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shadowkatIt would help if I paid attention to the titles of the episodes, wouldn't it?
Tonight's episode is percolating. It surprised me in some respects. Not sure what I think.
Regarding the sexual/romantic entanglements on the Good Wife - it's not a romance. Definitely not. Reminds me more of The West Wing, than anything else...although in some respects a lot better, because Aaron Sorkin and John Wells got preachy, while these writers haven't yet. It's about politics and the main focus of the series is Alicia's balancing act between her three roles, her career which she loves, her kids who she loves, and her role as a political wife. The series really focuses on the power play between people.
* The case of the week..is interesting. What the judge told Alicia at the end..."scapegoating is an excuse, a way not to hold people accountable for their actions and they need to be held accountable". In this instance, it was a young female army officer operating a missile drone program, while on stimulants, which resulted in the deaths of 12 people. She wasn't paying attention and killed them.
Lots of excuses can be made, but at the end of the day, she chose to be on the stimulants to stay awake and did not take what she was doing seriously enough.
She's paying for her mistake - which cost other's lives. It's not black and white and it wasn't intentional.
Syncs well with another mistake or other mistakes:
1. Alicia not paying attention to her kids social lives. Grace's relationship with her odd tutor. Who is watching Grace? There's a lot of foreshadowing here. And prior to Alicia's break-up with Peter, Jackie was watching the kids. Now Jackie is being elbowed out. Peter is busy with his career. Alicia with her's. We see Grace interrupting Alicia at different points. At a nooner with Will. Or Alicia getting the tutor for her. We also see Alicia letting Grace go to a club to see a guy. And Grace mentions not having friends. That's building. This week Jackie throws it in Alicia's face that she's not paying attention to her kids enough. Alicia ignores her.
2. Diane makes it clear to Will that his affair with Alicia is wrong. He's her boss. Her husband is the State's Attorney. This needs to stop. Now. Make it go away, she tells him. They aren't going after Lamont Bishop - they are going after you for bribing judges. And it's not Peter and Carey, it's Dana and Wendy Scott Carr who are doing it. Making me wonder about Wendy Scott Carr and Dana. Why are they so hot on this one? Is there really evidence? Will has never been held accountable for the gambling and embezzlement he did back in Baltimore. And he did do something with a judge during the whole bit with the guy who was trying to take over Lockhardt/Gardner, but backed way off.
3.Eli and Diane are bonding. They are building up that relationship and the one between Kalinda and Eli...which is interesting as well. I keep waiting for Eli to find out what is going on between Alicia/Will and why.
Shout out to Amy Sederis who plays lobbyist Stacy who gets Eli's goat. Hee. The guest stars in this series are a lot of fun.
Hmm. Show that will have to percolate. Felt like there was a lot going on underneath the surface on this one. Also lately Alicia has been questioning what she is doing, which is realistic for defense attorneys. Very hard to be a defense attorney, for the reasons Wendy Scott Carr states: "I have a hard time being around guilty people all the time." Truth is, about 60% of the people you defend are guilty, 90% of something indirectly related. It's not about right and wrong or justice, it becomes about rights, the right of everyone to be innocent before proven guilty. To have a fair trial. To be heard. And more importantly not to be ramrodded for something they may not have done or intentionally did - mitigating factors. It's harder because public opinion is often on the side of the prosecutor, and often prosecutors can make more, depends. TV is a false positive or false negative - it shows a skewed view of reality.
On TV all lawyers are millionairs, they make high wages, as are all doctors. People assume this is true. On TV all professors make a lot of money. But in reality? Most lawyers make less than $45,000 a year. Struggle. Few get in those high profile firms.
The Good Wife at least showed that. Legal Aid was struggling. Carey got booted from tiny office to tiny office, working his way to the top. Alicia worried about losing her job to Carey. And you lose cases. Also the vast majority of lawyers are unemployed. Was told just this past week by a co-worker that she had gone through over 80 resumes, determining which lawyer to hire for a job at our organization.
In every resume - all of them - the lawyers had been temping for 10 years, and they had excellent schooling, high grades, and high qualifications. But they couldn't find work. Yet, so many people out there...have this odd view of lawyers.
Alicia is struggling with her choices. She likes her job but what is the cost? It's a struggle most working mom's have. My mother gave up her career as a speech pathologist to have and raise her children and never made it back into the workplace, it was too late. My father traveled constantly, 5 days a week he was on the road, the original road warrior. He couldn't come home and take care of us, while she was at work. There were a couple of times that he did cancel a business trip, planes and everything to stay home because she'd come down with the flu. He took us to school and helped her. They were a different generation though...and that was a different time. But still.
And Alicia is similarily being challenged. She's supposed to stand by her man, regardless of what he does, be the Good Wife, stay home and watch the kids, let him be the provider (even if as it has been pointed out on more than one occasion she is making more than he is), his job is more worthy than hers - he's a State's Attorney - and he's not making big bucks at a defense firm! Even though he's done time, it doesn't matter. And having an affair with her boss? She's automatically a hypocrite, even if she's separated from her husband, and the affair has nothing to do with work.
Alicia points out how the women are being scapegoated at the military facility drone program. That the program doesn't work. Yet, as the judge points out - we don't want that defense. That does none of us any good. She made a fatal mistake and needs to be held accountable. Other women are competent at their jobs.
Diane feels much the same way - Diane didn't sleep with anyone. Diane chose not to have kids or the marriage, she chose career. Because she didn't want to give up her career. Diane..struggles with Alicia. And I understand Diane, being a woman who was never given my mother's or sister-in-law's choices. I envy my sister-in-law who does have the best of both worlds, my brother takes turns with her, she works, he plays Dad, he works, she plays Mom. He travels for work, she stays home with their daughter. She travels for work, he stays home. My brother watched my parents and decided early on that when he had a family - they were going to be equals all the way, taking turns. He wasn't going to let his wife grow bored at home with the kid, and then feel restless when the kids were grown. Not that all women are like that, they aren't...but it was his reaction to my parents. It's not been easy and in order to do it - he had to run his own company and that takes its toll. Regardless of the choices we make - there's always a hefty price. And always politics.
And Will who made similar choices - choose career over family and wife. Or didn't get to make that choice. Not everyone does. We often take what we are given and make the best of it.
Interesting episode and interesting series. Plays with my brain. There's only a handful that do that...Good Wife, OUAT, Revenge and Game of Thrones...at the moment.
Tonight's episode is percolating. It surprised me in some respects. Not sure what I think.
Regarding the sexual/romantic entanglements on the Good Wife - it's not a romance. Definitely not. Reminds me more of The West Wing, than anything else...although in some respects a lot better, because Aaron Sorkin and John Wells got preachy, while these writers haven't yet. It's about politics and the main focus of the series is Alicia's balancing act between her three roles, her career which she loves, her kids who she loves, and her role as a political wife. The series really focuses on the power play between people.
* The case of the week..is interesting. What the judge told Alicia at the end..."scapegoating is an excuse, a way not to hold people accountable for their actions and they need to be held accountable". In this instance, it was a young female army officer operating a missile drone program, while on stimulants, which resulted in the deaths of 12 people. She wasn't paying attention and killed them.
Lots of excuses can be made, but at the end of the day, she chose to be on the stimulants to stay awake and did not take what she was doing seriously enough.
She's paying for her mistake - which cost other's lives. It's not black and white and it wasn't intentional.
Syncs well with another mistake or other mistakes:
1. Alicia not paying attention to her kids social lives. Grace's relationship with her odd tutor. Who is watching Grace? There's a lot of foreshadowing here. And prior to Alicia's break-up with Peter, Jackie was watching the kids. Now Jackie is being elbowed out. Peter is busy with his career. Alicia with her's. We see Grace interrupting Alicia at different points. At a nooner with Will. Or Alicia getting the tutor for her. We also see Alicia letting Grace go to a club to see a guy. And Grace mentions not having friends. That's building. This week Jackie throws it in Alicia's face that she's not paying attention to her kids enough. Alicia ignores her.
2. Diane makes it clear to Will that his affair with Alicia is wrong. He's her boss. Her husband is the State's Attorney. This needs to stop. Now. Make it go away, she tells him. They aren't going after Lamont Bishop - they are going after you for bribing judges. And it's not Peter and Carey, it's Dana and Wendy Scott Carr who are doing it. Making me wonder about Wendy Scott Carr and Dana. Why are they so hot on this one? Is there really evidence? Will has never been held accountable for the gambling and embezzlement he did back in Baltimore. And he did do something with a judge during the whole bit with the guy who was trying to take over Lockhardt/Gardner, but backed way off.
3.Eli and Diane are bonding. They are building up that relationship and the one between Kalinda and Eli...which is interesting as well. I keep waiting for Eli to find out what is going on between Alicia/Will and why.
Shout out to Amy Sederis who plays lobbyist Stacy who gets Eli's goat. Hee. The guest stars in this series are a lot of fun.
Hmm. Show that will have to percolate. Felt like there was a lot going on underneath the surface on this one. Also lately Alicia has been questioning what she is doing, which is realistic for defense attorneys. Very hard to be a defense attorney, for the reasons Wendy Scott Carr states: "I have a hard time being around guilty people all the time." Truth is, about 60% of the people you defend are guilty, 90% of something indirectly related. It's not about right and wrong or justice, it becomes about rights, the right of everyone to be innocent before proven guilty. To have a fair trial. To be heard. And more importantly not to be ramrodded for something they may not have done or intentionally did - mitigating factors. It's harder because public opinion is often on the side of the prosecutor, and often prosecutors can make more, depends. TV is a false positive or false negative - it shows a skewed view of reality.
On TV all lawyers are millionairs, they make high wages, as are all doctors. People assume this is true. On TV all professors make a lot of money. But in reality? Most lawyers make less than $45,000 a year. Struggle. Few get in those high profile firms.
The Good Wife at least showed that. Legal Aid was struggling. Carey got booted from tiny office to tiny office, working his way to the top. Alicia worried about losing her job to Carey. And you lose cases. Also the vast majority of lawyers are unemployed. Was told just this past week by a co-worker that she had gone through over 80 resumes, determining which lawyer to hire for a job at our organization.
In every resume - all of them - the lawyers had been temping for 10 years, and they had excellent schooling, high grades, and high qualifications. But they couldn't find work. Yet, so many people out there...have this odd view of lawyers.
Alicia is struggling with her choices. She likes her job but what is the cost? It's a struggle most working mom's have. My mother gave up her career as a speech pathologist to have and raise her children and never made it back into the workplace, it was too late. My father traveled constantly, 5 days a week he was on the road, the original road warrior. He couldn't come home and take care of us, while she was at work. There were a couple of times that he did cancel a business trip, planes and everything to stay home because she'd come down with the flu. He took us to school and helped her. They were a different generation though...and that was a different time. But still.
And Alicia is similarily being challenged. She's supposed to stand by her man, regardless of what he does, be the Good Wife, stay home and watch the kids, let him be the provider (even if as it has been pointed out on more than one occasion she is making more than he is), his job is more worthy than hers - he's a State's Attorney - and he's not making big bucks at a defense firm! Even though he's done time, it doesn't matter. And having an affair with her boss? She's automatically a hypocrite, even if she's separated from her husband, and the affair has nothing to do with work.
Alicia points out how the women are being scapegoated at the military facility drone program. That the program doesn't work. Yet, as the judge points out - we don't want that defense. That does none of us any good. She made a fatal mistake and needs to be held accountable. Other women are competent at their jobs.
Diane feels much the same way - Diane didn't sleep with anyone. Diane chose not to have kids or the marriage, she chose career. Because she didn't want to give up her career. Diane..struggles with Alicia. And I understand Diane, being a woman who was never given my mother's or sister-in-law's choices. I envy my sister-in-law who does have the best of both worlds, my brother takes turns with her, she works, he plays Dad, he works, she plays Mom. He travels for work, she stays home with their daughter. She travels for work, he stays home. My brother watched my parents and decided early on that when he had a family - they were going to be equals all the way, taking turns. He wasn't going to let his wife grow bored at home with the kid, and then feel restless when the kids were grown. Not that all women are like that, they aren't...but it was his reaction to my parents. It's not been easy and in order to do it - he had to run his own company and that takes its toll. Regardless of the choices we make - there's always a hefty price. And always politics.
And Will who made similar choices - choose career over family and wife. Or didn't get to make that choice. Not everyone does. We often take what we are given and make the best of it.
Interesting episode and interesting series. Plays with my brain. There's only a handful that do that...Good Wife, OUAT, Revenge and Game of Thrones...at the moment.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-22 04:54 pm (UTC)The judge notes that Alicia was worried about fairness for her client, without ever asking about the victims. But then, isn't that supposed to be her job. Just as, in the lobbying sequence, Fruit Corn and Cheese were concerned with selling Fruit Corn and Cheese, not actual health of children.
Even Jackie's comments that she knows Alicia's children better than Alicia is at least as much about Jackie's desire to maintain her power as it is Jackie's actual interest in the children - whom Jackie appears more interested in manipulating and controlling than understanding.
And Wendy Scott Carr, who leaked a secret deposition in order to clear herself space to run for office, is suddenly independent, ethical outside council...
On the case itself, the Air Force Staff Sgts. use of stimulants at work was actually a legitimate plot point. Not to excuse her guilt, but to indict the command climate - if indeed such stimulant use was pervasive and the leadership knew about it.
It wouldn't surprise me. We shift to drone use because it's cheaper. Drones are expensive to built and buy upfront, but you don't pay to educate them, don't give them health care, or pay them benefits. But then, if the budget is so stretched that even drone operations are understaffed to the point that operators have to double shift and use stimulants, the system can't afford accounting so the Stff Sgt. pays when someone has to.
Is this foreshadowing that someone other than Will might pay, because someone has to?
no subject
Date: 2011-11-22 11:28 pm (UTC)That never occurred to me, but it makes a lot of sense - and pulls in Eli's story thread better. Also explains why I love this series, because stories about how systems break down or critiques - fascinate me. The Wire comes to mind, although I think I prefer the Good Wife, it's less preachy and not as violent with better female characters.
Interesting. Sort of puts the episode not to mention the series into a whole new perspective, thank you. And far more interesting.
The judge notes that Alicia was worried about fairness for her client, without ever asking about the victims. But then, isn't that supposed to be her job.
As we say at my workplace - "the cubicle mentality". That's not my job, or not my problem - so they don't think outside the box or look at the broader picture. Last week's episode showed that as well, Alicia is struggling with the death row inmate, her job is to get him off, not to worry about his victims. She's defending him.
The prosecution's job is to worry about the victims. There's pros and cons to the mentality. It's impossible to worry about everything, yet, if you don't look outside your cubicle - you risk becoming a bureaucrat.
And Wendy Scott Carr, who leaked a secret deposition in order to clear herself space to run for office, is suddenly independent, ethical outside council...
I'd forgotten that. Ironic. Makes this storyline all the more interesting.
Is this foreshadowing that someone other than Will might pay, because someone has to?
Hmm. Possible. Not sure I want to give them that much credit..the show is well-written and rather tight, but is it that well-written?
It should be noted that Will has yet to pay for the embezzlement.
Peter mentions it to Will - you did it and did not pay for it.
While Peter did pay for his infractions.
OTOH...Will isn't really guilty of judicial tampering that we know of. He didn't do anything. He tried, then backed off. So maybe he'll pay for something someone else did? The guy who they bought out/ousted last year whose name I cannot remember?
Or...maybe he'll pay for something Kalinda did or Kalinda will pay for something Will did?
On the case itself, the Air Force Staff Sgts. use of stimulants at work was actually a legitimate plot point. Not to excuse her guilt, but to indict the command climate - if indeed such stimulant use was pervasive and the leadership knew about it.
It wouldn't surprise me. We shift to drone use because it's cheaper. Drones are expensive to built and buy upfront, but you don't pay to educate them, don't give them health care, or pay them benefits. But then, if the budget is so stretched that even drone operations are understaffed to the point that operators have to double shift and use stimulants, the system can't afford accounting so the Stff Sgt. pays when someone has to.
Oh, good points! Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-23 06:47 pm (UTC)