Kalinda & Cary Shouldn't Be 'Shipped

While we and the characters on CBS’ critical darling The Good Wife continue to struggle to come to terms with the death of Will Gardner (Josh Charles), another possible loss is threatening to come to the forefront. We aren’t (we hope) going to lose Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) in a literal sense, but the peeks of romance between Kalinda and Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry), will surely take away the Kalinda we’ve come to know.

She doesn’t need to be shipped with anyone. I’m not even entirely certain that she’s capable of being monogamous. There are at least three reasons why she should avoid romance and settle for watching her heat up the screen with her steady rotation of friends with benefits.

Her work would suffer.

We’re not saying she couldn’t be in a relationship and still be a badass. However, her personal and professional lives inform each other. She wouldn’t be as fractured and wouldn’t be half as good at her job. The Kalinda we know now is never surprised or alarmed by the insanity unfolding around her. She has seen some of the worst and expects it. Just because you are in a relationship doesn’t mean you immediately don rose-colored glasses, but the specs do tint reality a little.

She is bad at relationships.

Kalinda’s personal and work relationships are marked with dysfunction. She keeps everyone at arm’s length and is generally emotionally unavailable. Her two non-sexual relationships on the show were Alicia and Will. Alicia cast her aside after realizing that she once slept with her husband back when he was a man whore, and the two are only just starting to find a groove. Will passed away in a tragic shooting, so that's the end of that. That is the total of her platonic inner circle: two people. Also, remember her husband? That didn’t end well at all.

Being aloof aids her at work as it allows her to focus in clearly understanding other people, and deal with undesirables. But it doesn’t turn off when the job ends and that makes any type of true romantic relationship impossible. Whether it’s Cary or someone else, at some point, they’re going to want something more and she won’t be able to offer it. And even if by some miracle, she shows a little bit of her heart, they’ll never get all of her.

A Domesticated Kalinda would suck.

The strong desire to link Kalinda with someone is well-intended. People want her to be “happy.” But the accepted definitions of the term may be too restrictive. Will's untimely passing aside, who says she isn’t happy now? Do you really want to see Kalinda opening up, revealing all her mystery and cuddling? Aren’t there enough people on television who do that already? If you want that plotline, it wouldn’t be hard to find it. Befriend Google. Seek and ye shall find.

Suppose Kalinda did start a relationship with Cary. It’s unlikely he would agree to it being open and casual — because isn’t that what they are now? Her lust can hardly be contained. No one wants to see her forced to turn down a hot woman she has so much chemistry with because of Cary. No one.

Kalinda and Cary, or really Kalinda and anyone goes against everything the show has set up her up to be. She’s a loner. And that's okay.

Images: CBS (2)