Alicia represents a band suing a TV show for copyright infringement, but the simple case becomes psychological warfare when Will joins the opposing council and uses his knowledge of Alicia's strengths and weaknesses against her. Also, Eli hires Kalinda in an attempt to get ahead of a potential scandal.
Much like Alicia, I too am at the point in this season for Will to just get over it. He very justifiably is hurt and angry on the way that Alicia and Cary left the firm. His determination has given the character a fun edge this year. But now, he's obsessed with destroy Florrick/Agos before they ever get started. His drive to expand Lockhart/Gardner is a great story - which lead to a great scene with Diane in this hour. And that should be his focus for the next stretch of this season. Seeing Alicia & Cary face off against Will & Diane has been fun. Now, I want to see what's next. What's next for both businesses? What's next for that quartet of characters? How can this show continue to push boundaries with its inventiveness? Hopefully this lose for Will will move the characters into their own separate paths. Or maybe it will just push Will into a different path for trying to hurt Alicia - which is the more obvious answer by hour's end.In that same vein, I also want the show to try something new with Kalinda. For five seasons now, whenever a new character is introduced into her realm of the show, you know that she'll be sleeping with them. It happened a few scenes after first meeting Jordana Spiro - and I'm guessing Jason O'Mara is not too far behind in that respect. It's boring, inactive and unimaginative. I get the hesitation of doing something new with her because of the backlash to her husband last season. But it's still doing the same thing over and over again.
I loved her interactions with Eli though. They always did make an interesting pairing. I hope that she continues to investigate for him in the future - because what's coming up with this new scandal sure is a doozy. Plus it will probably create a conflict of interest with Will and a triangle of interactions between Peter, Kalinda and Will - with a little Eli and Alicia mixed in as well - does intrigue me by its moral complications.
Melissa George has just been awkwardly used all season long. The pregnancy plot has really doubled-down on that awkwardness. Tonight, she does an entire scene with Alan Cumming while laying on the floor with her feet up on the desk!
But that story actually did answer my "What's next?" question. Eli's whole investigation of Marilyn and her baby daddy was just one big red herring to a much longer problem - the fact that Peter stole the last election. That's a thread the fourth season finale set up well and now is the perfect time for it to rear its ugly head again.
Some more thoughts
- I don't understand why Mr. Preston went to Lockhart/Gardner right away looking for Alicia - other than to simply get him to pair up with Will. Then to have that character just let Will guide so much of this case and it's eventual downfall seemed uncharacteristic. That was just one big contrivance that you had to buy into with this episode.
- I really went back and forth on Matthew Lillard. At times, the character was being too forcefully quirky - like joking on the stand or injecting that he has no clue what the lawyers are saying but it's really cool. But then his two interactions with Robyn felt just right.
- F. Murray Abraham seriously reading the lyrics to the song for all the wins.
- Okay, who guessed filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich was the father of Marilyn's baby?
- More than anything else though, I'm just glad some character got to voice their annoyance with the song after listening to it all the time.
