Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 56 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Don't Talk Too Loud
By Jacob Clifton | Season 5 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.16.2014
Lorraine: "Do you remember me? It was a few years ago..."
Alicia: "You fucking bet I do."
Lorraine: "I looooooved your speech last night. Terrific."
Alicia: "Great. I hope you've changed as much as I have since then."
Lorraine: "Do you think we could tease you away from your new firm you just started, even though that makes no sense?"
Alicia: "Not even if it did, bitch."
Lorraine: "So nice to see you! Think about it!"
Which is all the reward she needed. All those Alicias, fourth-year and third-year and first-year and opt-in and opt-out and Georgetown and Veronica: For a second all the Alicias are there, with a glorious internal high-five. That one percent is how we rise.
THEN
She was still standing up when he hired her. Couldn't keep it in.
"First year associate, you start on Monday. You're stuck with us, so now you have to impress us."
She did her best not to quiet down, not to sell herself short, not to play it down. Just be grateful, just say thank you, just look the guy in the eye on your high heels and say, You will not be sorry for treating me like a person. There are no apologies in there. Your life changed when Peter went away, and when that man's hand opened the elevator, and when you left the nest to fly; it keeps changing. But this was when you stopped apologizing.
"Alicia, enough. When I'm broke and lying in an alley somewhere, do something nice for me. That's all."
She headed out to review contract law and get started at her new job, and everything was above board. He didn't smile his real smile, the sun-coming-out smile, until her back was turned and he was allowed to be happy. Everything was still safe.
And then she turned at the door, looked at him over her shoulder, and smiled right back.
NEXT WEEK
Dubeck comes after Alicia, so she gets Cary to be her lawyer. Will takes back up with the curious case of Silas Botwin against Matthew Goode, playing the new star prosecutor at the SA.
JACOB CLIFTON is a freelance writer and critic based in Austin, Texas. He currently recaps The Good Wife, Bates Motel, The Blacklist, The 100, and Pretty Little Liars for TWoP. Jacob can be found online at jacobclifton.com, Twitter, and Facebook, and a regular column for Tor.com, Geek Love.