The Good Wife’s Kalinda husband plot needs to go away

You guys, after watching the first couple episodes of the season, I am worried about Kalinda on The Good Wife.

I don’t mean her physical safety; if anyone can eventually best her dangerous husband, Nick Savarese (played by Marc Warren competently doing the British tough guy thing) it’s her. We already saw her fight him in the season premiere, and she clearly has preternatural fighting ability for a woman her size. And I’m not worried about her psychologically, though clearly she can’t completely get this guy go. 

No, what I’m worried about is this storyline and what it’s doing both to Kalinda as a character and to the show at large. I can see how this storyline of her abusive relationship reveals things about her character: how she became tough and learned to take care of herself, and so on. But to see their past abusive relationship start to play out all over again is disturbing, to say the least.

Viewers have always been intrigued by Kalinda because of her mysteriousness and ambiguous sexuality. Those are both interesting qualities, and heaven knows we need more non-straight people on network TV. But we also need more tough women on TV, and to see someone so thoroughly bad ass and competent at her job as Kalinda in some kind of sexual thrall to an abusive asshole is really sad. I’m not saying it’s not realistic, since it happens to plenty of people, but it feels a bit retrograde for this particular character. I don’t mind seeing a storyline in which Kalinda is thrown off her game, especially since past nemeses such as Blake were a match for her at all, but to have it come from a man in the context of a romantic (if you can call it that) relationship is just plain sad.

Then there’s also what this storyline does to the show, structurally. Sure, they are trying to keep it tied to the Lockhart Gardner by having Nick as a client of the firm, but it’s a thin disguise for the fact that this storyline is off in its own little world. Kalinda even missed work. Kalinda. Missed work. I can hardly believe it. She got the job done once she did come in, but I can only assume that Nick will continue to be a distraction to her in the weeks to come.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the much-hyped ice cream scene. Look, I watch lots of stuff on HBO, and I am not disturbed by graphic sexuality on TV. But the bit with the ice cream cone, while not really shocking as it was supposed to be, was just … needlessly vulgar. (And I never call anything “vulgar.”) It was gross. And I don’t think it told us anything about the characters or their relationship that we either didn’t know or couldn’t surmise from existing material. They have a twisted sexual bond. She wants him to go away but he has a strong sexual hold on her. I get it.

I don’t mind seeing a more vulnerable side of Kalinda, and one thing I liked about Sunday’s episode was that Kalinda didn’t hesitate to tell Alicia what was going on. It’s nice to see their friendship back on track and Kalinda keeping her promise to confide in Alicia. I just wish we could see this vulnerability and friendship with Alicia outside of a romantic or sexual context. In fact, I kind of liked how Kalinda would enter sexual relationships but stay out of forming truly deep bonds. It’s a different portrayal of a woman’s sexuality than we often see on television. And if this relationship with Nick is what we get when she does have a deep bond with someone, then I definitely prefer the Kalinda who slept with people more casually.

I trust that the writers will not allow this storyline to full weaken Kalinda’s character; I assume she will eventually find the strength to get rid of the guy once and for all. However, this is not really a journey I want to watch her take because I’d prefer her not to show vulnerability in the relationship realm, if she has to show it at all. We have seen the storyline of a strong woman who is weakened by the love of a man done to death by now, and I thought the show’s portrayal of this character was above it. I don’t think the story adds anything to a character who is one of the more intriguing and unusual on TV, and I certainly don’t think it adds anything to The Good Wife as a show.

I hope I am wrong and the show will surprise me, but right now, I am not feeling this plot at all. Readers, take to the comments and let me know if the story is resonating any better with any of you.