'The Good Wife' Winners and Losers: Everyone's In Trouble Again
After an eight week hiatus, The Good Wife is taking us back to familiar territory: everyone is in trouble with the law. The Office of Public Integrity, led by Nelson Dubek (Eric Bogosian) as a Wendy Scott Carr-inspired government employee villain, is out for everyone and the NSA is helping them.
This episode was all about setting things up, and the set-up of this latest will-they-won't-they all go to prison scenario took up way too much time. Will, Diane, Alicia, and Cary were all very civil as they managed Lemond Bishop's case, which is never as exciting as when they're at each other's throats. Meanwhile, the NSA continued to meddle from their sad little office, and that plot line is slowly but surely becoming relevant. Here's where everyone stands, at least until next week, when Will decides whether he'll save Peter or save himself.
CBS.
Winner: Marilyn Garbanza
Loser: Eli Gold and Peter Florrick
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The funny thing about The Good Wife is that the "bad guys" are usually doing the right thing, and the "good guys" — the main characters — aren't. Eli and Peter are trying to cover up election fraud, and Marilyn's job is to keep the government honest. But she felt guilty for turning over the video to Dubek after Peter shut her out, and you like her less for it. Still, if anyone's going to jail, it won't be her.
Winner: Lemond Bishop
Losers: Florrick Agos and Associates
Bishop once again avoided prison time despite being a known drug kingpin. FA&A realized that Bishop would totally have them all murdered — along with their kids — if he suspected they were working with the Feds.
Winner: The NSA
Loser: The DEA
After the DEA raised Alicia and Cary's suspicions about the wire tap they got cut out of the information pipeline. On top of that, they pulled over Bishop with a trunk full of bricks of ... pancake batter. Organized Crime: 1, Government: 0.
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CBS.
Winner: Wendy Scott Carr
Loser: The Office of Public Integrity's Nelson Dubek
Good Wife fans will never hate anyone as much as they hated Wendy (though season one Glenn Childs is a close second). Dubek does the same sort of "I'm acting like I'm being nice, but I'm really threatening you," but he's too obviously sinister. Carr always sounded like she was helping people until you remembered how vindictive she was.
Winner: The Office of Public Integrity
Loser: Will Gardner
Thanks to the NSA, Dubek knows Will is the key to getting Peter. This puts Will in a tight spot. On the one hand, he hates Peter and is in love with his wife. The right thing to do is to turn him in, and he might go to jail if he doesn't.
On the other hand, how can he do that to Alicia? He's so conflicted. I expected a lot of sultry broody eye stuff next week as Will tries to reconcile his desire not to go to jail with his desire for Alicia to not hate him forever.
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Winner: Darkness at Noon
Loser: Low Winter Sun
The Good Wife has a special talent for poking fun at pop culture with great dad-jokes, for instance this great nonsense show on fake-AMC. Grace explains to Alicia that a guy shot some guy and might shoot his pregnant girlfriend, and she responds with "I think I'll understand this better after more wine." The best fake line: "There are lines, and then there are lines." Darkness at Noon wins because it hasn't been cancelled yet.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2014/03/good-wife-winners-and-losers-everyones-trouble-again/358988/
