A New Voting Scandal Twist, Racism and the NSA on The Good Wife

Peter Florrick finally announced his candidacy and it was very strange

By Chris Harnick Nov 09, 2015 3:38 AMTags
The Good WifeCBS

Now this is The Good Wife I have come to know and love. "Lies" kicked things up a notch across all aspects of the show, Alicia's world, the election and Lockhart, Agos and Lee. But, there were more than a few questionable story choices made that had me scratching my head. Breakdown time!

PRESIDENT FLORRICK
Now here's the big reveal: Peter had a hand in the voting tampering that cost Alicia her State's Attorney seat. He and Frank Landau were behind it. Eli knows this now and was going to use it against Peter…until he found out Peter was involved. The original plan was to take down Frank and his tarnished image would in turn hurt Peter because Frank was set to introduce Peter as he announced his candidacy. Eli saved Alicia. And on the topic of the candidacy announcement: Really? Ruth wanted it all to match Obama exactly. Now I'm no campaign manager genius, but this idea was preposterous. She even wanted the same hats and coats. When the steps they wanted weren't available, they recreated things inside a gym. Like, with fake pillars and such. There is no way this would happen and not be mocked. It was absurd.

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Alicia also made a great point: Why is she learning about all of Peter's plans from Eli and not from Peter? Sure it's a marriage of convenience at this point, but still…

ALICIA/LUCCA/JASON
First off, let's just say Christine Lahti is a welcome addition to The Good Wife's roster of recurring opposing counsel. Her dynamic with Alicia was fun—almost like Rita Wilson's Viola Walsh. However, the case about a woman getting fired from her technology firm for failing a polygraph was not the strongest The Good Wife has delivered and it brought back the very tired NSA storyline. Yes, they're listening to Alicia Florrick again. Sigh. This better be going somewhere. How did the NSA get involved? Because the tech company was working with the US government, yadda, yadda Zach Woods! yadda, yadda. I did appreciate the nod to TV spoilers and trying to guess who was going to hook up with who and who was going to die, good job Good Wife writers.

While this was happening, Alicia decided to investigate Jason, for you know, insurance purposes (not because she's attracted to him. Of course not). What she found, well it was surprising. Their interaction went something like this:

Alicia: "Why'd you punch that judge?"
Jason: "I got angry. Don't you get angry?"
Alicia: "I don't punch people."
Jason: "Maybe you should start."

Alicia looked into everything (and so did Lucca), but their stories didn't match up. A judge from Jersey told Alicia Jason was a ticking time bomb sociopath, but Lucca was told something else. Hmmm. The plot thickens and now we have the NSA listening to everything.

LOCKHART, AGOS and LEE
Obviously the writers are setting up some sort of perfect storm of lawsuits or something here. From the maybe gay attorney and Cary to Howard's ageism and now the secret video the perspective associate took of all the blatant racism. It bothers me that I can't put my finger on what they're doing, but I expected a lot more from Diane. I've said it before, there's too much disconnection here. It's like what the show did with Eli in the past. I would watch a show all about Diane Lockhart, but it has to be all about Diane Lockhart. Not 10 minutes of screen time where there's no character development.

Gasp count: 1.

Some other things:

I applaud the writers for having Alicia trying new drinks. It was a margarita tonight. It's silly, but it shows growth, she's trying to grow.

"Do you need it to be true?" "True adjacent." Alicia and Eli talking about Alicia's statement for Peter. Really enjoy that she doesn't give a crap.

Cush Jumbo is such a welcome addition to the show. Love the Alicia/Lucca dynamic.

Alabama Slammers are real and they sound gross.

The Good Wife airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on CBS.

Watch: Julianna Margulies Reveals How "The Good Wife" Is Changing