S01.E06: Social Media and Its Discontents

[formerlyfreedom]

After landing tech mogul Neil Gross as a new client, the firm is tasked with figuring out a way to combat hate speech on his social media platform. Maia’s suspicions about her father grow after Uncle Jax pays an unwelcome visit. Lucca and Colin’s romance heats up.

[Noreaster]

I thought this was a weak episode.  Certainly topical with the alt-right stuff but I would prefer the show not be overly political and if they want to address some of these issues, to do it in a more balanced intelligent manner.  This case was too simplistic and kind of felt like an after-school special.  

I wasn't crazy about the other storylines either.  Lucca/Colin, the Maia stuff, etc.  I feel like these plots are being rushed a bit without adequately developing the characters and relationships. I guess too many stories to tell in a short amount of time/episodes.  

[ApathyMonger]

I wonder if they would have written in the recent Milo incident that got him fired if the episode had been filmed after it, or if it would be too on-the-nose.

[dippydee]

I really want to see Diane winning a little more. Sure they sort of won the ChumHum thing but Neil Gross seemingly freezing her out at the end means she's knocked back once again. I get that this is her finding her feet again but give her a break show.

Other than the pilot the most I've liked Maia so far has been her scenes with Elsbeth. The woman just makes everyone better. The scene with them holding the Alexa knockoff while it played Killing Me Softly made me crack up. 

I liked the end of the Julius plot with him going to the other firm. For a minute I thought he was going to call Mike Kresteva in a fit of rage so I'm glad they didn't go there. The firm totally needs to go find Kalinda though, that's some shoddy office searching by their guy if he was caught out so easily. 

[kieyra]

I understand that these showrunners have a history of examining legal issues that arise in social media, so I get that they have to follow up--even as we all kind of go down in flames--but I'm just so exhausted by all this stuff. I understand why they put faces with the hate-spewers instead of just having one of the characters read off text; it made it much more personal. I just need a break. 

Anyway, getting more into the characters, and Rose Leslie seems to have calmed down a little. I can't say I care too much about her storyline, but nice job having the "$800k" leak come from a place I didn't expect. 

[formerlyfreedom]

Anyone else screaming at the tv during the scene in the car with Colin and Lucca? "YOU'RE DRIVING ON A ROAD, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, DON'T DO THAT THERE IS A CAR RIGHT BEHIND YOU, FFS!!!!" Or just me?

I'm liking this more each week. I was not a regular watcher of The Good Wife in the last few seasons, so some of the characters have history and it's new to me. I hope they can keep the guest star level up, that's a big plus.

[fivestone]

What in the world did I just watch? I really like this show but this episode felt rushed and weird. Definitely the weakest episode so far.

Edited March 20, 2017 by fivestone

[Ms Blue Jay]

I liked it. I'm so glad they kept Elsbeth on this show because she is obviously the most exciting and brilliant part of it.  I really admire the actor.

Probably 1 or 2 TV critics on my Twitter feed really didn't like this one, but I did.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Ms Blue Jay

[Eneya]

I laughed. A lot. :) It was funny and I like Mellisa and Elspeth a lot. And of course, I like Maia... who looks a lot like Anna Kendrick to me, for some reason? And she is actually Scottish, right? :)

[Anya]

Could someone explain to me the whole thing with the $800 leak??

I didn't follow that at all. Who is working with whom? What does it mean that Colin was the one who brought it up in the end?

I'm sorry, I'm probably completely dense, but I completely lost track of all the pieces of this.

Someone please explain? <3

[Eneya]

18 minutes ago, Anya said:

Could someone explain to me the whole thing with the $800 leak??

I didn't follow that at all. Who is working with whom? What does it mean that Colin was the one who brought it up in the end?

I'm sorry, I'm probably completely dense, but I completely lost track of all the pieces of this.

Someone please explain? <3

Very easy.
So, Maia's dad got visited by the Matthew Perry lawyer and after that he was released on bail.
Maia's dad called and suggested they meet and talk. She agreed.
Later her uncle visited and told her she is being set up by her dad and he will wear a wire in order for her to say something incriminating.
She talks with Elesbeth who suggests to either avoid seeing her dad or catfish him with an imaginary client with an imaginary sum of money and an imaginary bribe. And to record it on her phone. Maia doesn't want to do that very much.
She goes to visit her family. Who are having... a party? And people visit them? Because they still have friends even after the ponsy scheme??
Maia talks with her dad. He... gets pushy and she gets suspicious. She records their conversation and tells him about the fake client and the fake 800k.
At the end of the episode, the guy who Lucca is seeing comes and tells her the whole thing, as he believes that it is actually true and warns her.
It proves that Maia's dad wore a wire and gave everything to Perry's asshole lying lawyer. So... now the Perry lawyer has fake information and Maia's dad is an asshole who willfully tried to set her up and fuck her over. 

Edited March 20, 2017 by Eneya

[eeyore]

9 hours ago, Eneya said:

Very easy.
So, Maia's dad got visited by the Matthew Perry lawyer and after that he was released on bail.
Maia's dad called and suggested they meet and talk. She agreed.
Later her uncle visited and told her she is being set up by her dad and he will wear a wire in order for her to say something incriminating.
She talks with Elesbeth who suggests to either avoid seeing her dad or catfish him with an imaginary client with an imaginary sum of money and an imaginary bribe. And to record it on her phone. Maia doesn't want to do that very much.
She goes to visit her family. Who are having... a party? And people visit them? Because they still have friends even after the ponsy scheme??
Maia talks with her dad. He... gets pushy and she gets suspicious. She records their conversation and tells him about the fake client and the fake 800k.
At the end of the episode, the guy who Lucca is seeing comes and tells her the whole thing, as he believes that it is actually true and warns her.
It proves that Maia's dad wore a wire and gave everything to Perry's asshole lying lawyer. So... now the Perry lawyer has fake information and Maia's dad is an asshole who willfully tried to set her up and fuck her over. 

I'm confused by the Colin (Luca's date) and Kresteva (Matthew Perry) connection - is Colin working with Kresteva? How did he get the info? 

[Humbugged]

43 minutes ago, eeyore said:

I'm confused by the Colin (Luca's date) and Kresteva (Matthew Perry) connection - is Colin working with Kresteva? How did he get the info? 

They share a boss .At the start of the episode when Colin was trying to get him to shut Kresteva down ,the boss (the States Attorney ? or the US Attorney ? )  screwed Colin over by giving him over sight of the investigation but with no power interfere .

 

So all he could do was tell Lucca what had came up (Elsbeth's false trail) and to keep her head down

Edited March 20, 2017 by Humbugged
repetition

[cali1981]

I was an avid Good Wife fan but this show is even better.  The writing has more edge and the story lines are current and tighter.  The fact that it's completely uncensored just adds to the mix. It's also laugh out loud funny at times.  The guy who played the Milo clone was Milo on steroids but it was a great performance.  I thought that having actual people reciting the vicious tweets really worked as well.  It's good to see Neil Benjamin Hickey back.  He was great in Manhattan (as he is in everything he does) and the reappearance of Chumhum is welcome.  The same goes for Carrie Preston. It's not for nothing that she won an Emmy for her stints on The Good Wife.  Elsbeth is crazier than ever and just as sharp and dangerous legally.  I wonder when her ex-hubbie (Will Patton), complete with his dog, will show up.  I also like the relationship between Lucca and Colin.  Justin Bartha has been very good as Colin.  I saw him in 2010 in his Broadway debut in Lend Me a Tenor.  He was going toe to toe with Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Shalub onstage and more than held his own. Of course there's also Delroy Lindo, long one my favorite actors.  I also like the judges from Good Wife coming back, especially Dennis O'Hare.  So far this is one of the best spin off series that I've ever seen and now has a second season, good news.

[Mabel]

I must have missed something because I cannot understand how Chumhum got hold of deliberation transcripts. Surely, the clients are not usually privy to a company's inner workings? Wouldn't it still mean that somebody at the company (not Julius, apparently ) leaked the information - but to chumhum, not to the blogger?

[Aulty]

How is this first attempt with the arbitration-board work supposed to work with Chumhum being roughly the size of Google? Surely they would need more than one jury? They lost me there.

I like quirky Elsbeth, but the new 'office' is a bit riddiculous - she is supposed to be a smart, successful lawyer, she can do better than a day clinic or dentist or whatever thats supposed to be. She used to have proper offices in the old show. Also Maya and Elsbeth looked like mother and daughter in some of those shots.

One more thing: Can they get Matthew Goode's Finn back on the show? Pretty please!

[love2lovebadtv]

On 3/24/2017 at 1:37 AM, Mabel said:

I must have missed something because I cannot understand how Chumhum got hold of deliberation transcripts. Surely, the clients are not usually privy to a company's inner workings? Wouldn't it still mean that somebody at the company (not Julius, apparently ) leaked the information - but to chumhum, not to the blogger?

That was totally confusing to me. 

On 3/19/2017 at 9:20 PM, saoirse said:

Anyone else screaming at the tv during the scene in the car with Colin and Lucca? "YOU'RE DRIVING ON A ROAD, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, DON'T DO THAT THERE IS A CAR RIGHT BEHIND YOU, FFS!!!!" Or just me?

I'm liking this more each week. I was not a regular watcher of The Good Wife in the last few seasons, so some of the characters have history and it's new to me. I hope they can keep the guest star level up, that's a big plus.

The driving scene scared the daylights out of me. Lucca's character sometimes reminds me of Kalinda - dark, mysterious, unafraid.

On 3/19/2017 at 7:28 PM, kieyra said:

Anyway, getting more into the characters, and Rose Leslie seems to have calmed down a little. I can't say I care too much about her storyline, but nice job having the "$800k" leak come from a place I didn't expect. 

Some of the social media stuff was a little over my head. Ok, most of it was. But I did understand the $800k, so it evens out LOL. 

On 3/19/2017 at 11:45 PM, Eneya said:

She goes to visit her family. Who are having... a party? And people visit them? Because they still have friends even after the ponsy scheme??

Yea, where did all these loyal friends come from? That was confusing. 

Edited March 26, 2017 by love2lovebadtv

[milner]

Sorry for being dim, but who is Milo?

[vibeology]

14 minutes ago, milner said:

Sorry for being dim, but who is Milo?

Milo Yiannopoulos. I'm not going to link to anything about him because he deserves no attention but he was a writer for Breitbart News. He is a right wing troll who says and does anything he can think of for attention and spews hate the way a normal person breaths. He's one of the very few people who has actually been banned from twitter for spewing hate and recently was forced to resign from Breitbart because his comments about the positive aspects of relationships between pre-teen boys and grown men.

[milner]

Thank you I am kind of glad now that I've never heard of him  Lol

[SeanC]

On 3/24/2017 at 10:19 AM, Aulty said:

How is this first attempt with the arbitration-board work supposed to work with Chumhum being roughly the size of Google? Surely they would need more than one jury? They lost me there.

Everything about the mechanics of the panel just broke my suspension of disbelief.  Like, I get that this is a TV show and they need person-to-person interactions, but complaint arbitration of this sort is not held in in-person, and it's handled by moderators, not an outside law firm that is presumably billing the company exorbitant sums of money for its time (they had, what, five lawyers there, almost all senior partners?).  And more generally, a company of that size would already have a policy and procedure in place for this.

[UsernameFatigue]

I am really having a hard time sticking with this show. I can't say I have really liked any of the 6 episodes so far. I really only tune in for Diane, Marissa and now Elsbeth. I didn't care for Lucca in TGW and my opinion in this spin off has not changed. And I can't warm up to Maia. I vaguely remember the actor from Downton Abbey, but I am really not feeling her in this role. Way too many facial ticks which seems to be her way of conveying her feelings. And I don't care what has happened or is going to happen with her family. Yawn. 

Also finding too many episodes that are relying on politics. I hated it in TGW and I don't like it on this show. Apparently next week is a great show (judging from the comments) so I will give it another try, but it may be my last. 

[marionette]

I was so looking forward to this spinoff, but am finding all the swearing and political stuff really offputting.  The characters are mostly very enjoyable.  I was disappointed when Good Wife left, but am not at all missing her or her family.  This group is way better.  The good wife was all about the good wife, and I didn't think she was all that.  Diane is a very strong character and it is nice to see her have more airtime.  I just wish they would spend more time on their storylines instead of going for the shock factor.  And don't makeout while driving.....

[Cynna]

On 2017-03-27 at 11:17 PM, UsernameFatigue said:

,,, I can't warm up to Maia. I vaguely remember the actor from Downton Abbey... 

You know NUTHING, Usernamefatigue!

[Sandman]

On 2017-03-19 at 9:20 PM, saoirse said:

Anyone else screaming at the tv during the scene in the car with Colin and Lucca? "YOU'RE DRIVING ON A ROAD, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, DON'T DO THAT THERE IS A CAR RIGHT BEHIND YOU, FFS!!!!" Or just me?

Nope; not just you. I thought we were in for The Good Wife meets The World According To Garp, for a minute there.

I'm not sure how or why Neil Gross blamed Diane for the failure of his terms of service gambit. I mean it's nice that he's also Barbara's and Adrian's client (or whatever), but why was Diane the one with egg on her face? That just looked like shooting the messenger. Gross can't be that much of a simpleton and still be as successful as he's supposed to be.

Also, I don't get why Julius is so damned angry all the bloody time. I don't see the point of this character anymore. Also, also: We get it, Kings -- you can use the F-word! Please stop showing us so gleefully that you can just throw it in any time you like, for no particular reason. I'm waiting for Maia to bust it out in giving her parents the heave-ho -- that I could live with. (Am I supposed to sympathize with Henry or Lenore Rindell to any degree? Because I think they're hateful, entitled, and boring, all at once.)

Elsbeth is the best thing ever. At least Carrie Preston seems like she's having a blast.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Sandman

[Isazouzi]

Elsbeth said Fangtasia gave her the device that plays music. That little wink to True Blood made me smile, but I wonder what Fangtasia is supposed to be in TGF world?

Also, I was disappointed with Luca in this episode. She was so transparent in her intentions. I suppose she just has commitment issues and pretends to be strong with her "boys don't hurt me". Having no friends is sad, not mysterious, IMO.

[wendyg]

Fantasia (no 'g') has been Elsbeth's assistant ever since about season 3 of THE GOOD WIFE.

[Isazouzi]

Thanks, I'd completely forgotten about her.

[Guest]

Six law partners tending to an internet troll was pretty silly to me.  I'll keep watching but I hope they keep it more real.  

[John Potts]

On ‎20‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 1:20 AM, saoirse said:

Anyone else screaming at the tv during the scene in the car with Colin and Lucca? "YOU'RE DRIVING ON A ROAD, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, DON'T DO THAT THERE IS A CAR RIGHT BEHIND YOU, FFS!!!!" Or just me?

Yes! I was thinking "You know, smooches* may be romantic, but you know what isn't romantic? Crashing your car!" At least when the movie Parenthood did something similar (if rather more intimate), the guy crashed immediately. Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there.

Actually just about all the plotlines annoyed me this week - the only one I actually liked was the Elisabeth Tascioni plot, because for all her wackiness, she actually is shown to be a good lawyer.

* Apparently I live in the 1950s

[Hanahope]

Just to add more info, Kresteva is trying to get the lawfirm indicted or at least discredited them because they are too successful with police brutality cases.  So Kresteva pulled some strings to offer Maia's dad a deal that if he can get dirt on the lawfirm out of Maia, he'll try and get the dad's sentence reduced in the ponzi scheme case   So the dad is doing it not necessarily to hurt Maia, but help himself.  He probably figures that Maia won't really be hurt because she can get another job in another firm (little does he realize how difficult it is for her, with her name, natch).

It took me a bit to realize the guy was playing a Milo-clone.  I too didn't quite get how Chumhum got "transcripts' of the firm meeting (really, "transcripts"?).  I'm just guessing that what really happened is someone took notes, typed up a report to the client from the notes and that someone at Chumhum saw the letter and notified the trolls.

[Nozycat]

I liked Lucca in TGW but really don't like her in this.  To me she just seems hostile all the time, aggressive and vulgar now.  And kissing the guy in the car?  Totally dumb and they could have killed others.

[Milburn Stone]

It's weird coming to this show for the first time almost four years after it aired. The alt-right problem is so much worse now than mere trolling of SJWs, the depiction in the episode is quaint. The portrayal of Felix as basically a harmless deeply needy clown does not age well.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Milburn Stone