'The Good Wife' Recap: An Old Client Brings Will And Alicia Together; Marilyn Surprises Eli With A Baby Announcement

by uInterviewDecember 2, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

The Good Wife celebrated its one-hundredth episode and mid-season finale, "The Decision Tree," by exploring the past relationship between Will and Alicia when an old client, Mr. Ashbaugh, resurfaces with a will leaving Alicia 12 million dollars.

The Good Wife Recap: Kalinda vs. Damian

On orders from Diane (Christine Baranski), Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) does her best to tail Damian Boyle (Jason O’Mara), the mob lawyer, who appears to have made it his mission to align with Will and wage war against Florrick/Agos. Knowing Kalinda is following him, Boyle speeds through the Chicago streets, stopping at Florrick/Agos with Alicia’s exit contract from Lockhart/Gardner and then challenging Kalinda to a race on the ride back. It’s a trap: Boyle called a detective friend of his, Detective Jenna Villette (Jordana Spiro) to stop Kalinda for speeding and keep her in the back of her car all night. The two ended up in bed, but Kalinda failed to get any information on Damian out of her new friend.

Will And Alicia Head To Court

Meanwhile, Boyle peaked Alicia’s (Julianna Margulies) interest with her exit contract enough for her to bring it to Clarke Hayden (Nathan Lane) for him to look over while she dealt with the Florrick/Agos Christmas party fiasco happening elsewhere in the office. The new firm sent out 800 invites, and earned only 30 RSVPs. Cary (Matt Czuchry) desperately wants Alicia to invite Peter so that they have the weight of the governor on their side. She concedes, and is swiftly taken away to deal with Mr. Ashbaugh (John Noble), a deceased client from her Lockhart/Gardner. In the contract Damien left for Alicia, it states that Alicia relinquishes her rights to any profits from Mr. Ashbaugh’s pending cases.

Mr. Ashbaugh left a contending will, written in magic marker and signed by a prostitute as a witness, leaving 12 million dollars to charity and the other 12 million to Alicia. When Mr. Ashbaugh died, his known will left his considerable fortune to his wife, but this new will, if found valid, would invalidate the original will. This new development sends Alicia, Cary and Hayden to court to go up against Will (Josh Charles), Diane and Damian. Unlike last week, Alicia and Will are not up against each other in court: Alicia is a client, with Cary and Hayden acting as her legal representation. In a quick effort to dismiss the new will, Damian calls the prostitute who signed it to the stand. He claims that she was on the clock when she signed the will, therefore making it invalid.

Hayden gets up to cross-examine her. At first, he fumbles, but seems to find his footing and gets the prostitute to admit that she signed the will after 9 a.m., the hour at which her business deal with Ashbaugh ended. Up next to the witness stand was Mrs. Ashbaugh, who tried to say that her husband was mentally unwell at the end of his life, something Hayden has no problem dismissing. The judge is ready to rule: he deems Mr. Ashbaugh of sound mind and declares both wills valid. Just as he delivers his verdict, Will gets an idea. Thinking back to ‘that thing two years ago,’ when he and Alicia went to visit Mr. Ashbaugh in New York to aid him in company dealings, Will calls Alicia as a witness. He claims that Alicia used ‘undue influence’ on Ashbaugh to get him to write up this new will.

Interspersed throughout the case and Will’s prep to question Alicia at the stand are flashbacks of the romantic weekend away Will and Alicia had when they worked for Ashbaugh. While prepping his questions, Will plays out the testimony in his head and accuses Alicia of using Ashbaugh’s crush on her to trick him into giving her his money. What he’s really asking is whether or not Alicia used her relationship with Will to get close to him and steal his clients when she left Lockhart/Gardner.

Will’s hurt at Alicia’s betrayal is finally coming to the surface, but it doesn’t play out his way in court. Alicia admits to using Mr. Ashbaugh’s feelings towards her to her advantage to sign a will, but not the one Will is accusing her of. She maintains that David Lee, of Lockhart/Gardner, specifically went to her and asked her to ‘prime the pump’: get Ashbaugh to sign the will leaving everything to Mrs. Ashbaugh. This puts the misconduct firmly on David Lee and Lockhart/Gardner.

Florrick/Agos Christmas Party

With the case done for the day, it’s time for the Florrick/Agos holiday party. After being stuck in the middle of a fight for power between her mother (Stockard Channing) and her mother-in-law (Mary Beth Peil), dealing with an overwhelming RSVP count when Peter’s (Chris Noth) presence was announced and simply trying to make it herself, Alicia is pleased to see the party coming together. It’s interrupted momentarily by Will, who calls to inform Florrick/Agos that they found a few other wills from Ashbaugh leaving money to various women – it seems to have been a hobby of his – and that they believe the judge will find all of these makeshift wills invalid.

Despite Eli’s (Alan Cumming) attempts to keep Peter away from Alicia’s party – felons she represents are expected to be present – Peter attends, with Eli and Marilyn (Melissa George) in tow. After an awkward conversation with drug lord Lamond Bishop (Mike Colter), who Florrick/Agos is attempting to woo into becoming their client, Peter happily plays the role of the supportive husband.

Marilyn Drops A Bomb

Over by the bar, Eli watches Peter in an effort to keep him away from any other unseemly guests while Marilyn chats with Alicia’s mother about her baby. Now three and a half months along, Marilyn announces she’s having a boy, and she is going to name him Peter. Eli spits out his mouthful of his ‘something strong’ on the spot.

The Good Wife airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS, but won’t have new episodes until early 2014 when it returns from its winter hiatus.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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