BWW Recap: The One Where We Want To Love THE GOOD WIFE Again

THE GOOD WIFE has been getting some tough press of late. Last season failed to impress critics the way the show's stellar prior season had, and by now, even non-viewers know about the split screen stupid choice incident that closed out Season 6 - a mini scandal that revived last week, threatening to overshadow the Season 7 premiere.

When a behind the scenes drama is receiving more attention than the storytelling on one of the best shows on television, some rehabilitation is clearly required. We used to love THE GOOD WIFE. We want to love THE GOOD WIFE. We're a bit like Chicago voters in that way. So the way I see it, as Eli and Ruth attempt to rehabilitate Alicia this season, they're really in the process of remaking the show itself. Getting it back on the right path.

The one where we'd follow Alicia Florrick anywhere, because she's that damn good.

You're in a work of art

Tonight, we begin the redemption of Alicia Florrick by seeing how far she has come as a Bond Attorney. She knows all the right questions to ask, and she doesn't really care about whether someone did or didn't do something. She just wants to do her job - and a little bit of her nearly-friend Lucca's job too, with the two woman now trading cases in court.

This job-sharing between Alicia and Lucca results in one of the more interesting cases of the week (perhaps because I am more familiar with the art vs. pornography debate than I am with Bitcoin). Eric has just been charged after taking a hammer to a photograph in a museum. Turns out it's a picture of him as an 8 year old, part of a series his mother took where her two children are naked or near in most shots. Eric says the photos exposed him in more ways than one, and he wants to shut down a new exhibition the museum has planned.

Wanting to make more than $135 per case, Alicia helps Eric take on his mother, and the museum. She's soon joined by Lucca, who also wants to make more than $135 per case, and by the best version of Grace we've ever seen. Seriously. I don't even remember that time she ran away and inadvertently broke up Will and Alicia what it was about her that was so annoying. Grace is now amazing.

Because Alicia does best when competing, we get an old favorite as her opposing counsel. Nancy Crozier - Miss Michigan herself - is back, and she's just as wonderfully fake as ever. Only Eli can elicit more side-eye from Alicia (and those looks are always tempered with some kind of warped affection), so I always love it when Nancy shows up.

Sidebar: I also love it when she talks about her mom. Because you know, Meryl Streep. Impossible not to think about it.

The case goes back and forth, offering some interesting commentary on consent, and how much of pornography sits in the eye of the beholder, before moving to a resolution around child labor laws that eventually sees Eric - and Team Alicca (Alicia. Lucca. Still working on it) - get paid for their troubles.

The case also gives us a hungry, digressive Judge Dunaway who hasn't suddenly decided to like Alicia - he's just converted to Islam. And an on-point artsy Mom turn from the wonderful Amy Irving.

Aaaaaaaaand we get ...

Anyone who charges by the hour?

Peter Crouse. A very impressive person, and freelance private investigator, who happens to be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and is therefore required to be in every scene from now on .

I like him. Grace likes him - a lot. Crouse is one of three private investigators Alicia interviews when she realises how much she needs a new Kalinda to help with her cases, and he totally gets Grace's vote. He probably gets Alicia's vote too, given the immediate chemistry between them, but this kind of thing is never our girl's forte, so she hires someone who reminds her of Kalinda, instead (hmmmm).

It doesn't work out. There is no such thing as a new Kalinda. When the Kalinda imposter nearly loses Alicia's case, she's fired, and Alicia goes back to Crouse, who has since had another offer. From Lockhart, Agos and Lee, naturally. They're offering triple what Alicia can, but it is Alicia that Crouse eventually says yes to.

We just don't know why. Or whether it is the only yes he gave. I would have been to distracted to notice, even if they'd given us some clues. Alicia, I expect, would be much the same.

Also, she might have just said yes to an offer herself, one that could be turning her attention away from the man with the banged-up hand ...

Pathway to rehabilitation

THE GOOD WIFE loves warring tribes. Usually it's law firms going up against each other, or fighting each other from within. We're still getting that, in a sub-plot designed to give Cary and Diane something to do where Cary takes on Howard, the bumbling but no longer as loveable partner who thinks he's back in the MAD MEN era. But the real war this season looks to be between Camp Eli and Camp Ruth.

Last week, Peter fired Eli, after hiring Ruth Eastman as his chief of staff. This betrayal sent Eli into a spiral, then into the arms of Alicia, a woman not averse to taking sides against her husband. Despite Peter's protests, Eli is now working for Alicia, and doing his best to get in his new rival's way at the same time. Both Ruth and Eli want rehabilitation for Alicia, and for her marriage, but they want it for different reasons - and it's already fun to watch them try to outwit each other in pursuit of their ambition (although, hands off Nora, Ruth!).

Eli's not known for his subtlety or patience, and tonight he goes straight to the issue at the heart of Alicia's fall from favor. He takes her to see Frank Landau, the DNC guy who seems to screw everyone over, including Alicia during her recent election fraud scandal. Eli promises Alicia that if she fakes an apology now, she'll be able to take Landau down later in the game.

But he forgot that everything comes at a cost. Landau accepts the fake apology, then offers Alicia an olive branch - a chance to sit on the election board, which would clearly be a show of faith for her ethics and character. Wouldn't it? Because it turns out, Landau wants to control her vote in exchange for public forgiveness over something she didn't do. Ah, politics!

Did she say yes? We never get to witness her answer, but we know she's accepted her spot on the board.

That pathway just got a lot more complicated for Alicia Florrick. As for THE GOOD WIFE itself - I consider the show well and truly back on track after tonight's episode!

Are you enjoying Season 7 so far? What did you make of Jason Crouse? Did you like him as much as Grace did? And did you notice the MASTERS OF SEX bus that drove by when Alicia was outside the courtroom? I like to think that was a little wave to Josh Charles - gone, but never forgotten!

Image Credit: CBS