Good Wives

Late to this party, I know... but maybe you'll still want to talk about all of the good wives of The Good Wife this past Sunday night?

The Good Wives

As much as The Good Wife is always about what's happening with Alicia, this past Sunday's episode, "Alienation of Affections" was a strong episode for Diane.  In the opening scene, we get a very rare glimpse into her personal life as she is contemplating paintings in an art gallery.  Enter mysterious, charming, Australian stranger Jack and things are clicking until, oh he's there to serve her a grand jury summons. "You've been served" he says with all of his charm and then walks away. Wah-wahhh...  bummer.  I always root for Diane finding some type of personal lasting love interest, even though the show has made it clear in the past that Diane doesn't hold out hope for this: she is married to her career; the firm is her family.

The firm as family theme is prevalent in this episode, as the firm itself is being sued for 44 million dollars as a result of legal action being taken by a couple that sought divorce years ago, and now is blaming Lockhart-Gardner for actually instigating that divorce. "Alienation of affection" is the proper term. Oh yeah, 44 million dollars will make you find a seemingly ridiculous loophole in the books of Chicago, Illinois law and hire a superstar LA lawyer to fight that you really didn't come to the law firm to get a divorce after you caught your husband with a stripper.  This ridiculousness is not to say that Lockhart-Gardner's divorce specialist David Lee is above reproach.  David's been known to utilize some dubious methods, bend some bendy rules and be overall smug. But he has been able to be mostly autonomous and untouchable since he brings in the highest amount of revenue for the firm. But now, everyone is on the line, as Lockhart-Gardner is set up so that if the firm is sued, all partners are personally responsible for a chunk (We Are Family!). This does not sit well with anyone, especially Eli, a brand new partner, and all sorts of inter-company fighting ensues. Diane, in a fantastic scene that really shows her fortitude, has Eli and David sitting in front of her, bickering and she tells them both that basically she's on to both of them (what they want), their behavior is unacceptable, that they will not have it better anywhere else, and no one is leaving her family. Good onya, Mother Hen.

The case, while a great showcase for David Lee's smarmy sarcasm, is also a fascinating lesson in how far will people go to protect their money, career, reputation, and hinges on one crucial piece of paper. Alicia's name is in the computer as having submitted the entire file, but this one-page legal rider signed by the client that exempts the firm from being sued (basically), is nowhere to be found. While Kalinda is questioning Alicia on the events of that day back in 2010, she asks was this piece of paper filed with the rest of the documents or separately? "I don't remember" is Alicia's answer, 44 million dollars of tears welling up in her eyes. It was a really gripping moment, and anyone would be forgiven for not remembering something from years ago. But we are all invested in this firm as a family and we feel the pressure Alicia is feeling.  In swoops David Lee waving the rider signed by Alicia in 2010 that had been found in Cary's files and we all sigh a hefty sigh of relief and all is well. Right? Answer unclear. Earlier, David had dropped of a bunch of documents for Alicia to sign in regard to her own divorce proceedings and now Alicia suspects this is a newly created document with forged signatures and her own newly inked. Alicia goes to Diane with her suspicions and super-lawyer-mom tells Alicia that legally she only needs to rely on her best memory. Her best memory is that she signed the document and that she filed the document. Messy stuff this. Ultimately, it is information given to Diane from Jack that blows the case up for good, which makes for a good hero.

Meanwhile, Will still has this pesky indictment closing in on him as the State's Attorney's office (Mr. Florrick) continues their investigation into Will bribing judges.  We see Will meeting with several lawyers who are all doom-and-gloom. We also see Will meeting with Diane and when he starts to insinuate that if things get bad he'll leave, Diane, nothing if not loyal, tells Will that "we will fight it together." Will goes to Alicia and asks about Elsbeth Tascioni, who had defended her against the Treasury a few episodes back. A loud  cheer goes up from my couch (I'm the only one on it)! Elsbeth, as played by Carrie Preston is a fantastic character... seemingly absent minded but totally brilliant.

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And she doesn't disappoint. In all her flightiness, she gets special prosecutor Wendy off their backs for a bit by leaking information to the media that Wendy is really investigating the three most honest judges for bribery. Alas, at the end of the episode, Will is served papers from Jack in his office, serving (<-- see what I did there?) to let us know that crap is hitting the Will-fan soon, and allowing us some Jack and Diane bookend scenes... is there hope for Jack and Diane? I know what they should play at their wedding.

Burning Questions

• Does anyone else think that IT guy is really suspicious? I mean, besides being rude and unhelpful? Especially when Kalinda was asking him questions - very defensive. Right before Kalinda comes in to ask Alicia about the events of the day, Alicia is shown gazing at a picture of her kids, and I had a brainstorm: remember how Alicia was having all kinds of computer issues and the IT guy was working on her computer but then he messed it up somehow? If memory serves me correctly, it had something to do with her password not working, so she recruited awesome tech-savvy son Zach to fix everything. I thought that we would find out that the IT guy was getting moolah to sneak in to files under Alicia's name and password and remove documents. I have a feeling - call it TV instinct - that this will resurface somehow. 
• Did anyone else love Diane getting all swoony while watching badass Jack rough up a dude not wanting to get served? I have to admit, I was a little swoony myself... you know, for Diane.
• Cary shows up at the deposition and is like some type of alter-ego nice Cary. His character has grown so much, this is a nice juxtaposition to be talking about a case from 2 years ago when he was hell bent and then vengeful. He's in a better place now, so he can show some grace. Oh, he's also out to get them, professionally so he can be nice now and bring down the hammer later.
• I love, love, love Elsbeth Tascioni... do you?

Comments please!