The Good Wife’ Season 4, Episode 4 Recap

Jackie’s back, just in time for Halloween!

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  • CBS
  • Alicia’s wig is so much better this season



Just going to jump right in, here: I have been critical of this season’s Cases of the Week, because they’ve seemed ill-considered. If your COTW is going to be filler, at least make it have some dramatic weight or make it funny (to be fair, this week’s COTW did have some quirky bits although nothing particularly memorable). But the episode could have been called “Grasping at Straws,” because that’s exactly what both the defense attorney and the tabloid media were doing throughout.

It’s good that the show is steering itself back towards its roots — Alicia is standing by Peter again, but this time because it’s in the service of truth. Peter did not have an affair (or so it would seem), but that doesn’t really matter to a vindictive press. This is one of those storylines that make “The Good Wife” so perceptive about politics and the way that we consume media (and how, thanks to the new way press operates, strategists and press coordinators cannot keep a lid on stories in traditional outlets because bloggers will deciminate the information far more quickly, and are much more difficult to control). Was it Jon Stewart or David Simon who once made the comment that a politician is more likely to get on the news for falling off the podium and ripping his pants than because he said anything important? It’s a bleak suggestion about what we consider “news,” and how our hunger for that is fed by muckraking pseudo-journalists like Eli’s nemesis Mandy. But enough preaching, I need some Wheaties! Hit the jump the find out why rich people get free things (PoorAnarchy.com should cover this!)