Normally I am all in for whatever Alicia scenes they want to throw at me but over all, they were a little lacking for me this ep. Honestly the whole ep was. I really liked Diane's suspicions of David Lee and Canning. These last few eps with Diane, I have liked Kalinda more than I have in years. The Diane effect has not helped Canning however. As much as he annoyed me, at least he had some layers when he was dealing with Alicia. At LG, he has less dimension than David Lee. I couldn't get a real handle on the case though. I think I followed all the back and forths but I never could get a point from it all. It's like it just ran in circles then died. What the hell show?
I think Cary is laying the groundwork to make some kind of a move and I don't like it. When they first started the firm, Cary understandably resented Alicia and kept doing the little power plays but she brought more to the table. I don't care if the firm was Cary's baby. It wouldn't exist without Alicia. Then for awhile it seemed like he was following her lead and bitching about it behind her. I'm glad he's stepping up now but I'm going to be pissed if he decides to side-swipe it all. I can't get on board with the idea that Alicia tossing around merger ideas half drunk in a bar with Diane but never giving a response other than she was interested but would have to talk to Cary was some great betrayal. It could all be nothing but this is a few eps now of Cary giving little hints that he might be doing something shady and on this show, that makes me nervous.
I really liked two moments in particular with Alicia. One was when she told her mom that sometimes Will felt like he was still there and other times, it felt like he had never been there at all. I think is true for grief in general but for a relationship like Alicia had with Will, it would be more pronounced. She doesn't work at LG anymore so his office there is both in her past and out of her sight. He was in her apartment but no one knows that and there is nothing of him left there but what she has in her mind. I can understand how sometimes she can think of him then look around and see nothing to really show that he was ever anywhere but in her mind and lose even more solid ground. The second moment was at the end, when she talked to herself (something that is not typically Alicia) and asked who she was being faithful to. Walking away was the right choice for her right now but it made me sad anyway. I think that is also why this is rocking her so much. The end result of everything with Peter was her reclaiming her own identity and the dreams that she had pushed aside. This time, there isn't a good option in sight yet. Even when she's going through the motions, there isn't a set destination. She doesn't have that goal of getting her career back and taking care of her family. She's just drifting.
The two contrasting moments that I think were more important for where Alicia is right now were the jury selection and lunch with Alpert. She knew what was going to happen at jury selection. She knew that she could play coy and slip in like she was just one of the crowd then as soon as her name was read, all eyes would go to her, everyone would know exactly who she was and why she couldn't serve, and she would leave, status acknowledged. Then at lunch, the glances and looks seemed to truly catch her off-guard. I think that is because she hasn't grasped the idea that she is always the Governor's Wife. It's not just at official events or when her name is being called out for acknowledgement of some kind. It is as tied to her as her name and recognizable face. I think that is going to be the next step of Alicia realizing all of her involvement with Peter's career can't be on her terms. They are in way too deep for that, marriage included.
I do think it was significant that she listed Grace's age as 16. That has been kind of vague for a while. This show was originally set to run for seven seasons. That would make the end of the series align with Grace turning 18 and leaving home. I think that is important for where Alicia's journey is headed.
