Poor Alicia! Everyone has faith that she’d make a great political candidate — except her. The pressure’s on, despite her repeated refusals to run.
At least she’s got Cary back in the office. Unfortunately, current State’s Attorney Jimmy Castro is still determined to nail him on trumped-up charges. So Cary’s situation could change faster than you can say Florrick, Agos & Lockhart.
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Cary Under a Microscope
In this week’s guest-star-festooned episode, “Dear God,” Cary’s still in the hot seat. His “pre-trial service officer,” Joy Grubick (Linda Lavin!), has the power to make or break his release on bond. She’s tough and skeptical — and doesn’t seem to like lawyers too much. As he answers her many questions, we learn he “celebrated” his release from jail with Kalinda. And by “celebrated,” I mean they had hot sex.
Joy warns Cary that he must take her duties seriously or his life will never go back to what it was before his arrest. He’s got to be on his best behavior.
We also learn he and Alicia fought over bringing all the defectors from (the former) Lockhart, Gardner & Canning. The new Florrick, Agos & Lockhart have lost some clients, too, but they’ve retained some as well. One of them is Ed Pratt (Richard Thomas). Because of Cary’s precarious position, Alicia and Dean (Taye Diggs) will handle the actual courtroom work, with Cary “supervising.” It’s a bitter pill.
Pratt, a farmer, is suing another farmer — his neighbor, Wilbur Keller — for patent infringement. Pratt’s company spent $400 million developing a genetically modified seed, and he’s accusing the other farmer of saving the seeds and planting them without paying for them. Cary has to look on, knowing that Pratt isn’t happy with the strident tone of the arguments.between our guys and Keller’s attorney, Schmidt (Christian Borle).
Diane slips into the courtroom and lets Cary know that the State’s Attorney has lost his witness against him. The confidential witness (one of Bishop’s crew) has gone missing. The ASA is still asking for a continuance, but Diane hopes for dismissal. Cary is worried that Bishop got to the witness.
Cary’s right about the farmers disliking the antics of the lawyers. The neighbors decide to ditch the trial and go for arbitration. But not just any kind: binding Christian arbitration.
Let’s Pray on This
Dell Paul (Robert Sean Leonard) follows Matthew Process of arbitration. It’s all about the testimony of a few witnesses, plus some prayer. (Alicia rolls her eyes.) The lawyers struggle with the rules, which require they all play nice.
Things aren’t going any better for Cary. Finn Polmar doesn’t want to dismiss his case — he wants Cary’s bail revoked entirely. A set of notes from Joy Grubick provide damning information that Kalinda may have intimidated the now-missing witness after “celebrating” with Cary.
Alicia visits Joy, too. As she answers the woman’s questions, we learn that everyone thinks Alicia’s running for State’s Attorney, thanks to a report on NPR. Also, Jimmy Castro tells Alicia that if Cary testifies against Bishop, he’ll drop the charges. The more he says that Cary’s situation will make her run for State’s Attorney more difficult, the more our non-candidate thinks about running. Is that double-reverse psychology?
Back at the arbitration hearing, although Keller admits he may have planted some of Pratt’s GMO seeds (which would make him guilty in most patent cases), the Matthew Process rules say “Not so fast!” In this case, intent is what matters. Alicia, Cary and Dean are frustrated, so Alicia calls in her own expert witness: her devoutly Christian daughter. (Welcome to season 6, Grace!)
For once, Alicia welcomes Grace’s deep religious knowledge, as they find a Bible passage that may help Pratt’s case. They have a mother-daughter heart-to-heart about what Grace believes and plan out a strategy. Grace really knows her Bible!
The next day, Alicia (with Dean’s help) goes verse for conflicting verse against Schmidt. Dell says he’ll pray on the matter of intent versus knowledge and give them a decision soon..
Don’t Ask Questions If You Don’t Want Answers
At Cary’s bail revocation trial, Finn has evidence that looks like Kalinda “got” to the missing witness/confidential informant. It looks bad, bad, bad.
Cary asks Kalinda flat-out if she warned Trey Wagner that Bishop knew he was the informant. She tells him he doesn’t want to know.
Back at her office, people want to talk to Alicia about her campaign office — Peter sent them. Now she really needs to speak to her husband. By the time she reaches the fundraiser she’s agreed to appear at, he’s already onstage.
Backstage, she’s stunned to run into feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem (played by Gloria Steinem). Steinem tells a flustered Alicia she heard about the run for State’s Attorney. “I think that’s great!” says the icon.
Alicia tells her she’s not sure she’s running. (Suddenly, she’s switched from “no” to “not sure.” Hmmm.) Steinem gives her a pep talk and urges her to run. “We need more good women to run.” Yes!
At the arbitration, Dell tells them that knowledge of sin is just as important as intent. The case continues. Keller confesses that he reused Pratt’s seeds, but Keller says he had no choice — Pratt’s seeds mean he controls the food. “When you control the food, you control the people,” he says.
Alicia and Dean think this is a slam-dunk, but Schmidt says the patenting of life is an affront to God. The lawyers argue, while Keller and Pratt slip out and come to their own agreement. They shake hands on it. It’s over, with no big payout for F-A & L. Oh well.
Has Alicia Made a Decision?
Eli comes to see Alicia for one more try. Peter has to endorse someone for State’s Attorney. If her name’s not on the list, then the governor has to endorse Jimmy Castro, which infuriates Alicia. “Yes, he’s a bad man,” Gold says. “But sometimes the world needs bad men. Unless you have another name.” No, she says.
Now Diane comes to visit Joy Grubick as Cary’s attorney. They discuss the fact that Diane fired him twice in the past, but she assures Joy that Cary’s job is secure. We also learn that Diane and Dean offered to loan the newly expanded firm the money to rent more office space.
At Cary’s hearing, the judge says that the conflicting evidence leads him to call a tie. The tiebreaker is Joy’s report. We hold our breath to see what she’ll say. She reports that Cary’s met the conditions of his bail. The judge rules that he can remain free.
Alicia approaches a fuming Castro. He has a lot to say. Despite his belief that she’s running, he warns her that he’s planning to put Cary away for 15 years. He also believes she blames him for Will’s death in one of his courtrooms. Anything else? she asks. “I have a lot to talk about, but I’ll save it for the campaign,” he sneers.
“Talk to you,” she says smoothly and heads straight for Eli’s office. “If I ran,” she asks, “what’s the plan?”
Summary Judgment
You can’t ever say that The Good Wife makes fans wait around forever to resolve important plot points. Cary’s safely out on bail (for now), and the train that is Alicia’s run for State’s Attorney is barreling down the tracks.
We also learned a few other key tidbits: Cary isn’t happy with his new partners. Finn doesn’t seem to be as nice as we thought. Castro is worse than we thought. And Dean is actually a good guy and potentially a great second chair for Alicia.
Speaking of Alicia’s run for office: based on next week’s previews, it looks like there may be lots of obstacles ready to derail that train. But we know Alicia doesn’t give up easily. This is potentially the beginning of a long (and fascinating) campaign season.
The Good Wife airs Sundays at 9pm or later (depending on football overruns) on CBS.
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
