The Good Wife Recap: Hitting the Fan

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Well, that was rewarding. The Kings just gave us one of the most exciting hours of television this year. Maybe even more exciting than when Miley twerked with a teddy bear. On so many levels, this episode was a home run. Excellent writing, superb acting, perfect pace, etc. Speaking of pace, we have a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started.

The episode begins exactly where we left off last week: Diane interrupts one of Will's meetings to reveal that Alicia is leaving the firm with Cary. Seconds before, a publicist (Erin Dilly) pitching to Will mentioned she admired how Lockhart/Gardner is "one big happy family" compared to other firms in the city. I think it's fair to say this lady has no future in clairvoyance. Anyway, Will confronts Alicia immediately. Alicia owns up to leaving because she wanted to "try something new". After hearing that pathetic excuse, Will proceeds to aggressively wipe everything off of her desk and confiscate her cellphone. She apologizes, but he fires her anyway. Maybe she should have just gone to that new Thai place to quench her thirst for newness.

Will's histrionics aren't enough because Alicia can't be removed as an equity partner until the majority of the Executive Board votes to get rid of her so the full board can officially vote to remove her. He gets on that immediately, but not before instructing Robyn to keep an eye on Alicia while he's gone. Ah, Silly Willy doesn't know these two are on the same boat. With Robyn's help, Alicia calls her new firm's building to see if they can move in this week. While they continue scheming, Will is switching off all access to the company files. This is great news for the non-fourth years because they don't need to pretend to work while they watch all this drama go down. Quite the humanitarian, Mr. Gardner!

Will summons the Executive Committee to vote quickly. He invites Diane because they haven't signed her exit package yet and she was the one who told him about Alicia's plans. If Diane is still leaving, can he bump the package up by 20% now? Everyone present at the Executive Board's quorum votes in favor of having Alicia removed. Carey is the second fourth year to get the boot after the resident IT guy tells Will he's been accessing the company files. As this all goes down, Robyn is still babysitting Alicia. Alicia calls Zach to have him work his tech magic so she can access her company files at home.

Diane gets to do a little firing of her own after having her own vis-à-vis with OG Cary. She calls him out for betraying her after she offered her mentorship. Apparently Cary, unwisely, never took her seriously as a mentor and resents the first time they fired him three years ago. Diane also manages to get Cary to spill he's allied with the rest of the fourth years and that Chum Hum is one of the clients they're taking with them. Cary argues they're not taking the firm's clients because the fourth years are the ones who work with them the most. I'm not a lawyer, but does he expect Diane to pop up at every client meeting they have? Isn't it their job, as fourth years, to keep the clients happy while the partners manage the firm? I'm dubious about Alicia teaming up with these entitled fools, but she seems to agree with them. Diane fires Cary. "For a second time?" If things don't work out at Florrick & Agos, Cary could always consider a career as a mathematician.

All the partners finally meet and readily vote to get rid of Alicia for trying to steal the firm's clients. Diane threatened the partners to have them call the security guards to escort her out not long ago, but it was Alicia who had that pleasure. It's as if every employee at L/G gathered to watch her leave (thanks again, Will!). Before the elevator doors close, Alicia tells Will her decision "was never meant personally". After they close, we're convinced this might not be true because she begins to weep. She's just been humiliated by a man who confessed to love her, so if it wasn't personal before, it might be now.

David Lee fires the rest of the fourth years, except for one. Will hires the publicist he met with, Joely, so she could help the firm deal with the blowback of firing the Governor's wife. Meanwhile, the partners begin to call their clients to discreetly bad mouth Alicia ("...but I want to assure you we looked into her work on your account and found no money missing."). Out of the 12 they had secure, Alicia's firm loses over half of their clients. To make mattes worse, David Lee called their new building and reported a vermin infestation so the Department of Health closes down their offices for 2 months. In order to make sure they land Chum Hum, the 4th years schedule a meeting with him pronto. Seconds before they get to lay out their Five-Year Plan, they get served with a restraining order due to tortious interference with trade. Twist!

The 4th years unsuccessfully file to suppress the restraining order, but the Judge rules against them. We also learn one of them, Beth Ferretti, has turned on them and decided to stay at L/G because she was offered Alicia's spot as a partner. After the Judge's ruling, Alicia promises her old bosses she's coming after all of their clients. Like Cary, she resents how she worked tirelessly with the clients and the partners took all the credit anyway. It's exciting to watch Alicia's emotional evolution. Minutes after having a good cry after getting fired, she was already empowered to launch her firm immediately. She even offers her apartment as office space while they can move into their own. Josh Charles did excellent work this episode, but Julianna was stunning to watch. Even if you aren't rooting for Alicia's firm, you can't overlook Alicia's transformation. Character development: check.

How each scene easily lead to the next was thrilling, but it was also great to watch so many of the show's key players get their moment(s). In response to their standing restraining order, the fourth years make sure L/G gets a restraining order of their own that prevents them from speaking to Neil Gross over at Chum Hum. After having a quickie with Peter, Alicia finds Diane in her apartment, willing to compromise. Diane proposes they drop their restraining orders and pitch to Chum Hum back to back. They agree and Neil initially decides to stay at Lockhart/Gardner because Alicia's husband's emphasis on ethics might be detrimental to him because politics run the world. Peter interferes promptly. At a press conference, he announces he's considering the taxation of internet commerce. Gross takes the bait and decides to hire Alicia's firm to avoid this tragedy. Peter's dirty work isn't done: he gets personal and asks Eli to muster a list of alternates for the judgeship nomination. Marilyn's gonna have fun with this one.

Honorable Mentions

★ Oh, right. There kind of was a case this week. It involved a nurse suing her employer for wrongful termination or sexual harassment. Or both. The case was barely acknowledged. The nurse, Candace (Tonya Glanz), was there so Alicia could delay Will efforts to talk to her potential clients. There was a great bit where Will takes Candace's phone after finding out she's talking to Alicia. They both tell each other to go to hell, but then Will nicely reminds Alicia her daughter called. Treasure Alicia's thanks because we won't be seeing much of that for a while.

★ Trust is an asset. It's a recurring theme this episode, mostly because, duh. Kalinda sacrifices Cary's trust to gain Will's. Unfortunately, she can't be loyal to both simultaneously so she just chooses with prudence. She likes Will, but maybe she knows most of those fourth years are loose cannons that probably aren't equipped to be their own bosses. Kalinda tells Will she's not leaving and that she can trust him. He tells her he's going to crush the competition on his mission to make his firm one of the largest in the country. How ambitious.

★ Aside from the obvious personal issues, Alicia is leaving Lockhart Gardner because she's disagreed with their ethics several times. She constantly disagreed with fighting for issues for the interest of Patric Edelstein and here she is about to do the same for Neil Gross. Like her husband, she wants to be "clean", but it's going to be a challenge. After losing major clients, she even suggests hiring Lemond Bishop as a client. She couldn't stomach the partners giving all the fourth years partnerships, but she doesn't seem to have a problem taking in a drug dealer.

★ I'm worried the fourth years aren't the best lawyers, but I'm also concerned about Robyn. It's been implied several times that Kalinda is much better at her job than her, but how does Robyn not know that Lemond Bishop is the biggest drug dealer in the city? Pick up a newspaper, girl.

Florrick, Agos, & Associates is officially a firm. Let the drama games begin!

Stay tuned. I'll have this screecap up by Friday. Thanks for reading!