Television has come a long way from the days when a star could not be on more than one series in the same season. Tonight, Dexter's sister - or, more precisely, Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Debra so well on Dexter - was not only on Dexter, but on The Good Wife, at exactly the same time. I'll review Dexter in my next post.
On The Good Wife 3.10, Carpenter plays a "Professor of English" who is fired by the Provost, who's accused by Alicia's firm of sexual harassment, pc-bigotry (the professor is a conservative), and religious bias (she's a fundamentalist Christian outspoken in her views against abortion). The story line was factually inaccurate about what provosts of universities can do - they cannot summarily fire professors without faculty and dean concurrence, unless the prof violates the university code of conduct, and even then, the prof is entitled to some sort of hearing. And the mix of offenses was jumbled. Only Michael Fox as Canning made this weak segment at least a little interesting, and then-
All hell broke lose with an unexpected twist that shook up the fundamental set-up of this season's Good Wife, and will likely change it forever more. The creators of this episode deserve big kudos for not starting the episode with the apparent shocker, and instead lulling us into a sense of tedium and even irritation with the story line about the professor that made the shocker that much more of a punch in the solar plexus.
Alicia, on a break in the professor/provost arbitration proceedings, discovers that her daughter Grace has tried to call her 12 times. Alicia returns the call, gets no answer, and within seconds we're pitched into a frantic search for Grace.
Canning is truly helpful, Peter mobilizes the police, but it's Kalinda who finds Grace - being baptized. Grace's phone was in her back pocket - she ass-dialed her mother, happens to everyone. Alicia, Peter, and Grace hug - which Will, who has come over to Alicia's house to help, sees. He thus doesn't protest when Alicia later tells him, in the office, that it's "just too much" for the two of them to continue with their affair. The thought of what could have happened to Grace, when she was missing, has put her heart in keen touch with her family - including Peter.
Diane is of course happy, though Will doesn't correct her when she says he did the right thing to end it with Alicia. Kalinda asked Grace not to tell her mother that Kalinda found Grace, but you just know that sooner or later Alicia will find out, which means her relationship with Kalinda should be repaired.
And speaking of repair, how long with it now take for Peter and Alicia to get back together - in bed, and even as a fully married couple?
One person who's incorrigible in all this, though, is Canning. Once he learns that Grace is ok, he uses Alicia's absence to look through her papers, and gets evidence which wins him and his client the arbitration. (Poor Deb always has problems with legalities.) That was about the only good thing in the arbitration case, in an episode which was otherwise superb, and was especially superb because of the sudden contrast with the arbitration.
See also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter vs. Will
And see also The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars
The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
On The Good Wife 3.10, Carpenter plays a "Professor of English" who is fired by the Provost, who's accused by Alicia's firm of sexual harassment, pc-bigotry (the professor is a conservative), and religious bias (she's a fundamentalist Christian outspoken in her views against abortion). The story line was factually inaccurate about what provosts of universities can do - they cannot summarily fire professors without faculty and dean concurrence, unless the prof violates the university code of conduct, and even then, the prof is entitled to some sort of hearing. And the mix of offenses was jumbled. Only Michael Fox as Canning made this weak segment at least a little interesting, and then-
All hell broke lose with an unexpected twist that shook up the fundamental set-up of this season's Good Wife, and will likely change it forever more. The creators of this episode deserve big kudos for not starting the episode with the apparent shocker, and instead lulling us into a sense of tedium and even irritation with the story line about the professor that made the shocker that much more of a punch in the solar plexus.
Alicia, on a break in the professor/provost arbitration proceedings, discovers that her daughter Grace has tried to call her 12 times. Alicia returns the call, gets no answer, and within seconds we're pitched into a frantic search for Grace.
Canning is truly helpful, Peter mobilizes the police, but it's Kalinda who finds Grace - being baptized. Grace's phone was in her back pocket - she ass-dialed her mother, happens to everyone. Alicia, Peter, and Grace hug - which Will, who has come over to Alicia's house to help, sees. He thus doesn't protest when Alicia later tells him, in the office, that it's "just too much" for the two of them to continue with their affair. The thought of what could have happened to Grace, when she was missing, has put her heart in keen touch with her family - including Peter.
Diane is of course happy, though Will doesn't correct her when she says he did the right thing to end it with Alicia. Kalinda asked Grace not to tell her mother that Kalinda found Grace, but you just know that sooner or later Alicia will find out, which means her relationship with Kalinda should be repaired.
And speaking of repair, how long with it now take for Peter and Alicia to get back together - in bed, and even as a fully married couple?
One person who's incorrigible in all this, though, is Canning. Once he learns that Grace is ok, he uses Alicia's absence to look through her papers, and gets evidence which wins him and his client the arbitration. (Poor Deb always has problems with legalities.) That was about the only good thing in the arbitration case, in an episode which was otherwise superb, and was especially superb because of the sudden contrast with the arbitration.
See also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter vs. Will
And see also The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
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