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“The Good Wife” recap (5.8): American Dream

Last week on The Good Wife, life was rough for Florrick Agos, as Lockhart Gardner reeled one of the fourth years back into their clutches. *shakes fist at Anthony* This week, Alicia and team return to buoyancy, at least slightly, with the help of the return of America Ferrera. And while we don’t get to see much of Kalinda, this is the best Robyn episode we’ve seen in a long ass time, which is almost as good.

It all starts off with Will giving a speech about how Lockhart Gardner is living large, officially opening an office in New York and rebranding themselves to just be “LG.” I have a few questions about all this, Will. You just lost a bunch of employees and a few clients, including your largest one, Chumhum. Also you are just, what, a few months into a recovery from that time your firm almost financially tanked? Is expansion a smart thing right now? Also, LG is already a company and sounds dumb.

On the Florrick Agos front, though, things seem to be moving forward, however slightly, because they finally have offices. Praise be, because if I had to watch the fourth years ogling Grace Florrick for one more week I was going to scream. Of course, the “offices” are in an old t-shirt factory full of rust and dust, but Alicia is glowing from its potential. “We can do this,” she says with that blindingly-full-of-hope Alicia Florrick smile. As Other Carey says, if they just buffer the floors they can make it look like a hip startup, which I think is true. I would totally feel more comfortable going to a law firm in a rad old factory than going to the fancy, dimly lit Lockhart Gardner offices. Hahaha, like I’d ever have enough money to go to either.

But hey, maybe I would, because the first client that Alicia snags in this episode can’t actually pay them anything. It’s an undocumented man named Tomas who’s being pressured into snitching on a scary Mexican cartel leader for a visa, because that is clearly how we do the American dream here. He’s brought to Alicia’s attention by America Ferrera, known here as Natalie Flores, who is a Lockhart Gardner intern no more. She does start in her quest to help her friend Tomas at Lockhart Gardner, but gets stuck talking to Howard Lyman because all the other partners are too busy chasing down clients they’re hoping to get back from Florrick Agos. Lyman proceeds to talk to Natalie about sexy Mexican ladies in short dresses, because I mean, what else is there even to talk about to a Latina? Natalie’s face goes from this:

To this:

Good job on that one, LG! Natalie immediately goes to Alicia at the unfurnished t-shirt factory, which she seems a little leery about, although even her leeriness bounces right off of Alicia’s optimism. “Give us a week,” she says. It’s going to be amazing. And even though they probably won’t get any money for it, Florrick Agos decides to help Tomas out because Natalie is connected to a rich lobbyist who could possibly swing a lot of moolah their way later. They share a somewhat geeky yet adorable high five.

In less jubilant news, Other Carey has also been chatting with Nathan Lane, who says they need to fire someone to lower their payroll. This seems strange to me, because is ANYONE at Florrick Agos getting paid right now? Can’t they wait until they at least have some desks in their office to figure out what their future is going to look like? Anyway, the last one to be hired is typically the first one fired, and that person happens to be Robyn. Cary reluctantly says he’ll talk to her. Unfortunately, Robyn is on the other side of the door, listening to every word of this conversation, which results in a very very sad Robyn face. I do not like very very sad Robyn faces.

Also, how dumb is this? Yeah, firing our one investigator sounds like a SWELL idea, because investigators on The Good Wife NEVER help win cases or anything. Seriously, fourth years, what is wrong with you?

Alicia and Natalie show up at the courthouse, where a snide US attorney is grilling Tomas and his wife, and Alicia, in full warrior princess mode, tells him to GTFO so she can talk to her client. It is badass and awesome. However, Tomas really needs the visa that the US is bribing him into, so Alicia tells the AUSA they’ll do it if they offer him and his family 24 hour protection. So they show up at the trial of the scary cartel leader, but before Tomas even has to testify the next day, the scary cartel leader runs away after seeing Tomas in court, presumably back to Mexico. Tomas won’t have to testify. Yay! Natalie and Alicia share a hug at the factory, where Eli and Marilyn are currently hanging out, discussing when Peter should or should not show up at the factory.

As soon as Eli sees Natalie, he turns into an adolescent boy, stuttering and pacing and then bolting outside in pursuit of her, wildly searching around until he turns around and smacks right into her. He proceeds to stretch his mouth as wide as it will go, saying happily, wonderfully, “I saw you!” They make plans for dinner. It is amazing.

In lesser heartwarming relationship storylines, that chick Will is apparently still boning is still around, hanging out in his office using his wifi, eating chocolate in his bed. David Lee must not be a fan of her being around LG, because he mentions while she’s in the hall getting coffee that it’s too bad Will’s having such a hard time getting over Alicia. Ah, David Lee. She brings it up to Will later, and he’s like, “Whatever, David’s dumb, let’s have sex,” and she’s like, “OK!” I don’t know what it is about this girl, but she is just so repellent to me. I know she’s the tiniest of side characters meant to fill a specific purpose, but still, there appears to be absolutely nothing to her character or personality other than wanting to be sexy with Will. It makes me want to barf.

In the Tomas case, a lot of things happen at once: even though the US attorney had promised him a snitch visa, after the cartel leader runs, the US instead puts Tomas onto a bus to deport him back to Mexico. Where the cartel leader is now presumably waiting for him, ready to cut out his guts and hang him from a bridge as soon as he steps onto Mexican soil. Good times! Alicia confronts the US attorney and he’s like, “Eh, he didn’t get to ACTUALLY snitch,” and Alicia’s like, “But he never got a chance! And he is totally going to die now!” And the US attorney is like, “Eh.” I want to punch this US attorney in the face. Really hard.

Alicia and Cary proceed to fight for Tomas’s return before the bus can make it to Mexico, a feat they have a few hours to perform. At every step of the way, they get turned around and switched up, because THIS court can only deal with this immigration claim, and THIS court can only do this, and THIS panel can only do that. It is a small but good representation of how completely inefficient and purposely confusing and 100% frustrating our immigration system is. By the end of it all I was infuriated to a boiling point. It even makes normally-cool Cary Agos cranky and shouty about 1984-“the book, not the year.” And in the end, there is essentially no way for the law to save Tomas, a guy whose apparent only crime was not having legal documentation papers, who the US then tricked into his own death. But who needs immigration reform, because Obamacare. Am I right?

But the real force behind the work of Florrick Agos here, other than Alicia’s passion, is Robyn. It is all Robyn. Because after she hears that she was going to get the boot, Robyn slinks back into the Lockhart Gardner offices to seek out Kalinda. Which makes her one of us, because we are all always seeking out Kalinda. Robyn tearily asks if Diane or Will have hired anyone to take her place yet, and if Kalinda could maybe put in a good word for her, all of which makes Kalinda shake her head sadly. It’s too late. They won’t take her back, ever. But seeing Robyn’s pain, she stands up to give her a heart-to-heart about being an investigator, because Kalinda is a big caring softie inside, even though her words sound tough: “You have to make yourself hard.” Oh, Kalinda. “You have to make yourself indispensable.” Robyn replies, “But I’m not you.” Kalinda says she doesn’t have to be. But she has to take control. And then she tells Robyn to go.

While Robyn is still wearing her uber sad face when she turns away from Kalinda, when she returns to the factory, it’s clear something has changed. She has hardened herself, in a Robynish way. She doesn’t wait for anyone to direct her on what to do, taking initiative and getting shit done, single-handedly helping Florrick Agos move the case forward. This includes some amazing acting on her part, and also some illegal things, such as planting false evidence, but hey. She is indeed making herself indispensable. And being goshdarn sexy at the same time. MORE OF THIS PLEASE.

Meanwhile, Lockhart Gardner have gotten wind that Natalie Flores could in fact bring in a lot of dough, and scramble to make up for Lyman’s gross remarks to her and bring her back to their side. Shocking. I’m enjoying this Lockhart Gardner being one step behind thing. Kalinda and Diane, clearly the best minds in the office, persuade Lyman to apologize to Natalie, even though he doesn’t think he did anything wrong. He just thinks she’s touchy, this one. “Maybe she’s a lesbian.” Kalinda says, “I don’t think she’s a lesbian.” Because, come on, Lyman. Kalinda knows her lesbians.

Lyman says it’s not him that got them into this mess; it’s political correctness that did. Ah, yes, blaming the world for being too PC: every misogynist, racist person’s favorite excuse! But Lyman does get the chance to make his apology, because when it seems like things have hit a dead end for Tomas, Natalie finally calls Will back, who has been pestering her to give LG another chance. This is frustrating, as it should be clear to Natalie that Alicia and Cary are literally doing all they can do; the system just sucks. But it also isn’t very surprising. Natalie wasn’t all that pumped about the office-in-an-abandoned factory situation, and it’s clear that she’s just as cutting in her business decisions as a Will or Diane would be. She brings in her fancy boss to Lockhart Gardner. So after Lyman apologizes to Natalie, in a somewhat weird but acceptable way–he initially says that he acted like a pig because a friend had just died, haha, what–her boss then comes in, who happens to be a black man. To whom Lyman immediately turns and says, “Heeey, man!,” attempting to do a fist bump in an awkward I’m-down-with-the-homeys type of gesture. Will and Diane sigh. For the sake of Florrick Agos, I hope Lyman never retires.

In the end, to nobody’s surprise, Robyn saves the day, going directly to the Mexican consulate and essentially persuading them to reject Tomas at the border and send him back to the US. Which they do. No cutting out stomachs and hanging from bridges today! Cary thanks Robyn for saving their asses while they’re in the elevator back at the factory, to which she responds, “That’s my job.” Cary tells her to keep doing it. And for the first time all episode, Robyn allows herself a little smile.

Natalie is also smiling when she hears the news, which happens to be as she’s waiting for Eli at a fancy restaurant. She orders two glasses of nice wine. This is actually her and Eli’s second attempt at a date, and this second attempt has been made after Eli gave a rather romantic appeal and Natalie gave him a bag of dried apricots, which sounds weird and is weird but somehow becomes a really charming gag. But all of these feelings he’s having in his heart have also influenced him a little at work, which makes Marilyn mad, and since Marilyn is mad and also beautiful Peter even doubts Eli for a second, so after Natalie orders the two glasses of wine, Eli stands outside the restaurant, watching her through the window and telling her over the phone that he can’t make it. It is a classic cinematic heartache moment, and you want to kick him for it.

But moments later, he sweeps into the restaurant, apologizing. “I lie 24/7 for my job. It’s actually a gift. But lying to you gave me a stomach ache.” And then he kisses her. Eli! I saw mixed reactions about the continuation of this relationship on the Internets: some people were swept up, some were grossed out. I’m squarely in the first camp, although I might not find it as believable as I do if both Alan Cumming and America Ferrera weren’t such outstanding actors. Alan Cumming is fantastic this entire episode. I love Eli on any day, but it’s rare that he gets such a great storyline full of adorable human emotions. The whole thing is great.

The episode ends with Alicia back at the factory, alone, putting on music and removing the bubble wrap from her not-that-exciting office chair. But she stares at it with satisfaction, as if it’s the best present in the world, and then she sits and twirls for a few moments. And then Peter comes in and congratulates her and has some interns help her unpack and they smile at each other and stuff, but that moment where she’s by herself, very temporarily content, is the real end of the episode for me. It is lovely. I know there’s still not enough Kalinda, but I have to say that at the end of every episode this season, I feel a loss at it being over, and can’t wait until the next week. I am loving every bit of it. What were your thoughts on this one?

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