'The Good Wife' Winners and Losers: What the One Percent and Anne Frank Have in Common

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The Good Wife exists in an alternate universe where wealthy people are constantly saying and doing clickbait-worthy, but awful, things online. Even if we're supposed to be rooting for Alicia and her clients, when bajillionaire one percenter James Paisley (Tom Skerritt) compares himself to Anne Frank and the Jews of Nazi Germany, it's oddly satisfying. Here's someone being just as clueless and horrible as you, the 99 percent, expect him to be. Despite being "victimized" for profiting off of other people's money, the one percent have nothing in common with the Jews, and Alicia has to bring in a Holocaust survivor to drive that point home. 

But he keeps going: he thinks poor people are lazy, he thinks your vote should be tied to your tax bracket, and there are too many have-nots in the country. Paisley even calls Alicia a one percenter. Despite being not quite rich enough, she certainly has the Paisley cluelessness down – to quote Financial Daily Watch's Don Keats, "Actually, this is Don. Steven is the black guy to my right." (That's the second time in two weeks that Alicia hasn't been able to tell black people apart.)

But while Paisley and Alicia were on the air insulting Jews, black people, Italians, Greeks and the poor, there was a story that didn't make the papers. Peter finds out that Finn at one point or another left Alicia's apartment just as the show emphasizes that Finn is single (well, divorced). We're 99 percent sure that the two won't start sharing meaningful looks until halfway through season six, but in the meantime we have to deal with Peter creeping on unpaid interns. 

Winner: The One Percent

Loser: The One Percent

Paisley went from a $140,000 settlement to a $1 million one all while looking like an anti-Semitic robber baron, which would imply that he lost. But he's still rich.

Winner: Ginger interns with "not too red" lipstick

Loser: Peter Florrick

I am not a fan of Peter. I don't find him sympathetic, and I don't think Alicia should give him the time of day. And yet, the last scene was sad. He's spent the whole episode being vindictive because he's jealous of Finn. Now it's the end of the day and he knows he's going back to his empty bed in his empty apartment. His screensaver is an impossibly flattering photo of Alicia — not the kids, just her — and he knows he ruined the best thing that ever happened to him. Then Lauren "Not too Red" Intern Girl walks in and, well, we can guess what happens next. 

Winner: Louis Canning

Loser: Diane Lockhart

Rayna Hecht (Jill Hennessy) was Diane's life boat, but she made the mistake of trusting Canning with it. Hecht, aka The Rainmaker, was looking for a new firm, and Diane was close to bringing her on board. Even David Lee would have been on her side after that. But then Canning "poisoned the well" to keep his advantage. Like Kalinda said last week, "He's dying. And he's trying to screw you." 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.