‘The Good Wife’ Finale: Was Kalinda And Cary’s Sex Scene Too Creepy?
In case you missed it — or if you just need a refresher — much of the events in “A Weird Year” springboarded from a video conference call between the offices of Florrick/Agos and Lockhart/Gardner, and unbeknownst to Lockhart/Gardner, their end of the call never ended and Florrick/Agos spent the entire episode eavesdropping.
When it was suggested to Kalinda by Diane that she see what she can do to get Cary to budge on a possible merger, she mentions that they have exploited that relationship before. Of course, this was heard by Cary, who was, obviously, not pleased about not only being used by Kalinda, but that it’s something she and Diane discuss.
Later, Cary and Kalinda are in bed and she tells him to slow down, and they share this awful, uncomfortable exchange:
Cary: “Kalinda, would you shut up?”
Kalinda: “Excuse me?”
Cary:“I am not one of your women. I’m not gonna go slow when you want me to go slow.”
Kalinda: “Get off of me, Cary.”
Cary:“Why? You don’t like it like this?”
Kalinda: “Cary, get off of me. I swear, I’ll hurt you.”
He gets off of her, but the damage is done.
‘The Good Wife’ Creator Robert King: ‘I Don’t Think We Went To ‘Game Of Thrones’ Territory’
Co-executive producers, Michelle and Robert King, told TVLine that it was a very difficult scene to film. Robert said that it was “probably the scene that had the most disagreement regarding the morality, the border that we walk up to. I don’t think we went to Game of Thrones territory. I don’t think we crossed that line, but there’s an element of creeping up to the line.”
To clarify Cary’s state of mind at the time, Robert said that “Cary had been injured. Cary feels like Kalinda doesn’t respect him, and he needs to more be the aggressor in their sexual relationship. It was him wanting to be the aggressor [for a change], but obviously, he went down the wrong fork, so to speak. I mean, it’s supposed to be uncomfortable.” He went on to say that, “There was so much disagreement, even between Michelle and myself, on this scene.”
Michelle cut in to explain that the disagreement was over the tone — that “It just kept being discussed right up until the final mix.” Robert continued, saying that “We tried other words in Cary’s mouth instead of, “Shut up.” We tried another line in Kalinda’s mouth other than, “Cary get off me, or I’ll hurt you.” We tried a lot of things, but there was also such subtle acting going on there between Archie and Matt that we had to honor, in theory, where the script went and where they took it.
Cary And Kalinda’s Sex Scene Was Uncomfortable, But At Least Cary Listened To Kalinda’s ‘No’
“The script was probably trying to go a little chancier and edgier, but they pulled it back into what people [in real life] would say and do. But again, we didn’t want it to be as chancy as, “Oh, this is getting close to rape” or anything like that. We wanted it to just play as the emotional give and take of two people who have given information about each other, and it’s coming out in odd ways,” he finished.
At the very least, while it may have been an uncomfortable scene to watch, at least Cary listened to Kalinda’s “no”; it’s so important to show clear consent on television, and Kalinda was emphatically not consenting, and Cary listened to her.
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Did the scene cross the line? Were they approaching Game Of Thrones territory? And what did you think of the finale overall? Vote above and comment below!
— Amanda Michelle Steiner
Follow @AmandaMichl
More ‘The Good Wife’:
- ‘The Good Wife’: Josh Charles Gives Closure On Will Gardner’s Death
- The Good Wife’: Will Gardner’s ‘Last Call’ Was Heartbreaking
- ‘The Good Wife’: Shocking Death & Why The Actor Chose To Leave