Episode 02 | Aired Oct 7, 2012

Will tries to win a big settlement for the firm in his first case back, and Maura Tierney guest stars
By Breia Brissey


Wow. I think The Good Wife just delivered one of the most scandalous scenes in the history of network television. My overall takeaway from "And the Law Won" was, can they even show that on TV?! They can. And they did. Perhaps forever changing the way we view ice cream.

Let me explain. Over a couple of ice cream cones, Kalinda and Nick discussed their past, giving us a little more insight into their relationship: He spent two years in prison, and expected Kalinda to be there waiting for him when he got out. Instead, she took all his money, burned his clothes, and left him behind. The conversation itself was pretty mild, but it was what was going on underneath the table that left me shocked. This is a family site, so I'm not even sure I'm allowed to describe exactly what we were led to believe happened between Kalinda and Nick in that ice cream parlor. But here's the gist, and I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks. Nick reached his hand under the table—and up Kalinda's skirt—asking, "Do you remember this?" To which she replied, "I remember you being better at it." Nick then dipped his fingers in Kalinda's ice cream. Unshaken, she continued to eat her dessert. Their relationship is off-the-charts bizarre, and certainly not vanilla like that cone.

Clearly rattled by Nick's presence, Kalinda's work was suffering. She was distracted and unavailable when Will tried to reach her. Eventually she came clean to Alicia about Nick's true identity. Kalinda's confession rendered Alicia speechless. Once Alicia realized how dangerous he was—and could potentially still be—she agreed to drop the case for Kalinda's behalf.

But Nick didn't take the news of his dropped case too well. He even knocked over some of the firm's decorations on his way out. Kalinda looked on, all too pleased. And Nick blew her an ominous kiss with two of his fingers. (I'll let you draw your own conclusions about that particular gesture.) But we haven't seen the end of Nick's business at Lockhart/Gardner. After Clarke Hayden learned that Alicia had cut ties with Nick, he insisted that she retain Nick's case for financial purposes. And the plot thickens, as they say.

To show his displeasure, Nick turned the tables on his Mrs. In the season opener Kalinda sat right in front of the door with her gun loaded, waiting for the person on the other side. This time it was Nick waiting for Kalinda with a loaded gun. She basically ignored him, which pissed him off. So naturally he punched a mirror. As she cleaned up his bloodied hand, Nick confessed that he loved Kalinda and always would. Then they kissed. Because that totally makes sense! (Or not.)

Meanwhile, with Will's suspension finally over, he returned to the court room hoping to make a big splash for the firm. When you're $60 million in debt, you have to make big moves. And with trustee Hayden cutting 30 percent of the staff, they needed to take the wins where they could get them. Diane lovingly gave Will and introduction to trial law book, you know, just in case. And told him it would be embarrassing if he didn't win. Nothing like a bit of encouragement from your co-workers!

But the case was a good one. Will was representing a woman suing the city of Chicago for the wrongful death of her son. He died during an anti-NATO demonstration after a police officer shot him with a stun gun three times. Early on, Will got a nice $800,000 settlement offer. But he chose to turn it down, assuring Diane and Clarke Hayden that he could get double that amount with the fiancée's testimony. Clarke told Will to accept the first offer. "This is how you got into this hole. Placing passion over pragmatism." But as trustee, Clarke could only tell them not to take on a case. He had no say in whether or not they accepted an award. So Will went back to court to put the fiancée of the deceased on the stand.

Unfortunately, it came out that she'd ended the engagement prior to his death. And thanks to Illinois Supreme Court rule 243, it was actually a jury member that brought out this information in the form of an additional question. This became a problem as jurors continued to bring up questions, throwing both the prosecution and defense off their game with all the unexpected questioning. At least it wasn't a rogue juror like they originally thought. But the new questions, and the less-than-sympathetic testimony from the fiancée made the original $800,000 offer seem like a pipe dream.

Fortunately for Will (and Lockhart/Gardner's finances) Kalinda was able to uncover some damning information about the police officer working the demonstration. The cops at the protest were going around "sticking" people with red stickers if they were presumed to be a threat. The deceased appeared to have one of those stickers, but a closer look revealed it was just a red smiley face button. And and even closer one showed that the button had been removed from his backpack right after he died. Clearly, the officer had tried to cover up his tracks, and it was just the information that Will needed to get the reward he set out for. A $3.5 million settlement is just a drop in the bucket when you're $60 million in debt. But it's certainly a step in the right direction, and a least a morale booster for Will's first case back.

Something to note: It was a bit of a throwaway line, but I loved when Diane told Alicia to help Will on the case because "he's better when he has someone to impress." I know we've reached some what of a standstill with Will and Alicia's relationship. But lines like that certainly prove that we haven't seen the last of that couple.

So now back to that ever-looming Lockhart/Gardner debt: Clarke Hayden was cutting staff members left and right. It seemed as though he was turning to Alicia for her opinions more than he should. And it was even stranger when he seemingly took all her advice. (For example, firing an entire department except for the woman Alicia said she liked.) When Alicia confronted him about it later, he pretty much denied any real connection, saying he had consulted with many employees. But the whole thing was pretty fishy. It's not clear yet what his motives are. Does his have good intentions? Bad ones? Am I supposed to like him? Hate him? I just can't decide!

As another side effect of their poor financial situation, Lockhart/Gardner was facing serious issues with their lease. But Diane saw an opportunity for some relief with their new landlord, businesswoman Maddie Hayward. Their old landlord had gone bankrupt, so Diane reached out to Hayward (played by guest star Maura Tierney), to discuss the possibility of some relief on their new payment schedule. But Hayward didn't want to talk to Diane, she'd read an article about the stand-by-your-man Mrs. Florrick, and wanted to discuss the lease proposal with Alicia.

Quick to comply, Diane enlisted Alicia's help to present the lease relief portion of Lockhart/Gardner's bankruptcy plan. But as Alicia chatted with Hayward, it became clear that Hayward was much more interested in Alicia's personal life—specifically her role in Peter's campaign. Alicia barely had a chance to discuss the lease. She politely answered Hayward's questions. (She agrees with Peter's political views "enough." And yes, she's campaigning with him.) Before she left, she tried to steer the conversation back to the proposal, but Hayward still didn't seem to have any interest in that. Alicia reported back to Diane that their meeting went well, but Hayward didn't want to talk about the lease much.

Lockhart/Gardner aren't the only ones with financial woes. Peter was facing his own campaign financing issues. And then out of the blue he received a visit from a big-time donor. And you guessed it, it was Maddie Hayward. Her conversation with Alicia had inspired her to contribute to his campaign, even though she typically supports only female candidates. When this news got back to Alicia, she was clearly surprised. And Diane wasn't too happy about it. Even though Alicia didn't solicit any help from Hayward, it looked pretty bad when she made a large contribution to Peter's campaign, and then denied their lease proposal. (Hayward explained she was worried about the precedent it might set.) So now Lockhart/Gardner will lose the 27th floor. I guess when it rains it pours.

But at least a friendship was born out of the Alicia/Maddie meeting. Hayward has clearly taken a liking to Alicia, so it was no surprise when she asked her out for a drink sometime. Like Alicia, I misread the request. Hayward explained that she wasn't hitting on Alicia, but rather just looking for a person to share a drink with and talk like normal human beings. These two together are all kinds of awkward, but I kind of like their friendship, and I'm curious to see where it goes.

All credit goes to EW.com