Before she became Alicia Florrick's daughter, Makenzie Vega played a haunted runaway on Ghost Whisperer
Posted: May 9, 2019, 2:26PMPerhaps the only person on The Good Wife more crushed by Peter Florrick's indiscretions than his wife Alicia is his daughter Grace. Played by Makenzie Vega, Grace wrestles with this sudden new image she has of her dad, who she previously had looked up to as a picture-perfect role model. Combine the fact that her father goes to prison with more typical teen angst elements, and Grace ends up with a lot of growing up to do on the hit show – and fast.
When Vega took on the role of Grace, she accepted her meatiest TV role yet, having previously joined the cast of a short-lived sitcom in 2000 called The Geena Davis Show. While that show didn't ultimately succeed, Vega's career pivoted to the big screen a few years after it ended, with key roles in hit movies like Saw (she played Cary Elwes' character's daughter) and Sin City (she appeared as the younger version of Jessica Alba's character).
Meanwhile on the TV, she continued to guest star in shows like ER and Justice, but two years before her big break on The Good Wife, we'd also see the young star tangle with Melinda Gordon when she showed up as a young runaway on Ghost Whisperer in 2007.
The episode was called "All Ghosts Lead to Grandview," and it starts off with Melinda coming upon Vega's character in the woods. While Melinda and Jim definitely spook the desperate girl, it soon becomes clear that there's also a literal ghost haunting her. Luckily, that's Melinda's specialty, and she steps in to help the the girl solve her problem.
But whereas many guest stars on Ghost Whisperer find themselves suddenly haunted by someone they've personally encountered while living, Vega took part in a unique story that actually parallels her character with Jennifer Love Hewitt's. It turns out that the ghost haunting Vega's character is only doing so because he knows she has the same gift Melinda has and is upset that she would choose to ignore his plight. Because of this, Melinda doesn't simply help the runaway escape her ghost, but also understand her gift.
By the end of the episode, Love and Vega's characters have successfully helped her ghost find the light, cementing a bond between the two that few others could truly understand.
Just don't tell Alicia, because overall, Vega's portrayal of the haunted runaway is somehow slightly less troubled than the teen Grace Florrick, who manages to hardly ever approve of how her mom handles the very real issues that arise for their family time and again on The Good Wife.
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