Original Air Date: 8 January 2012
Trivia: Elsbeth Tascioni's assistant's name is Fantasia; this may be a play on Fangtasia, the vampire bar featured in True Blood, the HBO show where Carrie Preston plays the regular part of Arlene Fowler.
Best Quote:
Preston: And you didn't want that?
Lee: If I'm a shoe salesman and you come to buy shoes, it's not my job to talk you out of it. It's my job to find a good shoe for you.
Preston: Twice, she tried to reconcile. Twice, you convinced her not to.
Lee: Because he was shtupping a stripper.
Preston: That was not proven. Mr. Huntley denies...
Lee: Oh, my God. He does? How could I have been so mistaken?
Review: I haven't had this much fun watching an episode of The Good Wife in a very long time. Yes, it's always been entertaining and yes, the way this show just reinvents the idea of drama makes it the best show of this genre currently on TV. But having fun with it has been replaced by the events in the last few episodes and I'd just forgotten what a delightful time I can have with it.
A big part in the fun I had with this installment was played by the fact that the Florrick kids only made an extremely short appearance, and they were surprisingly not annoying in those couple of seconds. But more about the small other things that made this such a great week for The Good Wife later.
Let me just focus on the main series of events for now as they constituted a new occurrence for this show: Lockhart/Gardner is being sued for alienation of affection, something well worthy of the 17th century but definitely not of the years 2000, by a former client's husband, who accused them that they convinced his wife to ask for a divorce. It's not every day that an entire law firm is sued for something like this, and it's not every day that the plaintiff sues for $44 million. If they lost, each equity partner would have to put in a very large sum of money, and that was enough reason for Eli to try and get David Lee kicked out of the firm. If also made them all fight like children, and in turn Diane and Lee looked like kindergarten teachers trying to calm down their naughty pupils. Absolutely delightful!
But the show is centered on Alicia so we have to discuss her part in all of this. At the time of the divorce that brought so much trouble, she was a first year associate with only six months on the job and it was her responsibility - under David Lee's supervision - to make sure the client signed all documents. So, obviously, when an important page from the contract goes missing, her ability to do the job properly (especially since she was rushing to an event at Grace's school just after she was supposed to file the contract) is questioned. Fortunately for her, David Lee has enough experience to pull something out of his sleeve, but is "saint" Alicia really capable of going along with such plays? This is one of those questions she'll need to answer sooner or later.
I will end up this week's review with one thing I loved and two I wasn't crazy about. On a high note, Cary was great in helping out his former competitor dodge a bullet. On a low note, I hated Kalinda's pitiful looks towards Alicia, though things seem to be better between them. I wasn't entirely crazy about Diane and her process server either. I want her to have a love life, just not with that particular guy; I have a very bad feeling about him.
To conclude, this was a great episode. The case was extremely entertaining, fun to watch; all important characters got their share of screen time, and the soap opera drama was left aside for once. Plus, Elsbeth Tascioni rules!The Good Wife 3x11: What Went Wrong Back to Season 3
