All summer long we were left to ponder the choice Alicia would make – would she stand by her husband, Peter, as he chose to return to politics, or would she leave him to be with her boss and former classmate, Will? In the end, Alicia didn’t really choose. Instead, circumstances choose for her. Circumstances and a cunning man by the name of Eli Gold, who pushed Alicia onto the stage with Peter and then deleted Will’s heartfelt voicemail message proclaiming his love for Alicia. Despite the fact that Gold is devious, I love Alan Cumming’s character. I like the fact that he’s occasionally ambivalent and you can never really tell if he’s plainly evil or whether he has a heart as well.
A week later Alicia is still with Peter and is facing her toughest courtroom opponent yet in Judge Matchick, who forces her to represent a client going to trial the next day. A new partner has decided to merge with Lockhart & Gardner and Alicia’s feeling stress from all areas of her life, especially with Will acting standoffish as he clearly feels rebuffed by Alicia, despite the fact that she didn’t turn him down. The new partner, Derrick, enters the firm praising the merits of peer reviews and internal offices for partner, which he says will the goodwill at Lockhart & Gardner. I can only cringe, usually hating programs like these in the workplace and finding them to be more flashy than substantial, but that’s just me.
The reappearance of States Attorney Glenn Childs and Alicia’s former colleague, Cary, was welcome. Titus Welliver plays Childs well, just like he plays all hard-nosed characters on various shows (including Lost and Supernatural). Cary, meanwhile, is on the warpath for revenge – against Alicia certainly, and possibly against the rest of Lockhart & Gardner. He takes first chair of a case away from his new co-worker but doesn’t seem to mind. I like catty Cary and can’t wait to see what he does next.
Archie Penjabi is also back in fine form – fresh off her recent Emmy win – and she’s chalk full of advice for Alicia to work out her issues with Will. But Kalinda’s got some competition – the in-house investigator of Lockhart & Gardner’s new partner. Blake, her new competition, immediately puts Kalinda on the defensive. I’m very interested to see how their relationship develops, because Kalinda is not the type of woman you want to mess with. At the same time, I’m curious as to whether he can pierce her rather aloof exterior.
The intelligence of the Florrick children always impresses me, from the son’s ingenious skateboard trick (in a season 1 episode) to avoid getting his father thrown back in jail when he broke his house arrest to Grace’s recognition that she was being (not very sneakily) interviewed at an auxiliary party in the premiere. It’s refreshing to see some smart kids on TV these days, especially ones who are clever for their age instead of acting like they’re 30 years old when they’re only 18.
The case of the week relates to a blogger accused of murdering his website partner. He insists, however, that the Pentagon murdered his partner because they posted secret government videos on their website. For a weekly case, it’s more interesting than most. While the defendant originally came off as annoying, you still have to admire his tenacity and his humility in thanking Alicia for her assistance in his defence. The story unfolds slowly over the course of the episode until Alicia decides to take control of her life (and we have our episode title) and fire back at the judge who’s acting inappropriately. With a clever strategy hinted by Will it seemed like Alicia might have it in the bag until a slightly disappointing finale where the defendant took the plea bargain in the 11th hour.
Now Alicia’s back in the office with Derrick as her new mentor. It will be interesting to see how what fresh perspectives he teaches her that Diane and Will’s guidance didn’t.
In the end, this was a strong season premiere for a well-done show that quickly became one of my favorites in its first season. While the ending of the case was anti-climactic, the character development was solid. With Peter and Alicia seemingly growing closer, the question is whether Will will continue to interference in their marriage and whether Eli’s actions will ever be brought to light.
Grade: A
clarissa @ tvovermind.com
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