next week’s season finale. We’ve already seen a lot of the Diane vs. Louis stuff before. And as much as I love Michael J. Fox in this role, we are hearing more about what Louis is doing than actually seeing him do anything. It would be more fun and engaging to see the evil machinations he’s up to.
Other thoughts on “The One Percent:”
• I was right to be worried. Zach is graduating this year. Where is he going to college? I’m officially concerned.
• Two weeks ago, Alicia confused two black men at Colin Sweeney’s party. This week she got two black co-hosts confused. Not sure what that’s about.
• Rayna tells Diane that she’s finding Elsbeth Tasconi “too constricting.” Hmmmm. Could the firm of Hecht/Lockhart be in our future?
• I so don’t get the Kalinda/Cary relationship. He doesn’t care that she continues to feed confidential information to Diane?
• Only The Good Wife could work John Grisham and Ayn Rand into the same scene.
• Are we ever going to hear about Marilyn again? Just curious.
• Jerry Adler’s Howard Lyman was fantastic this week.
What did you think of this week’s The Good Wife? Are you surprised Finn is divorced? Is Peter going to have an affair with the intern? Talk about it below.
Amy Amatangelo is a Boston-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to Paste. You can follow her on Twitter or her blog.