'The Good Wife' Recap: Florrick/Agos Betrayed By One Of Their Own, Hire Clarke Hayden To Help

by UInterviewNovember 11, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

On Sunday night's episode of The Good Wife, “The Next Week,” Florrick/Agos continued to suffer the wrath of Lockhart/Gardner, which gets Alicia entangled into a malpractice suit and cost the new firm a backstabbing partner, Anthony.

Florrick/Agos is still working out of Alicia’s living room due to a lack of cash flow (by lack of, meaning none). Since they all got fired from Lockhart/Gardner, they didn’t get any bonuses, and Alicia (Juliana Margulies) is out her buy in to Lockhart/Gardner when she was made partner. To help them sort out their finances, Cary (Matt Czuchry) calls in Clarke Hayden (Nathan Lane) who previously helped Lockhart/Gardner when Will (Josh Charles) was out of commission and the firm was bleeding money. While Cary tends to the firm, Alicia returns to her old stomping grounds, the offices of Lockhart/Gardner, after she is called as a witness in a malpractice suit against the firm. A couple who had used the firm in their adoption case is suing the firm for $6 million after they lost the baby when the birth parents decided they wanted it back. They feel that they lost the child because of Lockhart/Gardner. In exchange for her testimony on behalf of Lockhart/Gardner, Alicia wants her $150,000 buy in back.

In Alicia’s deposition, David Lee (Zach Grenier) and Diane (Christine Baranski) are more than happy to lay the blame on Alicia for the entire debacle, but she stays calm and doesn’t take the prosecuting attorney’s bate to vilify the firm. All are blindsided, however, when attorney Carter Schmidt (Christian Borle) pulled out a check written from Lockhart/Gardner to the Chippewa Nation for $10,000. The baby to be adopted was part Chippewa Indian, and the tribe had the right to block the adoption. Alicia says she knew about the risk and had warned her clients, but she was completely blindsided by the alleged bribe Lockhart/Gardner attempted to give the Chippewa for the adoption. David Lee and Diane were equally shocked, but, their main goal was to get out of this suit so they decide to turn things over to Alicia. They say that, since Alicia was promoted to partner before the case was decided, she was, in fact, the partner in charge of the case and, therefore, is liable for the entire $6 million should the couple win the case.

The firm rallies behind Alicia, despite her protests. Cary is adamant that they will all fight this together because she would do the same for any of them. Hayden overhears the whole ordeal and offers to testify. In his deposition, he states that, as trustee of the firm at the time of the case, he can testify to the fact that David Lee was the partner in charge of the case, not Alicia.

Not only is Alicia facing a huge legal battle, she also has to contend with more drama at home. Zach (Graham Phillips) is in his mother’s room when he realizes the light that signals whether the camera in the computer is on is shining bright. Somebody is watching them. Zach tells his mother, and they immediately think it’s Lockhart/Gardner. With the help of Hayden, they try to leak fake information in the hopes of causing a bit of chaos at their old firm. Furthermore, Alicia gets a visit from her brother, Owen (Dallas Roberts), who had a run-in with Will on campus and has come to talk to Alicia about her real reasons for leaving Lockhart/Gardner.

Owen tells Alicia that the real reason she left was because she is afraid of falling in love with Will. Alicia hesitates to confirm or deny, but Owen is positive. So positive, in fact, that he goes to Will’s office and tells him that Alicia is still his for the taking. Will tells Owen that it’s too late; they are done.

Will is dealing with his own complicated case. Jeffery Grant (Hunter Parrish) is a young college student pulled over on a phony DUI charge. The real objective is to collect his DNA and charge him with murder. A young college girl was found dead outside her dorm room with a date rape drug in her system and DNA under her fingernails from defensive wounds. After collecting the DNA of Grant’s father, who was arrested earlier that year, the labs found a familial match between Grant’s father’s DNA and the DNA found on the murder victim. Tested to Grant, they expect to find a match.

Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) does her best to find all other male relatives in the hopes of finding another suspect, though she believes that Grant is guilty. While Kalinda traced down Grant’s secret half-brother, Will went to campus to dig up dirt on the victim. There, he ran into Owen.

Kalinda finds the half brother, who was busted for selling the date rape drug found in the murder victim and took the day after the murder off from work. He runs from Kalinda, and the firm is sure he’s guilty. Unfortunately for the half brother, he leaves his piece of gum behind, and Kalinda picks it up for DNA.

Will, confident that the DNA of the half brother will match that found on the victim, encourages Jeffery not to take a deal of 2 years for involuntary manslaughter offered him by the DA. After all DNA samples had been tested, however, Jeffrey is charged with murder, and the case will go to trial. It was his DNA on the victim, though Jeffery still maintains his innocence. He claims never to have met the girl in his life.

Back at Florrick/Agos takes a huge hit at the end of the episode: a betrayal. Anthony Wright Edelman (Bhavesh Patel), the Florrick/Agos lawyer who admitted to writing the check to the Chippewa Nation (it was his idea) is all set to testify that he wrote the check with the approval of Lockhart/Gardner partner Howard Lyman (Jerry Adler). In the middle of his deposition, however, he flat out lies and says that Alicia is the one who gave the order to write the check. He then walks right out of the deposition and into a new office at Lockhart/Gardner – he has taken the partner position left empty by Alicia’s departure.

Alicia and Cary agree to hire Clark Hayden. He will work for free, for now, because he loves the law. He can help with their accounting, while also being a lawyer for free, and once the firm is profitable, he wants his pay retroactively.

Meanwhile, Zach, understandably uncomfortable with the idea of someone spying on his family after Grace (Makenzie Vega) tells him her computer camera light went on a few times, Googles the Florrick family. After combing through pages of mundane information, he comes across a link to a website advertising a place you could see Grace Florrick like you’ve never seen her before – it’s a porn site. The hacker wasn’t from Lockhart/Gardner at all, but a punk from their high school who has been filming Grace change in her room. Zach and Grace set a trap for the hacker, and trace the hack to Drew Stiles (Josh Green), one of their classmates. Zach gives him a good punch before getting a black eye for his troubles. But, his message is clear: stop filming my sister. Or else.

The Good Wife picks up again next week, Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS with the return of guest-star America Ferrera in “Ice, Ice, Baby.”