Previously on The Good Wife, Cary took a plea that would put him in jail for a minimum of two years, Alicia and Finn tried to put their budding love affair on ice, and Kalinda was busy trying not to get Cary, Lana or herself killed.
This week’s return episode kicks off on Cary’s day of sentencing. Alicia has hired a prison consultant named Bill to prepare Cary for a life behind bars. Bill is a scary dude. He sends Alicia away, because he doesn’t allow women (well, ones that aren’t there for the doing) in his sessions. He tells Cary that his first three weeks will be in maximum security, but afterwards he may or may not get transferred to medium or minimum security. Cary is practically trembling as the weight of this very serious ordeal hangs over his head. The number one rule is to protect yourself, Bill tells him. Finding a friend is crucial, so Cary calls Kalinda to ask for her assistance in finding a Caucasian (upon Bill’s insistence) pal on the inside. Where does Kalinda go? Well to Bishop’s house of course! She puts her piece in the glovebox, takes off her leather jacket so we know she means business, and heads inside Bishop’s to ask him for a favor.
Bishop is not too happy to see Ms. Sharma, considering the last time they met, she threatened him and his family. She reminds him that while she may be on thin ice, Cary has never faltered in his promise not to turn on Bishop. Bishop agrees to do this favor, if Kalinda agrees to an unspecified one at another point. He hands her a phone where she speaks to a man who will hook Cary up, and during the conversation, she finds out a massive piece of intel: The drugs that Trey was dealing were actually exported to Chicago from Toronto, not the other way around. In fact, the drugs entered the US.. weeks before Cary supposedly gave that damning advice. This could be the thing that sets Cary free! Kalinda gets Diane and Alicia on the phone right away and they spring into action to try to withdraw Cary’s plea. Alicia wants to help, but she’s in the middle of final debate prep against Prady, and Eli advises her…well, orders her not to leave.
A man named Dr. Adrian Fluke will be standing in for Prady in the mock debate so Alicia can practice her attacks and rebuttals. She’s down two points in the polls and needs to show that she can be more aggressive. Eli tells Marissa to take Alicia’s phone when she’s not looking, since she’s so focused on Cary and not the debate.
Meanwhile, Bill is teaching Cary to fight, but advises him that using his head is always the better option.
Not currently using her head is Alicia who is struggling in the mock debate. Eli is losing his cool and tells Marissa to help Alicia get it together. “I’m her body woman, not her fluffer,” she glibly replies to her father. When Alicia’s phone rings, she runs off the stage to answer it. Diane gives her the scoop, and soon after, Eli calls Diane and tells her to stop calling Alicia so she can focus.
In court, Diane tries to get Judge Cuesta to let Cary rescind his plea, but the judge wants absolute proof that the SA’s office knew they were entrapping Cary. He gives her until 5pm, which is only six hours to save an innocent man from years behind bars. Back at Florrick Agos Lockhart, everyone single staff member is working on trying to find any evidence of a Brady violation (meaning that the police and SA’s office suppressed evidence of Cary’s innocence). Diane and Kalinda decide not to tell Cary about the last minute efforts, in fear of getting his hopes up. When Alicia calls again and suggests leaving the debate, Diane kindly tells her to stop calling.
Kalinda finds a Canadian cop who had sent an official email to Det. Prima about the exporting of drugs from Toronto to Chicago, but Prima never responded. Diane puts in a subpoena for Prima’s hard drive, and the clock ticks down.
Cary is getting his affairs in order, and Bill reminds him to sign over his power of attorney to someone he trusts. That person is Alicia.
Maybe it was getting blown off by Diane, but Alicia seems to have gotten her mojo back. Unfortunately, Dr. Fluke can’t stop laughing at Alicia’s “serious face.” Dude is high as a kite, so Johnny and Eli have to find a replacement.
Bill asks about Cary’s “girlfriend,” Kalinda, and tells him to call her and get himself laid. He cautions that two years is a long time without any physical contact, not even a hug. Alicia calls Cary to discuss the plea situation, but this is all news to him. Oops Alicia! At the same time, Diane puts in a request for Det. Prima’s hard drive, playing up on Judge Cuesta’s flair for the dramatic. He grants it. When Kalinda’s tech buddy takes a look, it appears that the email went straight to Prima’s spam folder and was automatically deleted.
During all this, Bill calls Kalinda and insists that she “Get her ass over here and do her job,” meaning have sex with Cary before it’s too late. It’s super gross and nobody treats Kalinda like a piece of meat, but out of her compassion for Cary, she goes. Cary is not interested in sex when he sees her, though, because he is furious that she and Diane kept this info from him. She admits they have run into a wall with the Brady violation, and they sit on the bed holding hands, forced to deal with the reality of Cary’s situation.
Eli ends up bringing Finn Polmar in to debate against Alicia and asks him to go at her with guns blazing, which Eli hopes will light a fire under Alicia.
Back in Cary’s hotel room, he and Kalinda lie together in bed. She tells Cary, “I won’t disappear on you,” but it’s always hard to figure out Kalinda’s intentions. She obviously cares for Cary, but are these just words to comfort a man about to spend time in prison? Does Kalinda really want to be with Cary? And what about Lana? When she returns to the office, she asks her tech buddy to teach her how to illegally fake the meta data and make it look like Det. Prima deleted the email himself.
Bill is working with Cary on how to protect himself in the cafeteria, but Cary’s mind is somewhere else. He asks Bill about running, but Bill points out that Cary isn’t exactly built to be an outlaw. Cary confesses that all he ever wanted was to be a lawyer and now he feels like he is lost. Bill cautions him again not to run.
Back at the mock debate, Alicia and Finn are really giving it to each other and it’s great practice for Alicia, until Peter shows up and mucks it all up.
While Kalinda’s friend teaches her to hack the data, Other Cary comes in and thinks he has some useful info. About time, Other Cary. He finds transcripts that another cop, Det. Rodriguez, was involved in Trey’s interrogation, up until the last session. Has the SA’s office been hiding him? Speaking of hiding, Cary takes a look at his bank account, which has OVER $200K IN IT! Is Mr. Agos planning to flee?
During the mock debate, Peter keeps interrupting Finn and Finn decides to make up an excuse and leave. Alicia takes the opportunity to talk to Peter and see if he will help pull some strings to get Cary placed in minimum security. Peter tells her that he can’t, even though he wants to help. He then steps in to take Finn’s place in the debate.
While Peter may have told Alicia he couldn’t help, Judge Cuesta is miraculously held up by a last minute meeting to discuss his possible candidacy for the Illinois Supreme Court. Yeah, this has Peter alllll over it. When the other man’s cell phone lights up and Cuesta sees Peter’s name, he knows he’s been duped. He’s angry as hell and head back to the courthouse to punish Florrick Agos Lockhart for this dirty trick. Except Diane had nothing to do with it.
As Peter and Alicia debate ethics, she gets a fire in her belly like no other. She nails him where it hurts. Unlike Peter ,Castro, and Prady, she’ll put character before self interest. She’ll be disciplined like a mofo. Johnny Elfman is thrilled, while Eli goes into meltdown mode again. Johnny whispers in Alicia’s ear how proud his is of her, then heads over to duke it out with Eli.
When Judge Cuesta returns to court, two hours late, he lays into Diane, who is completely shocked by his accusations.
When she gets him to calm down, she shows him the Brady violation they uncovered. Kalinda sprints in with a folder that she thinks will set Cary free, but Diane has already shown the judge their evidence. The hacked “evidence” they pulled from Kalinda’s computer. Oh shit! Kalinda’s last resort has now been turned in and Det. Prima is brought in to explain himself. Of course, Prima denies deleting the email because he’s actually innocent. Geneva Pine, who looks like she’s going to be sick, also produces the statement from Det. Rodriguez that Cary was actually a victim of entrapment. Geneva asks for a retrial, but Diane asks for dismissal. “Leave the poor guy alone,” the judge tells Geneva, and grants Cary a mistrial. Cary and Diane cry tears of joy. As Cary hugs Kalinda, Bishop calls, probably to cash in on his favor.
Diane calls Alicia to give her the good news, and she’s so relived and happy that she lets out a massive “WOOOOO” in a parking lot. Johnny, who was about to get into his car, calls out to her. Alicia marches right up to Johnny and plants one on him, then walks away with a big smile. It was a moment of pure joy and release, but will there be more when the adrenaline high drops off and they have to face each other again?
Next week: The debate!
