The Good Wife: Restraint
November 22, 2015 9:10 PM - Season 7, Episode 8 - Subscribe
Alicia and Lucca need new clients, STAT, but only Grace is actually good at doing that. Mostly because thanks to Diane's new Republican "friendships," she's losing clients left and right.
Honestly, I don't think I necessarily comprehended all of this episode.
Peter Gallagher brings Diane in to practice cross-examine Stacy Groom, who got an abortion from some weird company that saves the fetal tissue/sells it/makes it into a breech birth (ew) and there's secret videos of this. Oh good lord. Anyway, somehow he argues Diane into taking the case on for real, citing how Diane once said that the real test of the first amendment is defending what you hate. This doesn't go well for Diane, since (a) the judge pulls her into a private conference to go "wtf are you doing?", (b) she later wants to petition to have the judge removed for bias based on that conversation--UH-OH, and (c) her pro-choice clients are leaving left and right.
COINCIDENTALLY, Alicia and Lucca are too broke to pay their bills and have to resort to recruiting. While Alicia and Lucca's scam to have Louis Canning recruit Lucca and then they attempt to poach the clients Canning offered Lucca goes just awful, Grace's cold calls (including playing office noises behind her) work great because the people she calls are all pissed off clients of Diane's. Grace wants to get PAID, please.
Eli also gets Alicia a case--Courtney from the last episode, who wants to offer fat money to her employees, except that somehow doesn't look good for Peter and also annoys Courtney's ex-husband. For some damn reason, Eli and Courtney kiss in this episode, and man, I just can't watch that man kiss chicks.
Oh yeah, and Jason is double dipping over at Lockhart Whatever (he refuses to commit and is "keeping his options open," but Alicia overheard something there.
And if you care about the Landau thing, Alicia punted and insisted on ordering a study done, which pissed him off.
Honestly, I don't think I necessarily comprehended all of this episode.
Peter Gallagher brings Diane in to practice cross-examine Stacy Groom, who got an abortion from some weird company that saves the fetal tissue/sells it/makes it into a breech birth (ew) and there's secret videos of this. Oh good lord. Anyway, somehow he argues Diane into taking the case on for real, citing how Diane once said that the real test of the first amendment is defending what you hate. This doesn't go well for Diane, since (a) the judge pulls her into a private conference to go "wtf are you doing?", (b) she later wants to petition to have the judge removed for bias based on that conversation--UH-OH, and (c) her pro-choice clients are leaving left and right.
COINCIDENTALLY, Alicia and Lucca are too broke to pay their bills and have to resort to recruiting. While Alicia and Lucca's scam to have Louis Canning recruit Lucca and then they attempt to poach the clients Canning offered Lucca goes just awful, Grace's cold calls (including playing office noises behind her) work great because the people she calls are all pissed off clients of Diane's. Grace wants to get PAID, please.
Eli also gets Alicia a case--Courtney from the last episode, who wants to offer fat money to her employees, except that somehow doesn't look good for Peter and also annoys Courtney's ex-husband. For some damn reason, Eli and Courtney kiss in this episode, and man, I just can't watch that man kiss chicks.
Oh yeah, and Jason is double dipping over at Lockhart Whatever (he refuses to commit and is "keeping his options open," but Alicia overheard something there.
And if you care about the Landau thing, Alicia punted and insisted on ordering a study done, which pissed him off.
Except for the prospect of Grace cold-calling potential clients and Lucca maneuvering Louis Canning into revealing his, I don't think anything else worked in this episode.
What the hell is Eli doing? The whole Vanessa Williams storyline didn't make sense. And he was much more convincing when he was romancing America Ferrara a few seasons ago, despite the age difference, it was rather sweet.
What was the point of getting the judge pissed off at her when Diane could've resigned the case at any time? Did her ex parte meeting with the judge make her realize how deluded her "first amendment defense" was and this was the easiest way to get out of continuing?
When Jason the investigator showed up at Alicia's after meeting with Diane, he had the abortion girl's file in his hand. Then he picked up some files on the her coffee table before walking into her office? Did I remember that correctly? And by the end of the episode, Alicia knows he's doing work for Diane but I don't think he made a secret of that, that was covered when his character was introduced.
Last week's episode ended with a little cliffhanger when it came time for Alicia to vote and this episode, it's a two-second side remark. However I'm sure that There Will Be Repercussions down the line, unlike the other storylines this week. I found this episode to be very disjointed.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:22 AM on November 24, 2015
What the hell is Eli doing? The whole Vanessa Williams storyline didn't make sense. And he was much more convincing when he was romancing America Ferrara a few seasons ago, despite the age difference, it was rather sweet.
What was the point of getting the judge pissed off at her when Diane could've resigned the case at any time? Did her ex parte meeting with the judge make her realize how deluded her "first amendment defense" was and this was the easiest way to get out of continuing?
When Jason the investigator showed up at Alicia's after meeting with Diane, he had the abortion girl's file in his hand. Then he picked up some files on the her coffee table before walking into her office? Did I remember that correctly? And by the end of the episode, Alicia knows he's doing work for Diane but I don't think he made a secret of that, that was covered when his character was introduced.
Last week's episode ended with a little cliffhanger when it came time for Alicia to vote and this episode, it's a two-second side remark. However I'm sure that There Will Be Repercussions down the line, unlike the other storylines this week. I found this episode to be very disjointed.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:22 AM on November 24, 2015
Honestly, I don't think I necessarily comprehended all of this episode.
I think they tried to cram a lot of stuff into this episode, probably a little too much even for them. Both the undercover planned parenthood videos and the person wanting to give all their employees a $70,000 salary are ripped-from-the-headlines and if you weren't already familiar with the real-life-equivalents I'm not sure how much sense either of those would've really made.
What was the point of getting the judge pissed off at her when Diane could've resigned the case at any time?
The point of getting the judge pissed off at her is so that she can tell her client, "I'm resigning the case because the judge doesn't like me personally, so another lawyer would be better for you." Otherwise, she'd have to tell the client, "I'm resigning the case because fuck you, that's why." And y'know, the guy's a gazillion-dollars-a-year-in-billings client.
And Diane believed in her first amendment argument, she just wanted out because continuing the case was costing her other clients (which she unknowingly was losing to Grace!) but again, "I'm resigning this case because I care more about keeping my other clients than about keeping you as a client," is a guaranteed way to lose your ridiculously-big-money client.
I do agree that Eli doesn't have the chemistry in this new romance that his prior one had. At least so far.
And by the end of the episode, Alicia knows he's doing work for Diane but I don't think he made a secret of that, that was covered when his character was introduced.
He hasn't made a secret, to either of them, that he wanted non-exclusivity so he could work for other firms. But neither of them knew which other firms he was working with. Alicia's smart enough to connect the dots and know that Lockhart Agos Lee can pay him a shitload more than she can, so if he's willing to come work for her he's doing it for reasons other than money.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:20 AM on November 24, 2015
I think they tried to cram a lot of stuff into this episode, probably a little too much even for them. Both the undercover planned parenthood videos and the person wanting to give all their employees a $70,000 salary are ripped-from-the-headlines and if you weren't already familiar with the real-life-equivalents I'm not sure how much sense either of those would've really made.
What was the point of getting the judge pissed off at her when Diane could've resigned the case at any time?
The point of getting the judge pissed off at her is so that she can tell her client, "I'm resigning the case because the judge doesn't like me personally, so another lawyer would be better for you." Otherwise, she'd have to tell the client, "I'm resigning the case because fuck you, that's why." And y'know, the guy's a gazillion-dollars-a-year-in-billings client.
And Diane believed in her first amendment argument, she just wanted out because continuing the case was costing her other clients (which she unknowingly was losing to Grace!) but again, "I'm resigning this case because I care more about keeping my other clients than about keeping you as a client," is a guaranteed way to lose your ridiculously-big-money client.
I do agree that Eli doesn't have the chemistry in this new romance that his prior one had. At least so far.
And by the end of the episode, Alicia knows he's doing work for Diane but I don't think he made a secret of that, that was covered when his character was introduced.
He hasn't made a secret, to either of them, that he wanted non-exclusivity so he could work for other firms. But neither of them knew which other firms he was working with. Alicia's smart enough to connect the dots and know that Lockhart Agos Lee can pay him a shitload more than she can, so if he's willing to come work for her he's doing it for reasons other than money.
posted by mstokes650 at 8:20 AM on November 24, 2015
I still find Eli's closet office amusing.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:41 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by pmurray63 at 10:41 AM on November 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
I don't remember this Big Money Conservative Guy. It was Oliver Platt before and they met at the Big Money Hunting Lodge last season. I was more worried that Diane, in her attempt to get off the hook with this client, was pissing off the judge too much.
Has anyone heard for sure if this is the last season? I think Diane being appointed judge would be a nice send off for her character. Peter can do that as his last act as governor before going to jail for voter fraud being elected vice president.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:09 AM on November 26, 2015
Has anyone heard for sure if this is the last season? I think Diane being appointed judge would be a nice send off for her character. Peter can do that as his last act as governor before
posted by TWinbrook8 at 12:09 AM on November 26, 2015
It was Oliver Platt before and they met at the Big Money Hunting Lodge last season.
Peter Gallagher's just Oliver Platt's right-hand-man. Same money, same agendas, presumably Oliver's just too busy off hunting or whatever.
posted by mstokes650 at 6:39 AM on November 26, 2015
Peter Gallagher's just Oliver Platt's right-hand-man. Same money, same agendas, presumably Oliver's just too busy off hunting or whatever.
posted by mstokes650 at 6:39 AM on November 26, 2015
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by donajo at 4:51 PM on November 23, 2015