Reaction Post - We're in it now.

The Good Wife: 4x08 Here Comes the Judge.

In an episode themed "the stupid things we do for money, part fifteen probably", Will decides he can't afford to lose a case for a wealthy client that'll get them back the symbolic 27th floor so he pisses off every single judge in Cook county, a move that will certainly pay off in the near future. Defending a wealthy client who is on trial for making her new boyfriend kill her old wealthy husband (and it's fair to say she very likely did this), Will stupidly stumbles into a drunken conversation with the judge, finds out he is biased against Will (and like, the question isn't even if it's "true" that Will is a thief and a liar, just that the judge wasn't "right" to say those things to his face? Also the unseen client's ice-queenness did not bode well for her because whoever does not submit to the drunken charm of the judge is guilty, especially when female), then gets Alicia to ask the judge to recuse himself, then against repeated and increasingly aggressive warnings decides to pursue the whole thing into a trial thingy. In short, a succession of bad ideas blindly made into reality, that ended in a sort-of win that turned sour at the last moment when Laura Hellinger truly proved that the Ferengi proverb about teaching a man to fish is entirely true. Alicia still seemed proud of her, since she is in part her creation now, and that part was totally adorable, the little nod to encourage what turned into a judicial beating for one Will Gardner ("Are you having trouble getting what you want, Mr Gardner"? This also went really well with Will's whiny monologue at Kalinda about how everybody always roots for the underdog rather than for him. Cary learned to own that shit, Will, you can too). The whole "staying friends in spite of it all" seems to work well for Laura and Alicia, I hope she stays around, meets Kalinda (because they would have the greatest conversation about how much they love Alicia Florrick, just imagine it). 

Meanwhile in C(r)apstone, a student also named Grace killed herself which leads to a crisis for Grace Florrick, and a tentative (in a strange way very Perks of Being a Wallflowerish - because I've just spent a month or so thinking about how much I loved that book when I read it at sixteen and that I'm a bit fearful about watching the movie now, with my perspective changed) new relationship with the girl's ex-boyfriend, who finds Grace's questions about the other Grace and god and stuff interesting enough to keep her around. I didn't like this at first but then it led to a really great conversation with Alicia and a moment where Alicia realized that she isn't the only one who's been growing and changing . "I think it feels good to heal" as an an answer to why people cut themselves - and then Alicia realizing she isn't sure how Grace became the person who would say such an insightful yet disturbing thing - incredibly well-written and acted. In the end, Alicia watched television with her two very grown-up children, wondering how that ever happened, as you do.

Random notes: 

• While Grace was hanging out with her cool smoking boyfriend, campaign worker "Jay" proved himself to be so useful to Peter's campaign that he catapulted another super-motivated volunteer into a paid position, who then stalked him (via phone) right back to his batcave when he threatened to give up his existence as Chicago's dark knight to go back to his dayjob as Zach Florrick. Apparently Zach hasn't just graduated in Kalindaing, he's also pursuing a degree in Eli? Anyway, after Mike Kresteva's creepy "trackers" followed both kids around, Alicia had a harder time arguing they should be kept out of the campaign, so I guess they'll be fully involved in the "family values" thing now?
• Did you mean "Will Gardner Disbarred Lawyer"?
• The comic relief of the episode was various characters friending and sleeping their way into case-relevant conversations and then sub-poenaing former friends and lovers into the witness stand ("I'm reluctant AND pissed off"). 
• Diane: If you go nuclear, you don't leave missiles in your silo. 
• In the "I don't really want to talk about it" of the night, Nick observed Cary joking around with Kalinda, then made sure that Cary wasn't in fact gay in a hilarious display of inaptitude, then once again took note of how  Kalinda's voice isn't exactly "work" whenever she talks to Alicia, but due to a mishap was made to believe that specific vulnerable tone was for Cary, and finally had Cary beat up by one of his lackeys. Which means that Cary just got beat up because of Kalinda's VOICE WHEN SHE TALKS TO ALICIA, and jfc, imagine the kind of thing that would go down once he figures that puzzle out. I'm not sure if this is something I want to happen, except I'm pretty sure he wouldn't survive the fall-out, so maybe I do. 
• (also, the actor who plays Nick was in State of Play for the mere purpose of getting comically beat up  and then being in pain a lot)
• Kalinda also had an interesting conversation about jealousy with Will that seemed to be about how to make Nick not jealous, but would be way more interesting if it was in fact about Kalinda being jealous at someone, because maybe at some point in the future we could actually directly address the "not work" thing? I want to believe that there is some kind of long game involved here, and that there is a reason for why actual scenes between Alicia and Kalinda have been so sparse this season. 
• Also hilariously, Will offered to get the number from a bartender for Kalinda, as if Kalinda weren't the one person on the planet who can get anyone's number without even really trying. Witnesses basically throw their numbers at Kalinda Sharma, Will. Only a couple of weeks ago, a random concierge was very keen on making her happy after like a split-second. 
• "To be factually correct does not mean to be right." REALLY? Isn't that exactly what "correct" means?