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“The Good Wife” recap: “Batman and Robyn.” (4.16)

Love him or hate him, I always enjoy a good Lemond Bishop episode of The Good Wife, as there is always just so. much. drama, and this week was no exception.

Before we get to all that, though, the first thing we witness in this week’s episode are signs of Lockhart Gardner rolling in the good times again: new modernist paintings being carted in to hang on walls, fancy finger foods at meetings, and Creepy M&M Lawyer proposing at a steering committee meeting that the 27th and 29th floors that were lost earlier this season be bought back. Alicia, by the way, is now a member of said steering committee. Creepy M&M Guy and Will are staunchly for this buy back, while Diane and Alicia are more along the lines of, “Heeeey, yeah, so, um, just a suggestion, but maybe we shouldn’t jump back into the same overspending situation that got us into this drama in the first place?” Will explains that in the “New Economy,” you have to go big or go home. Weird that the women are all, “Hey, let’s not be dumb,” and the men are all, “Buy all the floors, spend all the money, must look impressive, hulk smash power now RAWR!” This is not at all indicative of how our financial systems as a whole in our country work, or how we never learn from our financial mistakes because of testosterone and greed. Nope!

Anyway, more importantly, they also mention that due to an influx of new business, they want to hire a second investigator. Alicia gently reminds them that hiring a second investigator a few years ago didn’t work out so well. M&M Guy says, “Shut your pie hole, newbie.” At the very least, Alicia wiggles her way into the subcommittee for hiring said new investigator, before running off to court.

When she arrives at court, she runs into her law school nemesis Liz, who’s on the prosecuting side of Lemond Bishop’s case. She also begins to fit into the somewhat uncomfortable Good Wife tradition of Bitchy Black Women, as pointed out by a commenter last week, although the difference between “bitchy” and just “powerful” can always be debated. Nevertheless, the most important thing here is that she’s played by the gorgeous, Tony-winning Audra McDonald. The situation they’re battling out in court first has to do with Bishop’s visitation rights for his son – he’s granted those pretty easily – and then with the matter of why he’s in jail in the first place, that whole murder of a confidential informant who used to work at his fitness club thing. If you can remember that tense episode from way back when, it was the one that included Kalinda discovering the body in the trunk of a car and Alicia comforting Bishop’s son while daddy was arrested. That episode was also the last time we saw FBI Agent Lana, who it’s become pretty clear we won’t see again in the foreseeable future.

It’s also clear-ish that Bishop actually wasn’t responsible for this one, even though Cary and Kalinda keep uncovering lies Bishop has told about knowing who the woman was. The best lead on the actual perpetrator, however, the girl’s abusive husband, has been found dead. And the only alibi Bishop has for where he was the night of the murder is his sister, who Bishop tells Alicia is just lying to be nice. In better news, though, his adorable son does have a killer jump shot. Bishop informs Alicia that he wants her and Cary to work with his personal lawyer, Charles Lester. Cary and Alicia prepare themselves to meet this mysterious Mr. Lester, ready to see someone formidable, but he ends up looking like – well, like one of America’s favorite small men who make funny faces and funny voices, Wallace Shawn. Charles Lester is a bumbling goof of a man who’s constantly rifling through crinkled notes and messy yellow legal pads; when they interview witnesses together, he asks short, strange, irrelevant personal questions. But if The Good Wife has taught us anything, it’s that you can never trust the goofy ones. Especially when all the witnesses they interview end up, somehow, after meeting Lester, changing their testimony when they’re on the stand, all in Bishop’s favor. Audra McDonald becomes increasingly flustered; Cary and Alicia become increasingly perplexed, and the only people who don’t seem surprised are Charles Lester and Lemond Bishop. Hmmm.

Back in the Lockhart Gardner offices, the interviews for a new investigator have begun, first with a chummy retired police sergeant who Alicia throws one last question to: “How do you feel about working with a female investigator?” He replies, “No problems here. I love the ladies, and the ladies love me!” The looks on both Diane and Alicia’s faces are precious. Your misogyny probably worked in the police force, buddy, but it ain’t gonna get you anywhere here!

Strangely enough, Kalinda has noticed the influx of retired police waiting in the lobby, and storms into Will’s office, not giving a shit that he’s meeting with other clients. She asks out right, “Am I being replaced?” But bullshit Will gives her, saying they’re “expanding her department – congratulations, you’re a department now.” She replies, “I don’t have a desk, but I have a department?” She also asks if the new investigator will be working under her. Will says, not necessarily. So she has a department but she’s not the head of it? Yeah, basically. Awesome.

He says that it’s “a good thing,” that it means more work, more prestige. She says, “Somehow, when people say more prestige, they normally mean less power.” He yells, “Hey, check on that thing!” as she walks out. Good talk!

The thing he wants her to check on is a client who’s paid his bill in full, an apparently rare occurrence which might signify his departure from Lockhart Gardner. As Kalinda presses him, he eventually releases the information that he might be interested in a smaller firm, a firm that one of Lockhart Gardner’s own lawyers had hinted about. Kalinda soon figures out that it’s a lawyer by the name of Cary Agos. Meanwhile, the appalling Lemond Bishop-Charles Lester business comes to a head when Alicia is called into judge’s chambers to hear that Audra McDonald and her children have been followed and harassed. As has been happening all episode, we can see the inner turmoil within Alicia all over her face, seen most clearly when McDonald shouts, tears running down her face, “Come on! You’re a mom! Imagine if this happened to one of your kids?” The judge reminds Alicia that intimidating witnesses, or even knowing about it and withholding information, is not just a disbarrable offense but illegal. You can practically hear the Charles Lester doubts shouting in Alicia’s brain, but she has no choice but to stand her ground and say she has no knowledge of anything of the sort. Which, technically, she doesn’t. As McDonald barges out of the room, she asks Alicia when she sold her soul. Alicia confronts Charles Lester, bringing up his record of assassinations and deaths after he joins defense teams; he is of course full of ignorant bliss. “Defense lawyers are in the business of being misunderstood,” he retorts. Alicia repeats what she’s said before, that this case doesn’t have to be won the dirty way, that it can be won through the law alone. She says she’ll take the next witness interview alone; he reminds her that Bishop advised her to take him along. “Are you saying I don’t have a choice?” “I’m saying he advised you.” Charles Lester gives me the major creeps. The interview for a second assistant process has also landed on this gem of a girl, a college age smiling blonde thing who shows up in a sweatshirt with a huge gross stain on the collar. She explains that HR rescheduled her interview and told her to show up right away, and right away happened to be in the middle of babysitting her sister’s kids. Played by Jess Weixler, she appears ridiculously unprofessional and also very much real; perky but still likeable. While Diane is obviously 100% dubious, Will and Alicia vouch for her, Alicia on the grounds that she won’t challenge Kalinda, which is a good thing, Will on the fact that the best investigator is one you don’t see coming. I agree with both arguments. Diane and Will ask Kalinda to train her. Kalinda says, “Uh, train her in what?” Will says, “What you do.” Kalinda gives her politest, “Thanks but no thanks,” Will and Diane give their politest, “Yes, but you have to,” Kalinda gives her most fuck-you, “OK.” And then they meet, and it is so wonderful. This girl, Robyn, is the complete opposite of Kalinda, and after seeing Kalinda’s face upon introduction, quips, “I know, I couldn’t believe they hired me, either.” Kalinda gives a blank stare. Robyn says, “People here sure must have a lot of money for clothes. I’ve never seen clothes like this!” Kalinda gives a blank stare. I am in love with Robyn. The two go into Cary’s office; he tells them what he needs. They walk out; Kalinda promptly walks back in and shuts the door in Robyn’s face. This is so good! Alas, turns out that Robyn, not surprisingly, is a perky but smart cookie, and catches some witness intimidations on Audra McDonald’s side of the table, as well. What a clean case this is! Yayyy!

Later, Cary and Kalinda meet for drinks. Kalinda had warned Cary to keep his head lower about threatening to go out on his own; Cary thanks her for the warning. Kalinda says, all in a day’s work. Cary replies, except that it’s not. He looks at her; she asks what he wants. He leans in for the kiss; she shakes her head, says no.

Cary: Why? Kalinda: Because you want more, and I can’t give you more. Cary: Because of women? Kalinda: No. Cary: Because we work together? Kalinda: Yes. Cary: Well, I’m thinking of leaving, so. (smirk, grin, wink)
Kalinda then invites him to continue, saying, “Well, then, say something nice.” He says something incredibly lame about how she looks great and he likes the way her hair falls, or something so atrociously weak that she cuts him off, rolling her eyes. But then she gives him Kalinda eyes, and does her delicious biting-her-lip Kalinda thing, and the camera leaves us there. The next morning at the office there is just the slightest bit of awkwardness between them, at least on Kalinda’s part, that it’s left open as to whether something actually happened after the bar, or if just the possibility of something happening is simply hanging in the air.

While I’m not sure exactly where this will lead, I have to say that there was something about the “Because of women?” question and her “No” response that I actually liked. I liked that he asked it in a non-derogatory way (i.e. Nick), but simply in an honest way, and I like that she answered so decidedly yet not flippant. To me, Kalinda has never doubted her queerness, to herself or anyone else, and I don’t think her “no” answer is a denial. Rather, it’s an affirmation of her bisexuality. She almost rolls her eyes when he asks it, as in, God, just because I sleep with women doesn’t mean I always have to sleep with women. Silly Cary, don’t you know I don’t fit in a box?

And despite myself, I like Cary. At the very least, he respects Kalinda, and her boundaries, more than Nick ever did, and might even be more honest with her than Lana was, although it’s hard to say that for sure. And it’s nice to see Kalinda at least being ready to offer up a more vulnerable side of herself again post-Nick, but, still. As with any Kalinda relationship possibility, I just never know what the outcome will be, for herself, or for Cary.

But to wrap up Lemond Bishop’s corrupt tale, the only witness Audra McDonald ends up having left is Bishop’s own sister, played by Tracie Thoms, otherwise known as Rent’s Joanne. Feeling protective of Bishop’s son and hoping she can get custody, she’s decided to take back her alibi of Bishop’s whereabouts the night of the murder, testifying that he was gone all night. Don’t worry though, Charles Lester then shows up at her house, and the next day, she magically retracts her testimony! Charles Lester creep feelings now 100% confirmed! Not being clued into this intimidation business, however, Alicia has stayed up all night researching ways to make the sister’s testimony not count just, you know, based on the law. She arrives to the courtroom the next day full of smiles and confidence and pride, about to present her findings before the judge bursts her bubble and says they’re not necessary. After the retraction, the prosecutors had nothing left on their side, and she orders Bishop’s release. He and Charles Lester share triumphant hugs; Alicia slowly sinks back into her seat. Seems that, once again, despite all her best intentions, the game was won the dirty way, the only way Bishop seems to trust.

What are your feelings about Bishop and Charles Lester? How do you feel about Robyn? And perhaps most importantly, what do you think is in store for Kalinda and Cary?

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