Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | 63 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT What Was in the Box
By Jacob Clifton | Season 5 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.12.2014
Eli: "Great. Because Will Gardner is straight losing his fucking mind. So."DOUBLE VOIR DIRE
The irony is that Diane has taken first chair too -- for probably similar reasons as Cary -- so now it's Diane vs. Cary, but that never really goes anywhere weird because she already dropped the mic on him and now she's pretty much over it. We don't get a lot of Diane in this episode, but as the still point around which the tumult turns she's very comforting. She's the only one without emotional problems, basically: Cary's still being hot-headed, Will's a fucking lunatic obviously; Alicia isn't freaking out but she's not particularly present either.
The voir dire goes by quickly, with quick cuts making various points: Geneva accepts certain jurors for certain juries and vetos others, never explaining why. Old ladies are okay for the man defendant but not the lady one. A fella (played by brilliant John Cariani) opines that ties ought to go to the man in a heterosexual argument, making the man then accountable for these two legs/four legs decisions. Geneva tries to complain that the two defense counsel can't object to each other, because that's not how courts work. An overweight woman makes it personal; hot bitches are bitches that use being hot, etc.
Mostly it's just yelling and weirdly broad caricatures, sketches to show how chaotic this system can be. And the delightful joy Geneva takes in watching these four enemies take each other down, which is really the high point of this entire tedious storyline.
Once the yellin' stops, both teams check in with their investigators: Kalinda has nothing on Howard for LG, because how would she know this would go down. Robyn's going to look into Darla for F/A, but first notifies the partners that the Paisley Group (never seen, but mentioned a thousand times this season already) is thinking of leaving LG. Everybody runs, but then Kalinda randomly approaches Cary.
Kalinda: "Hey, stranger!"
Cary: "Hey, asshole. Later."
Kalinda: "Cary, come on. You know you're going to."
Cary: "Fine, what."
Kalinda: "I'm sorry or whatever, for the time I pulled my usual shit on you that I always pull, only it turned out to matter."
Cary: "Cool, you're forgiven. Now, go fuck yourself real quick so I can get back to work."
Kalinda: "How rude!"
He doesn't know that she's doing a project on being a human being, so it just looks like pure manipulation. He never did seem to grasp that it's always both. Which is interesting about their relationship, but mostly this move just blows my mind, because Kalinda doesn't hold grudges, so she assumes that everybody can just level their internal balance sheet at any time like her, and therefore saying "Sorry" for the first time in her life is like this magical wizard spell that causes bridges on fire not only to go out but also to rebuild themselves of their own accord. A naïve idea, but one that's actually very characteristic of Kalinda, about whom you wouldn't believe that word could ever be used until now.