Things are progressing quickly on “The Good Wife,” and people are changing and showing different sides of themselves. Will’s still flirting sleeping with disaster, literally (but it goes by the name Isabel); Robyn’s hardening her shell and playing with ethics; and Eli’s showing his vulnerable, sensitive side. Even Cary has a moment of hard-edged anger that looks very different on him.
In this exciting episode, directed by our own Will, Josh Charles, a month has gone by and everyone is poised to take on the world. Florrick/Agos have found new digs, as shoddy a fixer-upper as they are, and Lockhart/Gardner—excuse me, the officially rebranded LG now—is expanding with an office in New York.
LG is not off to a good start, however, as they’ve already lost a potentially huge client to FA: former intern Natalie Flores (America Ferrara) and her lobbyist boss. Natalie meets with very-senior partner Howard Lyman to sound out LG, but his old-fashioned, latent, totally-clueless-about-his-misogynistic-and-racially-prejudiced behavior does not make a good impression on her, to say the least.
She instead seeks out Alicia to help with a case about an undocumented worker friend who is deported, despite promising to snitch against a Mexican drug lord, ultimately putting the friend in danger once he reaches Mexico. After a little bit of “Brazil”-style mistaken identity and a lot of running around, while FA investigator Robyn sets out to make herself invaluable (uh, by lying and scheming), the firm is able not necessarily to win the case, but at least to save the worker’s life.
Once Will and LG get wind of how important Natalie’s business is, they try to win her back. She first says no thank you, but later, surprisingly, agrees to meet with them again, when Alicia and Cary have some trouble with the case. True, she’s not obligated to be loyal to FA, and just wants to do what’s best for her friend, but what does she think LG can accomplish, especially in the limited time they have? It’s not like FA weren’t doing everything they could on the case. Does she think LG will have some pull that FA doesn’t have? She’d have to catch Will up on what’s happening, and with such a short time crunch, it doesn’t quite make sense.
Ah well, no worries there. Lyman starts out fairly well, apologizing to Natalie but lying to make himself more sympathetic—but then he totally embarrasses himself with her boss. This is clearly going to be an issue that LG will need to take care of.
Turns out Alicia isn’t the only one happy to see Natalie’s return: Eli notices her while meeting with Alicia and becomes totally flustered. How wonderful to see strong, assertive Eli at such a loss. He instantly hopes to rekindle the awkward flirtation he and Natalie shared two years ago, despite their busy schedules and complicated lives. (While I’ve always felt he was too old for her, his vulnerable pursuit of her is adorable and sweet). He’s so determined, in fact, that he acts unethically, trying to convince Peter to give a speech they had already canceled in order to please her. But pregnant ethics watchdog Marilyn (whose distracting voice is even smokier than her eye makeup) is there to stop him, and he comes clean with Natalie.
Speaking of rekindling romances, or perhaps preventing such, The Skank is back. I’m sorry, I’m still being super judgy about Will’s new girlfriend Isabel, who apparently is here to stay for at least a while longer. I just can’t stand her. She still seems chaotic and not good for Will, despite what luck he may perceive her to bring him. I do have to give her some credit for figuring out that Will had a relationship with Alicia and that she might be Will’s rebound girl after David the human jack-o-lantern tells her that Will is “still in pain” about Alicia.
The bigger question, however, is what does David know? Is he simply referring to the betrayal, or does he know just how intimate Will and Alicia were? I didn’t think anyone knew about the couple, though Diane had figured it out at one point. It’s also funny to see David make a Yoko Ono reference. The comment is somehow dated and hip at the same time.
So how about you, good-wifers? Happy to see the softer side of Eli and the fiercer edge of Robyn? How much will Will implode before he realizes what he’s doing with Isabel? Do you all hate her as much as I do, or is it just me? Leave thoughts about “The Good Wife” below.
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