‘The Good Wife’ recap: Handicap bathrooms are more helpful than you think

Welcome back, “Good Wife”-ers! I’m sorry I missed last week, not just because us Alicia-Jason shippers finally got action, but because it really set things off for what’s likely the remainder of the season, and the series! There’s a lot to keep up with, and this episode is quite the farce.

Alicia and Jason’s relationship is hot and heavy now, with them spending the better part of a lengthy, sexy weekend together — that is, until Alicia’s mom, Veronica (the awesome Stockard Channing), interrupts them, refusing to go away. So much for Alicia keeping her private life private. Veronica also has Owen (the equally wonderful Dallas Roberts) in tow, but they’re both very happy Alicia has “taken a new lover.” But amid bagels — and a grand jury subpoena for Alicia (more on that later) — we find out why Veronica is there: She was swindled out of some money and needs help getting it back.

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Alicia puts Veronica back in touch with David Lee and Cary, who hire Jason to investigate the scam she fell into. Although the scammer at first seems honest when he says he too lost a ton of money, they eventually learn the truth — fortunately, because it’s starting to look like Veronica was just ditzy. But he is in fact a scammer, and Veronica had ended up on some “sucker’s list” that con artists apparently share among themselves. Jason wants to create a new thread for Veronica to catch the guy and get her off the list, so she and Owen pretend to ask the scammer for a new, low-risk, high-payoff investment. And of course, they record the conversation, which is enough threat to get her money back.

So that’s one problem solved, but Alicia and Eli have a bigger problem: that grand jury subpoena. As we know from two episodes ago, the FBI is investigating Peter, though Alicia, Eli and lawyer Michael Tascioni (Will Patton), who last week took over for his ex-wife Elsbeth when she had a conflict of interest, have no idea what specifically for. They show up at the grand jury in hopes of finding clues.

They’re confronted by Matthew Morrison (who’s making the rounds on various shows, including “Project Runway” and “Younger”), who’s trying to stay ahead of them. He seems to succeed because Tascioni seems to say too much, giving away valuable information. Tascioni does the same thing when they meet Roland Hlavin again, but it turns out that Tascioni is quite shrewd and knows exactly what he’s doing: pretending to know more so that Hlavin will give away more information. Just like Elsbeth, Michael Tascioni is a bit eccentric but very effective.

Alicia makes a discovery that, though not entirely ethical, helps them: She discovers that one can hear the conversation in the courtroom from the handicapped restroom. Without technically saying anything, because that would be illegal, she lets Eli figure this out for himself, and he listens in on the proceedings — at least until people need to use the bathroom, and until the construction workers in another room start interfering with the audio.

But Eli does find out some invaluable information. They think the case has something to do with 2012, and questionable fundraising, and something called V-Lock. I was afraid, and still wonder, if V-Lock was actually some kind of construction material and Eli heard the wrong conversation, but there is a case that Cary worked on some years back about the people versus Lock that might have something to do with it.

So Peter’s crack anti-FBI team seems to be making a little headway, but more remains to be seen.

The other thread started last week, that is (perhaps unfortunately) continuing this week is David and Cary’s unmitigated paranoia. Why are they so paranoid? Especially Cary? David’s done stuff like this before, but why is Cary buying into David’s lunacy? Don’t they know it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, as we’re already starting to see?

They’re afraid Diane wants to start an all-woman law firm. There seemed initially to be no reason to suspect that, and Diane and Alicia separately denied any such talk. But all Cary and David do when the women say they’re not plotting anything is assume that they’re lying. It’s ridiculous.

My main problem with this whole thread, frankly, is that I still don’t understand what Cary and Diane are doing running a firm with David Lee. I know that’s ancient history, so I just go with it, but I had trouble buying it when it first happened so continuing to build on that just makes me mistrust the situation more.

David and Cary’s paranoia leads Diane to meet with Alicia and talk about joining together. She’s not necessarily looking to start a women-only firm, at least at first, but she does want to rebrand, to establish more of an identity in the changing Chicago law landscape. She also doesn’t feel that Cary poses enough of a challenge to her, or is a worthy enough partner, and Alicia is. It seems through their conversation that she comes around to the idea of a women-only—or at least woman-led, firm.

Alicia also approaches Lucca about it (fortunately, because she was barely in this episode), and Lucca suggests disclosing the conversation to the men. In the process, Alicia lets it slip that she and Jason are involved — by saying “Jason” when she meant to say “Will.” Though it’s fun and I’m glad Alicia’s moving on, especially with sexy Jason, it’s a bit sad that she made that slip of the tongue.

So what do you think, “Good Wife”-ers? What is the FBI after Peter for? Would we know? Was Ruth Eastman’s testimony detrimental, and did she take some sort of deal? Will Alicia partner with Diane for a new firm? Any early theories for the series end?

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