S02.E01: Day 408

[tessaray]

An unfortunate event brings the firm together, along with the prospect of a new name partner, Liz Reddick-Lawrence (Audra McDonald). Meanwhile, Diane struggles to grapple with the insanity of the world and Maia is confronted with another hurdle in her parents’ scandal.

[preeya]

That was like a game of "musical lawyers."

[UNOSEZ]

Good first episode.. Though I still couldn't get a read on what kind of person Adrian' s ex is... What was confirmed was that Barbara was a snake glad she's not gonna be around.. Tho at least one more scene where she explains herself I hope its more than petty jealousy... Otherwise looking fwd to the season 

[veronicalodge44]

so much goodness in this episode, foremost being audra mcdonald!  

[Ericgs]

This show is ridiculous.  Who would believe that President Trump actually had a homosexual affair with one of the stars on the show.  That tape they played ridiculous!

[UNOSEZ]

11 minutes ago, Ericgs said:

This show is ridiculous.  Who would believe that President Trump actually had a homosexual affair with one of the stars on the show.  That tape they played ridiculous!

Are you having a laff?? 

[preeya]

10 hours ago, Ericgs said:

This show is ridiculous.  Who would believe that President Trump actually had a homosexual affair with one of the stars on the show.  That tape they played ridiculous!

????????????????

Watch the conversation just prior to the played tape mentioned above.

[missyb]

I like most of the first episode. What I did not like was the scene with Howard Lyman as judge. It was just to "schtick" for this show and I hope they do not fall back on it too often.

I am also not too crazy about Diane starting to use psilocybin. Not really necessary. A little weed , maybe. Liked the scene between her and the other partner in the limo.

Love little Maya and Lucca. Great scene where they play the edited phone call to Madeline ( that her name). The barely contained laughter was great.

Glad the show is back.

[Quark]

Really great premier. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Diane gives me life.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I think the writers maybe went a tad overboard with all the Obama mentions. We got it, they  are a huge deal in Chicago. Unless one of them (probably Michelle) is going to make a guest appearance at some point AFAIC the writers can dial back all the namechecks of both them and 45.

Poor Diane was getting hit left and right with info everybody seemed to know but her.

Re the season preview, who was that hot piece asking Lucca if she was pregnant? Have we seen him before?

Glad this show is back.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Joimiaroxeu

[preeya]

6 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I think the writers maybe went a tad overboard with all the Obama mentions. We got it, they  are a huge deal in Chicago. Unless one of them (probably Michelle) is going to make a guest appearance at some point AFAIC the writers can dial back all the namechecks of both them and 45.

Poor Diane was getting hit left and right with info everybody seemed to know but her.

Re the season preview, who was that hot piece asking Lucca if she was pregnant? Have we seen him before?

Glad this show is back.

ITA - too much Obama, too much Trump bashing, too much Jane Lynch being a pain in the ass, too much Jerry Adler acting like an ass as the judge.

Question: can over-the-hill, out of work lawyers become judges?

[RedKeep]

I found most of the commentary on RL politics rather cathartic and amusing in this episode, but I agree that it's something that can be overdone and that'll eventually lose its effect if they keep it up on that level. The feeling I'm getting is that the show is struggling to balance its cast. As great as Audra McDonald's first episode turned out to be, it seems like her character is considered to be a direct replacement for Barbara Kolstad whose rushed exit made little sense to me, considering the finer points of her speech at Carl Reddick's funeral. Maia's fresh out of prison and facing more blasts from the past, yet neither her mother nor her girlfriend seem to be of any relevance for the writers in that context. Actually, Amy's sort of a weird case anyway since she also happens to be an ASA and, like Colin, works in the state attorney's office, yet she's non-existent in the day-to-day business world of the show even though including her would make more sense than adding more Good Wife guest stars for the courtroom scenes. Generally, I'd really rather the writing would make a bit more use of their own characters instead of trying to find new ways to bring over characters we know or may have already heard of on the mothership show. Especially if you end up retconning them, like they now did with Audra's character, anyway. Still, I'm glad the show is back. I enjoyed the premiere and I'm looking forward to 2.02.

[Gigglepuff]

I'm glad the show is back though I'll miss Barbara, one of my favorites. I'm happy to see Audra join the cast, I've always liked her. Too bad they're keeping Maia though. I just don't care for her or her arc in any way. She's basically dead weight. 

[Sandman]

On 3/5/2018 at 7:08 PM, preeya said:

... too much Jane Lynch being a pain in the ass, too much Jerry Adler acting like an ass as the judge.

I am not interested in more shenanigans from either Agent Sue or Judge Howard. I think the Kings expect us to think it's cute. It's not. Cut it out.

I don't think Maia's dead weight, but her familial albatross is killing the show.

Is it just me, or is there something a little bit disingenuous and creepy about the way the Brian Stokes Mitchell character keeps name-dropping "Barack"? We get it, Kings, you're living vicariously through your characters, and you want to be on a first-name basis with Mr. Obama. Just because CBS All-Access lets you say "fuck" eleventy billion times doesn't mean this show counts as therapy!

And speaking of living vicariously through their characters, I've decided if there's a real-life figure the Kings hate even more than DJT, it's Julianna Margulies:

Liz: Your partner was Will Gardner, right? He was such a brilliant lawyer, etc...

Diane: Yes; yes, he was.

Liz: And Alicia Florrick?

Diane: She was also there.

That's some remarkable passive-aggressive bullshit.

ETA: Did anyone notice who was singing "But Not For Me" over the closing credits? I wondered if it might be McDonald.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Sandman
Not McDonald, of course; apparently it was Sarah Dooley.

[marionette]

Can anyone help me out?  I cannot remember why Maia doesn't remember her past until something triggers it.  It seems unlikely that anyone would forget seeing their father naked with the hired help.  I am happy the show is back on.  It is refreshing to see some decent acting for a change.  The Chicago Med, PD, Fire and 911 are getting dreadful.  However, not excited about the namedropping and political stuff.  The nudity and swearing are not necessary either.  I am disappointed that Diane is going the drug addict route.  She is such a strong lady, why would they go there?

[wendyg]

I don't think taking psilocybin once qualifies as drug addiction. But I didn't think it really fit that Diane would try it at a professional event.

I'm sorry that Erica Taizel is leaving - if she is, since they could simply be transitioning her into a different place in the show. She was wasted in the first season, so I'm glad if it's the latter of those.

[Sandman]

I don't know if the show intends it, but having Maia only remember bits of her past at a time, and having memories change substantially when something in the present triggers a recollection, makes her look highly suggestible, and possibly traumatized. (Of course, if Henry and Lenore, monsters of ego and selfishness that they are, were my parents, I'd probably be traumatized to the point of having an unreliable memory, too -- if not to the point of complete catatonia.)

[stonehaven]

Enjoyable for the Christine Baranski back on my TV...a bit confusing..and that whole fake convo with Trump turned my stomach. I really don't buy that Diane would try 'shrooms..or whatever that was....the preview o random dead lawyers looks interesting though.

[Sandman]

On 3/5/2018 at 7:08 PM, preeya said:

Question: can over-the-hill, out of work lawyers become judges?

Howard must know somebody. Somebody dumb, clearly, but somebody. And this might be one of those "Hey, it's Chicago," details that are supposed to make the show lifelike.

[Oreo2234]

Quote

I don't know if the show intends it, but having Maia only remember bits of her past at a time, and having memories change substantially when something in the present triggers a recollection, makes her look highly suggestible, and possibly traumatized. (Of course, if Henry and Lenore, monsters of ego and selfishness that they are, were my parents, I'd probably be traumatized to the point of having an unreliable memory, too -- if not to the point of complete catatonia.)

I think the idea behind it is that memory is reconstructive and imperfect but  they maybe have taken it a little far. At this point Maia comes across as having the world's most suggestible memory.

Quote

 Maia's fresh out of prison and facing more blasts from the past, yet neither her mother nor her girlfriend seem to be of any relevance for the writers in that context. Actually, Amy's sort of a weird case anyway since she also happens to be an ASA and, like Colin, works in the state attorney's office, yet she's non-existent in the day-to-day business world of the show even though including her would make more sense than adding more Good Wife guest stars for the courtroom scenes. Generally, I'd really rather the writing would make a bit more use of their own characters instead of trying to find new ways to bring over characters we know or may have already heard of on the mothership show.

Unlike Colin, I do not think the writers have any interest in Amy, She is almost a non-entity. The Good Wife had problems with sometimes focusing too much on guest stars, but its potentially worse here because they only have 13 episodes (only 10 last season) and the regular cast is big. I really like some of the guest stars but I would prefer the show put more of a priority on its regular cast and established characters. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Oreo2234

[Sandman]

9 hours ago, Oreo2234 said:

The Good Wife had problems with sometimes focusing too much on guest stars, but its potentially worse here because they only have 13 episodes (only 10 last season) and the regular cast is big.

I think the effort to establish the shared world between this show and its predecessor may be working more harm than good. The cast here is large, and several characters are barely sketched in because the show seems more interested in catching up with old favourites (and ... others) from The Good Wife than in developing its own set of characters. It was a problem in the first season, and looks like it will continue to be so this season.

I'm all for keeping Colin around if it means we get Andrea Martin again.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Sandman

[RedKeep]

2 hours ago, Oreo2234 said:

Unlike Colin, I do not think the writers have any interest in Amy, She is almost a non-entity.

I'm afraid so. Honestly, if there's any main character story I could do without it's Lucca/Colin. But then that's apparently Colin's main reason for existing, as a series regular anyway, and the writers do seem to see something in him that I must have been missing out on thus far. They did somehow manage to get me interested in the Maia/Amy dynamic and the potential of it on the other hand, but yeah... sadly doesn't seem like there's much interest in exploring it any further right now. Maybe once we're done with the ponzi scheme fallout.

[legxleg]

I thought for sure that the bar tender selling Diane drugs was going to be some kind of plant or sting to get her in legal trouble, but I guess not. The whole thing just seemed so random. Granted, I'm more risk-adverse than most, but I cannot imagine just randomly accepting a gift of drugs from some random bar tender at a professional event. Gifts from strangers have strings attached, or at least I feel like they should in a tv show! I'm not sure if this is something they are seeding for later on, or if it genuinely is just a random interaction.

I do think that the show is trying to explore how memory in general is incredibly unreliable and suggestible, rather than that there's something wrong with Maia in particular. I hope so anyway - I find that more interesting than Maia having some kind of buried trauma affecting her memory. 

Edited March 12, 2018 by legxleg

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 3/11/2018 at 8:30 PM, legxleg said:

I do think that the show is trying to explore how memory in general is incredibly unreliable and suggestible, rather than that there's something wrong with Maia in particular. I hope so anyway - I find that more interesting than Maia having some kind of buried trauma affecting her memory. 

I find Maya so cold and twitchy that I can't enjoy the character. But I initially interpreted her memories about Rosalie and her father as her suddenly seeing things that she had remembered in a new light. It also seemed to me that she had had a crush on Rosalie herself and so any ideas that she had had that Rosalie had liked her for herself were now refracted through the prism that Rosalie had been in love with Maya's father.