Building off the steam of Elsbeth Tascioni's visit to "The Good Wife", Diane's ideas of moving Florrick, Agos & Lockhart into the Lockhart, Gardener, & Canning offices, and Alicia's triumphant State's Attorney announcement, "Old Spice" continues the show's season six roll of producing master class television.
Anyone who is a member Elsbeth Tascioni's enormous fanbase, like me, will find the idea of Alicia and Elsbeth working together on a case to be a stroke of genius. They do indeed work together in "Old Spice", and it is priceless to see our heroine partnered with our favorite quirky lawyer. The courtroom scenes are extremely well done in "Old Spice", and this particular episode exemplifies a season-wide trait: The cases are more business-like and somber in tone, therefore taking the stress of the episode off of the courtroom standalone story lines and aiming the bulk of the episode at the regular characters and more personally-driven story lines. This change of probing the series' characters rather than individual cases is an interesting, smart move.
Carrie Preston's acting in "Old Spice" is not quite as dead-on as we saw last week with greater focus on Elsbeth, but here she gives her fans enough of Elsbeth's hilarity and eccentricity to satisfy. Her co-guest star Kyle MacLachlan has never felt more comfortable in his role of Josh Perotti. He strikes his character's peculiar notes with perfect tones and energy. The two gifted actors have an undeniable chemistry, but their first scene together is the dimmer moments in "Old Spice", and maybe the only weak scene in the episode. But further moments work like clockwork between the two actors, like when Elsbeth tips him off about the unofficial rule of saying "In my opinion" to Judge Lessner, the "Call Me Maybe" farce, and their final scene where Elsbeth secretly records him and Perotti shreds an official document, recalled actions that each character performed in earlier, classic moments in the series.
As stated earlier, Robert and Michelle King are moving their revered series into a position of even further greatness, placing the majority of the focus on the series regular characters and their personal story lines, all of which are advanced in "Old Spice". The State's Attorney campaign officially begins, and Alicia gives her first official interview. As the season 6 themes of religion and twisting the truth for political gain continue to develop, Alicia embellishes a "struggle" with religion during her interview, something we know is completely untrue. Julianna Margulies acts the interview scene to the best of her ability, nailing the politician-like voice inflections and charm.
Diane battles Louis Canning and David Lee for the office space, but in a much quieter, more refined way than you would imagine, but nevertheless effective. Making Howard relevant and retaining the character is a smart move by the Kings. Meanwhile, Cary is being watched attentively by his pretrial service officer played by Linda Lavin. Lavin is portraying the role deftly, making it a pleasure to watch her as she watches Cary's every move. The Kings continue to provide little twists that alter the plot in big ways, like the new stipulation of Cary's bail being no contact with Kalinda.
Now, onto the most important scene in the episode: Alicia and Diane move back into the Lockhart Gardner offices. It's the best scene I have seen of television show since the three- episode arc with Will's death last year on "The Good Wife". It's brilliantly acted by Margulies and Baranski, who act primarily through their faces and eyes to superb extents. It's directed in wise way, with the memories and debris of all the good and bad that took place in this suite of offices over the past year. The wrenching scores increases the scene's strength by really hitting the audience and our investment in these characters at their tender moment. The writing of the excellent scene is layered with conflict and strength. Alicia taking Will's office seems so fitting, yet there's that element of tragedy that will lurk around her, but she, in some way, finds it empowering. It reveals Diane and Alicia's growing friendship, how their power is growing, and their feminist partnership progresses.
Grade: A
12 out of 12 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink