Episode 10 | Aired Dec 2, 2012
Two defendants get accused of the same crime, Eli gets a visitor from the Justice Department, and Kalinda tells Nick he has to go
By Breia Brissey @ EW
Last week's episode of The Good Wife was easily my favorite of the season. It was definitely a tough act to follow, but I think "Battle of the Proxies" did a pretty good job. And I can say that even though there was a Kalinda/Nick story line!
The case of the week was actually two cases: two men were facing charges for murdering the same woman. How is that possible? The victim, Brandy, had been attending an outdoor music festival in Chicago where she was murdered. Her body was then transported 50 miles south to Minooka, Ill., her hometown, and dumped. So in Chicago, Will was defending Troy—a local executive with a spotless record—against Laura Hellinger's prosecution. Meanwhile, Gary—a jealous ex-boyfriend of Brandy's—was being tried for the same crime in Minooka. Will was not allowed to bring up the other trial in court, per Judge Morris' (Jane Alexander) orders, even though the court in Minooka was referring to the case in Chicago. Morris told Will if another person (i.e. Gary) was found guilty of the murder, then, and only then, could he present that evidence to the jury. So to help facilitate a win in Chicago, Alicia went to Minooka to aid the prosecution there.
But Alicia wasn't welcomed with open arms. Lee (Reed Birney), the head of the prosecution there, had no interest in her help—even with the promise of access to Cooke County files. Will told Alicia not to worry, that he'd want their help eventually. Eventually came in the form of a clay loam soil analysis: The soil found at the concert site was also found on the defendant's shoes—even though he claimed to have never been there. That made Lee a believer, and he graciously accepted all of Alicia's further aid.
After Will had some success in the court room using a clever earplug demonstration ("I'm not being murdered! I'm just screaming in the hallway!"), Hellinger recognized that she might be in trouble. So she sought the help of Matan Brody. (Can't say that I've missed that guy!) So with Matan and Alicia aiding the defense and prosecution, respectively, the case in Minooka became a battle of the proxies, hence the episode's title.
While the case went back-and-forth in Minooka, the same thing was happening in Chicago. Hellinger was giving Will a run for his money, playing on his predictability. But the testimony of a drunk, pot-smoking concert-goer helped Kalinda figure out that Troy was, in fact, guilty of murder. A previously unreported detail—the logo of the company Troy worked for on the blanket that the murderer carried the victim out of the woods in—made it pretty clear to Will & Co. that Troy was the guilty one. It put everyone in an awkward position of still representing their client while they were helping the Minooka prosecution try to convict an innocent man.
In the end, both Troy and Gary were found guilty. The only upside of Gary's wrongful conviction in Minooka is the fact that Will and Hellinger can use the information they gathered for the Chicago case and pass it along for his appeal. (I guess that's what helps him sleep at night.) Another—possible—upside? Will had to buy Hellinger a drink because he lost his case. These two seem to be hitting it off, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Meanwhile, Eli Gold was rudely interrupted from his classical music when a nosy neighbor in a restaurant started chatting him up. As it turns out, the nosy neighbor was really Department of Justice official, David LaGuardia (guest star Hamish Linklater). LaGuardia brought up Eli's time as a crisis manager for a company called Wooster Graph Industries. That was enough to send Eli running to Diane.
Eli expressed his concerns about the DOJ agent, but was adamant that everything he did while managing the bad publicity of Wooster Graph's IPO was legal. Diane told him he had nothing to worry about, but then Eli presented the photo of him and Kalinda. (It's the one that Nick illegally recovered from Lana's apartment after he trashed it a few weeks ago.) That was enough to get Diane's attention, and Eli asked that she keep this strictly confidential—no Will, no Alicia—so that the rumor of an investigation would not hurt Peter's campaign.
Diane and Eli met with LaGuardia trying to figure out why the public integrity division was looking into Eli. LaGuardia played it pretty cool until he was shown the photo of Eli with Kalinda. You could tell how visibly uncomfortable LaGuardia became after he saw the photo. He claimed to have no previous knowledge of the picture, and said if it was from the DOJ that someone had broken the law in giving it to Eli. (And since we know Nick stole it from Lana's apartment, yes, the acquisition of the photograph was definitely illegal.)
LaGuardia then (sorta) came clean about the investigation. He claimed some of Eli's former crisis management clients had recently become donors to his wife's campaign. LaGuardia said he believed Eli might have offered savings to clients in exchanged for contributions to her campaign. Still confident that Eli had done nothing wrong, Diane and Eli met with the accordion-playing Mr. LaGuardia again. This time, he upped the ante: He told Eli he'd drop any charges against him in trade for indiscretions of the candidate. Eli refused to turn on his ex-wife, but he didn't have to. LaGuardia was offering to drop charges in a trade for a proffer on Peter Florrick. This revelation was met with two very emphatic "go to hell's" from Eli and Diane. In retrospect, that was probably not the smartest move on their part. By the episode's end, LaGuardia brought his staff to raid Eli Gold's office. The hard drives, cell phones, everything were all confiscated. That can't be good.
Back on the home front, Alicia discovered a rather interesting saved query while searching Chum Hum: "What are types of condoms?" To say she was shocked would probably be an understatement. Seeking the offender of the PG-13 rated search, Alicia went straight to Zach. She asked her son if they needed to have a conversation about sex, and explained what she found on the computer. But tech savvy Zach couldn't have been the culprit! He knows how to scrub a search cache clean: "Okay thanks. Let's not rub your sophistication in my face, please," Alicia quipped. Zach pointed the blame at the other Florrick child, Grace, who's continued to date bad-boy Connor since we last saw her.
Alicia had an equally awkward conversation with Grace about sex, while Grace's stuffed horse looked on. But after the chat it seemed like Grace was innocent of the "crime" too. Who else did that leave? Later Grace was showing Chum Humming "sex," so I assumed she was the guilty party after all. But leave it to Zach's computer skills to determine the true culprit. It was Jackie!! Ewww.com!! At least it possibly confirms my suspicions that more than just care-taking might be going on with the elder Mrs. Florrick and Cristian. Alicia and Zach hilariously agreed to never speak of that discovery ever again. Can I get in on that pact?
In much more serious news, Nick came to Lockhart/Gardner demanding that Cary be removed from his case. That run-in last week left Nick pretty unhappy, I guess. But doesn't that guy live in a perpetual state of unhappiness? Alicia told Nick she needed a moment. When she returned, she said that the firm could no longer represent him because it was no longer to their benefit. She never spoke with the partners like she said Nick she did, and he saw right through that. He told her to never speak of the potential drug smuggling charges to anyone. And when she asked if he was threatening her, he simply replied: "You decide." It was not at all reassuring. Equally troublesome was Kalinda's reaction to all of this. Alicia hoped that she did the right thing, but still worried about her safety. Kalinda told her neither she nor Alicia was in danger, but her face told a different story.
Later Kalinda made a trip to the tow truck company, where she attempted to hit Bill, Nick's henchman, with her car. He managed to escape and grab a gun. But before he could get off a shot, she backed her car into him! Never make Kalinda mad. It doesn't end well. She shot open the trunk of one of the cars and found—you guessed it!—drugs. Kalinda told a badly hurt Bill to tell Nick that she'd be at work: "It's time to end this."
Nick met Kalinda at Lockhart/Gardner, and told her to call him next time she wanted his attention. But she promised there wouldn't be a next time. She then explained that he would be leaving. She said she'd called the police about his drug smuggling, and they'd already be at his place of business. She gave him a map, and a key to a locker full of money. "Take it and go. There's nothing left between us, Nick. Nothing. So why don't you get the hell out of here?" He didn't believe she'd actually called the cops, so asked what her plan B was. That was the last we saw of Nick in the episode.
I was slightly concerned, like Alicia was, when Kalinda was late to their drinks date. But Kalinda finally showed and reassured Alicia that they were both safe. Kalinda was insistent that Nick was never coming back.
So now for important questions: Did Kalinda kill Nick?! So I know that's a bit of an overreaction, but how else can she be so sure he'll never return? What was her mysterious plan B? I highly doubt Nick left without a fight. How do you feel about Will and Laura Hellinger becoming an item? They've been pretty flirty lately. And were you surprised that Jackie was the one searching for types of condoms? Sound off in the comments.
Two defendants get accused of the same crime, Eli gets a visitor from the Justice Department, and Kalinda tells Nick he has to go
By Breia Brissey @ EW
Last week's episode of The Good Wife was easily my favorite of the season. It was definitely a tough act to follow, but I think "Battle of the Proxies" did a pretty good job. And I can say that even though there was a Kalinda/Nick story line!
The case of the week was actually two cases: two men were facing charges for murdering the same woman. How is that possible? The victim, Brandy, had been attending an outdoor music festival in Chicago where she was murdered. Her body was then transported 50 miles south to Minooka, Ill., her hometown, and dumped. So in Chicago, Will was defending Troy—a local executive with a spotless record—against Laura Hellinger's prosecution. Meanwhile, Gary—a jealous ex-boyfriend of Brandy's—was being tried for the same crime in Minooka. Will was not allowed to bring up the other trial in court, per Judge Morris' (Jane Alexander) orders, even though the court in Minooka was referring to the case in Chicago. Morris told Will if another person (i.e. Gary) was found guilty of the murder, then, and only then, could he present that evidence to the jury. So to help facilitate a win in Chicago, Alicia went to Minooka to aid the prosecution there.
But Alicia wasn't welcomed with open arms. Lee (Reed Birney), the head of the prosecution there, had no interest in her help—even with the promise of access to Cooke County files. Will told Alicia not to worry, that he'd want their help eventually. Eventually came in the form of a clay loam soil analysis: The soil found at the concert site was also found on the defendant's shoes—even though he claimed to have never been there. That made Lee a believer, and he graciously accepted all of Alicia's further aid.
After Will had some success in the court room using a clever earplug demonstration ("I'm not being murdered! I'm just screaming in the hallway!"), Hellinger recognized that she might be in trouble. So she sought the help of Matan Brody. (Can't say that I've missed that guy!) So with Matan and Alicia aiding the defense and prosecution, respectively, the case in Minooka became a battle of the proxies, hence the episode's title.
While the case went back-and-forth in Minooka, the same thing was happening in Chicago. Hellinger was giving Will a run for his money, playing on his predictability. But the testimony of a drunk, pot-smoking concert-goer helped Kalinda figure out that Troy was, in fact, guilty of murder. A previously unreported detail—the logo of the company Troy worked for on the blanket that the murderer carried the victim out of the woods in—made it pretty clear to Will & Co. that Troy was the guilty one. It put everyone in an awkward position of still representing their client while they were helping the Minooka prosecution try to convict an innocent man.
In the end, both Troy and Gary were found guilty. The only upside of Gary's wrongful conviction in Minooka is the fact that Will and Hellinger can use the information they gathered for the Chicago case and pass it along for his appeal. (I guess that's what helps him sleep at night.) Another—possible—upside? Will had to buy Hellinger a drink because he lost his case. These two seem to be hitting it off, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Meanwhile, Eli Gold was rudely interrupted from his classical music when a nosy neighbor in a restaurant started chatting him up. As it turns out, the nosy neighbor was really Department of Justice official, David LaGuardia (guest star Hamish Linklater). LaGuardia brought up Eli's time as a crisis manager for a company called Wooster Graph Industries. That was enough to send Eli running to Diane.
Eli expressed his concerns about the DOJ agent, but was adamant that everything he did while managing the bad publicity of Wooster Graph's IPO was legal. Diane told him he had nothing to worry about, but then Eli presented the photo of him and Kalinda. (It's the one that Nick illegally recovered from Lana's apartment after he trashed it a few weeks ago.) That was enough to get Diane's attention, and Eli asked that she keep this strictly confidential—no Will, no Alicia—so that the rumor of an investigation would not hurt Peter's campaign.
Diane and Eli met with LaGuardia trying to figure out why the public integrity division was looking into Eli. LaGuardia played it pretty cool until he was shown the photo of Eli with Kalinda. You could tell how visibly uncomfortable LaGuardia became after he saw the photo. He claimed to have no previous knowledge of the picture, and said if it was from the DOJ that someone had broken the law in giving it to Eli. (And since we know Nick stole it from Lana's apartment, yes, the acquisition of the photograph was definitely illegal.)
LaGuardia then (sorta) came clean about the investigation. He claimed some of Eli's former crisis management clients had recently become donors to his wife's campaign. LaGuardia said he believed Eli might have offered savings to clients in exchanged for contributions to her campaign. Still confident that Eli had done nothing wrong, Diane and Eli met with the accordion-playing Mr. LaGuardia again. This time, he upped the ante: He told Eli he'd drop any charges against him in trade for indiscretions of the candidate. Eli refused to turn on his ex-wife, but he didn't have to. LaGuardia was offering to drop charges in a trade for a proffer on Peter Florrick. This revelation was met with two very emphatic "go to hell's" from Eli and Diane. In retrospect, that was probably not the smartest move on their part. By the episode's end, LaGuardia brought his staff to raid Eli Gold's office. The hard drives, cell phones, everything were all confiscated. That can't be good.
Back on the home front, Alicia discovered a rather interesting saved query while searching Chum Hum: "What are types of condoms?" To say she was shocked would probably be an understatement. Seeking the offender of the PG-13 rated search, Alicia went straight to Zach. She asked her son if they needed to have a conversation about sex, and explained what she found on the computer. But tech savvy Zach couldn't have been the culprit! He knows how to scrub a search cache clean: "Okay thanks. Let's not rub your sophistication in my face, please," Alicia quipped. Zach pointed the blame at the other Florrick child, Grace, who's continued to date bad-boy Connor since we last saw her.
Alicia had an equally awkward conversation with Grace about sex, while Grace's stuffed horse looked on. But after the chat it seemed like Grace was innocent of the "crime" too. Who else did that leave? Later Grace was showing Chum Humming "sex," so I assumed she was the guilty party after all. But leave it to Zach's computer skills to determine the true culprit. It was Jackie!! Ewww.com!! At least it possibly confirms my suspicions that more than just care-taking might be going on with the elder Mrs. Florrick and Cristian. Alicia and Zach hilariously agreed to never speak of that discovery ever again. Can I get in on that pact?
In much more serious news, Nick came to Lockhart/Gardner demanding that Cary be removed from his case. That run-in last week left Nick pretty unhappy, I guess. But doesn't that guy live in a perpetual state of unhappiness? Alicia told Nick she needed a moment. When she returned, she said that the firm could no longer represent him because it was no longer to their benefit. She never spoke with the partners like she said Nick she did, and he saw right through that. He told her to never speak of the potential drug smuggling charges to anyone. And when she asked if he was threatening her, he simply replied: "You decide." It was not at all reassuring. Equally troublesome was Kalinda's reaction to all of this. Alicia hoped that she did the right thing, but still worried about her safety. Kalinda told her neither she nor Alicia was in danger, but her face told a different story.
Later Kalinda made a trip to the tow truck company, where she attempted to hit Bill, Nick's henchman, with her car. He managed to escape and grab a gun. But before he could get off a shot, she backed her car into him! Never make Kalinda mad. It doesn't end well. She shot open the trunk of one of the cars and found—you guessed it!—drugs. Kalinda told a badly hurt Bill to tell Nick that she'd be at work: "It's time to end this."
Nick met Kalinda at Lockhart/Gardner, and told her to call him next time she wanted his attention. But she promised there wouldn't be a next time. She then explained that he would be leaving. She said she'd called the police about his drug smuggling, and they'd already be at his place of business. She gave him a map, and a key to a locker full of money. "Take it and go. There's nothing left between us, Nick. Nothing. So why don't you get the hell out of here?" He didn't believe she'd actually called the cops, so asked what her plan B was. That was the last we saw of Nick in the episode.
I was slightly concerned, like Alicia was, when Kalinda was late to their drinks date. But Kalinda finally showed and reassured Alicia that they were both safe. Kalinda was insistent that Nick was never coming back.
So now for important questions: Did Kalinda kill Nick?! So I know that's a bit of an overreaction, but how else can she be so sure he'll never return? What was her mysterious plan B? I highly doubt Nick left without a fight. How do you feel about Will and Laura Hellinger becoming an item? They've been pretty flirty lately. And were you surprised that Jackie was the one searching for types of condoms? Sound off in the comments.