Some good tv watching as The Good Wife continues its campaign for My Favourite Crime/Drama Ever, House has the lovely Olivia Wilde return from making a stack of crap movies, and Body of Proof is shaping up to be a pretty damn good show.
O, The Good Wife, how do I love thee! You know with most dramas, there are plots or characters you don’t like? Well barring Will’s annoying girlfriend with the abnormally large forehead, I just love everything about The Good Wife. Judges of the week? In my opinion – wonderful. Political machinations – go Eli, go! Personal betrayals – oh dear Kalinda … or is that Leela…!
This week the election finally arrives – even if Chris Noth didn’t! The actor is on Broadway I believe but his absence was the one jarring note of the episode – seeing as it was all about his election. Alicia is under pressure to give an interview. Meanwhile the case of the week involved Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Ugly Better herself, America Ferrera as Natalie who plays a crucial role this week as a legal translator. Also popping up, Law and Order veteran Fred Thompson as Chavez’s lawyer – who even charms the ‘in my opinion’ judge Ana Gasteyer – an SNL veteran and one of the funnier (if dafter) judges.
Meanwhile, the Mr Mom investigator Andrew Wiley is trying to pin Alicia down about her knowledge of the Blake situation. How much does he know about Alicia and Kalinda and Blake and how much is he just fishing? I think he know the story is about Peter’s past affair, but I am not sure if he KNOWS that Leela is Kalinda. The big emotional ending has him revealing that the gossip is probably untrue as he can find no trace of this Leela. I suspect Wiley knows damn well Alicia will understand, and of course she does. The episode ends poignantly with Alicia leaving in tears and the team singing ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ ringing in her ears… ironic or what!
Since finding out that Kalinda slept with Peter, it was only a matter of time before Alicia found out, and for those of us who have enjoyed that friendship, we have been dreading it! I was a little disappointed in Cary, who previously seemed rather shocked that Kalinda had slept with Peter then befriended his wife. This week he rather snidely just asks her to put in a good work for him with Peter so he can keep his job if Peter wins.
Also worth discussing, Alicia’s reactions to the interview – and the practice questions from Eli. So HAS she forgiven Peter? I am not at all sure she ever will. Even though we have seen them sleep together again, Alicia has not totally forgotten about her feelings for Will, and certainly seems rather wary about Peter privately, while publicly standing by him. Let’s face it, she doesn’t have any other viable options. Will is hardly husband material right now!
I have grown to love the Alicia/Eli sort-of friendship too. He clearly respects her and she even seems to have a grudging respect for him. An interesting note was the interviewer asking Alicia about her own political ambitions. You could almost see the little light bulb over Eli’s head thinking she might be the better bet in the long run. Peter may be the political veteran, but he is a flawed man and candidate in many ways – one being an inability to keep it in his pants!
A word about America Ferrera, who was great but dangerously Betty-like this week. It’s a bit soon for her to be playing save the day for the office bosses once again, even if she did look much more fab than bespectacled and braced up Betty. Just lovely to see her back on tv.
House has been Thirteen-less for a while – a year according to this episode. Was it really a year ago House and Cuddy hooked up? Thirteen has been in jail it turns out (rather than making flashy, eye-candy, popcorn movies) and House has to get the truth from her about what she did. Meanwhile the team investigate a hoarding couple. I enjoyed the change of pace with Thirteen back – I like Olivia Wilde, and she even managed to get House to be real with her when revealing why she was in jail and extracting a promise from him. However, in a Wilson and Cuddy-less episode, I still despair there is anywhere left for the show to go.
Body of Proof started out with characters that were so obnoxious you wondered how it could survive. Wisely, since then things have been cooled in terms of Dana Delaney’s know it all M.E. – who is much more reasonable and caring and the supporting cast have actually been given a chance to be something other than card board cut outs! Really, it is a crime procedural, but this week’s episode also progressed Megan’s relationship with her daughter and the rest of the team. Glad to see Jeri Ryan in her scrubs and chopping up bodies too! The acting is strong, the plot involving and the show is just a lot more balanced and enjoyable. Keep up the good work!