Intelligent, up-to-date legal cases like Facebook, Mt. Everest, Muslims, and pharmaceuticals.
Pulling away from a scene right before you think the characters might say one more thing.
Plots that involve past characters and clients, like Lemond Bishop, the divorce lawyer (what's up with all the candy bowls?), mommy lawyer, the gruff Mr. Stern, and the charming Mr. Canning played by Michael J. Fox.
Peter Florrick's "madame alexander doll" pouty mouth. And yet he still strikes me as a totally believable politician and husband.
Kalinda! Need I say more--we keep pulling the layers off of her personality. In a word: restraint.
Quirky music on occasion that makes you wonder where the plot is headed.
Writing that focuses on the issues the characters face, not the minutia. Often this has to be symbolic in the interest of time, but the execution works.
One of the most passionate, succinct love scenes on a T.V. drama fully clothed. Now that's a rare find. I haven't seen that kind of tension since Ethan Frome.
Here's to season three--good doesn't even begin to describe it!
Don't forget the clear glass office walls that seemingly separate, yet enable everyone to see one another's actions and reactions, as well as read their lips and often telling body language.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget my favorite guy--Eli. Is this guy really the vicious shark he portrays, aggressively ripping his opponents into bite-size chunks? Or, is he a kind-hearted, vulnerable man who longs for companionship with someone who balances his sharp scheming with their own mild innocence? He is a hammer wrapped in velvet...
I have 100 more, but let me end with a real surprise--Alicia's lawyer from last week. She was formally Peter's lawyer. She is a treat of distracted brilliance. I love her surreptitious actions that are followed by solid logic that seemingly comes from right-field--people, or I seem surprised when she says or does something so sly, since she kind of has the dumb blonde thing as part of her core personality. They need to hire her at Lockhart/Gardner.
You get to the heart of it. And what you say about Peter strikes me as particularly true. While he is, on one hand, the guy we want to hate, I can't quite hate him: he is believable, flawed yet multilayered and complex.
ReplyDelete@Marc: I love love Eli, love how he walks into a room and unassumingly commands attention with his snarky grin. Alison and I first say him in great little independent film which I'm now forgetting the name of. Ali will remember as she loves the movie.
Ron