The Good Wife s3 ep 2
Alicia successfully defends a libel suit against her client in Chicago, only to have the very same case raised against him in England. Okay…..I know very little about English libel law and jurisdiction, so I don’t know if The Good Wife got it right with this week’s tale of libel tourism and super-injunctions. It was certainly topical stuff, with plenty of pops at press and law alike, though, and it’s The Good Wife, not Law and Order:UK, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
As usual, it was smart stuff and there was plenty of enjoyment to be found in the minutiae of legal politics and rivalry on show. I was apprehensive at the idea of an English/US law crossover episode, but the show – again, it’s The Good Wife, I needn’t have worried – deftly sidestepped the usual accents and crumpets hell that US tv falls into so often when portraying posh English people. Eddie Izzard was great as the objectionable James Thrush, barrister, and Simon Delaney lovely as the slightly bumbling but sweet Timothy Ash Bannon, solicitor. Both played against Will and Alicia brilliantly – Josh Charles’ face in response to his anagram was just fantastic – and the proceedings were far more entertaining than they had any right to be.
Elsewhere, pairing Kalinda with Eli is infinitely better than pairing her with the wretched Blake or last week’s appalling Sophia, so that made a nice little diversion, and Peter’s surprisingly mature chat with Zach was beautifully handled by all concerned. I do have one quibble though. Diane’s scenes with Alicia and Will about the audit issue were fabulously played in every way, except one: her remark that “We can’t be the enemy of the State’s Attorney.” Um, really? Have Lockhart Gardner not been the enemy of the State’s Attorney since episode 1 of season 1? A different State’s Attorney, sure, but still. It was an uncharacteristically sloppy moment in an otherwise well-crafted episode.
I love the fact that The Good Wife on a ho hum day is still miles ahead of the field. More Eddie Izzard and Simon Delaney please.
I suppose they’ve always skirted around the border between adversary and enemy but never quite crossed it despite all the clashes, elections and what not – maybe because it hasn’t been personal, very personal up until now.
I’m still bothered about the way in which they portray the State’s Attorney’s office vs Lockhart Gardner. They’re slowly but surely turning them into panto baddies. Despite all the failings of the US prosecutorial electoral system, it just doesn’t ring true for me on a show which is otherwise very good at showing that even its main protagonists wear grey hats.
The main plot didn’t quite grab me this week, although as Olive says the show’s still better than just about everything else even on an off week.
I liked the subplots more: the audit, Will and Alicia’s office romance, and of course Eli and Kalinda.