Last week episode Oppo Research mostly explored Alicia's past in the perspective of her candidacy as a States Attorney. Her new manager, Jonathan, tried to dig out every possible loophole in her and her family's past that lead us to secrets we never knew. Practically, 4th episode was a single subject one, having almost nothing to do with Mrs Florrick's new firm or litigation.
Shiny Objects, to the contrary, suggest multi-plot episode taking us into the courtroom, in Florrick/Agos/Lockhart office and guiding us through Alicia's campaign start. In this case, once again, The Good Wife writers managed to bring an amazingly paced episode, very smart story and witty dialogues - whole package of what we love about this show.
I should start with appearance of Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), who has always stealing the show here. Her being one of my favorite characters in the Good Wife, was the reason I had huge expectations. In fact, it was a lot better.
Alicia and Dean represent a female client who's been fired because of her gender and now they are suing for sexism. Unexpectedly, the second chair for defense is Miss Tascioni, for the very first time, Alicia is Elsbeth are on the opposing sides of courtroom. This was a tough battle, because Carrie's character is extremely smart, original and logical, while Julianne's character is the best at talking and law. I am sure it would be hard to pick a winner between those two, so writers came up with a better solution - to reunite the disputing parties against States Attorney charges and it seems, in the next episode, we will be seeing Alicia and Elsbeth defending their joint clients together from more serious crime.
The court scenes was nothing but pure perfection, as it has been in previous 5 seasons. It was competitive, live, energetic and very interesting, equally focusing on both parties. I liked how Mrs Florrick built her defense against Miss Tascioni and how full of surprises her cross examinations were. I sometimes genuinely think that writers team are the best lawyers in the US.
Alicia's campaign is officially kicked off in Shiny Objects. She's getting an endorsement of Peter and Finn Polmar. Governor and Eli are not happy about it and force to reject ASA's endorsement on open event, however she's as stubborn as ever. The tension leads to a brilliant "tunnel scene", where Alicia just busts Peter's balls, playing the strongest version of herself. She had a clear message that now she is a lot stronger, more determines and independent. That scene had very good lines and brilliant acting from both actors.
As the result, Alicia Florrick gets two endorsements, which shall be considered to be a very successful start of campaign.
Something very serious happens inside Florrick/Agos/Lockhart, the company is under malware attack blocking all and any corporate files and denying access to them. Even after paying requested 50,000 USD the computers still remained locked. Kalinda traces the attacker to Russia and tries to negotiate.
As for performances, Julianne Margulies was just outstanding. The tunnel scene was her best acting in current season. Carrie Preston was no less good, she absolutely stole every second of her appearance in the courtroom. Chris Noth's good moments should also be noted, especially during the endorsement talks with his wife. I think that Diane Lockhart visiting David Lee was a great scene, where both actors did their best to make it enjoyable.
To conclude, Shiny Objects was the best episode in this season and probably one of the best as a whole.
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