'The Good Wife' Season 2, Episode 20 Recap
by Chris Harnick, posted Apr 13th 2011 1:30AM
['The Good Wife' - 'Foreign Affairs']Attention Julianna Margulies: You have broken mine and the hearts of millions with the final scene of this episode of 'The Good Wife.'
An incredibly pivotal episode peppered with guest stars galore, 'Foreign Affairs' will not be remembered for having a timely oil drilling court case that involved Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. No, it will forever be known for the final scene.
Let me back up. This episode of 'The Good Wife' welcomed back America Ferrera and Ana Gasteyer, and added former 'Law & Order' star and politician Fred Dalton Thompson. Plus, Cady Huffman in an all too brief role.
"What's wrong with being tempted?" - Huffman's character, Marina the realtor, asked Alicia. You know you're watching a show with great writing when even the guest star -- who has one scene -- is dropping foreshadowing lines. Some Will and Alicia lovin' heading our way? After the way he watched her interview on CBS, I'm going to assume yes.
The case? One Alicia had been working on for a year, apparently. Alicia and Lockhart/Gardner go from representing their client, then Chavez, then their client, again. You follow?
It was all about oil. No wait, a map. Not really important. However, it did put American Ferrera's Natalie Flores to good use. She worked quite well with the the firm ... too bad she's been shipped off to Washington.
Gasteyer's Judge Patrice Lessner was wasted this episode, in my opinion. While it was great to see her back, in my opinion, such a quirky character and actress could be put to better use.
After some political angling, Alicia was convinced to do a very public interview, defending her husband publicly for the first time. Erica Hill set the stage for a very intriguing future plot for Alicia: a political future. It was the brief prep scene with Alan Cumming's Eli that really started to smell of Emmy bait for Julianna Margulies. After this episode, she deserves it.
Kalinda and Cary's scene in the rain seemed a bit off. Perhaps there was more that hit the cutting room floor? I wanted more. Less cutesy jokes, more Cary pushing Kalinda for her motives.
It's a bit of a shame we didn't get to see more of Wendy Scott Carr. Her character debuted with a great amount of promise, only to fizzle out and then lose the election to Peter.
Yes, Peter is now State's Attorney, again. Yay? Well, it would certainly shake the show up. Having Alicia and Peter on opposing sides could make for a great dynamic, but something tells me they might not be on great terms after that moving final scene. Alicia's world came crashing down with one word, one name: Leela. Cue Alicia's heart-breaking reaction. She conveyed so much emotion so perfectly, it's hard to believe this is actually a TV show and we're not just watching a 'Truman Show' type of program.
I've watched that scene more than I should admit (so I won't). It's the perfect cliffhanger. If this is what 'The Good Wife' is offering now, what can the season finale hold?
Total gasp count: 1. I think you know when.
Some other things:
• "Thank you, Rosetta Stone." -- Isabel Sharp. Anybody else think she and Will had quite a large amount of sexual tension?
• Courtney Love, I hope you and/or your publicist watched this episode.
• "Grandma's drunk." -- Zach
"I think that's just her." -- Alicia
• "You should tell her how fantastic she is." -- Kalinda
"She knows." -- Will
• "It's like being in a Woody Allen movie." -- Will. Thank you for acknowledging the ridiculous portions of this episode.
• When (not if) 'The Good Wife' returns for season 3, I really want to see more Diane character development.
Tell us: How do you think Alicia will deal with this news? Do you think she and Peter are heading for divorce?
'The Good Wife' airs Tuesdays at 10PM ET on CBS.
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