swatkat

Your post is really brilliant--I haven't read anything as cogent and persuasive about the dynamics among Will, Kalinda, and Alicia, and I read TGW criticism obsessively. I think you've exactly captured the Will/Kalinda dynamic while simultaneously explaining the more complex Alicia/Kalinda relationship. Kalinda's relationship with Will is easy; her relationship with Alicia is anything but, mostly because she simply cannot make Alicia understand what the relationship means to her. To Alicia, Kalinda's unadorned "Then I met you, and I liked you, I liked working with you, I liked talking with you" were just unfeeling trivialities; to Kalinda, they were as passionate and demonstrative as she's capable of being verbally. That disconnect is what made the breakup arc so heart-wrenching. I like Kalinda with Will (and I have hopes that he'll be the one to nudge Alicia back into a friendship with Kalinda, which would be a pleasing echo to Kalinda's work in getting Alicia and Will together), but it's not a substitute for Kalinda and Alicia.

In many ways, Will acts as a stand-in for Kalinda. They're a funny kind of triangle, devoid of jealousy, wanting the best for each other. And I also am firmly of the non-slash school with the Kalicia relationship: the fact that Kalinda loves Alicia platonically is what makes the relationship profound. For Kalinda, sex is easy; not-sex is hard.