The Good Wife: “Whack-a-Mole” (Episode 5.09)

Usually it really bothers me when a TV show has selective memory. So I should be annoyed that Jackie, who last season was suffering from senility issues and was being swindled by her Latin caretaker, has returned to her cunning self. But I enjoy the viciously sharp Jackie far too much to quibble over her sudden mental acumen. (For the record, producers have said they dropped the Cristian storyline because it was too similar to the story line with Pete’s mother on Mad Men.)

Jackie took down Rachel (guest star Mary Stuart Masterson), the woman who is Peter’s newest nominee for the Supreme Court and who also, years ago, had an affair with Jackie’s late husband. “You should have slept with someone with a shorter memory,” Jackie tells her. The scene of Jackie visiting Rachel’s sick husband was the best.

“Whack-a-Mole” also introduced Jason O’Mara’s Damian Boyle, an Irish lawyer with a penchant for defending Chicago’s criminal underbelly. Will hires him without consulting the partners. “Just because someone is wrong for us doesn’t make it right,” Diane tells him.

O’Mara is one of those actors who should be a big star by now. He’s starred in a series of shows— Life on Mars, Terra Nova and last season’s Vegas—that should have turned him into a household name. So it’s great to see him in such a fun role. Being charmingly devious suits him. Damian’s scenes with Kalinda were delightful. Hopefully his appearance will propel Kalinda back into the main story line.

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This week’s case involved Alicia’s client being profiled for a terrorist attack by users on a social media site called Scabbit (read Reddit). Clearly inspired by what happened when Internet commenters accused innocent people of the Boston Marathon bombing , the show continues to explore the legal issues stemming from our current Internet Age. The episode’s title refers to Alicia and Cary’s inability to squash the Internet’s accusations towards their client. Every time they shut down one discussion thread, another one pops up—just like the arcade game. The story line also allowed the show to have great fun at the expense of those who spend a lot of time commenting on social media sites. One user wants Will to address him by his screen name. “Can you call me Mr. Feet?” he asks. “No thanks,” Will deadpans in the episode’s funniest moment.

The episode ends with Judge Kluger (returning guest star Jeffrey Tambor in a great role) asking Alicia out for coffee. It doesn’t really make sense since he should be well aware that Alicia is married to the Governor. But, just like I’m willing to overlook the about face in the Jackie story line, I’ll go with this one, as well. It’s going to be fun watching Alicia graciously extract herself from this situation. Or maybe the judge has other, non-romantic intentions? Either way, it’s going to be interesting.

Other thoughts on “Whack-a-mole”:

—I appreciate that the offices of Florrick/Agos still looks awful and didn’t undergo a miraculous TV makeover.
—How long until Will realizes that no one is going to call his firm “LG.”
—“That was a month ago.” I love how easily David Lee switches alliances.

(Next week the show celebrates its 100th episode and is slated to begin a 9:30/8:30 CST due to football.)