The Good Wife - Oppo Research - Review - "Irony is Dead"

6.04 - "Oppo Research"

Last week, after a quiet but heated exchange between James Castro and Alicia, she decided that she might be up for running for State's Attorney. But of course, given that this is Alicia Florrick we're talking about, she first needed to know the plan. The plan, it seemed, was going to be the deciding factor in her declaring whether or not she wanted to campaign. 

"No, Irony is dead now. You're Campaigning..."

Cut to Alicia meticulously laying out a swath of finger foods and wine for the discussion to be had with Eli. At every step of the way during the following episode, Eli paused to give Alicia more time to contemplate, or absorb some of the hard-hitting issues that she was not aware of, but she pressed on.

In a somewhat humorous "blind date" scenario, Eli had brought Johnny Elfman, a former Ohio Campaign manager with ties to the Obama campaign along with him. Eli first had to placate Alicia by telling her that Elfman was there to audition for his place as Campaign manager for her since Eli had a full time position with Peter already, and if she didn't approve in the first 20 minutes, then it's over--Nothing to worry about. He then placated Mr. Elfman with the same argument when Johnny realized that it wasn't quite who he had in mind for running a campaign. Steven Pasquale played Johnny Elfman with a restrained but dour demeanor, as he expected Alicia to be just like any other housewife the moment the skeletons started falling out of the closet.

After handling many relatively big workplace and personal decisions (like firing Lemond Bishop as a client) quickly, they came to the big choice: The Red Pill or Blue Pill, Alicia's either done considering running, or she's ready for the big reveals that had been prepared for her own Oppo research. This was the part where things "got real."



Over the course of a tense act, they laid out the following:
1) Zach had gotten Nisa pregnant...and then Nisa had an abortion.
2) Alicia's brother Owen's boyfriend happened to also be married...as well as a porn star.
3) Alicia's mother Veronica had apparently spanked another family's child in the middle of a department store, and it was caught on camera.
4) There was a picture of Alicia with Will at a hotel... And then there was the picture with Finn leaving Alicia's apartment stamped for morning hours.

It seemed that the only person who hadn't been involved in anything problematic was sweet Grace, whose youth church group happened to be in her room, singing Godly hymns in the background of such striking and messy situations that Alicia and Eli were discussing. "Christianity: 3, Atheism: 0" Alicia quipped after more skeletons fell out of the closet.

Each item that was dropped on Alicia, she methodically worked to personally work out mentally or emotionally rather quickly, and then after she processed some of these problems, she made her moves to speak with each person to make sure everyone was on the same page about their respective

incidents. She called Owen and Veronica in and had them face the music (Owen walked out of the apartment without a word spoken when Alicia confronted him about "Phil") and made Veronica promise to apologize to the mother and son for hitting another family's kid.

After setting Alicia in motion to deal with her baggage, Eli focused his efforts on getting Peter to fire Lauren the Intern, as he needed space between them so that it wouldn't be brought up as an issue for Alicia's campaign. Peter obliged, and Eli was able to fire the intern finally...However, later it was implied that Peter and Lauren's mother were the ones who were intimate.

The next day, Alicia met with Lemond Bishop, and stated simply that they could no longer represent him given the conflict of interest representing him and Cary at the same time caused. Bishop refused, as he saw no reason for it. 

"How did you know my name?"

After a day of making moves to prepare for her campaign, she met with Finn at a bar to discuss the picture Eli had of him leaving Alicia's apartment at such an early hour. From the first time this picture was brought up in season 5, it was understood and expected that they were simply prepping for his inquiry with A.S.A. Brody and the board later that day. But in the last moment, when she went to leave, Finn suggested that perhaps they should go and prep some more. This marks the first time we see Finn actively making some sort of move on Alicia. She definitely didn't seem opposed to it either. While I would prefer that she keep herself away from these relationships that put her in hot water like when she and Will were a thing, there was something about this scene that intrigued me, and I was almost swept up in a line of thought "have they already?... they couldn't have... She was mourning!...right?" and that was enough for me to possibly rethink that possible eventual plot line.

He warned her as she left that Castro was going after her vulnerabilities. But then, on the way home she was pulled over without warning by a police officer. When she lowered her window, the officer asked her by name to please get out of the car.

She complied with all his requests, and passed all his tests, even asking him to take a breathalyzer, it was clear after a certain point he was there to set her up for a blog post of some sort that would destabilize her image. Tactics like these have been used by the State's Attorney more than once (even by different S.A.'s in different counties), be reminded that this was a similar situation to how they

orchestrated Jeffrey Grant's own arrest... At this point, I can't see how Castro can possibly see himself as an effective State's Attorney.

Over the course of continuing her discussions with Eli, Grace pointed out that Alicia already had a site dedicated to her campaign, complete with donations passing $80,000.

"You need to speak with Alicia."

Bishop got to Kalinda the evening after refusing to leave as a client from F/A and probed the truth out of her. At this point, I am quite worried about how often he finds and questions Kalinda. he can get to her all too easily. After she convinces him to speak with Alicia, he does... And she finds out that he is actually the "grassroots" campaign pack that is seeding her campaign money. How compromised does that make Alicia? She hasn't even announced her candidacy, and she's already taking money that was being laundered from Chicago's biggest drug dealer. This will not end well.

Veronica's little slap on tv worked itself out when they studied footage further to find that just before that he had injured an elderly woman. If that unpleasant woman wanted to sue Veronica, then it would be publicly acknowledged that she was also liable for thousands of dollars of medical bills. Finally, in the end, Alicia got to speak with Zach on the phone. 

What occurred was very reminiscent of Alicia's confrontation with Kalinda about her sleeping with Peter. There was the act of sexual intercourse. There was the abortion. There was the acknowledgement that Nisa's parents were fully aware of the situation. What hit Alicia the hardest was the lie. Her initial response was to go nuclear: cut him off financially... Let him handle his own problems. But this was still her son, so she took a moment, and then Just like Peter, just like Kalinda, Alicia started speaking at her son, stating how things were going to be. He was to say if anyone came looking for information on the abortion that she was fully aware of the situation, had advised him to keep the baby, and to stay with Nisa through it, and that he declined to do so. Then she asked him about the pot, which he accidentally confirmed through excuses. She told him not to embarrass himself any further and hung up on him. 

"Why are you running for State's Attorney?"

This question came up from more than 1 person in this episode... Alicia never had a real answer for it. So, why is she running? She has all sorts of small motives here and there, but nothing that really makes itself obvious. And yet, even after pointing out that she doesn't have an obvious reason to run, Johnny Elfman still agrees to be her manager. Does he see something that others might be missing? 

Sidenotes:

- While I think they are overdoing it still with the "Darkness Before Noon" stuff, I have to applaud the "Talking Darkness" show that they had on that was juxtaposed with Grace's singing choir, and Alicia's more grounded type of drama that was happening in her own home.

- Lemond Bishop is just the most terrifying character on television currently, is he not? He saw dollar signs in his eyes the moment Kalinda let slip that Alicia was running for State's Attorney. With her in his pocket, he owns Chicago.

- Eli finding out about Kalinda sleeping with Peter was incredibly late in the game, but it led to a small scene where they had a bit of time to speak. It seemed as though a large gap had finally been filled in for Eli. He realized the full extent of why Alicia was so severe with Peter, why Kalinda would never work for Peter on anything, and why Kalinda and Alicia weren't on speaking terms.

- There were some great sarcastic one-liners here and there... From Alicia's "ironic" tone that Eli warned against to Veronica's "I should have spanked you, you bitch!" You have to love those moments.

What did you think of this week's episode? Start a discussion below in the comments!

About the Author - Wilson Crawford

Wilson is an avid fan of television, music, and the occasional video game. He enjoys well-written, thought-provoking characters and series that get better with age. Current favorites include The Good Wife and Mad Men. Past favorites include Damages, Fringe, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock, and Veronica Mars.