The Good Wife 5×12, “We the Juries”

Six lawyers, two alleged drug dealers, two juries and Victor Garber walk into a courtroom. Cary is even more attractive when he’s devious, Kalinda is more than a magical vagina, and Marilyn has had enough of this bullshit already. All this and Bruce Springsteen, on this week’s episode of The Good Wife. 

The Case of the Week

A couple accused of transporting a surprisingly large amount of cocaine to the US hired Lockhart Gardner to represent them, before the Great Schism that created Florrick Agos. Now, the two firms are tasked with playing nicely in court, which they clearly can not do. Both firms want the case against the couple split into two cases, with LG representing the woman, and FA representing the man. Each firm argued that it was in their respective client’s best interest to split, but it was apparent to us, the all-knowing audience, that it was much more in the best interests of the G and F parts of LG/FA. The split was granted as long as both parties agreed to continue to share the trial itself, which led LG/FA to ask for two juries, one for each defendant. This led, of course, to juries being led in and out of the courtroom to avoid hearing the wrong information, over and over again. The judge-of-the-week is TV lovers’ favorite, Victor Garber, who does a fine job being exasperated with Lockhart, Gardner, Florrick AND Agos.

Eventually, the case makes it to jury deliberation. The woman’s jury comes back quickly with a not guilty verdict. The man’s jury takes substantially longer. He eventually takes a plea, and agrees to two years in prison.

I am in awe of this show for making me vividly aware that it’s easier to write tech manuals, at times, than it is to explain the legal and interpersonal plots on TGW.

The Stuffed Ballots

I rewatched the end of last season to refresh myself on the origin of the faux ballots. The tape originally went to Florrick HQ, on election night, where it was suspected to have originated from Chandler Bing’s campaign. LG, with FA still in tow, went to repeated hearings to get the ballots excluded, before they discovered they were marked for Peter, not Chandler Bing. Eli, Alicia, Will, and Diane all knew about them.

Peter claims he did not instruct anyone to stuff ballots for him. Eli does the same, but recalls telling his hired ruffian to do “whatever it takes.” Marilyn starts an investigation, and is stonewalled by Eli, Will, and Peter, right in a row. There’s a scene of her marching Will to Peter’s office to get some shit done, like we bitches do, and the look on her face is priceless. I was too harsh on Melissa George earlier in the season. Marilyn is becoming one of my favorite side characters, and a solid addition to the long line of women on this show who keep moving forward, no matter how much bullshit is piled in their path.

In the end, Eli convinces his hired ruffian to take the fall. It is decidedly up in the air whether or not this will happen. Even if he does, there’s no way a scandal isn’t about to explode, with Peter in the middle.

Kalinda Makes Nice

Kalinda, probably as bored with being a mysterious sexy plot device for the past eleven episodes as the rest of us, decides it’s time to patch things up with Cary. Cary wants nothing to do with her, or her silly ideas of friendship, as he suspects she’s using him to get information about his firm. He’s right, she is using him, but she wants to be friends, too. Cary is clever, and feeds her false information, leading to an embarrassing meeting between Will and Kalinda and fifteen-second guest star Tom Skerritt, as a client who wants to move over to Florrick Agos. Cary’s deviousness endears him to Kalinda rather than enraging her, and the two end up going out on the town for a drink, and what we can assume is very attractive sexytimes.

St. Alicia?

When word of the ballots circles back to Alicia, she is pissed. So pissed, in fact, that she storms into Peter’s office and demands he fix it. Her tone implies she is unconcerned with how, exactly, he goes about making this all go away. She uses Zach as her excuse, claiming he would have to talk to the feds, but I honestly think she’s more concerned about her firm. I’m torn. On one hand, how nice is it that Alicia is considering her own interests among the interests of all the other people she has to look out for? On the other hand, this is clearly the path to the dark side, if movies and television have taught me anything.

The Boss

So Bruce Springsteen has a new album, and a few songs from it were in this episode. I’m all about celebrating the effective use of popular music in movies/TV, but this was not an effective use. The music didn’t add to the mood, it didn’t enhance our appreciation of the story, and it didn’t draw me into the moment. I’m sure it’s a great album, but the Boss and The Good Wife are great tastes that taste great apart.