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Which is why Diane was as essential as Will was to Lockhart/Gardner. She's a very smart grownup who can deal with people who aren't like her in a way that doesn't condescend/bend over backwards. SO glad the plot machinations have left her in charge of FAL, because it would seem we're going with a 2-plot show from now on: Alicia as the State's Attorney & the CotW at FAL. Which is fine with me. Maybe Julianna wants more time off and to come in and shoot her scenes with a separate cast. I was really hoping Alicia would lose...and all signs seemed to point to it. But this says to me that they are hinting the endgame will be for Alicia & Peter to get back together in some way because she's discovered she's like him, and they two of them belong together (collateral damage all around them). And, frankly, I'm OK with this. The making of a politician (Chicago-style) is a realistic character arc for The Good Wife, and if the two of them head off into the national spotlight at the end of next season, I'll buy it.

SOMEONE's going to put that ep on their Emmy reel...actually a few someones. Though the thing that continues to bother me (amidst all the interesting stuff) is how the staff continues to gossip loudly in public at their favorite bar about what's going on in the office. They either need an office bar, or to go to someone's apartment. Zjelko/Russell continues to develop as a character, and one thing I like about the show is that they make it clear no matter what someone's done yesterday, today is a whole new ballgame and you can lose your job/reputation title. Also, the natural growth of the devotion of the staff to Bess is good to see: they handled the Ecuador situation AND put a patch on the Chinese ambassador meltdown because they were good and knew what to do. I see from the promo that Professor Doctor Arm Candy (USMC-Ret) is going into action next week. I feel like that's a little convenient/cliche, but we'll see where it goes. Tim Daly has always been a pretty good actor, but he's having some really good moments this season.

Then Jamie better hurry up & get hitched, so there's a Reagan wife waiting in the bullpen!

So I guess Linda WAS stalked & fingerprinted before she was OK'd to become a Reagan

I thought it was because he realized that Diane can go "big game hunting" for a huge new client, and he was being thoughtful and giving her the chance. (You notice, she said "yes" with hardly a pause).

I think that's it and Ivanek is a really good actor, so we've been able to see his character develop over the season. And in terms of President Carradine (!) we've usually only seen him pissed off, when he's calling in Bess for some hot international mess or other. But when he & Russell spoke about how to handle the blowback of the attempted coup, and he said: no, we just have to get out there and own it, it's the first time I've really seen him be Presidential on the show. I mean, the guy got elected (on this show), so he must have something going for him that made millions of people vote for him. (Or not...but I don't think the show is going there...that's more "Person of Interest" territory).

Since the whole first part of the season was having heavy hitters try to convince Alicia to run for office, it does make sense to see her have some political appointment. Now that they've kicked the tires a bit, so to speak, and seen that she's not particularly comfortable in a campaign, the higher ups in the Democratic party may decide she just needs more coaching (and hand her over to someone other than Eli...) OR they could decide she could do a better job as an appointee. There are a lot of of federal bureaus that could use a sharp lawyer (but we don't really know how good an administrator she is...and that's a huge part of an elected office OR an appointed one). What say you, Donna Brazile?

“Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you -- gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.” (Hat tip to Tennessee WIlliams/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...not that Alicia is Maggie the Cat. Please don't do that play on Broadway, Julianna).

Hmm: stuck in Iran with the possibility of being hung from a lamppost or in a US federal prison for life (though maybe with the possibility of seeing her children). In that case, life in prison is actually the less-worse scenario. Also, she will sing like a canary.

Yes, I go along with the consensus that this was a strong episode...best since they came back. And I really hope they're setting us up for Prady to win...that scene with him & Alicia in the dressing room was beautiful. David Hyde-Pierce brings up the talent of everyone who acts with him. (And a Jesuit...I guess that means he was a priest who left or was asked to leave the Church...so some part of him still observes his vows). It'll be interesting to see if they keep Johnny around (he certainly won't have the job Eli put him up for), and whether there's going to be compare & contrast with him & Fin the rest of the season. Though if Matthew Goode is going to be a regular on Downton Abbey and they are in production now, they may have to phase him out. And yes, loved how Diane & McVeigh talked like adults and protected their relationship. They'd BETTER not break that one up, or as merylinkid put it: the show needs a grownup couple. Kalinda no longer seems to have a magic vagina, but she DOES have a magic Google (or ChumHum). You'd think a guy as thorough as McVeigh would have looked into temperature variations when he conducted his testing. And I kind of feel bad for saying it (no, I don't) but I really wish Louis Canning would just die, already. ETA: And Rapunzel's Prince (aka the guy who designed the gun) was a well-done portrayal of a lot of the people out there on the internets whose strong belief system doesn't include the thought of how what they put out there for everyone could go wrong/how it could be misused.

Damn, that was one of the best episodes thus far. Since every damn preview showed the explosion, we knew Bess was going to be in danger, but the rest of the writing, the interplay between the characters, was really well done (not the least of which was Bess's dismissal of the Daisy/Matt "clandestine" relationship. I hope it gets that much coverage from here on out...) Bebe really brought it when she revealed her affair with the late SoS. The only character who annoyed for me was the CIA head, who seemed to be going for kind of a comic turn. (And shame on the feds for not finding his concealed weapon...looks like HE doesn't get a trip to Gitmo). And YAY! Anna Deveare Smith! (Callback to West Wing...though she seems to have been promoted to Attorney General). I have to say I enjoyed this more than the following episode of The Good Wife, though that was one of their stronger efforts in awhile.

Yeah, even though Jamie tried to justify it to Eddie by saying it wasn't a good operation, it kind of rang of either jealousy/lack of faith in her. And she handled herself well: a porcelain toilet top would certainly disable an attacker, and throwing in one more whack on the head was a way to make sure he stayed down. This was actually one of the better episodes of the season...though the Reagans' predisposition to investigate everyone who enters their family circle (or to have their younger generation followed) is still pretty creepy to me. Also, Erin has WAY more chemistry with the investigator in her office than anyone else they've ever paired her with. I hope the producers do something with that.

I am not at all surprised that Taraji P. Henson is the breakout character of the season as Cookie on "Empire." She's just that good.

Well, I've nominated Bear for the "Disparate Things" competition on the front page (of Previously.tv). So keep an eye out for it, and when it turns up, let's GET OUT THE VOTE!

Thanks for the info, stealinghome! The tix go on sale to the general public on Monday...hope there are some left! ETA I got my tickets! Ticketweb tacked a HEFTY service charge on...but still cheaper than joining the Paley Center as a member.

On reflection, I liked the tone of the episode, if not the execution. Even without seeing the previews, my wife said to me shortly into the first scene: the doctor's going out and taking care of the people who hurt his patients, isn't he? It's a different perspective on doing the "right" thing, and taking care of innocent people. This guy is an Equalizer...he is another version of Finch & Reese...and a tragic version of the guy who pretended to be a cop earlier in the season. I think we're meant to get to get many points of view this season: people have to evaluate what they believe, and what they live for, from Control to the annoying nerd girl, to the core characters of Finch, Reese, Lionel and Root. From the human point of view, there is no ABSOLUTE morality, not everyone who kills someone is a murderer, not everyone who commits a crime is a lost cause, not everyone YOU think is bad is bad. Samaritan doesn't have that insight...the Machine knows far more than we do: far more FACTS. But when it tries to utilize the facts for a moral code, the AI is...only human.

Yes. She's morphed into someone who's quite unlikeable at times, but there's still a part of her that keeps a promise she made to Canning. He asked her to go to the hospital (what was it, about 2 seasons ago?) and she did it. THAT part of her inflexibility is the Alicia people like.

forgot to mention...the thing that made me go: NO! DON'T DO IT! Was when Bess but a USB stick given to her by a foreign national/non-friendly INTO HER OWN COMPUTER. Geez! I know she trusted him and all that...but maybe someone on HIS end put in some kind of bug/tracker/virus that is now in the Department of State system. (Also, I watch Person of Interest and that's EXACTLY how Samaritan does its dirty work!)

I think the reporter wants Daisy to become his "confidential source," which actually IS something that would happen in Washington. And I betcha they'll put Jason in a Catholic school (in DC, they'd probably go to DeMatha)...or does Georgetown have a prep school?

One of the other tropes that bother me is mean detectives telling little Jamie to take a hike. If they were savvy enough to be promoted to detective, then maybe they would realize that Jamie is the Commissioner's son, and try to cultivate him. Mentoring Jamie could lead to other things...in the real world. However, it was FINALLY nice to see a detective reward Jamie (and Eddie, since she was the one with the connection to the old lady) for their initiative.

They could have called it "End of The Good Wife." She spent an hour deciding she's going to do what she has to to win the race. They didn't really underline it, but I think this is the episode where she turned into Peter. She is no longer "The Good Wife," though she will play St. Alicia to the hilt. Makes me want Prady to win more than ever.

I do think that's something that all the kids are either having or going to have to deal with and learn how to react to it. And, it bugged me that the bully actually shoved Jason 3 time (which was never acknowledged)...they made a point of showing all the kids taking photos of it...did no one catch that the other kid started it? I do respect that Professor Dr. Arm Candy and the Madam listened to Jason when he said he was unhappy in the school...though the big Quaker school in the DC area (Sidwell...my brother in law used to teach there) is not known as the place where the super-rich deposit their kids...the kids are expected to give back and have a social conscience. Also, in the A plot, the head of the CIA had some fucking nerve to orchestrate a coup in Iran right under the nose of the POTUS/guy who gave him a career. I expect a long stay in Gitmo for HIM.

I guess I don't like the way that she's set up to be the bleeding heart liberal LOSER in the manly, always-right Reagan family. She's a sweet kid who's ALWAYS wrong, and needs to be set right by her uncles, grandfather & boy cousins. Just like Eddie is the little kid tagalong to Real Cop Jamie...and Erin is essentially a traitor because she upholds the civil rights on every piece of scum they arrest (and Linda is only a nurse...there to patch up the good guys who get shot, but back off of the criminals, and let the cops do their job). The underlying theme of the episode (about "benefit of the doubt") and the last episode where the father shot the guy whose crime led to his daughter's death, gave the father-figures plenty of room to make it clear that 1) you really can't trust anyone (especially if they are not a Reagan), and that there is no such thing as rehabilitation or people changing or becoming better people. (And from Danny, the guy whose mother kept bail money for him, that's pretty rich). Sometimes I wonder if the women writers on the show just shut up and take the paycheck...they need to pay their rent and feed their kids, too, but I would imagine the very male-centric world of the show would be exhausting.

If it weren't for boards like this, I'd also be totally confused. (Last week on Person of Interest, a character appeared who hadn't been seen in a couple of seasons, and I totally didn't recognize him...however, the other folks on that board pointed that out, so I got what could be an important plot point). I need Cliff's Notes for mah stories!

That's because David Hyde Pierce is such a good actor. As a character, he IS the guy who should win the election. I'm hoping that he does and that he returns as a recurring character when Alicia is back doing...whatever it is she does.