The Good Wife: Message Discipline
November 4, 2014 6:22 PM - Season 6, Episode 7 - Subscribe

New character: Frank Prady (David Hyde Pierce), a local television pundit who may jump into the race. Eli and Johnny are worried. They both coach Alicia on ferreting out info and appearing on Prady’s show. Alicia is confrontational during Johnny’s practice interview, but also furiously taking notes. Cary abides by his new bail restrictions, but just barely. He’s also surprisingly casual during a court appearance. New wrinkle in the case – ups and downs that involve past foes and people not typically associated with Cary. Former offices of Lockhart/Gardner & Canning now occupied by Florrick, Agos & Lockhart.

New wrinkle in Cary’s case - initial source is Geneva Pine who never liked Cary. Wrinkle initially looks worse for Cary. New wrinkle also involves Peter in the case. (Ramona, mother of the pantiless intern, hired as the governor’s GC. Argues with Eli about how best to keep Peter in the clear.)

Castro is unabashedly nasty. Finn apparently did not see this coming.

Kalinda maintains the court-ordered 30-foot distance from Cary. Does no sex-ninja work. Does significant investigator work. She discovers that Bishop may not have taken out one of his crew and she may be able to provide counter-evidence for the new accusations against Cary.

Atmosphere in the new offices of Florrick, Agos & Lockhart almost as chaotic as in warehouse space.
posted by Lesser Shrew (21 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Posted so I could complain. Augh. I get it that TV is fanciful, but we are constantly hearing that FA&L are in a tight spot financially. How can they buy out the lease on their old space, complete the renovation contract, and pay the higher rent in the new space. Gah. Just bugs me.

Not clear – not at all – if Prady was truthful. Seemed to me that he was and Alicia was wrong. Which would give us a scene is which she’s both mean and dumb. Mean and dumb while imaging herself self-righteous and wise. Maybe the weird stylized epaulets on the blue dress distracted her? (The distracted me. Kept expecting a Klingon or someone from Thunderdome to wander in.)

How did this come across to the rest of the world? The scene where Alicia confronts Prady, not the dress. Although we should talk about that dress. Especially in contrast to the drapey very-nearly bell-bottomed disco 70s suit she also wears.

Also feeling a little bit like I’m asked to let the show have it both ways by Alicia standing up to almost all of Johnny’s interview-prep questions, but also totally toeing the line. Might be just me. Probably just me. If she does really care about the questions she was high-horse about, then the thing to do is toe the line and effect change. Yeah. So, that was me.

Where is Eli Gold’s daughter, Marissa? She’s my main focus right now. Love Cary but until he has something more to do, I can live without the rotation of pained smiles, confused/thoughtful/patient squints, and romps with Kalinda.

Impressed by the well-written and well-paced ups and downs – Cary’s in even worse trouble! Peter’s in trouble, too! Cary’s going to be okay! Uh oh!
posted by Lesser Shrew at 6:38 PM on November 4, 2014


I thought Prady was being truthful too at first, but the petitioner dude from LA working off his own bat is a stretch so I tend to think that Alicia was right.
posted by TwoWordReview at 7:32 PM on November 4, 2014


I thought this was a much better episode than last two weeks. From a writing perspective I sure hope Trey's car accident was not really an accident and Bishop got to him because man, that's a really unfortunate coincidence if it was really an accident.
posted by TwoWordReview at 7:34 PM on November 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


Hard to tell with Prady. Alicia came across as self-righteous even when she doesn't have the moral high ground. Prady seemed to have good style, much better at faking sincerity (or perhaps actually sincere, who knows?)
posted by leopard at 7:39 PM on November 4, 2014


I, too, was missing Marissa. Since they introduced her last week as the body woman, it makes sense that she would've come along on the TV interview, but she did not. I think that was a missed opportunity on the writers' part.

It seems like they are trying to insinuate that Kalinda has actual feelings for Cary, in contrast to her usual MO. It will be interesting to see if they try to go somewhere with that, especially since it is known that she will be leaving the show this season.
posted by matildaben at 8:34 PM on November 4, 2014


The other thing I was going to say is that I really like the friendship between Finn and Alicia. They have a good friend chemistry, and I'm really hoping that the writers don't try to turn them into some kind of sexual attraction, because I would really like to see examples of cross gender friendships in popular culture.
posted by matildaben at 8:37 PM on November 4, 2014 [5 favorites]


The situation with Prady seemed to me exactly the same as Alicia's journey to running for AG - everyone assumed she was, she kept insisting she wasn't, and then the attempts to prevent her goaded her into running. I was kind of irritated that she couldn't see the parallels and empathise with him.
posted by misfish at 10:05 PM on November 4, 2014 [3 favorites]


Almost everything that has to do with Alicia's running rings sort of weird and false for me. The woman who never, ever lied about anything asks her son to lie about his girlfriend's abortion, lies about her own religious proclivities, puts her daughter in the line to lie, ETC? And she was never much of a hothead either, at least not in the sense where she'd fight with Prady the way she did at the end of this episode. I know there is a No More Mister Nice Alicia following Will's death, but there's a difference between taking the kid gloves off and becoming a sore-nerved liar.
posted by feets at 12:58 AM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]


I thought Alicia's last scene with Prady rang false. What was the point of calling him a hypocrite? She could, with a clear conscience, say that she was made aware of the paper he wrote but she emphatically told her crew not to use it. Even if she suspected that Eli had leaked it, she could've said she didn't intend to run a negative campaign. Instead she shifted into high gear and attacked him. I know it's been hinted that we're going to see a different side of Alicia but this seems like a big departure for her.

Actually I thought when he came to her office that he was going to endorse her and, now that he's angered the Jewish voters, Eli would've had a fit.

This missing cocaine/Peter asking Cary to walk it over to the lab or whatever, did we see that in the season Cary was with the SA?

Geneva Pine who never liked Cary

Weren't she and Cary sleeping together? And somehow he was involved in her losing her job? I think she gave him some information about a case and he used it against her? I thought that's what she was referring to when she was talking about an "affair".

Also did not like the new character, Ramona. It seems like we are being set up for Peter to have an affair with her and that just seems so boringly predictable. Hopefully, too predictable so maybe it will play out differently. Mostly I thought the actress was not very good.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:06 AM on November 5, 2014


I thought Cary had an affair with a woman from Peter's office (a woman who had a past and maybe ongoing thing with Kalinda.)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 5:20 AM on November 5, 2014


Why does everyone like Marissa? I find her pushy and annoying but apparently I'm missing something.
posted by desjardins at 9:57 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


This missing cocaine/Peter asking Cary to walk it over to the lab or whatever, did we see that in the season Cary was with the SA?

I think so, but I can't remember for sure. At first, the missing cocaine didn't trigger my memory at all, but once they brought Peter into it, I felt I'd seen it before.

I was looking through synopses on wikipedia and saw this
Season 2, episode 12
The campaign heats up as Wendy Scott-Carr threatens to unleash posters of Zach arranging an abortion for his former girlfriend. Alicia defends a client who is accused of killing an inmate during a jail fight.
Wait, he's done this twice?

Anyway, didn't see anything about Cary & Peter, but the synopses are very short.
posted by desjardins at 10:12 AM on November 5, 2014


Someone running against Peter threatens to out Zach for providing an abortion for an earlier girlfriend. Opposing candidate makes the threat to Alicia. Alicia and Peter talk to Zach but nothing comes of it. Don't think Eli was any part of this.

IIRC, we don't know if it's a hollow threat or a real threat. Weird episode subplot that made no sense (or bored me so much I've blocked it from my mind.)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:24 AM on November 5, 2014


No, I meant Zach has twice been involved with girls who got abortions? Didn't he go into his mom's nightstand looking for condoms? Birth control, how does it work?
posted by desjardins at 11:30 AM on November 5, 2014


I have to wonder if Zach is providing cover to something his dad has done.
posted by cardboard at 11:45 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


WOW... that would be an awesome twist.
posted by desjardins at 12:01 PM on November 5, 2014


Are we sure there was a previous abortion? That's where I'm fuzzy.

Alicia took condoms from one if the kids' rooms, Peter finds them and she refuses to discuss them. Which I thought was great because her business is her business and she can sleep with anyone and raise her kids without him.

The girlfriend was the sketchy blonde. Eli gets rid of her in a dramatic confrontation on the street. So maybe she floated an abortion rumor to stir up trouble? Stirring up trouble is her SOP.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 2:09 PM on November 5, 2014


Oh, so he keeps knocking up girlfriends because his mom stole his condoms. :)

Yeah, I think you are right that the blonde was making stuff up.
posted by desjardins at 2:49 PM on November 5, 2014


I don't think we know - but if we do know she had an abortion (that might be what Eli had on her), she doesn't have enough credibility for us to assume Zach was involved.

Might be time to rewatch the Eli confronts Becca eoisode. Or check YouTube for an Eli highlight reel.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 3:38 PM on November 5, 2014


I'm pretty sure Eli confronted Becca with direct evidence that someone else (a teacher?) was the father and she implicitly agreed and dropped the whole thing.
posted by mmoncur at 3:41 PM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]


The situation with Prady seemed to me exactly the same as Alicia's journey to running for AG - everyone assumed she was, she kept insisting she wasn't, and then the attempts to prevent her goaded her into running. I was kind of irritated that she couldn't see the parallels and empathise with him.

I agree. The show is proving Eli & Jon right: appearance matters more than reality.
posted by Monochrome at 4:00 PM on August 25, 2015


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