Reaction Post - Sometimes it's good to think about yourself.

The Good Wife: 4x20 Rape: A Modern Perspective.

So this is how it all comes together: Will is representing a client in civil court who is suing someone after losing her case in criminal court. The judge issued a gag order because he didn't want the media involved, she breaks it by tweeting about her rapist. Grossly, the judge holds her in contempt of the court and sends her to jail, and his version of leniency is asking her to apologize for calling the man she is suing a rapist (it's not a cynical episode, but an episode about how cynical the justice system is, and how very geared against people like Rainey). 

At the same time, Mr Bitcoin / Dylan approaches Alicia about some kind of class action against prosecutorial overcharging to take to the other partners, and finds out that the firm is representing Rainey in what seems to be a hopeless case. Soon after, Zach is mailed a video of the alleged rapist making fun of the way that Rainey was raped in a video, anonymously (and soon Alicia realizes that that's with a capital A, when things keep popping up that should help her but don't because of the way that the system is geared against them, and hasn't adapted to technology yet). The technology thing is at the centre of the episode really, because it turns out that the very information that Anonymous finds so quickly and eloquently completely escaped the police when originally searching for evidence. We also find out that an actual testimony got thrown out because of a procedural fuck-up by the police, which is now not admissible in court but can still be uploaded by one Kalinda Sharma to a platform for leaks. 

Also at the same time, Diane is starting the uncomfortable vetting process and very soon and very much to Democratic Committee Chairman's hilarious panic reveals that she will soon marry the man who "isn't a secessionist but wouldn't stand in the way of secessionists", but she's also bluntly told that the firm should not be associated with an "anarchist" like Dylan, and therefore backtracks on a previously made decision regarding the class action (and Will's not quite sure anymore if he's talking to his partner or soon-to-be candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court). Diane also takes a seat in the Iron Throne for a hot second and has a very weird powers-that-be moment with a sitting judge, who reveals to her that they've been watching her climb to the top for a while, and here she finally is, and also the problem isn't literal partner/fiancé Kurt McVeigh but firm partner Will Gardner, that "scoundrel" who should "be spurned, not embraced". Whoops?!

Cary adds to the clusterfuck by preparing his exit in a way that escapes neither Alicia Florrick nor Robyn Burdine (and it's pretty telling that Alicia knows enough about Kalinda not to ask her to investigate Cary! Have they been talking? Secretly? Off-camera? Over tequila?), and still very much wants her to join him so they can become the new "Will and Diane", because the fact that the firm is paying a non-contributing equity partner 4 million a year and is earning most of its money by representing the likes of Bishop and Sweeney makes him believe that he could do better. And I think Alicia really, really isn't sure anymore, but we'll see. It would be quite a twist to have Alicia come full-circle by working against L&G next season. 

Also: 

• A cynical system portrayed also in the sense of the big victory being the client getting out of jail without having to say sorry for calling her rapist a rapist. 
• "I can't live with myself if I apologize for saying something that is true."
• Alicia is even more torn about her decision to call it quits with Will, and has complicated feelings, which Julianna Margulies portrays brilliantly (I physically got it, that last moment).
• Secretly, my favourite moment of the episode is that lovely conversation Alicia and her daughter have about prayer. 
• Just as much as Will finds it difficult to judge which Diane he is speaking to, Cary is struggling with the Alicia the equal and friend / Alicia the partner thing. And Alicia asking Robyn to investigate him ONLY for her is a pretty good way of showing that she is, too. 
• Kalinda finds out that Robyn investigated Cary, tells her not to make promises she can't keep but then tells the panel at the firm to keep her on because she's good, and I really, really hope this all goes somewhere, because Kalinda with her (probably literal) skeletons and Robyn with her fictional ones (because growing up in the 'burbs is so boring that making up an exciting origin story is the best you can do, really) make the most fantastic team.