The Good Wife Recap: Whack-a-Mole – 5×9

The Good Wife: Whack-a-Mole 5x9

What a fun episode of “The Good Wife”! Face-offs abound, between Jackie and Eli, Kalinda and a new lawyer, and last but not least, between Will and Alicia, who go up against each other in court. And again, the topical and relevant subject is plucked from the headlines.

READ: All “The Good Wife” Recaps & News

We start with mirror images of Will and Alicia in their respective firms, each being the leader who keeps the peace while figuring out a plan of attack. Will is still being reckless, this time deciding that he’s tired of following the governing board’s rules, and instead makes decisions without the long, drawn-out committee approval.

Will’s first line of action is to hire a new lawyer to become partner: Damian Boyle, a rogue who plays dirty and presumably has ties with the Irish Mafia, played by Jason O’Mara in what sounds to me like a terrible Irish accent, even though O’Mara was born in Dublin.

Alicia defends a professor, Zayeed Shaheed, who is working on a book about spiritual jihad, and is being investigated by the FBI. The Feds believe Shaheed was involved with a bombing at a Milwaukee festival because of a social media and crowdsourcing website called Scabbit.

Referencing the real-life Monday morning quarterbacking that happened on Reddit after the Boston Marathon bombing (as well as the recent comments overhaul on YouTube), “The Good Wife’s” fictional FBI is using Scabbit (ah, Reddit = Scabbit; I’m quick) for hints to the bomber’s identity, and Scabbit’s members seem to be taking down Professor Shaheed.

When Will’s new crackerjack partner steals the furniture out from under Florrick/Agos’s noses, he also notices their case against Scabbit. As Alicia and Cary return to court, they discover that Will is now representing Scabbit, in a show of faith to win back Chumhum.

Goody! Will and Alicia go head to head in court!

As usual, the two litigators one-up each other, trying to win over returning judge George Kluger “the magnificent,” played by the hugely entertaining Jeffrey Tambor. “Try to accept your victory without gloating,” he tells Alicia after she wins against Will.

Both lawyers are always so smug when they win. But they clearly enjoy what they do, and are having fun doing it with each other. There’s hope for them yet. If they can’t be together in the bedchambers, at least they’ll be together in these chambers.

Even though Damian’s tactics win over the at-first skeptical LG partners, Diane remains rightfully mistrustful of him, and asks Kalinda to vet him. Damian, however, is not even remotely forthright with Kalinda, giving her three different birth dates and telling someone else’s stories as his own. Clearly, this showdown may continue for a while, drumming up heat between the two characters—which is good, considering how little Kalinda’s been on screen this season.

As Will and Diane go to Alicia and Cary’s modest office space to negotiate a settlement, their final face-off of the evening, Alicia has an encounter of a different kind. She receives a call from Judge Kluger, asking her to coffee—and not to take it the wrong way. Which way is she supposed to take it? Is he asking her out? Isn’t it common knowledge that she’s the governor’s wife? Could more be involved here? That was definitely surprising. And oh, so entertaining.

Meanwhile, Peter’s mother Jackie—frequently in conflict with someone—has several new confrontations of her own. She often clashes with Eli, but in this case Eli is more caught in the middle between Jackie and Mary Stuart Masterson’s Rachel (oh how I’ve missed you, Watts). Rachel is Peter’s new choice for Supreme Court, but she also used to work for Jackie’s husband—and apparently had an affair with him. What is it with these Florrick men? Is it not possible for them to keep it in their pants?

Jackie insists that Eli change their decision, but when he refuses, Jackie goes after Rachel directly. She visits Rachel’s sick husband in the hospital, and looking positively evil and literally like a monster (like the crazy one on the hospital’s television screen), convinces Rachel to reject Peter’s request to serve as judge. Hmm, could there be a series of (women) judges Peter will have to try out and then lose for various reasons? Will he end up having to crawl back to Diane?

What do you think, good-wifers? Will Alicia and Will continue their little court room dances, going up against each other in future episodes? How long do you think Damian will stick around before doing something irreparably illegal? How long before he and Kalinda hook up? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say more in the comments.


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2 responses to “The Good Wife Recap: Whack-a-Mole – 5×9”

  1. The Good Wife Recap: Whack-a-Mole – 5×9 http://t.co/NPrvWn7Hgz

  2. Will Alicia and Will ever accept their wins without gloating? Somehow I doubt it. @TheGoodWife_CBS recap: http://t.co/NyxMuAobml

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