application for paradisa

[associate]

PERSONAL
NAME: Brandon
PERSONAL JOURNAL: episodic
EMAIL: withyourturningtables@gmail.com
AIM: suchaheartleads
WIKI NAME: N/A
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Stefan Salvatore [interpersonally]


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Alicia Florrick
SERIES: The Good Wife
CANON POINT: Post the latest episode, "Gloves Come Off," after Alicia's last conversation with Kalinda.
LOSS:

Something Alicia benefits from is her ability to have a pokerface. She is extremely cool-headed. She is able to reign in her emotions when need be. Because of that, she holds a lot in. At any given moment, she has ten things right there at the top of her head. Worries, notions, regrets, possibilities. Therefore, in the castle, if anyone asks Alicia about what she's thinking/what's on her mind/if anything's wrong -- (essentially, blanket "how are you's")-- she'll have no choice but to tell them. Paradisa is lucky. They'll now be privy to the innerworkings of Alicia Florrick.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Alicia Florrick is first and foremost a mother. She has been for sixteen years. Zach and Grace are everything to her. If anything were to ever happen to them... Suffice it to say, things would never be the same. This is illustrated in "Parenting Made Easy" when Grace goes missing as well as every other episode. She loves her kids. She's also a firm, but reasonable parent. She's not afraid to set limits. She'll talk to them about almost everything if the time comes for it. She'll discuss topics that make her uncomfortable - i.e religion - after she's had time to think about it. When her mother-in-law questions her parenting, she fights back by buying Zach a car - thus stopping them from needed Jackie's help after school. Grace also confronts her mother over her drinking (she enjoys a glass of wine after work) and after first snapping back at her, Alicia takes it to heart at first, telling Kalinda that she's trying to drink less. Her kids' opinions matter - but she won't hesitate to make the hard decisions. Every day she works to make her kids' lives great. She tries to give them the best lives. She gets both Zach and Grace (thanks to Peter) into private school.

For Alicia, parenting isn't the only tricky subject. Infidelity hits home. While district attorney, Alicia's husband, Peter cheated on her - several times. He paid for a session with prostitute Amber Madison over thirteen times. This came out in a trial when sent him to jail. Alicia's feelings for Peter are complicated to say the least. He's the father of her children. Over time, he gained back her trust and moved back into her apartment. They reconciled enough that she contemplated buying a house and even forgave him in a taped interview - something that took months to get to. Her original stance had been no interviews ever. But, all that changed when she found out Peter slept with her best friend, Kalinda. She acted impulsively, at first. She bought him a separate apartment and moved his things there. She then went to David Lee, a divorce attorney at the firm she works for. At this point in canon, she turns to him when it's a matter of her kids. She's on all right terms with him but she's lost complete trust in him - when it comes to other women. Again, Alicia has the capacity to forgive but this revelation about Kalinda blindsided her.

Her capacity to trust is hampered not only by her husband's infidelity but by her being a lawyer. I said Alicia is first and foremost a parent. But, after - she's a lawyer. She prides herself on her job. She works hard every day to prove that she deserves to be there. She's a great lawyer with a killer work ethic. But, being a parent cuts into that. She works as many billable hours as she can. She represents all sorts of clients including falsely accused murderers, philanderers, company men, and men who have most definitely killed their wives. But, she realizes it's her job to prove innocence or to create reasonable doubt. Sometimes, she doesn't do the right thing - she does what she's paid to do. Over time, she's gotten more okay with this aspect but she still has a conscience that hasn't gone anywhere.

At her firm, she's also used - sometimes because of her past (she's recognizable) but also because clients like her. She has a charming personality. She's earnest. By now she's used to being assigned a case whether it be because of who she is or that she is a woman. While she doesn't love being used, she understands why things... are how they are. It comes with being Alicia Florrick, now, the recognizable face and the pitying looks. She also learns this past season that she was originally hired because of her connection to Peter. This is something she struggles with every day. Will pushed to hire her - she wasn't the firm's first choice. This comes back in "Martha's and Caitlin's" when Alicia thinks it's her job to hire the new associate but the decision is taken away from her. Caitlin is hired and turns out to be David Lee's niece. Nepotism at its worst and an example of how dishonest her job can be.

Alicia strives to not only do the best job she can be but she strives to do the best job she can and do the best job there. Alicia wants to make a difference as a lawyer. She has no problem with pro bono cases and in some ways, she is an idealistic lawyer. But, their real work sets her at odds with that desire. Alicia is a good person. Several characters have commented as such. And she tries to make her job reflect that.

Despite being personable and polite, she has a very stoic side to her. As I said in her loss section, she has a tendency to keep everything in. Any any given time, she's worrying about her financial situation, her kids, her job, Will, Diane -- But, usually she keeps this all in. Recently, she's let Diane in on her financial situation because she wants a bump in salary. Before finding out what Kalinda and Peter did, she confided in her. Will is still a close friend and her boss and she does confide in him at times. Diane is a mentor to her. An equal when it comes to women but not an equal in her job. Diane is an equity partner. Also, she confides in her brother.

But, outside of these characters, she only confides in people if she wants them to identify with her, or if she can help them. She isn't one to spill everything on her mind.

Now, this doesn't mean Alicia doesn't smile. She does. She laughs. She's not the most maudlin person on Earth but there is a part of her that waits for the other shoe to drop. When Kalinda asks if Alicia ever feels like something bad is going to happen, Alicia replies, "All the time." It's how her brain works. Peter cheated on her. What else could come out. Oh, he had dealings with criminals and crooks. What else? And so on and so forth. This also translates into her work life as well. This doesn't make Alicia a pessimist or an optimist. She's a realist. She sees real consequences.

Alicia can also be a control freak. She hates when she feels like her life is spinning out of control. A lot of what her third year is about is Alicia taking agency for her own life. She has her relationship with Will, she steps up at Work, sh really comes into her own as a mother, an associate, and a woman. She drinks but hardly ever to the point of getting drunk - and if she does get drunk, she drinks very responsibly, taking a cab. She doesn't take or do drugs. That's the very opposite of what she wants - to lose control or to even lose herself. When she is with Will, her time with him is losing herself enough.

Alicia has dreams and desires and wants. But, because of her kids, she keeps a lot of these urges inside. It takes her two years to act on her feelings towards Will. And a lot of what stops her is the life she's living. She's married. She says in the Season 1 finale that poetry is all well and good but she thinks about parent teacher conferences. She needs a plan. Kalinda pushes her to go for what she wants pretty much all through her second year at Lockhart and Gardner. Now, she's taken caution to the wind by sleeping with Will and starting that secret relationship. But, thanks to a series of unfortunate events and a guilt trip from one Louis Canning, she ends that relationship. Part of this is because her daughter Grace goes missing. And she feels she's been a poor parent. So, Alicia acts on her impulses very seldomly. And a lot of what comes with being Alicia Florrick is being an adult. She understands that she has to make responsible decisions.

Now, I'll address Will directly. Will Gardner is her friend from law school and the lawyer who hires her after years of being a housewife. He believes in her and he irrevocably loves her. She struggles with her feelings for him because they have an unrequited "thing" from their years at Georgetown. She has deep, deep complicated feelings for him. But, instead of having things take a deep relationship turn, she allows her relationship with Will to be sexual and superficial. Right as Will realizes just how much he's in (all in, that is, to borrow from gambling jargon) Alicia pulls the plug and he doesn't fight it. But, through this, Alicia dials back just what she feels for him. She's never outright said to Will, 'I love you.' Peter has suspected it. She's confirmed it to her brother, Owen. And Kalinda just... knows. Before they consummate she confirms to Will that a case of good timing between them would be an exceptional moment. Because, what Will and Alicia have really been about for three years is bad timing. When she finally decides to meet Will for dinner, Peter runs to catch her - invalidating his ankle monitor. Will's second voicemail (an impassioned plea to meet him and set up a plan) is deleted by Eli. Alicia only hears of this voicemail because of wire tapping connected to a completely separate case. She wants Will - this can't be contested - but everything having to do with her life fights that want. Her life is complicated enough right now. She tried it. But, she will always love him.

Next to her children and Will, Owen, her brother means the most to her. She loves him unconditionally, even when he's being a total ass. When they're together, they revert back to high school patterns. But, she confronts him on his bullshit and he confronts her on hers. He sees through his sister's cool facade. She goes to him for Will advice - after he pulls it out of her.

Touching on her life before canon, her childhood isn't discussed that much. We know Alicia and Owen have a mother on her fifth husband. When Owen smokes pot in the bathroom of a cabin they're staying at, she threatens to call their mother. With Peter, as I said before, she was a housewife. But, this Alicia is very different from the one we see. She's a society woman. She stays at home. She has plenty of other Mom friends who denounce her completely when the scandal with Peter goes public. Who she used to be completely informs who she is. Because she is stronger, louder (so to speak). She's always had opinions but now she shares them. In the Pilot, she starts out beside her husband - silent, supporting him. But, offstage she slaps him and that begins her journey. She has been wronged. Several times now and she doesn't take it anymore. To borrow from Network, 'she's made as hell [inside, anyway] and she's not going to take it anymore.' But, Alicia's mad is usually subdued and very mature.

Examples of this are her machinations with Jackie, Peter's mother. They come to blows a few times. She tells off Eli Gold, her husband's campaign manager. She loses her cool with both Kalinda and Peter, respectively but that is because it hits home.

Alicia is a nice person and she doesn't like to insult someone or antagonize them, but she is very capable of holding her own. She has a tiny sarcastic edge that shows itself usually in court or when she can't believe the gall someone has. She has no problem laughing in someone's face but it's usually because they're deluding themselves - such as when an investigator tries to tell her Peter had slept with someone back at the state's attorney's office. (It isn't until he says Leila, Kalinda's former name that she knows how true this is.)

Oh, Kalinda. Kalinda Sharma is her first ally at Lockhart/Gardner, their inhouse investigator. It takes time but Kalinda becomes a close friend. She opens Alicia up. She even gets Alicia to loosen up. But, like Peter, Kalinda betrays her. For Alicia it would be a different story if either one had been honest from the get-go but the two of them lied to her face. And that is the worst thing. But, she's also one of the few that understands Kalinda. And as of the latest episode, she's trying. She asks if Kalinda can be straightforward with her - if she can be honest. Because, Alicia has always been forthcoming with her. She's also recently been assigned to a tax case of Kalinda's -- so, outside of Paradisa, that will definitely be a definitive factor to their rekindled friendship. In a way, Kalinda and Alicia bring out the best in each other.

The other important person in her life is Cary. He's the former associate she beat out in her first year at Lockhart/Gardner. Cary is now at the State's Attorney's Office. On a good day, she checks in on him and wishes him well. On a bad day, she thinks the SA is bringing out the worst parts in him. But, she still respects the kid. She knows he's talented and good at what he does.

As for other characters in Alicia's life, one this season stands out. Caitlin, a first year associate who'd recently been promoted represented a competition Alicia hadn't known she'd been fighting until the claws came out and she let her cutthroat attitude get to her. Because when push comes to shove, she fights for her job. Surprisingly, Caitlin represents something even Alicia doesn't see coming. She quits and not because Alicia reprimands her - but because she's pregnant. And getting married. She's Alicia twenty some years ago. Alicia realizes Caitlin wants this. Alicia quit because she thought she had to, because it was expected of her. Caitlin... wants to. That's hard for Alicia to wrap her mind around.

Touching on smaller aspects of her personality, Alicia is able to see things from all sides. She sympathizes with children and murderers alike. She can't quite wrap her head around religion, as I said before. She is all about the now. Again, Alicia hates being lied to.

ABILITIES:

Alicia is completely human. But, she went to law school. Besides what she knows when it comes to basic law, jargon, etc? She can research like nobody's business and come up with an answer or a fact or a case. She also has done recon and investigation before when she's needed to. She's also a fantastic lawyer. She can go toe-to-toe with Jackie Florrick. (And yes, that warrants a mention in her abilities section.)

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Before coming to Lockhart and Gardner, Alicia didn't confide in anyone. Her brother Owen hadn't spoken to her in months. Her so-called friends abandoned her. Not that she needed them. But, the fact of the matter was, she had to put together the pieces of her life one at a time. Jackie was a part of that. She didn't know what she would've done without her mother-in-law. And then there was Kalinda. Kalinda Sharma was her partner in crime. They complemented each other. Alicia found herself actually opening up to someone while also making a real friend with romantic complications sold separately.

Three years later and so much had changed.

Now, more than ever, Alicia wanted to talk to someone. It had been a trying day. She'd helped sue a sport. She'd helped sue an entire sport. She'd sued hockey. And as impressed or horrified as her son might be, confiding in her kids couldn't cut it. Besides, Will had his own problems and Diane was busy and she was not confiding in Julius Cain. Yes, he was a colitigator but he was her superior. They weren't friends.

Outside her office sat Kalinda. She'd snapped at her only a day before. She couldn't deal with it but was it because she was still angry? Or, because she couldn't let her try? Alicia missed her.

She needed to admit it to herself.

Leaving her things behind, she left her office and made her way over to Kalinda. She knew what she had to do. But, what did it mean? Had she forgiven her friend? No. That wasn't it. But, she needed her. They were going to be working together thanks to the tax case she'd been assigned. Part of her thought Will had done that on purpose. But, it wasn't like she was going to ask. She missed Will, too. Who could she even remotely talk to about that?

Still, she came to one conclusion. She couldn't make any promises. But, she needed to give her a chance. Honesty was the issue at the start. Alicia would address that directly. If they tackled that issue then... they could at least try to get back to the way things had been.

She owed it to herself.

After all, she'd forgiven Peter the first time around and she'd set aside her feelings when it came to their kids and private school. Kalinda deserved a chance. Not many people were in her court. Alicia just knew that.

She had to try.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:

[ Safe to say, Alicia doesn't discover the open journal just yet. Instead, she speaks to nobody in particular. ]

No.

[ A beat. ]

Zach? Grace?!

[ The sound of a door being opened and then closed can be heard. ]

That's - my name.

My - my phone. Where is it. Where's my bag. Where's my apartment?

Hello? Can anybody hear me? [ Drawers open and close. A closet opens, closes. Things are clearly being rifled through. Finally, she yells out again. ] Listen to me, whoever is responsible for this. I am a lawyer at Lockhart and Gardner. My ex-husband...! [ But it doesn't make sense. Because she's been left alone and that's an unlocked door. Is this a poorly executed kidnapping? ] Peter... ? [ Could this be because of him? ] Hello! Is anybody there! What the hell is going on?!

... Peter.

INTENT:

I love Alicia Florrick. I love that there is a series essentially about her character - at least in its inception. She is a strong woman who will not be pushed around who continues to learn every day. She doesn't know it all and she readily admits that. She's a woman who's had one life and is now having this... completely separate one - a woman who's finding herself. I love her small smiles and how she silently judges and holds so much in. I can identify with her because I compartmentalize a lot. At any given moment I am thinking of a thousand things and I don't even have half of my life in order. But I'm... still in grad school and I digress. My intent, besides giving Kalinda an ally is to throw Alicia yet another curveball. After she realizes her kids aren't there and that time has most likely frozen, then she can build her friendship with Ms. Sharma back up. She could perhaps move towards starting a real law practice in Paradisa or something along the lines of it. She could defend people who have been on losses. She could do real good and not have to worry about money. And maybe, just maybe, she could discover more of who she is as a woman. She can continue to grow and evolve. And maybe, over time her trust in people can return. Because if they aren't her children or a client, she doesn't give them the benefit of the doubt.