The Good Wife: The Condomnation of Alicia Florrick

This week on The Good Wife, accusations are flying, condoms disappear, tweets abound, and the firm contemplates its future.

We begin this week’s episode at the firm. Will and Diane meet with a financial analyst. In the back draft of Stern’s departure, plus the loss of his clientele, Will and Diane are scrambling to make financial ends. The analyst suggests small reductions that will help them stay on their feet. During the meeting Will steps aside to call Alicia and is surprised when Peter answers her cell phone. Will doesn’t quite stutter through a query for Alicia, but Peter understands and tells Will that Alicia forgot her phone. Will he leave a message? After a heavy pause, Will declines.

Now we all know Peter and Will had to have some communication at some point. And while it’s not face to face yet, this scene is totally satisfying because it’s so adorable to see Will stutter.

Alicia is meeting with Dorphin, another lawyer, in hopes of joining lawsuits and getting more work for Stern, Lockhart, and Gardner. They agree to combine suits. Immediately after the agreement though, Dorphin is arrested for murder. The accusation: He gave his client, a drug dealer, the witness list which subsequently got a witness murdered. The arresting officer AUSA Rivers, has the office searched and leads Dorphin away. As he is being led away Dorphin announces that Alicia is his lawyer, Alicia doesn’t refute this.

At the office, Alicia tells Will that Dorphin has requested their representation. Will hesitates. Since this case is drug related, all of Dorphin’s assets will be frozen, meaning he can’t pay. Alicia fights for Dorphin, saying that he will be good for it as soon as he is cleared. Will remains uncertain. In her office, Alicia receives a phone call from Peter who is looking for the tax returns. Alicia directs him to a box under her bed. After they hang up Peter looks in Alicia’s bedside drawer for a letter opener. He finds condoms instead.

In other news, Will gets a visit from Rivers telling him to back off of the Dorphin case. Rivers seems very intense as he seems to threaten Will with a federal case that his firm can’t handle. Will, always meek to a challenge, immediately introduces himself as Dorphin’s lawyer, as of ten seconds ago.

At the house, Eli finds a Twitter account about Peter and Alicia. More disturbingly, the information on the account is private. Such accurate details, such as Peter living in the maid’s room, makes Peter worry over the accusation that Alicia is sleeping with Will. If this gets picked up by major news outlets, this could mean the downfall of Peter’s political aspirations.

In court, Will seems uncomfortable by how comfortable Rivers is with everyone in court. In the pretrial, Will offends the judge who seems to be acting favorably towards Rivers. The judge does seem to be picking at Will, following everything he says with an “in your opinion.” This angers Will, of course, belittling as it is. Will argues that everything he says, and everything Rivers says, is in their opinion.

Kallinda and Alicia visit Bishop who claims that he did not kill the witness, Kelly Gerber Smith. Although he does admit that it was lucky that she died. As they are leaving, they are given a tip from Bishop that Rivers found an SUV that implicates Dorphin. This SUV hasn’t been listed as evidence.

During the trial, it comes out that in the SUV the police found an imprint of Gerber’s name misspelled as it is on the witness list. This is how they know the witness list was used. Will tries to get the SUV thrown out; the judge doesn’t answer this but tells Rivers to continue. Will presses for a judgment; which the judge says was implied. Will argues that he needs a ruling that he can appeal and implies that the judge fails to make a ruling so that it cannot be appealed. The judge is rattled by this accusation and later denies Will objection.

In Alicia’s office Eli is waiting to tell her about the tweets. Since they seem personal against Alicia, he asks if there is anyone who might have a grudge against her. Alicia’s eyes go to Carey. Later Carey is seen on his Blackberry and soon after a new tweet is posted. Later, Alicia confronts Carey about if he has been writing nasty tweets about her. Carey at first does not understand the accusation; and then when he does, he seems offended and hurt. He seems to think they had a nice working relationship.

At Lockhart and Gardner, Bishop hires the firm to look after his interests. He pays them $200,000 to do so. Will and Diane argue about taking the case. Will says they need the money, while Diane doesn’t want his money. As a bargaining chip, Bishop tells Alicia that Rivers had an affair with Smith.

Will uses this new information in court. This disappoints the judge although she doesn’t call for Rivers to step away from the case. She does however dismiss the SUV from being used.

Eli reveals to Alicia that the IP address for the computer posting the tweets is their house. I particularly like the When a Stranger Calls reference. Peter and Alicia talk about the possibility of their children sending the tweets and the probable causes behind it. Are they mad that Alicia has gone to work, that Peter’s still in politics? They decide to talk to the kids. Peter reveals to Alicia that he found the condoms in her drawer. He tries to explain them away; maybe they are for the kids. Alicia is offended and angry, because, of course, we all know Peter’s history. After Alicia reveals she had her IUD removed, Peter asks who the condoms are for and asks her not to go to work. Instead she puts the condoms in her purse and says “trust me.” Dangerous.

At a client meeting, Dorphin reveals that his daughter gave the list to Bishop. Dorphin requests that Alicia send a message to Bishop. At the firm, a guy is confessing to killing Smith. Rivers is displeased that Dorphin got off. Bishop fires Will, he’s going back to Dorphin. At the firm, Will and Diane talk drunkenly about losing clients. They talk lay-offs, splitting up, or shopping for drug dealers. Will suggests that they find a new partner. They toast this idea.

At Zack’s school, Eli approaches Becca, Zack’s girlfriend. He knows she’s the one who’s been sending the tweets and threatens her to stop with a fate worse than Drag Me To Hell. She gives one attempt to intimidate him, but it doesn’t work. Seems he’s friends with the cops. Cowed, she agrees to stop tweeting. At the apartment, Becca and Zack are about to leave. At the last second Zack turns back into the house and looks for the condoms in Alicia’s nightstand. They’re not there. Upset, he leaves.

Season 1, Episode 16: Fleas (originally aired March 9, 2010)

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Tuesday at 10/9c on CBS

Photos courtesy of CBS and David M. Russell.