Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, November 24, 2014

The Good Wife 6.10: Cary's Fate

Coming in with an all-too-rare review of The Good Wife, which has been just superb this season.

The question at the end of episode 6.10, which was probably the most moving episode of the season so far, is what will happen to Cary? We see him beginning to accept the plea bargain - changing his plea to guilty - but the episode significantly ends right at that crucial point.

Cary could still get out of this plea bargain. Bishop could have a change of heart, and get his guy to change his testimony and say that Cary wasn't advising Bishop's operation how to circumvent the law, after all. Bishop's not doing this, on the basis of his anger at Kalinda for threatening him and his son, is something that could give way to a more reasonable attitude, as anger sometimes does. Bishop already offered Cary a way out - to a country overseas - and may be willing to do something more to help Cary now. After all, having Cary in prison is no help to Bishop, and indeed makes him vulnerable to pressures Cary may receive in prison from the State's Attorney office to talk about Bishop. We already know how Cary hates prison.

Or, on a different track, Castro could have a change of heart for whatever reason, and walk into court before the plea bargain is completed. But that's not as likely as Bishop to the rescue, which isn't all that likely, either. Still, if I had to bet, I would put my money on Cary not going to prison.

Because if Cary does go to prison, that would significantly change the show. Cary has been an essential counterweight to Alicia from the very beginning of the series, and unless she's indeed elected State's Attorney, her new law firm would be limping without Cary.

This raises the question of whether Alicia will be elected, which is predicated on the question of whether she will continue to stay in the race. On the one hand, Alicia is a fighter par excellence. On the other hand, she's fiercely protective of her family, and the battering her family has been taking in the campaign may be beginning to take its toll. Not to mention Alicia's distaste for patronage appointments and other political moves.

So, as The Good Wife pauses for its winter solstice, we're left with powerful possibilities which could change the story almost as much as the departure of Will last year. That's what's so continually appealing about The Good Wife, which reinvents itself while keeping true to its characters at least once a season.

See The Good Wife 6.4: Run-up to Running