The Good Wife Recap: The Next Day – 5×6

The Good Wife: The Next Day

Well here we are, “The Good Wife” fans. The sun rises on a new day, the day after the poop-storm of last week‘s splintering of the two firms, and it seems Diane and Will are still reeling, though perhaps trying to hide it.

Diane is nervous about trying her last case as a lawyer, and Will is very much alive, and embracing his rambunctious, reckless side (and Josh Charles is smart and effortless). Alicia, on the other hand, seems at peace—so much so that she slept through her alarm and had to rely on Grace to wake her up.

Will already has a new woman in his life, some skank named Isabel (or was that Jezebel?). Yes, I confess, I’m mostly calling her a skank because I still hold out hope that Will ends up with Alicia, but as the episode wears on, it becomes clear that she is chaos. She seems crazy and impetuous, and I suspect she’s after something. But Will embraces it. He feels powerful, and maybe enjoys the lack of control he feels with her, as he exerts more control over happenings at Lockhart/Gardner.

Will and Diane are wrestling control away from Alicia and Cary, who are actively stealing Diane’s case from under her, though this time because the client sought them out. Each firm is trying to represent the wife of a man who was accidentally killed from a bullet wound received during a robbery (the verdict of the robber is a simultaneous case they’re following). They’re trying to prove that the gun went off because it was defective.

As with much of the show, it’s a constant game of who has the upper hand, and it changes from minute to minute. Alicia and Cary start in command because the wife insists on working with them—but they can’t do much without Will and Diane’s files. Alicia brings Will not to court, but in front of the disciplinary board that suspended him, to insist that LG provide Florrick/Agos with the files. When Will hands them over, they’ve all been heavily redacted. Finally, Alicia insists that Will provide the full information, and Will agrees—but only after their rather exorbitant fees are paid, forcing the client to return to Diane to represent her.

Looks like Will wins again. He feels energetic and fully motivated to make Lockhart/Gardner the best firm it can be. He’s ready to kick butt and take names—starting with buying the tax law firm Wallace & Frey, again robbing Cary and Alicia of their potential office space—and is even willing to let Diane back in on the action.

Poor Diane found out that other lawyers were being vetted for her Supreme Court seat while she’s been waiting to hear from Peter and Eli (neither of whom are visibly in this episode). When she confesses to Will that Peter screwed her over, he forgets all about her selling him out to the journalist and lets her back in the firm. Or was it just that Alicia’s more recent betrayal stung that much harder? And will he be able to convince the other partners to let Diane back in? Or does he care, with his new “no votes, just decide and go” action plan?

On that front, I really enjoyed how much David Lee’s screen time was squashed by people essentially telling him to shut up. As entertaining as David (and actor Zach Grenier) is, he’s very outspoken and abrasive, so it’s fun to see him put in his place.

While Peter and Eli aren’t in the episode, their presence is made known by their ethical committee chief, Marilyn Garbanza, who shows up at Alicia’s hectic apartment unannounced. She claims to want to teach them about ethics, but is actually there snooping around about Peter’s Internet taxation speech. She points out to Alicia that whether Alicia wants Peter to or not, he intervenes in her business because of their relationship.

The juxtaposition in the scene is interesting, as the apparently pregnant Marilyn suffers from morning sickness while trying to get information from Alicia. Early on, she seems (intentionally or not) to use her sickness to get Alicia to sympathize and let her in, or at least not see her as a threat. Later, her sickness makes her seem weak and vulnerable at a time when she’s trying to be strong and hold her own against Alicia. Who has the upper hand here?

In addition to Marilyn skulking around Alicia’s insane apartment, Grace seems to be everywhere she shouldn’t. I knew this “Grace is suddenly a hottie” stuff was not something that was just happening to her. She’s being flirty, and to whatever degree, is seeking out the attention. Whether her flirtatiousness is the cause or the result of all the attention, I’m not sure, but she’s certainly relishing it. Meanwhile, she also seems to be getting more right wing, and now wants to fire a gun. Where’s this coming from?

So what do you think, good-wifers? Is Will being reckless? Who do you think this new woman is? Will he succeed in building a bigger, badder Lockhart/Gardner? Does Florrick-Agos stand a chance? Leave thoughts about this episode of “The Good Wife” below. 


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7 responses to “The Good Wife Recap: The Next Day – 5×6”

  1. The Good Wife Recap: The Next Day – 5×6 http://t.co/5I7zNVcRca

  2. Will’s reckless, Diane’s nervous, and Grace embraces her newfound hottie-ness: Life goes on @TheGoodWife_CBS. http://t.co/k93UMxspZ6

  3. […] Grace. As much as she may have been enjoying the attention she was getting last week, she’s now being victimized by unwanted attention again. Zach discovers that all of their […]

  4. […] of rekindling romances, or perhaps preventing such, The Skank is back. I’m sorry, I’m still being super judgy about Will’s new girlfriend […]

  5. […] and show her true feelings—to herself—about Will? How much longer will Will be involved with The Skank? Did you cry when Will cross-examined Alicia, either in real life and/or in his fantasy? How do you […]

  6. […] tries to cook a vote to expand LG into L.A., Diane confronts him, pointing out what I mentioned a few weeks ago: Will is not just moving full steam ahead, but he’s being reckless. (Diane doesn’t know about […]

  7. […] back some familiar faces from earlier in the season, as well as some familiar themes. Recalling the early days of the Florrick-Agos split, the start-up goes up against Lockhart-Gardner again, this time with Alicia and Cary opposing Louis […]

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