The Good Wife: "Invitation to an Inquest" - the Top 5 Moments

Season 4, Episode 17 | Original Air Date: Sunday, March 17, 2013

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It’s the plight of every fan of The Good Wife: To buy into those magical previews given to us at the end of each episode.  They are impossible not to watch and even more impossible not to get sucked into… at least for me.  While I thoroughly enjoyed “Invitation to an Inquest” (including the plentiful moments of Team Gardner merriment), I couldn’t help but get frustrated by the fact the Chicago Shamrock Dinner was yet another week away.  I’ve been baiting friends and co-workers with the must-watch morsel of Peter punching Mike and yet again, we must wait another seven days.  Well played, preview ninjas, well played.  It’s like I’m Jordan and Eli just threw me under the ‘getting too involved in the family business’ bus.  And while that’s better than being under the campaign bus (or, quite frankly, in the campaign bus), knowing I have to wait another week for the white-tie shenanigans is almost unbearable.  Thankfully, next week we’re headed to the party and for that, I can’t wait.

Courtesy of CBS

Until then, we’re left to look at what went down in “Invitation to an Inquest” and because I’m all about counting down right now, I’m going to focus on the five best moments of the episode.  Join the conversation below and sound off with your favourite scenes and moments.

The Black Ice Bandits

I never thought I would like Kalinda matched up with another investor.  She has her limited pockets of friendships and is happy to chase down witnesses without a sidekick.  I kind of like her in solitude – or maybe it’s just that Blake left a bad taste in my mouth.  Either way, Robyn’s changing that, and fast.  These two Cagney and Lacey-style investigators (not sure which one Kalinda would be, but I’m guessing Tyne Daly) have a strangely similar thought process that seems to be working, not just for them, but for the firm.  In the case of the mysterious skid marks due to black ice, these Nancy Drew’s never once divided in their theories. They are both brilliant.  The only difference?  Kalinda’s not giving up any of her trade secrets to our new favourite spy-in-training.

Gardner and Florrick: Friends On

Team Gardner is on the mend!  I’m shouting it from the rooftops and planning an official reunion for season seven.  Okay, maybe five.  Optimism for a love-connection reconciliation aside, this move towards friendship has been a long time coming… and that’s just this season.  Step 1: Yell at each other and then, in a fit of passion, kiss.  Step 2: Chat awkwardly in an elevator.  Step 3) Avoid each other, even though you have the same cold.  Step 4) Get put on the same legal case.  Step 5) Work late hours, until no one is left in the office except the two of you.  Step 6) Decide to be friends, because you miss it, and if we’re really being honest, you were both pretty good at it and you could both use a friend.   Step 7) Team Gardner friendship activated!

Will and Alicia have been through a lot over the last year and a half, and if there’s one thing I’m missing, it’s their friendship.  Okay, sure, I want them to be more than friends.  But they can’t get back there if they’re scared to be in the same vicinity.  Now they have to answer the age-old question: If you can’t be together, can you at least be friends?  In the case of Team Gardner, I certainly hope so.  It’s the only way we’re going to get tequila shots at hotel bars ever again. 

Courtesy of CBS

Eli throwing Jordan under the bus

What would be Jordan’s ultimate undoing?  At first, I thought it might be the fact his storyline is bizarrely non-existent, but then I realized it would more likely be some kind of campaign flub.  What I didn’t see coming was that it would involve our dear, sweet Neesa.  Remember her?  She surfaces every six or so months just to remind us that a) Zach has a girlfriend and b) he likes to “study.”  Unfortunately for Jordan, his sleuthing over Neesa’s Twitter feed led him to a picture he thought could be damaging to the campaign.  His next stop?  Sitting young Florrick down for ‘the talk.’  Neesa, he says, is bad news.  Or her Dad might be.  Or a guy her Dad knows might be.  No matter the case, Jordan paints a picture where Neesa is basically a terrorist and Zach is left with one option: to break up. 

At the end of the day, Zach’s sad, Neesa’s upset, Grace is spilling the beans (insert look of shock), Alicia’s furious and Eli is doing a happy dance in the corner… and so am I.  The icing on the ‘Jordan’s been ousted’ cake, however, is the fact he “ didn't even see it coming.”  Really Jordan?  Really? 

Cary Agos: Your Father is the Absolute Worst

There’s Diane and Will, praising Cary for securing a new $5 million account and perhaps thinking twice about the fact they took him off the partnership track… at least for this year.  As Cary moves to his office to take a quick account of what just happened, he sees his father (who, later in the show, is wearing a mustard-coloured jacket I swear was Will’s from last season’s “Gloves Come Off”).  Even though this is just his second appearance, I’ve come to detest Mr. Agos.  It’s a wonder Cary turned out to be nearly as amazing as he did, because this man is a disaster.  He belittles, he degrades and worst of all, I’m not sure he knows he’s doing it.  There’s nothing like a little divine retribution, as when Cary pulled the case out of the fire to win back the client his father was working to lose.  But it’s of only moderate consolation.  His father has a Mike Krestiva-like quality about him and until Cary can break out from under the thumb of everyone around him, his father will forever be insulting Cary’s every ability.

The Look of a Princess

I hate to admit it, but Grace said it best: “Wow Mom, you look like a princess.”  And she did.  Alicia, in a flowing red strapless gown with her hair swept up from her face, looked completely stunning – even if she got her whole ensemble for 60 per cent off.  I can’t wait until this dress makes its way to the Chicago Shamrock Dinner.  All eyes will be on her… including those of Will Gardner, her new bestie, and master of the campaign bus, Peter Florrick.  Game on in a red dress?  I think so.

What's Next?

FINALLY.  And I really mean, finally.  It's the episode we've all been waiting for (I know it's not just me) - the Chicago Shamrock Dinner.  White-ties, red dresses, wine, punches and a few bouts of verbal sparring.  Let's not forget that Grandma Veronica is coming back to town.  Here's hoping this next episode is as delicious as the preview has led us to believe!  

The Good Wife: Runnin' with the Devil - A Theme of Betrayal

Season 4, Episode 16 | Original Air Date: Sunday, March 10, 2013

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Betrayal.  It comes in many forms.  Sometimes it’s a lie you tell yourself while other times it’s an action that’s thrust upon you.  No matter what, betrayal makes you question those things you’ve always known – like who you are and how far you’ll go – and sometimes it makes you question those things of which you’re just not sure – like employment or friendships. 

In ‘Runnin’ with the Devil,’ betrayal is the main ingredient in a juicy tale that starts in a partnership meeting and ends in a courtroom.   This week, I'm looking at how trust and disloyalty perform an intricate dance together and how they're beginning to play a larger role on The Good Wife.  Don't forget to stop by the Q&A at the bottom of this article to share your thoughts on this week's developments!

“Be brave, lone voice in the wilderness”

Oh David Lee.  Less than three minutes into the show and I've already got a quote I love to hate.  If there’s one thing I can say about David, it’s not that I like him – no – it’s that I can’t get enough of his smarmy quips.    

As Alicia goes against the grain in her first partnership meeting (she doesn't mind having the firm look like a Burmese tent city… and neither does Diane), she stands alone in her resolve to not hire a second investigator.  Alicia’s in a difficult position because she’s friends-on with Kalinda again and the last time the firm brought in a second investigator, glass repair shops were operating on full cylinders to keep up with K’s bat-wielding ways.

Still, no one seems to care and as Alicia stands alone in the forested wilderness known as covert friendship, she gets herself tasked to the hiring committee. 

Flash forward.  K finds out new investigators are being interviewed and she’s anything but pleased.  Even Will, who has had Kalinda’s back since season one, seems particularly emotionless about the new team that’s being formed.  Maybe it’s time for these two to go for drinks and for K to punch Will in the leg again, because that’s the one thing he seems to be missing: tough love.

With a parade of ex-cops running around the 28^th floor, the ‘Investigator Hiring Squad’ went with an unexpected choice: Robyn Burdine (Jess Weixler) a former treasury enforcement agent, turned babysitter.  She’s a quirky dynamo who seems just a bit out of her element when it comes to working in a law firm.  Strangely though, this just might work.  She’s Kalinda’s 360 degree opposite, but it could make them a formidable team.  Everyone needs a sidekick… and if Batman could make it work, so too can Kalinda.  I hope.

The Defense of Lemond Bishop

Finally!  Lemond Bishop is back – albeit in shackles – to fight for his innocence.   When last we saw Bishop, in ‘Waiting for the Knock,’ he was being carted away under with the charge of murder hanging over his head.  As Chicago’s biggest drug lord, it never really made sense to me as to why he could be charged with killing one of his employees and leave her for dead in a trunk – not because he wouldn’t want to, but because he has people for that kind of thing. I mean, right?  For Chicago PD I don’t think it mattered though.  It was like catching Al Capone on tax evasion.

The more I think about it, the more I feel they've crafted Bishop into a modern day Capone.  Sure, he doesn't wear a fedora or smoke cigars, but he deals in cash, is a master at creating plausible deniability and no one will testify against him… at least for long.  This is especially the case when we start looking at Bishop’s second attorney on retainer: Charles Lester (aka Blair Waldorf’s step-father Cyrus Rose, aka Wallace Shawn).   

Travelling around with Alicia and talking to witnesses, we find Lester jumping into conversation with seemingly simple questions.  To a guy at the gym: What are the hours here and are you interested in body mass?  To a man at a bowling alley: How old are your little girls?  Alone, these questions seem innocent, but the result is always the same: a recanting of testimony.  Charles Lester, as it turns out, reminds me a bit of Louis Canning, only unlike our plaid-loving attorney nemesis, Lester has an almost sweet demeanor.  It’s like he doesn't realize Bishop is the master puppeteer and using him to threaten witnesses, but at the same time, we know he’s aware of what he’s doing – he’s been at it for the last 10 years.  Lester isn't afraid to betray his oath as a lawyer: who says threatening witnesses is wrong?  

Oh. Right. Everyone.

Of course, then there’s Alicia, who assumed the role of innocent bystander with ease because, well, who saw this coming?  This guy looks like a kind old man who eats prunes for breakfast and writes thank you notes to the kids down the street who shovel his snow.  He doesn’t look like Lemond’s confidant and co-conspirator.  That’s why I was especially worried for Judy Bishop, Lemond’s sister, when she decided to testify against her brother.  A) Seriously?  Who testifies against their drug lord brother who had their wife offed? And B) See A.  When Lester said “you know what you need to do,” I thought Judy was a goner, but maybe for Bishop blood really is the tie that binds.  He won’t betray Judy, because Judy won’t betray his son, Dylan.  It’s the circle of life, even when you’re a kingpin. 

The Case of the Restaurateur

Cary: The man who has been passed up and looked over, is plotting his next moves, one of which is in a play to start his one firm, the other of which is to finally hook up with Kalinda.  While the latter continues to be a bust, Cary’s aspiration to reach for something better is both inspiring and promising.  Just think: Cary could branch out and start Agos and Associates… and soon.  For those of you waiting for Cary’s big break, I’m hoping this is it.  While my personal preference would be for Cary and Alicia to team up, that’s not in the cards, at least for now.  In fact, last week I read an article with Robert and Michelle King that said the last half of the season would be characterized by a Lockhart Gardner civil war.  Could Cary be at the crux of the mutiny?  Who would he recruit over to his new firm?  Could this finally be Cary’s chance?

Well, it might be if Kalinda has anything to say about it.  Having been out investigating with local restaurateur and cheese-lover, Seth DeLucca, Kalinda found out Cary had been talking to him about a higher level of personalized service.  With Robyn in the mix and Kalinda more uncertain about her job at Lockhart Gardner than ever, she’s let Cary know she’s up on his plan but that he needs to keep his nose clean.  She’s can’t lie forever.  Wait.  It’s Kalinda.  Yes she can.  But betray his trust?  No way.

Q&A

What did you think of “Runnin’ with the Devil?”  Was Alicia’s law school rival, Liz Lawrence, right to ask Alicia when she sold her soul to the devil?  Are you excited at the prospect of Cary going rouge and starting his own firm?

What’s Next?

What’s better than formal wear and fisticuffs?  The answer?  Nothing.  In “Invitation to an Inquest” my two favourite things come together in an episode that’s promising to feature the demise of Jordan, the reappearance of Mike Kresteva and a fistfight.  Did I mention Alicia in a floor-length red gown, Will putting the moves on Laura and Alicia and Will having not one, but two, heart-to-hearts.  Oh for the love of Sunday.  I can’t wait.