A Statement About the Kissing

In an attempt to be less lame, I am now going to write about kissing and television.

Why? Perhaps because it's going to be a while before I am next kissed .

Or perhaps just because this is my blog, and I can.

I was once again watching The Good Wife this morning-- it really has become my go-to "I need to wake up now, but I need to watch something first so I don't kill someone" show. I only have one ep left to catch up on, so next week should be interesting.

SPOILER ALERT. Or whatever. This morning was the episode entitled Heart, which garnered buzz for the leaps and bounds it made in terms of plot development, and also because it was a sort-of cliffhanger episode before the show's spring mini-break. Will and Alicia finally kissed.

Well, I told you spoiler alert, didn't I?! Now I know I haven't gone into a lot of the details and stuff on this show, but let me clarify: Will and Alicia are not married. He is her boss, and though she is very junior to him on the totem pole due to years off raising her family, they were at Georgetown together, and they had a thing. I don't know what kind of thing, because the writers are keeping it very closely under wraps, but it was a thing nonetheless. And finally during an emotional case, they couldn't take it anymore, and they KISSED.

Have I mentioned her husband was just released from prison and is under house arrest in their home? OK, good.

So maybe this post is less about kissing, and more about plot pacing. Here's the thing: in the emotional post-kiss meeting between Will and Alicia, where the words "I'm married" and "I can't because of the kids" are mercifully left un-uttered (yay avoiding cliche! woohoo!), Will says the most revelatory thing about their prior relationship to date. Something along the lines of "We have bad timing, Alicia. We always have bad timing."

We know that Alicia's husband is something less than thrilled that she's again working with Will, and the two men have had two direct interactions that were more-or-less Awkward Central-- once pre-kiss when Peter answered Alicia's forgotten-at-home cell phone, and once immediately post kiss when Will came to their home to ask Peter for a favor. Peter, of course, has no idea that the kiss has occurred.

And there is another telling moment. Peter has slept with prostitutes. He and Alicia are still trying to figure out how they can put their marriage back together. Now that Peter's home, he was looking for a letter opener in Alicia's bedside drawer, and he found condoms. Then he had a little conniption because she had her IUD removed and WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? And something curious happens. She plays righteous betrayed wife (as she should), but he makes an implication... That perhaps she had cheated on him (or had come close to cheating on him) before. Like, 20 years ago. With Will.

But there's pacing, and an aim for a multi-season show with depth and characters and a serious avoidance of soap opera antics. Which they have seriously managed to avoid so far. Seriously. They're not going to tell us everything we want/need to know right now or even soon. The show at least attempts to exist in the real world (slight melodrama aside) and these things don't always come out all at once. Especially when the characters themselves presumably already know their own history. It's called showing, not telling. It should be noted, though, that this does not keep me from wantingtoknoweverythingrightnow. Right. Now.

Will Alicia and Will get together? Do I even want them to, given that I actually do like Peter, and I want to see if it's in him to be a better man for her? And will someone please write a romance novel modelled on this plotline? Immediately?

KThanks.