If there was ever just one masterful episode of The Good Wife that you had to show in order to not just convert someone to an interested party but fully fledged fan status, “Alienation of Affection” would be that episode.

the good wife season 3

THE GOOD WIFE -- Emmy Award winner Julianna Margulies, stars in THE GOOD WIFE on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Justin Stephens/ CBS ©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Good Wife Season 3 Review

Of course, given all the nuances of the character dynamics, someone who hasn’t seen the prior two and a half seasons wouldn’t fully enjoy the episode. Which makes us feel pretty smart for jumping on The Good Wife bandwagon already. Can you imagine if you were missing this? This? Our scribbled notes to summarize our feelings on this episode include “clever!!!!” and “entertaining as frak!” (We never even watched BSG!)

Let’s try to delve into some of the best moments of the night.

Diane has an Artistic, Australian Admirer. Wouldn’t it be great for Diane to have a love life again? She needs someone to ruffle her feathers, so to speak. And this process server might be just the right gentleman. (He’s a gentleman who can practically do ninja moves – or … he’s like a woodsman. Diane likes that in a man!) Their meet might not be technically a “meet cute” since he had to serve her, but we want to see more of him. And we’re certain Diane does, too. He’s pretty damn charming. We always go to art museums alone hoping something so tragically romantic this will happen to us, but usually we just step in gum and get accidentally elbowed by a few dozen people. And then there’s always that one person who elbows you on purpose just to stand in the best spot…

And yes, we love how rule-abiding Diane is. “Do you want this spot?” spoke so highly about her character and sense of manners. And in return, “Well yea, I want this spot then” was a perfect return response to throw her off guard.

Alicia’s Kids. We didn’t see them much on screen so why are we talking about them? Well, we did love how they were sarcastic and funny for the two minutes we did see them on screen, and mostly importantly that they really do seem to get along. Not a lot of siblings seem to share that kind of bond. But the idea of Alicia’s kids comes into play when you realize how much she (or maybe any lawyer) goes through in a few days and has to compartmentalize. Stressful. Much as you’d love to use your kids for free therapy, that probably stops being “okay” once they’re no longer a baby and can unintentionally repeat what you say to nosy people. (Dexter has had this problem with baby Harrison.)

Captain David Lee. David Lee’s outfit. Can you get over that? And his entire demeanor. Through the episode he became increasingly unlikeable because hey, he was lying and scamming and stuff! But in the beginning we remembered that he’s witty and kind of not horrible.

Because, yea. He did go ahead and perjure himself. And then he tricked Alicia (knowing from the start the rider was lost or never existed) like the sly fox or meerkat that he is. (He’s more of a meerkat.) And when you lie based on a technicality you’re either very smart or very dumb.

Take the Hit Like Alicia. We hope never to be deposed because that’s scary, but if we do – we want to handle the deposition like Alicia Florrick did. She’s so cool. And not in the sense of “hip” but in terms of appearing (not necessarily being) unrattled under pressure. In fact, we’d like to have this steely demeanor at hand when we have to deal with a judgmental waitress (because eating just the crunchy coating of onion rings is yea, kind of gross but we don’t care) or well-meaning dentist that makes us think that not flossing twice a day makes us scum. (Ew, now we’re thinking of tooth scum. Is that even a thing? Like your teeth are like porcelain bathtubs and then the soap scum is like plague…ugh. Brb to use that waterpik. Dammit.)

The Gilmore Girls Connection is Strong with This One. We think we’re riffing on a Star Wars line, but we don’t really know. Anyway. We had Matt Czuchary, Edward Herrmann and the mention of Yale. WHERE YOU LEAD I WILL FOLLOW. But Mr. Richard Gilmore needs to lose that mustache, Emily would hate it!

Misc Great Things

  • Kalinda helping Alicia
  • Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) vs Wendy Scott Carr (Her process is unconventional but damn if she isn’t smart.) Don’t you adore this character?
  • Diane scolding David Lee and Eli Gold like they’re children.
  • Diane’s very adult, compassionate support of Will against the backdrop of all the other adults fighting like kids.
  • And hey, Eli vs David Lee!
  • How Eli only pays attention when he realizes he’ll owe money.
  • Cargo Effing Agos. A stand up guy if there ever was one.
  • This episode didn’t need any Alicia/Will romance (the main romance of the show) to be important and amazing. And that’s an important and amazing fact about this show.

We continue to get excited about The Good Wife, and we hope you do too. Stay tuned for our recap of the episode.

The Good Wife  Quotes Season 3

Alienation of Affection Quotes

“Not to pry, but when did you enlist?” – Diane

“I thought I’d dress up for this lawyer.” – David Lee

“Oh, go to hell, Julius. Happy? I said your name.” – Eli

“I can see you have a yarn you wanna spin.” – Cary Agos

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