In tonight’s episode of The Good Wife, Eli Gold will meet someone that’s going to bring about big changes for him. We recently took part in a call with Alan Cumming; he spoke about the introduction of Courtney Boalt (Vanessa L. Williams) and how that’s about to add some romance to Eli’s life. He also chatted about his relationship with Alicia and Peter Florrick this season, and how he’s met his match in Ruth Eastman (Margo Martindale). Read our highlights from that conversation below, and watch tonight’s episode of The Good Wife, “Driven,” at 9/8c on CBS, and 9pm ET/PT on Global TV in Canada.
On how he’d describe Eli’s relationship with Peter and Alicia this season:
“Dysfunctional and unhealthy. Because of what happened in the first episode, he’s thrown into a whole different phase of his relationship with Peter, and it really makes Alicia and Eli’s seem much more like weird old married [couple]. But something happens halfway through the season that changes that as well. It’s ever evolving. The thing that I really like for this season is that everyone admits that they’re using each other. Eli uses Alicia. Alicia uses Eli. Peter uses both of them. I quite like that it’s getting darker, but everyone is being more honest.”
On working with Margo Martindale and Eli meeting his match in Ruth Eastman:
“I love Margo. She’s hilarious. Her story goes on for quite a while and we do lock horns a lot, but it’s fun to have someone to spar with on a regular basis. It’s been nice to have a regular nemesis and Margo is so brilliant. We laugh a lot. [Eli] is the king of his world, and [Ruth] is used to the political system on a national level. So she tops him a little bit. He’s met his match.”
On Eli’s relationship status:
“It is changing. Vanessa Williams is coming in to play Eli’s love interest. I’ve been shooting with her for a bit. It’s a TV show, but I do have to say I find it quite weird to play someone who has so little intimacy in his life. He’s a loner, so ultimately it will be weird to see him hooked up with someone. It’s nice that he’s softened a little bit this year.
On the challenge of mixing business with pleasure, since Courtney is also a backer for Peter’s campaign:
“Eli is being hypocritical in the storyline because he’s doing something that he would be fairly upset [about if it was] the candidate or the candidate’s wife. He can’t help himself. He falls for her. He talks quite a lot about the fact that she’s so rich and definitely the more dominant person in terms of the way that Eli thinks of a relationship. She’s the big mogul and calls the shots. It’s interesting for him to be in that situation of not being the one who’s completely in control.
“He’s certainly meeting his match in [Ruth] in terms of at work. But, in terms of Courtney, she runs parallel to him. He can exist completely fine without her and she will. It’s not his match. It’s more he’s met someone outside of his normal sphere. She’s a much more together, powerful person and he finds that [attractive].”
On where Eli’s allegiance truly lies:
“It’s going to change this season. His allegiance will definitely shift because he gets slightly burned. What becomes apparent is that he sees Alicia as the bigger star of the family rather than Peter.”
On whether Eli can be trusted:
“[Ruth] will certainly try. What’s so fun about these things is they’re always double-crossing each other all over the place.”
On an upcoming game changer:
“I really love the way that Eli has more spirit this year. It’s very exciting and there’s a huge revelation coming up which changes the story for everyone. It’s really juicy.”
Photo Courtesy of CBS
