I’m glad it’s not just me who wants to see Alicia’s dealings with Frank Landau put on the back burner in favour of legal and political machinations I can comprehend. “Let’s just file that one under ongoing disasters, shall we?” says Eli, changing the subject.
Diane has another liberal dilemma to deal with: this time she’s using the First Amendment to help the cause of a anti-abortion group, and this time her feminist friends aren’t buying her excuses.
Initially it seems like a cop-out when the damages-claiming woman isn’t even slightly sympathetic – rather, she was a born-again fibber with a sob-free story and an ill-advised hairdo – but all Diane’s experience of playing devil’s advocate for Lockhart, Agos and Lee’s right-wing pals pays off when she takes the stand.
My admiration for Grace is well-documented, and she’s on typically good form in this episode, but realistically Alicia should have given her a script before she started her ring-round. In fact Alicia should really be taking the whole “find new clients” business more seriously. I suspect she’s still being distracted by Jason (especially now she realises he’s cheating on her with Diane).
Meanwhile, Eli’s becoming increasingly obsessed with Vanessa William’s Courtney Paige, but I genuinely had no idea this interest was anything other than strategic until their slightly creepy kiss at the episode’s end. What shall we file this under? Opposites attract?
Notes
This was a very quotable episode. I particularly liked the pro-choice lawyer’s increasingly baffling pearls of homespun wisdom (sample: “As my mother would say, it’s like putting an ass’s bridle on a Model T Ford”), and these gems:
“Money’s not everything”
“Yes, but sometimes it’s something”
“Wouldn’t it be odd if the person who respected you the most was the person you agreed with the least?”
“Bible stories aren’t usually the best business plans”
Shona Craven 