The Good Wife: Landing
April 17, 2016 9:39 PM - Season 7, Episode 19 - Subscribe

Peter gets arrested....again. Alicia and Lucca go to Canada to help out Jeff Dellinger, the "C-list Edward Snowden" former NSA agent who finally got caught in Canada. Diane's husband continues to be adorable, but easily snowed by hot Republican blondes. Jason and Eli find out Alicia wants a divorce.

Deja Vu All Over Again: So Peter gets arrested again! The show makes a big deal about postponing the arrest by a day, but then the cops and Matthew Morrison show up at Alicia's apartment to arrest Peter--*gasp* in his shirtsleeves! The shame! Alicia manages to get a tie on him before his perp walk and once again, is standing by her man and claiming his innocence in whatever even though she knows goddamned better. The opening credits are even showing new pictures of Peter and Alicia.

I can't even recall why the hell he's getting busted, actually.

The NSA vs the CSE: Jeff Dellinger, the aforementioned "C-list Edward Snowden" has been assured that he's "old news" should he try to fly to Arizona for his mom's funeral. Unfortunately, the NSA hears him having this phone conversation and next thing you know, he's busted in the Canadian airport, leaving Alicia and Lucca to defend him. Alicia somehow has the time to deal with this while her husband is getting arrested....again. Anyway, this is the episode where Alicia finds out the NSA has heard EVERYTHING, including her sex noises and the time she was on a secret death panel--the latter becomes a plot point when Jeff is now being blamed for that leak even though poor Terrence Hicks was already blamed and fired for the leak. Also, Alicia gets to meet Tyler, formerly of the NSA (I think?), who reacts in the way one would a tabloid celebrity, asking if Grace has picked a college yet. Alicia is all, who are you again?
This leads Alicia and Lucca to use their phones strategically, staying off them if they want to keep something secret and then talking about how the Canadian Security Establishment (Canadian NSA equivalent) wants Jeff. When the Canadian judge, also known as "Your Worship" (seriously), grants expedition, Alicia petitions for asylum, and yes, the CSE would love to talk to Jeff.

Watch Out For Those Hot Republican Blondes: So Diane and her husband are still happy, hot, and heavy, even if they've seen each other 98 days out of the three years they've been married. But Kurt has decided to sell his business, and wants to actually move into her house! Yay! He asks Diane to look over the business deal with the potential buyer. However, Diane (and David Lee) are unimpressed when the offer is only 60% of what the business is worth. Even worse, it's by that hot young Republican blonde girl who claims to be Kurt's protegee. Diane restrains herself from barfing, refuses the offer, and calls Kurt on this. Eventually Kurt decides he'll find another buyer.

Alicia's Love Life, Again: Alicia tells Jason she's getting a divorce, but then is all, "Don't like, get all attached or anything, I'm not doing it because I'm suddenly madly in love with you or anything!" Uh-huh. Peter tells Eli Alicia wants a divorce (guess his reaction), but she'll put it off until after the next trial or whatever. Eli hires Jason as an investigator and then Peter is all "NO" when he hears about it, for obvious reasons. Jason goes and chats to Cary (still here, though not here) for awhile about whatever Peter's up to. As for Alicia, Jason feels....awkward. At the end, he asks Alicia why she's getting a divorce. She's all, "My husband slept with prostitutes" and he's all "Seven years ago and you didn't leave then." Well, the kids are leaving, and well...everything, she says. Jason wants things simple and nothing's simple about her. What do you want, Alicia?

"You," Alicia says, and cuts to black.
posted by jenfullmoon (7 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I never thought bad Canada jokes would be the reason I say fuck this show but honestly, fuck this show. If there were more than a handful of episodes left I would have turned it off halfway through and not gone back.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:35 AM on April 18, 2016


I got the feeling someone running/writing the show has a Canadian in their life that they really, really hate. Also, the faux-Canadian accents of the non-Canadian actors (the JP is played by a Briton, the head of the CSE by a Finn) were cringe-worthy.

Despite this, I thought the show was better than previous recent episodes, in that the sidelined characters are doing victory laps now, instead of just noodling around keeping a seat warm. And I have a soft spot for any show that includes the Kafkaesque madness of the NSA.

Correction: Mike Tascioni (not Eli) hired Jason, over Eli's and then Peter's objections.
posted by cardboard at 10:22 AM on April 18, 2016


I don't care for the vibe they're setting up with respect to the Alicia/Jason relationship. This whole, Jason wants to keep things "simple" so Alicia plays the cool girl and says "yes! I want simple too!" But when it becomes clearer that she wants more, she is so afraid to disrupt what they have going on that she tiptoes around Jason, trying not to scare him off. After putting up with Peter's bullshit for years, she deserves to not have to do that. And I kind of hate the writers for making her do that.
posted by bluloo at 12:20 PM on April 18, 2016 [5 favorites]


bluloo, you hit the nail on the head.
posted by donajo at 7:13 AM on April 19, 2016


Too right, bluloo. And they've kept the Jason character so vague, I'm starting to dislike him. He's just too, too agreeable, I keep waiting for him to snap. I did like how the lesser Tascioni referred to him, "He's calm. I like calm" or something like that.

Alicia dashing around the apartment looking for a jacket and tie for Peter, he still has clothes there?? Re his arrest, Cary filled in the details somewhat, but I still don't remember if this was an actual case shown on the show, was it?

I always enjoy the descent into NSA paranoia. It always sounds so important. Loved that Christine Baranski finally got some decent scenes and Gary Cole got his victory lap.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:22 AM on April 19, 2016


I think it's kind of hard for Alicia to push for a serious commitment to the dude she's having an affair with while still married, though. I'm not thrilled with the "cool girl" thing either, but at the same time she can't exactly commit until she finally ditches the husband. Who's going to jail again, so that might delay things.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:00 PM on April 19, 2016


they've kept the Jason character so vague, I'm starting to dislike him. He's just too, too agreeable

He's smiling 90% of the time. I guess that's supposed to seem likable but to me it seems either thoughtless (like a stoner who says you can trust him but cluelessly lets you down) or deceitful.
posted by Monochrome at 1:41 PM on July 30, 2016


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