Third Option

Let’s talk about the Good Wife’s Alicia Florrick. For those of you who aren’t familiar, The Good Wife was a brilliant show that hit our screens in 2009. It balanced a sophisticated legal plot with a peppering of drama and romance. Hard to do whilst maintaining a solid script, and character developments. Part of the show’s addictive quality was its leading lady, Alicia Florrick.

The housewife of disgraced politician and state’s attorney Peter Florrick, trying to rebuild her life in the wake of her husband’s imprisonment and political sex/corruption scandal, whilst also raising two kids, rejoins the legal ranks as a junior associate in an old friend/flame’s law firm. She was by all standards, an underdog. But boy did she rise to the occasion.

In my opinion, what made her so appealing was her moral ambiguity. The fear was that she would be dominated by a bleeding heart, succumbing to empathy and kindness in a way that would undercut our hopes of her being a kick ass, ball busting attorney. That being said, we(me) underestimated her. For while she displayed all of the sympathies of a mother and sheltered housewife, from the get go we saw glimmers of a more complex character. Occasionally tampering with evidence, tactfully blurring the lines between legal and illegal, all while stringing her boss, Will Gardner, along with the possibility of a romantic relationship.

Somewhere at the beginning of the first season is a scene between Alicia and Cary where Cary references the fable of the scorpion and the frog, explaining competitiveness was just in his nature. Alicia doesn’t accept this, retorting that it’s just an excuse for people to justify their bad behaviour. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar, the fable goes as follows:

“A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog then agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature”

In that scene, it’s clear Cary thinks of himself as the scorpion and Alicia the frog, for she possesses a moral compass, distinguishes right from wrong and acts accordingly – at least she appears to. However, as the series develops and we see this more dangerous side to our leading lady we get the sense Cary might of had it wrong, although competitive, he wasn’t necessarily cut throat. Alicia on the other hand, having never really proclaimed her lore and morals to her peers or the viewership, she could swing between playing the sympathetic fool, and the coldhearted mastermind when needed.

What they don’t tell you is under pressure we always go back to our habits, so make sure they’re habits that serve you. Alicia’s moral ambiguity serves her, protects her. Do yours serve you? What they don’t tell us is there aren’t only two options, there’s a third, a scorpion disguised as a frog.