Temptation and the Road to Redemption: The Surprising Honesty of "The Good Wife"

Spoilers abound below.

And I'm paraphrasing any dialogue.

As I have said before, we continue to be pleased with The Good Wife. The writers continue to produce interesting, suspenseful courtroom drama each week within a larger story arc of the "good wife" of the cheating, convicted politician.

This week the show rose to new heights while intelligently examining honesty within marriage and religion, in my opinion.

First, in Peter Florrick's attempt to reenter the political ring, he approached an influential African-American pastor for help in winning back the black female vote. What he found was an uncompromising Christian who refused to overlook a man's soul in order to curry political favor. It was refreshing to see Pastor Isaiah not deliver platitudes and not back down.

He told Peter, "Your marriage is in trouble. You don't believe it but it is. You are sleeping in separate bedrooms. You aren't repentant for what you did and your wife knows it." That is when I sat up, pointed at the TV and turned to Tom, saying, "YES! He says he's innocent of the fraud but he's never said he's sorry about the prostitute" (with whom he slept multiple times before being caught.)

To be fair, this isn't the first time I've said this and Tom doubtless is tired of hearing me say it. Now, if I feel that way, just imagine how Alicia Florrick feels. However, I digress.

It was equally refreshing to see Peter respond honestly instead of saying what the pastor would want to hear when asked, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save your soul?" Peter said, "I don't even know what that means."

Pastor Isaiah said, "Do you want know what it means?" Peter said, "No!"

Now, that is honest. As is Pastor Isaiah's next question, "Do you want to change?"

That strikes to the heart of the issue. Why would anyone be attracted to faith unless there was something in their own life that they wanted to be changed? Peter's rather confused response leaves the door open for further conversation. As Alicia found when she returned home, things went rather further than Peter probably expected.

What we don't know is if Peter is stringing Pastor Isaiah along, although I'd bet on Pastor Isaiah for knowing when someone is taking him for a ride. As we see later, Peter doesn't seem to be lying. We are told that there are follow-up conversations with the pastor. After Alicia has seen a small cross in Peter's room, she asks, "Are you becoming religious?" He says, "I don't know."

Again, that rings true to me. As does a later conversation when he tells her with increasing enthusiasm that, "I want to change. I want to change inside" while he thumps his heart. Been there. Feel it.

The writers didn't take the easy way out with platitudes and stereotypes. Kudos. Future developments in this area are going to be interesting.

Second, is Alicia's relationship with Will, her boss and former college sweetheart. We know they're attracted to each other although, along the lines of restraint that are the hallmark of the excellent acting on the show, they haven't done more than give us an expression on their faces every so often.

When Will was at his lowest point, you just knew he was going to give in and plant that kiss on her. What was unpredictable was whether she was going to return it, which she did ... the whole time I was saying (more like, shouting aloud), "No, NO! Don't do it. DON'T!"

So I was quite relieved when she broke off and left the building ....

... and quite upset when she was returning ...

... and quite relieved when she didn't find Will ...

... and quite upset when he found out later that she'd returned and went to talk to her about the fact that she'd been ready to pursue the kiss if only he'd been there.

What an emotional roller coaster -- I hated it.

However, it set up a interesting dilemma. Anything that might develop along those lines would be a deliberate decision, not a moment of weakness that she and Will give in to as would have happened this week. It provides a parallel for her decisions to possibly travel the road that Peter did in deliberate unfaithfulness. I like to think that she has too much integrity for that route (and Will too for that matter). It is especially interesting when Peter is pursuing internal change that may lead to personal and marital redemption.

Of course, this is the writers' skill displayed for us in setting up the tension of these conflicting and contrasting character developments.

We do not often get honesty and fine writing like this on television. The two shows I can think of off the top of my head are House, which after six seasons is still a treasure, and Bones, which although much lighter in approach doesn't flinch at examining difficult questions.

Here's hoping for much more of the same from The Good Wife.

Stand Up for Life in our Health Care

If you live in the United States and haven’t yet done so (or haven’t done so recently), take action on the health care debate.

• First, learn why the U.S. bishops insist that the current Senate legislation must be defeated.
  
  
• Next, go to www.usccb.org/action to email your senators and representatives.
  
  
• Support Bart Stupak and his remaining Democratic allies in resisting the Senate bill.
  
  
• Learn more at American Papist.

Said so perfectly by Steven D. Greydanus at his blog Decent Films that his reward is having me rip it off to present to you.

Now, please don't delay. Do this now.

I say, "Oo." You say, "long."

A music video for tea lovers.

No, really! Go see!

A Flood of Mercy and Joy, with a little bit of Happy Catholic in the mix

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Pat Gohn for her Among Women podcast. Actually, the pleasure was in the lots and lots of talking we both did. Frankly, at this moment, I can't remember just what was in the interview and what was just "between two women" (ha!).

I can't listen until after Easter, but you can hear it now. Three spots to pick it up:

• At her blog
• At her website
• At iTunes

Thanks Pat!

Updated: The Best Part About The Anchoress's Being a Writer ...

... is that she has a notebook from which she sometimes unpacks snippets for us ...

Priest: ‘I think I’ve lost my faith.’
Cardinal Cushing: ‘Don’t flatter yourself; you’re just bored.’ --Sermon
=============
We are not meant to ’succeed’ at Lent, but to fail and know our dependence upon Grace.
=============
Know-it-all-son: I don’t pray; I don’t need to because God knows all.”
Me: But even Jesus prayed…

Even a blog writer winds up with snippets around. Mine are on note cards, jotted in my so-called journal which is really mostly cryptic notes and lists of what I'm reading at the moment. And, of course, quote journals. Lots and lots of quote journals.

UPDATED
I sent Cardinal Cushing's comment to our priest and he responded that he had heard it years ago but a bit better and perhaps a bit kinder. That made me go to Google, where I found this version, which was the one he remembered.

Cardinal Cushing had an interview with a young priest who said to him, 'Your Eminence, I am losing my faith.' The Cardinal said to him, 'Meaning no disrespect to your intellectual attainments, but you and I are too dumb to lose our faith. The great heretics like Martin Luther lose their faith. You and I just get bored!'

Breaking Point ...

... part 3, which completes this novella, is now up over at Forgotten Classics along with probably the coolest podcast highlight ever.

Also over at Forgotten Classics, though in a separate post is a list of my favorite LibriVox readers ... just in case you want to check on books by sound as well as by content.

A Biology Blog for the Non-Specialist: A Life of Life

Finally, an explanation of photosynthesis that makes sense. Perhaps because it is done a bit at a time, very carefully. Here is the piece that began to break it open for me.

The light wave which we rode almost a hundred million miles from the sun has ended its journey by colliding with a tiny molecule inside the cell of the grass, called chlorophyll, where its energy will be harnessed for the plant to use. Light itself is a form of electromagnetic energy, and some organisms are capable of converting that energy into chemical energy which they can use. The chlorophyll molecule itself is embedded in a membrane surrounding a fluid-filled space known as the stroma, somewhat like the skin of a balloon surrounding its air-filled interior. All around us light waves are crashing into the chlorophyll molecules, and the energy carried by these molecules is causing things to happen: molecules are changing shape, being broken, being built, and many tiny hydrogen protons are being moved across the membrane from the outside to the inside.

Go to A Life of Life and read from the beginning. Just read a post a day. There aren't too many and the entries are short. We begin by hurtling with a sunbeam (an electromagnetic light wave) from the sun and slamming into the dim, watery world of a grass cell. I cannot tell you how much I have been enjoying these brief but illuminating posts.

This 'N' That: the mega post

Greenville Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade
I turned on the computer Saturday morning and surveyed the DMN home page that comes up with a sleepy eye before coming alert with a shriek. How could I have forgotten? I don't actually have an objection to the parade itself but we live four blocks (four loooong blocks) away and my grocery store is right next to the parade route which means no parking ... all day long.

Hasty ablutions, quick consulting with Tom who said that if there was no parking he'd drop me off and pick me up, and made it by 8:30 to the Central Market which, blessedly, had security personnel this year turning away anyone but customers. The store was still fairly full of green garbed runners and families as they stocked up for various things but true shoppers were few and far between.

Zoe, Wash, and The Big Morning Walk
We went ahead and walked to the parade with the dogs later that morning. Wash, laid back as always, accepted any and all "drive by" patting. He did not, however, approve of other dogs that he saw. This, evidently, was his parade and sharing with other dogs was not approved. Much barking and lunging ensued periodically.

Zoe, much more intense and skittish, didn't mind the dogs but both longed for and distrusted various hands thrust in her direction. Eventually she relaxed and a good time was had by all. Except that during one of Zoe's skittish episodes, she went one way and I the other ... the result a sprained ankle. Darn. Had to sit around all day after that. Well, if I must, I must ...

It is amazing how many people have Boxers. They all come out of the woodwork when we take Zoe and Wash anywhere, telling many a tale of childhood companions or current canines who are home reclining in luxury on couches.

Floats
Tom liked the interpretive spirit showed in the flag for the Texas Irish Bicycling Team above. See how they have taken the Irish flag, remade it in the Texas flag design and used a shamrock instead of the Lone Star. Nicely done.

I was surprised at how elaborate some of the floats were. Also at how many there were ... the parade just kept going and going and going. My favorite was one that I couldn't figure out the sponsor for until it went past. In the front sat an aged man with a somewhat solemn countenance. The other people on the float weren't throwing beads but were simply waving. It was beautifully decorated with artistic symbols and I wondered if perhaps it was for a local restaurant. Then I saw the sign on the back. Of course. The local Hare Krishna temple from lower Greenville. I liked the spirit that had them joining in the "neighborhood" parade. Albeit a gigantic neighborhood. The news said that 80,000 people attended. Greenville is a long road, but still ...

Watching
Despite what I read in some places, television still has some excellent entertainment value ... yes, even on the plain old networks. One must be discriminating, but, then, when must one not be discriminating?

• House, M.D.: the last episode, Private Lies, was interesting in our household because the patient was a blogger. The sort of blogger who tells all, and I mean all. Partway in, I told Tom that I could identify too much with her because what I really wanted to know was her daily hits. (so sad, so true...). The true theme for the show was exploring connectedness and privacy. As always they did a nice job of exploring different aspects of these through the various story lines, although I have a very hard time believing that Chase didn't always know that he is adorable. Especially with that soft Australian accent. Most interesting from the blogging aspect was the question of how a blogger treads that thin line between truly blogging and being themselves and turning it into performance art. I would venture to say that anyone who has blogged for long has seen how this could happen. Whether a blogger crosses that line (and it can happen multiple times, back and forth) I think depends on their main purpose in blogging. And even then it can become a difficult issue occasionally.
• Parenthood: tried the first episode of this. Run far, run fast, but do not waste your time on this. It fell prey to the desire to please everyone by resolving all the issues with a smile and a big hug. When the crusty father went over to give his crying grown son a big hug, we knew nothing was redeemable there. Or perhaps we just know the movie too well. Jason Robards' character never would have given in that fast. It was all too, too fake ...
• The Good Wife: this series just gets better and better. Now that the husband is home on house arrest, various other subplots are being spun out. That is less interesting, frankly, than the weekly cases that are being tried and the law firm's constant quest for money to keep afloat. The strengths are in the fact that much of the response is underplayed by different characters which leaves us open to interpret and think about issues a bit more than other shows. Parenthood writers could learn a lot from watching how this show handles emotions and plot development.

Reading

• The Jupiter Myth - Lindsey Davis: Out of new fiction I wandered to my bookshelves and discovered that I hadn't perused Lindsey Davis in some time. The Jupiter Myth was one of her books that I most enjoyed as it combines a look at life in ancient Londinum with a well conceived mystery that is investigated by her wise cracking, cynical detective, Falco. As well, a few old friends from the series are roped into service.#15.
• Alexandria - Lindsey Davis: Marcus Didius Falco and family are on vacation in Alexandria, cadging lodgings off of his uncle. As a known agent of Emperor Vespasian he gets co-opted to investigate when there is a murder at the great library. This is carried off with the usual flourish of family detail, historical knowledge and pure fun and sass that Lindsey Davis brings to her series. However, the true solution to the murder was almost thrown in as an afterthought which I found most unsatisfactory.#17
• The Demon and the City - Liz Williams: Much more Demon Zhu Irzh-centric, this is the second book in the series begun in Snake Agent. Detective Inspector Chen is on holiday in Hawaii leaving Demon Zhu Irzh holding the fort when the feng shui goes terribly awry in Singapore. Naturally this means mighty plots are afoot to take over earth ... this time from Heaven (based loosely on Chinese mythology). Also a cracking good yarn. Liz William's twist on Chinese mythology intersecting with our world makes a weird kind of sense for anyone who knows even the littlest bit about their concepts of heaven, hell and the gods. #18
• How to Disappear Completely - Myke Bartlett. Urban fantasy at its best, this audiobook has hints of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere without being derivative. Quite a feat and one that Myke Bartlett pulls off perfectly. "Part film noir detective story, part fantasy adventure, part East End gangster tale, How to Disappear Completely concerns Theo Braithwaite, a failed actress and worse waitress, becoming involved in an unseen world populated by history's rejects and runaways from a secret society known as The Footmen. A stranger to London, waiting for life to come and find her, she is instead found by a part-time thief called Kilbey Salmon who, along with his rockabilly-obsessed partner, is attempting to eke out a living stealing things that have already been stolen and finding people who don't want to be found." Only available as an audiobook, but truly worth your time. #20
• The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle: An American detective living in London is approached to find a young woman who disappeared. Although this is a mystery, it is largely an intersection of "what if" the Celtic myth of people being kidnapped into faerie lands were true. Told from the weary detective's point of view, the story takes on also the flavor of his knowing such things are possible but feeling a sense of personal failure over the people who much more legitimately disappeared in his own life (his father, his girlfriend). A quick read, not elaborately detailed, yet still an attention grabber and one that left me thinking about the story when I had to stop and do other things. #21.
• Night Train from Memphis by Elizabeth Peters: Elizabeth Peters is, I believe, this author's real name. She also writes under Barbara Michaels. The joke inherent in this knowledge is that Barbara Michaels writes romantic mysteries while Elizabeth Peters makes fun of the genre while still writing legitimately romantic mysteries. This is where she gets to have a bit of fun. My favorites of her Elizabeth Peter's series are the Vicky Bliss books. This is the last of the series, as to my everlasting regret Ms. Peters has focused on Amelia Peabody who I find deadly boring except for the very first book of that series.
  
  This book combines country and western with Egyptology, searching for the lost treasure of Troy, a variant of the English country house murder (carried out on a barge floating down the Nile), and, of course, true love with a scoundrel who has a heart of gold. No wonder I enjoy rereading this book. #23.
• Precious Dragon by Liz Williams: Williams almost has too many characters doing too much in too many situations here. However, she pulls it off. I love Mrs. Pa's character and enjoyed the discovery of what lies at the bottom level of Hell, although I found the sudden craziness of the Emperor of Heaven rather too much. I still enjoyed it overall though.
  
  Rereading this I rediscovered that she suddenly develops a linguistic twitch partway into the book. Or perhaps that is simply where it forced its way into my consciousness. At any rate, once you have noticed that she uses "given" every three sentences or so, it becomes so very annoying that it is difficult forcing one's way past it. Where was the editor? Dozing? Or perhaps in love with that phrase. Given that I am not, one might take it as a given that I was unable to force my way through the next book in the series, The Shadow Pavilion. Especially given the fact that not only is Williams using given sometimes three times in a paragraph, she crammed even more characters in more situations into this one. Nope. I'm not going along for that ride. #24
• Fallen Rain by Barry Eisler: Recommended by Matt. American born, half-Japanese, John Rain is a professional hit man with a strict set of rules for his targets: no women or children, only principles in a dispute. He specializes in "natural causes" deaths and has just pulled one off while giving us a bit of back story. Interestingly as the story goes on through fascinating twists and turns, we are not asked to find John a sympathetic character. We learn more of his story so that his life's work makes more sense but the character does not work to become likable. I like that since he's a hit man ... seems more "real" that way. Although he seems so American in his thinking that i tend to forget he looks Japanese and sometimes have to remind myself and "fix" my mental picture when that is important to the story, as it sometimes is. #25
• Shapers by Robert Chase: Reread this for the first time since I read it originally. Robert Chse has created a truly innovative alien species and we are thrust into his universe willy nilly along with the protagonist ... who is an amnesiac recovering from a space ship crash. What is his goal? Who is he really? And how do we understand the Shaper species and their human "herds?" Fascinating and says much about what it means to be a human being, as do all his books. I had forgotten just how strong a statement this book makes about the value of life and the power of the human spirit. Highest recommendation, with the warning that it can be a difficult book to grasp. Just go with the flow the first time through.#22
• The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch: Can't remember where I found this book reviewed ... possibly SF Site ... but I was intrigued by a book that is written backwards and where the time travel is only within a prescribed amount of time in a person's life. However, it soon became rather tedious to see this poor fellow have to repeatedly work backwards every hour or so. This is nothing that good plotting or good characterization couldn't have overcome. Too bad this book so consistently skimmed the surface on both. #26

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Let that be a lesson to you, old chum

He who lives by the RSS feed, sees nothing amusing in the sidebars.

Not only mine, in which amusing content changes every weekday, but that of others. I must admit that, having fallen into the RSS feed habit myself, I have missed for some time seeing the broader horizons.

If I hadn't pulled out of RSS for a moment and wandered over "in person" (so to speak) to martha, martha then I'd never have seen the truly wonderful Batman quote in her sidebar.

Then I never would have gone looking for others.

And then none of us would be sitting here right now laughing at this ...

Robin: Where'd you get a live fish, Batman?

Batman: The true crimefighter always carries everything he needs in his utility belt, Robin.

You are laughing aren't you? Yeah, me too. Remember, old chum, stop and smell the roses (or view the blogs in their entirety).

Looking Up

This does not really do justice to the full white I see when I look up but it was the only photo I could find online that came close. Our pear trees are in full bloom. (Rose will be happy she isn't here as the scent I barely notice is abhorrent to her.) Truly gorgeous.

“Look around. You can’t tell who was conceived with wine and roses and who was conceived on a street corner.”

It wasn’t a day for writing. It was a day for processing all that I saw and heard at a United Nations conference the day before. The first session that I attended was conducted by a panel of eight women and one man who were conceived in rape, and in one case, incest. These were the very people whose conception is held out as the ultimate justification for legalized abortion. Executing the child for the father’s crime.

Powerful writing and links from Coming Home in Conceived in Rape: God is My Father.

Bishops Elect Deshotel and Seitz for Dallas

I like it. I like it a lot.

Whispers in the Loggia says both were named as co-auxiliaries to Dallas' Bishop Farrell and I couldn't be happier.

I don't know Bishop Elect Steitz, about whom good stories are being told, but I am very familiar with Bishop Elect Deshotel who used to fill in at St. Thomas Aquinas long ago.

Specifically I can never be grateful enough for his answering the call to the priesthood. It was he who heard my first face-to-face confession during the CRHP retreat that I attended six years ago. I kid you not, I don't remember specific words but I do know that I felt Jesus Himself speaking through him ... kindly, insightfully, and with words of healing. That confession was a key moment for me personally and ultimately the main reason (among so many) that I was called to attend that retreat.

• Here is the diocese's announcement.
• Here is the bishop's blog which not only has posts about the bishops-elect but also announces that Dallas will be welcoming home 3,000 new Catholics at Easter. Thanks be to God ...

In which the crew faces more threats from the aliens ...

... Breaking Point, part 2, is up at Forgotten Classics.

It's All Downhill from Here

The flowers began to wither under the rigorous interrogation.

Time for some midweek humor to lighten things up. Let us turn to Unhappy Hipsters which Shrine of the Holy Whapping, where I found the link, points out adds "silly captions to pretentious, underbuilt, overdesigned interiors and exteriors ripped from the headlines of modish living magazines." And does a fine job of it too ...

The bathroom had been the source of an acrid odor for months,
but now emitted a strange, vaguely toxic glow. This didn’t bode well.

The Principle of Subsidiarity

The principle of subsidiarity holds that a larger and greater body should not exercise functions which can be carried out efficiently by one smaller and lesser, but rather the former should support the latter and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the whole community.

Source

This principle has been named to me via three different sources in conversation, reading, and email within the last three days.

Although I felt I understood it in context each time, I figured I'd better be sure I really knew what it meant. I approve of this principle. Although my search for the definition brought up references to Catholic social principles, business, and the European Union ... all three of my original instances were in reference to parish life.

Just in case anyone else out there has been bombarded with subsidiarity, I thought I'd pass this along.

In the desert ...

... it is difficult there, spare and unrelenting. But there is a sort of peace and beauty that comes from having your soul scoured clean by the whirling sands.

The Crescat reminds us that it is still Lent. I need no reminder this year. But in a strange way I am grateful for that scouring. Perhaps I am in the eye of the storm to be experiencing such peace. I realize how very imperfect I am. I realize just how superhuman, how supernatural it was for Christ to undergo what He did in His passion and to do it so perfectly. I realize how grateful I am that we have His example, simultaneously perfectly human and perfectly divine, to follow and not only that of our fellow men, imperfect as we all are.

Is it peaceful here because it is real, because we can see so clearly when stripped away from the extraneous trees and landscape of regular life? I do not know. But I begin to feel an understanding of the desert saints that I never have before.

This 'n' That

Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is writing and directing a Doc Savage movie!
Sez Rose. Isn't that enough? It was for us ... we both love Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Doc Savage. Ok, here's more.

The Great Prayer Project - End Abortion
From my inbox comes this link for what seems an excellent project:

The Great Prayer Project - End Abortion is simply this, starting March 25, 2010, we hope to have one continuous year of prayer to end abortion. The way we plan on achieving this objective is by allowing individuals to sign up for 20 minute time slots and pray for an end to abortion during that time period.

Pulp Fiction in Motion Graphics
More properly, a choice bit of dialogue in type ... perfectly done and hilarious. Remember, we're all about type. However, remember this is from Pulp Fiction. Practically every other word is explicit so don't click through if that's gonna bother you.

It's Like Roy H. Williams Knows My Life
Such as here, where people add up 2 and 2 to get 14.

Violent crime in America declined each year from 1993 to 2004. Then just about the time the iPod became popular in 2005, violent crime began trending upward.

CONCLUSION: iPods cause violent crime. Or at least that was the conclusion of a 2007 report published by The Urban Institute, a research organization based in Washington. (I swear I’m not making this up.)

Bad advertising strategies stem from just such logic: “Since one event precedes another, the first event must be the cause of the second.” This fallacy of logic is so common it has a Latin name: Post hoc, ergo, propter hoc, "after this, therefore, because of this," referring to the mistaken belief that temporal succession implies a causal relation.

Most business owners look around, observe their circumstances and then try to make sense of it all. Their thoughts and plans are guided by what they see. But any scientist will tell you correlation and causation are not the same thing.

Which also can relate somewhat to that iceberg thing I mentioned last week.

He does it again here.

Not once did they ever say, "Wow. Thanks for caring enough to share that with us."

I knew the bands were delusional. I just never realized that I was, too.

Strangely, I never quit advising people. In fact, I made a career of it.

But a good friend told me something that has saved everyone a lot of pain. “Unsolicited advice is abuse,” he said. So I no longer offer unsolicited advice.

Which is a lesson I most definitely am trying to learn.

Read them both. Or listen if you like. I prefer the podcast but it is Lent, after all, and I am still fasting from spoken word podcasts. Which leads to the last bit of this 'n' that for the moment ...

I Read a Lot More Books When I'm Not Listening to Podcasts All the Time
Yes, I know. Obvious. But its fun to rediscover the fun of whipping through a book every day or two. I've also rediscovered the many ways you can prop books in our kitchen for reading while washing dishes, cooking meals, and so forth. That's why I have bookweights in several rooms of the house, not to mention one at work.

Addictive personality? Tell me something I don't know. At least the Dallas Public Library has an excellent selection so we don't go bankrupt. So far I've still managed to keep my resolution of not buying any new books in 2010. It has been touch and go a couple of times but I've held on.

Here is what I'm reading now. Here is what I've read so far this year. My numbering on when I read some of them is a bit erratic as I found some duplicates, but that's not the point really.

Books I'd Like to Read to You

Oops, meant to post this at Forgotten Classics ... you can catch the list there if you're interested.

Who will reach the Breaking Point?

Part 1 of our new book, Breaking Point by James Gunn, is up at Forgotten Classics. It is a science fiction novella and being read for the SFFaudio Annual Challenge.

Plus a new podcast highlight ... yes, even if I'm not listening to 'em during Lent, I can still dish the dirt on which ones are good to try out.