Where to begin? With the attempted sabotage of Lockhart Gardner, Kalinda’s troubled past and her rekindled friendship with Alicia, Jackie’s return and Peter’s bombshell, Sunday night’s Season 3 finale of “The Good Wife” left me feeling like the series had returned to its roots: a savory and satisfying blend of legal sagacity, emotional gravitas and humor.
Let’s cut to the chase: Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) isn’t gay, she’s flexible. Or so she revealed moments after Alicia (Julianna Margulies) informed her that her problems with the I.R.A. — oops, she meant the I.R.S. — were behind her.
Why this response to a two-year-old question should matter now wasn’t immediately clear, except perhaps as a peace offering among the feuding former friends, because at that moment Alicia’s cellphone rang and we were flung into a lawsuit, and then another, that provided some of the season’s most fully fleshed out legal maneuvering.
Lawsuit No. 1: After winning a $25 million settlement against a pharmaceutical company, Diane (Christine Baranski) and Will (Josh Charles) exhaled, relieved by the knowledge that they could finally make good on that pesky balloon payment.
Their good fortune didn’t last long.
Enter Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox), their opposing counsel, and his new ally, Patti Nyholm (Martha Plimpton), who had brought her two munchkins and manny to Lockhart Gardner. (Ms. Plimpton’s Sybilesque turn as attack dog cum doting mommy was a sight to behold.)
Lawsuit No. 2: Louis and Patti, christening themselves the Dream Team, informed Diane, Will and Alicia that they were suing the firm for $50 million for fraud and malicious prosecution. Their argument involved the (failed) judicial bribery case against Will and the judge overseeing the pharmaceutical suit. (Louis tried twice to to use his disability to influence a a second judge, a wheelchair-using Mark-Linn Baker, and his failure was priceless.)
Soon, Diane and Will offered to settle, but the Dream Team, or Super Posse, as they now preferred to be called, wasn’t biting.
“We’re not here to settle,” Louis said. “We’re here to destroy you.” He added, “We’re getting paid a lot of money to make you go bankrupt.”
Cue ominously flickering lights in the boardroom.
Soon, Peter (Chris Noth) has been deposed in the case, leading to one of the season’s most amusing scenes as he entered an elevator that Will was already occupying, only to be met on the 28th floor by Alicia, and then Eli, Cary and Kalinda. If there were awards for Most Deliciously Awkward Moment, this would be the winner.
In no time flat, Peter had dropped the big one: Yes, he told Louis and Patti, he had met with the judge overseeing the pharmaceutical suit, but it wasn’t to go to bat for Alicia because they were separated.
Was that Peter’s gubernatorial campaign we just heard crashing?
But Lockhart Gardner’s victory was short-lived. Patti and Louis had simply been the distraction. The firm’s top client had defected to them.
“A sleight of hand,” Louis said. “You were watching the right. You should have been watching the left.”
Elsewhere, Eli showed up in Jackie’s hospital room. But it wasn’t to deliver get-well wishes. Apologize to Alicia, he ordered her.
“Without Alicia, he will lose the governorship,” he said. “Your son will not win without Alicia, and I will not manage his campaign without her. So say I’m sorry, even if you don’t believe it.”
She did. We’re pretty sure she didn’t mean it.
Meanwhile, Kalinda’s past was finally catching up with her, in the form of an uncashed check from a Toronto construction company and a mystery man who had begun stalking Alicia by phone.
Was he dangerous?, she asked. Yes, Kalinda replied — dangerous enough that our leather-clad investigator had already taken retrieved a stash of guns and cash. Was she on the lam? Possibly, but it looked like she had a change of heart: as the episode ended, Kalinda had pulled a chair in front of the her apartment door, a handgun by her side. Suddenly, a shadow darkened the door and someone knocked loudly.
Meanwhile Alicia was prying herself away from the family home, now owned by Peter, as he and the children ate pizza. “Do you think it was a mistake?” Will had asked her earlier, as they rode the elevator together.
“No,” she had said, tenderly. Only now, she couldn’t force herself to move from the welcome mat outside her former home.
Viewers, can Lockhart Gardner survive? What sinister presence is lurking outside of Kalinda’s apartment? And will Alicia stay or will she go?
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