"Loser Edit" is one of my favorite episodes of "The Good Wife" this season, and is designed to emphasize the best qualities of the series: its strong liberal values and their three female leads. "Loser Edit" begins its narrative hour by recalling a technique used by "The Good Wife" earlier in season 6 . In "Sticky Content" (6x09), Alicia's campaign used the video editing technology to craft a video that would promote her value in the State's Attorney's race. Now, after she's won the election, we see the same processes we saw in that earlier episode to, instead, slaughter to reputation.
There are three separate story lines being juggled by "Loser Edit:" Diane's attempt to dissuade RD in funding a case that would fight against same-sex-marriage equality, Kalinda trying to maintain her illy-kept secret of evidence fraud, and Alicia fighting against the press exposing her affair with Will. "Loser Edit" bounces from one to the other with great flexibility, allowing our three leading actresses--Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi--to carry the responsibilities they are given with determination and gusto. Part of what took my breath away was how effortlessly smooth the transitions were from each compelling scene to the next.
We finally get to pick up where "Hail Mary" left off in Kalinda's exit story. Kalinda's portion of the episode contains tense directing and interesting character work from the always captivating Panjabi. The moment in "Loser Edit" where Finn is being questioned by Wiley, and Kalinda watches from behind a corner is permanently sealed in my mind as a result from its dramatic effect. Let us not forget, Wiley was the man who disclosed Kalinda's affair with Peter to Alicia in season two, so I applaud the writers for preserving him as a perennial threat to Kalinda. Though he holds no personal agenda against her, Wiley brought Kalinda down once by terminating her friendship with Alicia, and now he is the one who reveals this detrimental crime she committed, which will most likely be part of the reason she has to leave the show.
Margulies peels off another layer of Alicia, one that is more mature and respectful towards her marriage. Though her emotional center of the episode is quite obviously the confession to Eli that she did have an affair with Will, but Peter and Alicia's amicable wine-drinking date is the most interesting "Alicia scene" in Loser Edit. Not only is the dialogue between the characters wonderfully written, but Margulies and Chris Noth are able to convey the realism in this complicated, undefined relationship.
As great as the other story lines are, this episode belongs to Christine Baranski and Diane fighting for marriage equality. "Loser Edit" may be the best "Good Wife" episode about Diane ever, it may even top "Outside the Bubble" from last season. Baranski animates the material she's given here and pursues Diane's fervent liberal beliefs with a poised ferocity. Helping Baranski is the some of the most elegant dialogue of the season. "The Good Wife" continues its trend of covering real-life events and issues in the show, taking a stand for what the show believes is right. But it's more than just recreating the Sony hack or informing viewers about 3D printing, they literally predicted the social temperature of the time this episode would air. (Scripts for The Good Wife are written months in advance, so the Kings had no idea Indiana would have been trying to impose offensive laws that would allow discrimination against gay people.)
Not only are all three of the story lines stellar by themselves, but just the fact that a show in this day and age can have three individual plots, led by a three different female leads and they are all stellar is something that should leave you euphoric. With Kalinda's exit on the horizon, this may be the last time we will have this possibility to see three different women running three uniquely different stories in one rich episode.
Grade: A
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