What I’m Watching: The Good Wife

The Good Wife: Season 5, Episode 18 “All Tapped Out” (B+)

It’s good to see something come of this NSA storyline that’s been proceeding along peripherally for a while. There were two familiar TV faces playing low-level NSA analysts, Zach Woods from “The Office” and “Silicon Valley” as Jeff, who accidentally took home the flash drive with confidential material on it, and Michael Urie from “Ugly Betty” and “Partners” as Stephen, who picked up on the fact that Cary mentioned the NSA in the background of one of Clarke’s calls. Jeff’s unintentional disclosure of the tapping of Alicia’s phone led to a surprisingly productive spiral, which resulted in Peter stepping in to take charge and force an uncooperative political partner to intervene to stop the taps so that he wouldn’t implicate himself. I’m glad to see Alicia snap back into reality since the sight of her sitting in her bed and fumbling Finn’s case wasn’t terribly pretty to watch. Speaking of Finn, I noticed during the opening credits that actor Matthew Goode is now a series regular. I wonder what he’ll have to offer going forward, but this show always finds opportunities for its characters. It certainly didn’t take long for Louis Canning to join and become integrated with Lockhart Gardner, and though he’s had an icy reception so far from Kalinda and Diane, he might actually be good for the firm. I don’t know how long he’s going to stick around, but, for the moment, I think he’ll be a positive asset for the show who can help keep it on track for its remaining few episodes of the season.