'The Good Wife' Dines With the Devil

2 years ago

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"Out, damn'd spot! Out, I say!" In Tuesday night's episode of "The Good Wife," Alicia pulled a Lady Macbeth -- washing her bloodless but guilty hands in a public ladies room after doing what she thought was necessary.

A courtroom drama with a twist of sex scandal, CBS's new hit, "The Good Wife," (10 p.m. ET Tuesdays) is the story of Alicia Florrick, the woman standing next to the man hiding behind the dreaded podium of "personal failings." Peter Florrick (played by the notorious Chris Noth) is a disgraced state attorney serving time in the big house for corruption and time away from his marriage for "private dealings" with women. Now after a 15-year mommy break, Alicia (played by "ER" vet Julianna Margulies) has to head back to the courtroom while her new colleagues (and her teenagers' classmates) replay the infamous press conference on YouTube.

So it's understandable that so far, Alicia's been nice, perhaps almost too nice. Using her motherly instincts to earn the trust of the ubiquitous every woman (the stripper, the single mom, the overworked factory worker) who inevitably helps her crack each week's case, Alicia's had it easy these past four episodes. But not so last night.

Faced with a dilemma -- to possibly destroy a family or help her clients, a group of grieving widows -- Alicia cross-examines a married woman, compelling her to disclose the details of an affair with a co-worker. Turns out extra-marital pillow talk isn't privileged information. Alicia was able to win a big settlement for her clients, but in the end she may have torn apart a woman's family, much like her own has been smashed to pieces. The best parts of "The Good Wife" are these moments when being the woman scorned and the woman scoring points with the boss aren't so easily wed.

The show's creators, husband-and-wife team Michelle and Robert King, said they started writing during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency in 2008 and imagined Peter Florrick's character as "Bill Clinton in prison." "If there are seven stages of grief," explained Robert King in an interview, "then there are probably seven stages of political comeback, one of them being forgiveness from your wife." In the most recent episode, however, Alicia is forced to forgive herself -- a step up from Lady Macbeth's fate, for sure, and perhaps a step in the right direction for Peter.

Filed Under: Woman Up, Culture

Tagged: cbs, julianna margulies, JuliannaMargulies, the good wife, TheGoodWife

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