Exit Sir Kalinda

[swatkat]

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TGW SEASON FINALE? OR MORE IMPORTANTLY, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PART WHERE KALINDA STAYED BECAUSE THE SINS OF HER PAST ARE NOW GOING TO INTRUDE INTO ALICIA'S LIFE, AND SHE CANNOT BE HAVING WITH THAT? AND HOW SHE CAME TO SAY GOODBYE BUT JUST COULDN'T? AND HOW SHE NOBLY AWAITED HER DEATH/PUNISHMENT AS SHE ALLOWED HER PAST TO CATCH UP WITH HER?

I HAVE HEARTS FLOATING OUT OF MY EYES. ♥♥♥

In the words of Robert King:

Alicia lives on the level of most people in the viewing audience, and Kalinda lives in a slightly more operatic world. What we wanted to see was family played out in both those worlds. That might be what gives you the sense of impending doom. That knock, knock, knock in Kalinda’s world is supposed to intrude a little bit on the more day-to-day world of Alicia.

What happens when the two worlds collide, as they undoubtedly will now? Two episodes in a row now, we've seen Alicia worried and scared for Kalinda, and trying to protect her in her own small way. Where do we go from here?

And the sledgehammer scene, oh my. Of course Kalinda lives her life ready to pack her bags and leave at the first opportunity. Alicia has been her downfall.

Also other great things happened in the episode, but allow me to bask in the glory of Alicia and Kalinda's Glorious ~Romance for the moment.

Comments

[randomizer]

Naturally, I adored all of the Sir Kalinda stuff--it's about as romantic as it gets. But I *didn't* see Alicia trying, even in a small way, to protect Kalinda this time. I thought she acted hostile toward her, and much less concerned than she should have been, given the fact that she actually was the catalyst for the coming crisis. Did you notice any of that yourself?

[swatkat]

I saw your posts, and I would have replied in TWOP itself if it weren't for the casual Kalinda hate that seems to have grown worse in the past few weeks while I wasn't paying attention. Ugh.

My short answer would be: no, I did not. Ideally, I would go back and rewatch the scenes and tell you exactly why I didn't think so - maybe I will, later, when I have more time - but here's how I saw her in the episode: she made the first call in good faith, in a bid to do her job and protect Kalinda. She did it, as she explained, because she felt the money would help clear Kalinda's debts - not because she was trying to pry. As soon as she guessed that something was wrong, she held back, did not give out either Kalinda's or her own name, and told Kalinda about it. I didn't feel she was 'hostile' when she questioned Kalinda that first time - she was stern and lawyerly, operating with prior knowledge that Kalinda does not answer straight questions about her past (regardless of their little chat in the bar), that Kalinda must be made to answer difficult questions. And... this is probably just me, but I did enjoy watching inscrutable!Alicia making Kalinda squirm, in an echo of so many of their interactions this season, but with a different agenda in mind, underlining how much has changed. In the second encounter, after Kalinda's husband calls her, she is scared and more than a little angry, and can you blame her? Alicia wants to understand Kalinda's world a little better, but Kalinda's world is also scary and she is more than a little out of her depth. As the Kings said - a clash between the operatic and, in some ways, the hopelessly mundane.

[randomizer]

I see it differently, and I"ve watched the episode a few times now. (I'll be interested in what you think when you rewatch, because none of this struck me as strongly the first time around.) But my working theory now is that Alicia was avoiding dealing with Kalinda directly after their bar conversation, which (for various reasons that were described well by Black Knight on TWOP) was too much, too fast in their still-rebuilding relationship for her to handle. During that conversation, you'll remember that Alicia had said to Kalinda that she had some uncashed checks that she ought to take a look at. Later, when Alicia discovers the mysterious uncashed check, she decides to call the number rather than talking to Kalinda about it first. I agree that she was doing it more or less in good faith, and I certainly agree that she wasn't trying to pry. But it's a bit different from what she had told Kalinda the next step would be, and I think it's because she didn't want to talk to Kalinda directly.

After encounter #1, she still doesn't go to Kalinda and have a conversation about it. Then after the encounter #2 (the call back), she waits and stalls and doesn't mention it to Kalinda until Kalinda is about to witness prep her, when it would really be impossible NOT to deal with Kalinda. At that point, she brings up the subject in a public hallway, in a cold and challenging way, much more like a lawyer cross-examining a witness than either a lawyer or a friend. Sure, Kalinda wasn't being honest with her, but Alicia set her up to fail to be honest because she really didn't want to hear honesty. I didn't enjoy Alicia's making Kalinda squirm--I thought it was pretty terrible, how she kept screwing with her, letting her feel safe, and then pulling the rug out from beneath. And even after all that, I had the sense that Kalinda would have spilled more if Alicia had pursued the final question, when she pulled away and said "Nothing."

Obviously, there are limits in how much close reading we can do with television characters, but all of this seems very plausible to me. I think that bar scene is just packed with stuff--it's amazing how much there is, considering that it probably ran for two minutes. It says a lot about Alicia and Kalinda's current relationship, and it's also doing a lot of setup for next season.