What I’m Watching: The Good Wife

The Good Wife: Season 6, Episode 14 “Mind’s Eye” (B-)

I’ll admit that this episode’s format was somewhat engaging, but why set an entire hour in someone’s imagination when there are plenty of real developments that could be playing out? I suppose this was a decently useful examination of everything that’s going on and what’s plaguing Alicia, as she struggles to balance the more mundane and insignificant annoyances in her life, like Canning’s suit, and the much more crucial, future-defining moments, like her upcoming interview. Her nonchalance about her laryngitis only emphasized how much she had on her mind because she couldn’t vocalize it. It was a trippy experience to see her jump from Will to Finn to Johnny and then picture Kalinda with Peter, going over every sexual thought she’s had over the course of the past few years. Howard was probably the most entertaining part of her imagined testimony, as he tends to be, completely unaware of and indifferent to what’s going on around him unless it involves food or the allure of apparent power. Eli and Marissa popping up to offer their contradictory commentary on what they thought of Alicia’s remarks was amusing, as was Prady showing up to wax philosophic about their campaigns. Canning getting sent to the hospital was a dramatic and divergent twist, and Alicia being the only work “friend” of his to show up was actually sweet. This installment made it easy to get caught up in the theoretical, like a homeless Zack, and its ending marked a poignant return to what’s actually happening in Alicia’s life.

Take Three: Men of a Certain Age

Men of a Certain Age: Season 1, Episode 3 “Mind’s Eye” (C)

As this show continues to develop, it’s becoming clearer that there’s not much worthwhile to be found here. I’ll stick it with it for at least one more week because there’s nothing on next week, but may abandon it the week after that as we’re inundated with the premieres of a number of returning shows. The plotlines in this show are just off-putting, and it’s clear in almost every case that the guys are walking into a trap and setting themselves up for a fall. The truly lame arc in this episode is that of Joe’s son, since Joe himself hardly seems interested in his son’s discontent and can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong. He’d do better to talk to his buddies or maybe even his ex-wife instead of relying on the sage advice of his co-workers, who don’t seem terribly bright. The only bright spot of the whole storyline was his final comment, which provides the title for this episode – “you realize you’re actually in the car with me, not just in your mind’s eye.” Owen giving everyone discounts and deals was never going to work out well, and it was just tragic to watch. It was somewhat entertaining to see everyone ask about Owen in amusing ways, and there was something effectively triumphant about him saying, “Yeah, I am the fat guy.” Why he needs to give a motivational speech when he accepts his award for top salesman is puzzling, and it’s just setting him up for a failure and a realization of how much money he lost by giving out so many deals. Terry’s acting job at least gave him something to do, but his efforts to enhance the myth of family and his relationship with his fake wife were a bad idea from the start. Had he told her he was into her at the start rather than trying to forge an attraction by creating an illusion about their romance, he might have saved himself the trouble of finding out in a horribly embarrassing way that she was otherwise engaged. It seems like the kind of thing that would happen to him, but it was so devastatingly predictable. It was really nice to see Cynthia Watros, even in such a limited, one-shot role, and this makes me really hope that she’ll be back for season six of “Lost” next year.