So here we are. Like everyone on The Good Fight, we have survived the first three months of the Trump administration battered, bruised, bloodied, but here. Sure, we’re all more tired, more scared, more confused, more pissed than we were this time last year. But, still, we’re here*.
*Disclaimer: By the time this published Donald J. Trump may have eaten another beautiful slice of chocolate cake and decide to start World War III, in which case apologies for my mistake.
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I know you said I don’t die, but can I check the script to be sure? I’m a gay lady, you can never be too certain.
Maia Rindell, a bright young lawyer at the start of her career with a lovely girlfriend whose primary role seems to be delivering her drinks and bad familial news, is sitting in Adrian Boseman’s office. She takes a deep, centering breath. We’ve come full circle as the opening strains of our queer artist Erin McKeown’s “You Were Right About Everything” again plays. Which reminds me, man, do I have to download this song.
It’s the same song that played as Maia was about to take her bar exam and as Diane toured her villa in Provence. It’s the same song that should probably have been Hillary Clinton’s campaign theme. But enough about wildly prophetic music you can tap your toe to.
Maia is getting her first biannual progress report as an associate. Adrian and the horrendously underused Barbara tell us what we already know. She is smart and she has a habit of over-apologizing (Sorry, does that make sense? Sorry, I mean, she says sorry too much. Sorry, what were we talking about? Sorry.) But, mostly, she has a problem with boldness. At this point I kind of wanted her to rip off her workplace-appropriate attire and reveal her full Wildling costume underneath, then shoot her personnel file out of their hands with an arrow and say, “You know nothing, Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad!”
Instead she is tasked with following a partner for 24-hours and not taking no for an answer. They then give her two weeks, behind her back, to improve.
It’s also Lucca’s review time and, trust me, boldness is not her problem. Then they tell us what we already know. She kicks ass and they better put her on the partner track and get her office away from the slamming men’s room if they want to keep her.
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Yes, all men’s room doors are annoying.
Maia and Lucca share a moment on the couch. Sorry, not sorry. They chat about their reviews and whether Jane Lynch is really going to arrest her. Gosh, I like their dynamic. Here’s hoping for more of that in season two. And, of course, more of Amy who I presume will be there when Lucca drops by for dinner later that night, as invited.
Marissa, who is getting really good at this investigator thing despite there being no job opening at the firm given Jay’s very secure employment, ushers in Diane’s new client. Oh, fuck wank bugger shitting arse head and hole. It’s Larry. It’s fucking Larry. We’ve successfully run him off Orange Is the New Black and he comes to ruin yet another show with perceptible lesbian content.
It’s Jason Biggs back as Dylan Stack, the bitcoin-creating lawyer from The Good Wife days. He has used the word “disrupt,” so already I dislike him. Also, he’s Larry Bloom. He claims he has been set up and the code to take down Chicago’s power grid magically appeared on his laptop this morning. He offers Diane & Co. a literal trash bag filled with money to help him get protection from cyberterrorism charges in exchange for diffusing the shutdown, which will happen at 7 p.m. sharp otherwise.
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No, for the last time, you can’t sue Alex Vause for being sexy.
The partners send Lucca, the firm’s only lawyer with a strong connection (ahem) to the DOJ to initiate talks. Larry (what, he’ll always be Larry) has given them a flashdrive with the code. Lucca brings it to Colin, along with one of his T-shirts he left behind. Honey, don’t you know all abandoned clothing is orphaned and officially up for adoption post breakup. Those are the rules; I don’t make them up.
Speaking of rules, you know how the IT folks at work are always yelling at you about bringing flashdrives in from home. Something, something about infecting the whole network something, something? Yeah. I guess sometimes your IT folks are right about some things.
Lucca gives Colin the flashdrive. Colin gives his boss the flashdrive. His boss plugs the flashdrive into his laptop. And his laptop gives the whole city the blackout bug. Really, this is all Assistant Attorney General Dincon’s fault for not listening to IT in the first place. Never stick something of unknown origins into your anything is a good rule of thumb for computers – and life.
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Trump’s Special Committee on Women’s Affairs has arrived for its 2 o’clock meeting.
But instead, of course, Dincon blames the nearest woman. He and a bunch of white dudes in suits come storming into the firm to detain Lucca as a “material witness.” Now, I think it’s dumb to have a show this good hidden away on a brand new, incredibly limited streaming service. But getting to hear Lucca say, “I am just going to fuck you up” at Dincon as he takes her away is almost worth it.
Over on the energy-sucking Rindell Ponzi Scheme plot, Papa Rindell has been offered a take-it-or-get-life-in-prison deal of 35 years by Dincon. He makes a call to a shady character who arrives and receives a shady satchel full of cash. Apparently he is going to run, but then his lawyer tells him if he takes the deal they won’t prosecute Maia. Decisions, decisions. But nothing that can’t be figured out over a nice family dinner, right?
Running, both figuratively and literally, is a theme for everyone on this chaotic day. Diane has run to the hospital to see her estranged(-ish) husband, Kurt, who has been in some sort of car accident. Which, as it turns out, was more like jumping a carjacker to save a baby from being kidnapped. So now he is Internet famous for something other than blinking or being named Daniel. All this life-risking hero stuff makes Diane think it might be time to knock that negative adjective (-ish and all) off the front of “husband.”
So now the firm has gone to court to get Lucca out of detention. They successfully argue for a temporary restraining order to get her released. But then Dincon turns around and charges her as a co-conspirator to cyberterrorism. See, this is what happens when men can’t just accept blame for their own mistakes. You plugged a foreign flashdrive that you knew contained a cyber threat into your laptop, dude. Arrest yourself for stupidity.
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Wait, what do you mean you two have never received a rape threat on Twitter?
Diane and Adrian go back to talk with Larry, who professes his innocence. He says it was probably one of the guys he talks with on 4Chan, which only makes him seem even more Larry/less likeable.
The 4Chan trail leads them back to alt-right troll king Felix Staples. He has pulled a Milo and fallen out of favor for saying something about dead children and school shootings. His political opinions remain as awful as his sartorial choices. But he also swears he isn’t the hacker, so they make a deal. If he helps them, they’ll sue the people who have been cancelling his speaking contracts. Well, that’s fine. Historically deals with the devil have always worked out.
Adrian, with a newly emboldened Maia in tow, argues before the court’s most staunchly conservative judge that Dincon’s case is flimsy. On the stand as the government’s witness is Colin, who always looks like he hates his life more than anyone in the room. That is, when he isn’t looking like a guy who can’t wait to take healthcare away from millions of Americans.
Adrian storms back into the office yelling that Larry used them to get past the government’s firewall and infect the system. Duh. I mean it, duh. This show is always so well written, but as soon as I saw his smirky smirk I knew it was Larry. It’s always Larry.
Maia calls and they’ve started court again early so she has to handle the rebuttal witness. Adrian coaches her to get angry and focused. From the flare of her nostril and twitch of her face, we know all that pent-up Wildling spirit is ready to come out.
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Look deep into my eyes and know that I mean it when I say the nothing which you know is even more than Jon Snow.
And then, boy, does it come out. Consistently, and no doubt by design, we have seen less of Maia’s legal abilities and more of her familial entanglements. Sure, we’ve seen glimpses of the intelligent young lawyer in there, but they’ve hung this anvil of the Ponzi scheme around her so she kept having to stoop to its level. But this display, it would make even Ygritte proud.
Victorious in court, Maia goes to have dinner with her family. Again, where is Amy? Also, does she plan on having two dinners because isn’t Lucca coming over later? Papa Rindell excuses himself to call his lawyer and say he is taking the deal and will self-surrender. But, you know, can you really trust a guy who was ready to abandon his dog?
Now, in one last twist we all saw coming, Felix is helping to ensnare the hacker. They’ve set up a meeting at a Chinese restaurant and Diane is there to witness. In walks – please, no drum roll, we all know already – Larry. You see Larry is a Bernie Bro trying to bring about a revolution. Oh course Larry is, of course. So, there you have it, the Alt-Left working with the Alt-Right to make America insufferable still.
The feds arrive to drag him off in handcuffs just as the lights go out. Back at Reddick, Boseman & Kolstad, Adrian is gazing upon a darkened city. Diane joins him and they muse about the grim, weird times we live in where so many are rooting for America to fail. Like a grand piece of machinery where something has come detached. Barbara, listening silently to them from outside the room, looks worried that her own connection to Adrian has become detached as well.
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Sometimes, while alone in the darkness, I whisper, “Trust women,” and hope the cosmos finally listens.
It’s a lovely metaphor. And, truly, the clunk-clunk-clunk of our country’s current dysfunction is impossible to miss. But I think what’s wrong with America isn’t that our essential machinery has broken down. It’s that for too long too many people looked at others as just cogs and gears to serve their larger machines. But, that’s the thing about us humans; we are never just cogs or gears. We’re all whole machines. And how we work should only ever be our own decisions. So that clunk-clunk-clunk is indeed coming from the old machines. But it’s from those who demand others serve them grinding their own gears to dust to stop us from being finally free.
The Rindells are sharing a candlelit meal of pizza on paper plates. Wow, maybe they really are broke. Mama Rindell breaks the news that Henry has taken the 35-year plea deal to Maia. When she confronts him and says he should fight. But he confesses. He did it. Jax did it. Lenore did it. They all did it. They were all in on the scheme. He apologizes for disappointing her with tears in his eyes. Maia tells him, “You never could.” Oh, sweetie, give it five minutes.
Diane decides her hero husband deserves a second chance after all, and comes inside with him after driving him home. He promises to never hurt her again. Oh, so everyone is making crazy promises tonight? Got it.
Maia is back home, drinking wine alone by candlelight. Dammit, time to put Amy back on the milk cartons. There’s a knock on the door. Is it Amy? No, it’s Lucca. I’m not let down – because, come on, it’s still Lucca. But do better with Amy and Maia’s relationship, show. Do a lot better.
Lucca says it looks like a “soft porn movie in here” and it’s like naughty angels are singing. Amy’s absence gets explained away as “she’s on her way home.” They toast to a crazy day and crazy last three months. Maia then says she thinks the next three months will be “boring” because the universe demands balance.
Oh, Maia, you beautiful, naive, sophisticated newborn baby.
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Sometimes, while alone in the darkness, I think, “Who really killed Jenny?”
There’s another knock at the door and Maia thinks Amy has forgotten her keys again. And that’s what it was. Amy comes in and together the trio polishes off that bottle of red and opens another one. They start talking about college experiences. Lucca confesses she had a brief fling with a female law professor. They open another bottle of wine. They talk about the nature of monogamy. And then the three of them decide they are all consenting adults willing to explore things in an open and trusting way with full acknowledgment of each other’s agency. So they put that soft porn movie lighting to exquisite use.
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OK, this is happening, but only if we find a better ship name than Mucca.
Kidding. It’s Dincon who tells Maia her asshole dad has fled and she is under arrest. In Trump’s America there can be no boring. Only endless WTFery and an inevitable fade to black.
i have always delighted in your maia/amy captions, but never shipped them… UNTIL THIS FUCKING FINALE.
it’s like i have no choice, given the complete and utter absence of amy at every pivotal moment.
(Anyone want to take bets on if her family was bought off by papa rindell?)
Diane and Kurt are my Perfect Hair OTP.
Thank you for your recaps, Dorothy! It’s a delight to have you over here at Autostraddle, and even better to have you writing about what’s become my favorite show.
Seconded on Diane and Kurt. Seconded on celebrating Dorothy! It’s been a pleasure reading these recaps!
Lucca doesn’t say she’ll fuck them up, she says that Maia will fuck them up. Which is totally 100 times better.
Seconded.
I have always enjoyed and LOVED your The Good Fight recaps but this is definitely one for the books! Oh man, those GoT references and photo captions?!! Thank you for being awesome! :o)
PS. I have started watching The Good Wife and I’m halfway through Season 2 – I mean I enjoy TGF and I know that even without a TGW foundation I’d get by but I guess I just really love to do something where I can put my talents and passion into good use – spend an embarrassing huge amount of time solidifying my bingewatcher status LOL
I get needing a hook at the beginning of a new series to jump start the story but at a certain point you need to resolve it and move on. You’re right the show started with Maia having all this promise as a lawyer but for the most part the Ponzi scandal took over and she never got to shine. I’m really hoping that they move from it and quick and allow Maia to be the lawyer we know she can be.
Also yes, where is Amy? She works for the states attorney right, there has to be some personal/work conflict that they can work in between the 2 and actually have Amy be a part of everything.
DOrothy…WHY OH WHY did you have to go there with the Maia, Lucca and Amy. No I can’t think that way.
It’s crazy how tired I’ve grown of the Rindell thing! Like, it’s obviously supposed to be the thing that the show revolves around and I actually can’t wait for it to be over. I think that if you’re gonna do a plot like that, you have to use it to develop the characters involved and I don’t think we know anything about Maia, really. We only just started to get a glimpse of her in episode 9.
p.s. I SHIP THE THRUPLE
We all knew Papa R was full of shit, so it was nice to see him say it to Maia’s face. I look forward to Amy riding to Maia’s rescue next season, unless she’s stuck in traffic again which can sometimes happen when you’re a merely tertiary queer.
“Maia thinks Amy has forgotten her keys again. And that’s what it was.” I choked laughing at this brilliant fanfic. You have your finger on the pulse, Dorothy. You know what the people want.
I’m excited for Season 2 and Season 2 recaps with you all! I know who and what I’d like to see more of next time and I hope the Kings deliver.
Dorothy Snarker you are my Totino
I actually watch the episodes only after your review is up so i can watch and read in tandem!
One thing though- Lucca says Maia will fuck them up. And she did…as we knew she would.
Thanks for the wonderful reviews Dorothy.
Every episode of this show is The Good Wife when it was at its best plot line and acting wise. They anchored this show so well with Christine, Delroy, and Cush (you can’t go wrong with a Torchwood actress). And I am stoked each and every time someone says they are starting to watch. This show and it’s diversity is everything I have wanted. I knew I was going to love it when Diane was “the diversity hire” < – actual line. This show was well worth the $11.90 I payed. $1.19 an episode was an absolute steal.
I’m dying to see ‘The Good Fight’ looks really nice.Great that you have money to spare, @ZDF. Is there ‘another way’ to watch the episode for those with less capital? Just a link will be more than nice.
Ok, after this episode, I am DEFINITELY a Maia/Lucca shipper. (Sorry, Amy – nothing personal!) They’re kickass lawyer ladies, who are amazing at defending each other, and honestly, I’m kinda glad the whole Colin bit is over.
But WHERE are the fanfics that’ll tide me over ’til the next episode? Perhaps, you should also moonlight as a fic writer, Dorothy.. Just sayin’.
P.S. Your captions are comedy gold, as always.
um… i might be able to help you with that… works be in progress o.O
wonderful recaps, dorothy! I finished the show last night and realised I hadnt read your recaps so I came to read them all at once.
Theyre really funny. I totally ship Diane and Kurt, theyre one of my few het ships left.
and now I’m kinda shipping maia/lucca, but only cause amy is never around, what the hell?
Dorothy your recaps are hilarious! Love the show, particularly the Maia/Lucca dynamics, let’s see how they will play this out in season 2?!! (It’s a shame though they hide Amy away, the only flaw for me hopefully they’ll change that!!!) All the cast and dialogues are just such a great fit. 10 eps is not enough…
i’m so late to this one! my gf and i have had less time together than maia and amy the past two weeks!
fantastic review. i’m really proud to have ruined colin for everyone this entire season! i look forward to finding flaws with lucca’s next love interest in season two, until the writers get the message that she should hook up with a lady (and what better way for barbara to get some screentime?)
This is ridiculously belated (I was on vacation and out of town visiting family for the past two weeks…), but I wanted to thank everyone so much for reading the recaps and engaging here. I think The Good Fight is a smart series and I loved hearing all of your even smarter thought. Thank you, again.