Episode 17 | Aired Mar 17, 2013
Alicia and Will take on an inquest at the morgue, Cary's father returns, and Eli schemes against Jordan one last time
By Breia Brissey at ew
I kind of like it when the case of the week takes a turn for the weird, and this week was just that: Will and Alicia set up shop in a morgue instead of a traditional court room for an inquest into the death of Roger Ludwig, an Illinois Supreme Court Justice. We heard the car crash in the episode's opener, but didn't see how it all went down. Ludwig's insurance company, led by Wilk Hobson (Frederick Weller), was looking to pay only a small portion of Roger's life insurance policy to his wife, Janie (Jessalyn Gilsig). Janie called in Alicia for help to prove that the car accident was, in fact, accidental, and that Roger wasn't at fault. That way, Janie could rightfully collect the $2 million the insurance company owed her.
Hobson warned Alicia that Roger's accident pointed to recklessness on Roger's behalf, and offered Janie 10 percent of the $2 million to avoid uncertainty. Alicia obviously stood by her client, and they went forward with the inquest -- a sort of faux-trial held in the morgue and presided over by Coroner Claypool (Rene Auberjonois). There were six jurors from the regular jury pool, but Claypool again reiterated that it was not a regular trial, but merely a fact-finding proceeding to determine the cause and manner of death. But as Alicia started to question the first witness, she learned the hard way that each witness could only be asked three questions. (Perhaps they keep it short because it's so cold down there?) She had her work cut out for her, so Janie called in Will for backup.
Roger Ludwig's actual cause of death was bleeding and trauma due to massive internal injuries. But the cause of the accident was still undetermined. Various details were thrown around to the jury: Mr. Ludwig was driving 10 miles over the speed limit; he was using his cell phone at the time of the crash; black ice was present. Wilk Hobson used this information to argue that Ludwig's driving was reckless. (Anyone else totally infuriated by insurance companies?)
Kalinda and New Kalinda went out to search for evidence at the scene of the accident that wouldn't point to recklessness. (Ed. note: I'm not sure how long Robyn's going to be around. But for now, I'm choosing to call her New Kalinda until she really proves herself.) Kalinda noticed that the street lights were different on the stretch of road where the crash occurred. The county had been replacing the lights with brighter LED lights. That meant on the night of the accident, Roger Ludwig entered a darker stretch of road, which could have caused his last-second course correction.
With that new evidence, Wilk Hobson took on a new angle: suicide. He showed that Ludwig had been calling his voicemail at the time of the crash. The message was from someone in the anticorruption unit of the Illinois Attorney General's office. That particular unit investigates public officials for corruption and ethics violations. And apparently, Roger Ludwig was being investigated for bribery. So Hobson cried suicide.
Hobson called in Christie Yeargin, the investigator on the bribery case. And guess what? She was investigating Ludwig partly because of his participation in a weekly basketball game. (Will just can't escape his past!) She admitted that Ludwig wasn't happy about the investigation, and he had some financial troubles that led them to continue the investigation. But there was no way she could comment on his mental state or possible suicide. Will pointed out that judges are frequently investigated in an effort to target political corruption, but that they rarely lead to charges. Even so, New Kalinda looked into the claims and found that Roger did, in fact, have money problems that he hid from Janie. New Kalinda also noted that the bribery investigation was based on a lawyer accused of bribing judges. (She obviously didn't go into much detail on that or she would have known that the lawyer in question was standing right in front of her. Awkward!)
New Kalinda also learned that prior to his death, Roger supposedly had dinner with a lobbyist friend, Jared Bigelow. They got ahold of his I-PASS data to track his trip after the dinner. Oddly enough, the details indicated that he exited the toll way at 10:37 and the accident happened at 11:42. That would mean it took him an hour to drive just four miles. So Kalinda and New Kalinda followed the lead that he stopped somewhere after getting off the toll road.
Sure enough, Ludwig had stopped off at a motel the night of his death. Kalinda and New Kalinda got the motel clerk to admit that Roger checked in alone, but left with a blonde woman. They were arguing. The clerk helped identify the mysterious woman's black SUV and said it had a specialty license plate with a bird on it.
Next up, Kalinda and New Kalinda questioned a trucker who was at the nearby gas station at the time of the accident. At first, he gave New Kalinda the runaround, remaining tight-lipped. But then Kalinda pulled him off to the side and whispered in his ear—presumably something threatening. He returned, this time willing to offer up all the information he had, and that included an apology for New Kalinda. (I loved her face when he apologized! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll ever know exactly what Kalinda said. Thoughts?) Anyway, the trucker said he didn't see the actual crash, but he saw a sedan and a black SUV following. And just like that, Ludwig's accident looked as though it might be the result of a mistress scorned.
Alicia and Will stayed late at the office to look for a precedent to present the motel clerk as a witness. The scene in the office was all kinds of awkward because Will finally addressed the big elephant in the room. He admitted that it felt like they'd been avoiding each other, which they totally have been. He asked if they could be friends again, and Alicia agreed. So let's see how that will work out for the former lovers. My guess is it won't go over too well. Alicia couldn't even share an elevator with him as they left the office as the same time. Props to her for exercising some self-control, but if you can't even share an elevator with a person, how are you supposed to successfully not avoid each other? Only time will tell, I suppose.
Back at the morgue, Alicia prepped Janie on the motel clerk's testimony, and asked her if she knew who the mistress might be. Janie claimed to know nothing about the mysterious blonde. But this backfired, because the ASA of Lake County joined the trial and put Janie on the stand to question her alibi the night of the accident. Her original testimony had her home at the time of her husband's death. But the ASA had an affidavit from a neighbor who heard Janie leave the night in question and said she didn't return until almost midnight. Instead of coming clean, Janie invoked her Fifth amendment right to not answer. Things weren't looking too good.
Come to find out, Janie suspected the affair all along, and she lied to the police about her whereabouts during the time of her husband's death. Roger had mentioned the dinner with Bigelow -- who had apparently covered up some of Roger's past transgressions. Janie drove to the restaurant, but when she saw he wasn't there she drove to some other places, and eventually just drove around angry. When she returned home, she got the call about the accident. She said she was embarrassed, so she didn't tell the police the truth. But now, instead of losing the insurance money, she was at risk for being arrested since her true alibi was so flimsy.
To get the heat off of Janie, Kalinda and New Kalinda went to question Jared Bigelow about the mystery mistress. Jared said there was a colleague from a year ago, but that Roger had ended it. Plus, she wasn't a blonde. Enter Jared's wife, Bethany, a blonde who happens to drive an SUV with a specialty license plate. Kalinda got Bethany to admit that she was sleeping with Roger, but that she broke it off the night of his death. Bethany saw an SUV speeding after Roger's car, but didn't report it because Janie's a friend of hers. (You know, the kind of friend who sleeps with said friend's husband.) Morality issues aside, Bethany's story checked out.
A drunk driver, Landon Boyce, was arrested 20 minutes after Roger's car accident. The Lake County police didn't know about it because it happened two miles into Cook County. They acquired the event data recorder, or EDR, from Landon's SUV to determine that at 11:42, the exact moment of Roger's crash, Landon's SUV swerved and braked hard before coming to a full stop. (How awesome was it when Will flipped the copy of the EDR report into Hobson's hands?) The coroner agreed, that of all the theories, this was the most plausible. And that was all Janie needed to get the full $2 million insurance amount. Hobson couldn't risk it going to the jury because if it wasn't ruled an accident, they would have to pay double. Hooray for a win in morgue court!
Back at Lockhart/Gardner, Cary got some unexpected congratulations from Diane and Will. He landed Emmonds Pharmaceuticals, a huge account that the firm wasn't even going after. Cary tried to play it off as a team move -- clearly confused by the accolades -- but Will informed him that the chief counsel for Emmonds said it was all because of Cary. And since Cary single-handedly brought in $5 million in litigation costs, it was a great move for his equity partner track. A confused Cary left to greet the Emmonds spokesman for a quick hello, and was surprised to find his father waiting for him. The elder Mr. Agos (John Shea) set up the deal, unbeknownst to Cary. Jeffrey apologized to Cary for their last awkward encounter, and then got straight to the point: He's now lobbying for Emmonds and wanted Cary and Lockhart/Gardner to help draft a medical marijuana statute to take to the general assembly
There was a competing initiative, hence Mr. Agos' need for a new one. The competing initiative could potentially cut into Emmonds' profits. Cary and his dad have an obviously strained relationship, but Cary wasn't in a position to turn down the work—even if that meant listening to his dad's underhanded comments while working together. See: "It's fantastic how quickly [Alicia] made partner. And if that doesn't light a fire under you, I don't know what will."
So Cary took the reigns on the statute, but the tension was a little too much for both Agos men to handle. They clearly didn't see eye to eye on the initiative. Cary's dad requested that a partner sit in to help supervise. Diane spoke with Cary about working with relatives, and took Jeffrey's side on the matter because she had to keep the client happy. She told Cary she'd have to sit in on their next meeting.
But that point quickly became moot. Jeffrey Agos came in with the news that Emmonds had decided to go with another law firm. Apparently, management expressed concerns about Lockhart/Gardner's history of pursuing big pharmaceutical companies with class action suits. Diane tried to assure Jeffrey that their past work wouldn't impede their commitment to Emmonds. But Jeffrey said nothing could be done.
Even with that definitive conclusion, Jeffrey returned to Lockhart/Gardner in an attempt to salvage the deal. (He wanted more partners involved on the case.) But he underestimated his son: Cary swooped in with the CEO of Emmonds himself, who said that in spite of some nervousness from one of the company's VPs, that he definitely wanted to continue business with Lockhart/Gardner. The elder Agos was pretty surprised at Cary's initiative. Cary managed to save the deal, but it's unlikely that his relationship with his father will be on the up and up any time soon.
Meanwhile on the campaign front, Peter won the Democratic primary, beating out Maddie Hayward. Considering the ongoing drama with Maddie, this announcement seemed a little anti-climactic -- Maddie Hayward (Maura Tierney) didn't even appear in the episode. And I know Peter's got bigger political fish to fry (see: Republican opponent Mike Kresteva). But it still seemed as though they just skipped on over a pretty important political plot line. I'm hoping things with Maddie will come to a more rewarding conclusion in next week's episode.
I can't predict Maddie's future on the show, but a character we won't be seeing any more of? Jordan Karahalios. Eli Gold schemed just enough to keep himself out of trouble and to get Jordan the boot. Finally! After Peter won the primary, Eli brought up the issue of Jordan, recommending that they get rid of him. But nothing came of that discussion. Early in the episode, we were reminded of Zach's relationship with his girlfriend, Nisa (Rachel Hilson). When Nisa tweeted a picture of Zach with her family, Jordan was quick to interfere noticing that Nisa's father donated to a Hamas charity organizations that had terrorist affiliations. Jordan called in Zach to discuss the potential harm it might have on the campaign, and Eli sat back and let him dig his own grave.
Zach ended things with Nisa, and when Alicia found out Jordan had interfered, she was furious. He'd way overstepped his bounds. Because she's whip smart, Alicia also called Eli out, even though he wasn't technically involved. "I don't know what the game is here, but if you're using me, stop."
But the damage had already been done. Peter fired Jordan for getting involved in family business. Jordan had some harsh words for Eli before departing: "You’re going to die a sad and lonely old man because you don’t trust anyone." But I don't think it affected Eli too much. He's dealt with worse. And apparently, Zach wasn't all that upset about the demise of his relationship. He later told Alicia he was going to break up with Nisa anyway since college was right around the corner.
But really, the most important thing about this episode was that it served as a lead in to next week's all-new episode. We saw every one getting ready for the Chicago Shamrock Dinner -- a fancy political event in which all of our favorite characters will attend. That includes Diane and Will who were invited to purchase a table for the first time. Will did check with Alicia first, wanting to make sure Peter wouldn't have a problem if he was there. But it looks like Peter's going to be too busy dealing with Mike Kresteva to care about Will. They set up the return of Alicia's mother (Stockard Channing). And if the previews are any indication, it looks like it's going to be bananas -- in a good way. I'm I the only one unnaturally excited for this fictional event? I hope not.
Alicia and Will take on an inquest at the morgue, Cary's father returns, and Eli schemes against Jordan one last time
By Breia Brissey at ew
I kind of like it when the case of the week takes a turn for the weird, and this week was just that: Will and Alicia set up shop in a morgue instead of a traditional court room for an inquest into the death of Roger Ludwig, an Illinois Supreme Court Justice. We heard the car crash in the episode's opener, but didn't see how it all went down. Ludwig's insurance company, led by Wilk Hobson (Frederick Weller), was looking to pay only a small portion of Roger's life insurance policy to his wife, Janie (Jessalyn Gilsig). Janie called in Alicia for help to prove that the car accident was, in fact, accidental, and that Roger wasn't at fault. That way, Janie could rightfully collect the $2 million the insurance company owed her.
Hobson warned Alicia that Roger's accident pointed to recklessness on Roger's behalf, and offered Janie 10 percent of the $2 million to avoid uncertainty. Alicia obviously stood by her client, and they went forward with the inquest -- a sort of faux-trial held in the morgue and presided over by Coroner Claypool (Rene Auberjonois). There were six jurors from the regular jury pool, but Claypool again reiterated that it was not a regular trial, but merely a fact-finding proceeding to determine the cause and manner of death. But as Alicia started to question the first witness, she learned the hard way that each witness could only be asked three questions. (Perhaps they keep it short because it's so cold down there?) She had her work cut out for her, so Janie called in Will for backup.
Roger Ludwig's actual cause of death was bleeding and trauma due to massive internal injuries. But the cause of the accident was still undetermined. Various details were thrown around to the jury: Mr. Ludwig was driving 10 miles over the speed limit; he was using his cell phone at the time of the crash; black ice was present. Wilk Hobson used this information to argue that Ludwig's driving was reckless. (Anyone else totally infuriated by insurance companies?)
Kalinda and New Kalinda went out to search for evidence at the scene of the accident that wouldn't point to recklessness. (Ed. note: I'm not sure how long Robyn's going to be around. But for now, I'm choosing to call her New Kalinda until she really proves herself.) Kalinda noticed that the street lights were different on the stretch of road where the crash occurred. The county had been replacing the lights with brighter LED lights. That meant on the night of the accident, Roger Ludwig entered a darker stretch of road, which could have caused his last-second course correction.
With that new evidence, Wilk Hobson took on a new angle: suicide. He showed that Ludwig had been calling his voicemail at the time of the crash. The message was from someone in the anticorruption unit of the Illinois Attorney General's office. That particular unit investigates public officials for corruption and ethics violations. And apparently, Roger Ludwig was being investigated for bribery. So Hobson cried suicide.
Hobson called in Christie Yeargin, the investigator on the bribery case. And guess what? She was investigating Ludwig partly because of his participation in a weekly basketball game. (Will just can't escape his past!) She admitted that Ludwig wasn't happy about the investigation, and he had some financial troubles that led them to continue the investigation. But there was no way she could comment on his mental state or possible suicide. Will pointed out that judges are frequently investigated in an effort to target political corruption, but that they rarely lead to charges. Even so, New Kalinda looked into the claims and found that Roger did, in fact, have money problems that he hid from Janie. New Kalinda also noted that the bribery investigation was based on a lawyer accused of bribing judges. (She obviously didn't go into much detail on that or she would have known that the lawyer in question was standing right in front of her. Awkward!)
New Kalinda also learned that prior to his death, Roger supposedly had dinner with a lobbyist friend, Jared Bigelow. They got ahold of his I-PASS data to track his trip after the dinner. Oddly enough, the details indicated that he exited the toll way at 10:37 and the accident happened at 11:42. That would mean it took him an hour to drive just four miles. So Kalinda and New Kalinda followed the lead that he stopped somewhere after getting off the toll road.
Sure enough, Ludwig had stopped off at a motel the night of his death. Kalinda and New Kalinda got the motel clerk to admit that Roger checked in alone, but left with a blonde woman. They were arguing. The clerk helped identify the mysterious woman's black SUV and said it had a specialty license plate with a bird on it.
Next up, Kalinda and New Kalinda questioned a trucker who was at the nearby gas station at the time of the accident. At first, he gave New Kalinda the runaround, remaining tight-lipped. But then Kalinda pulled him off to the side and whispered in his ear—presumably something threatening. He returned, this time willing to offer up all the information he had, and that included an apology for New Kalinda. (I loved her face when he apologized! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll ever know exactly what Kalinda said. Thoughts?) Anyway, the trucker said he didn't see the actual crash, but he saw a sedan and a black SUV following. And just like that, Ludwig's accident looked as though it might be the result of a mistress scorned.
Alicia and Will stayed late at the office to look for a precedent to present the motel clerk as a witness. The scene in the office was all kinds of awkward because Will finally addressed the big elephant in the room. He admitted that it felt like they'd been avoiding each other, which they totally have been. He asked if they could be friends again, and Alicia agreed. So let's see how that will work out for the former lovers. My guess is it won't go over too well. Alicia couldn't even share an elevator with him as they left the office as the same time. Props to her for exercising some self-control, but if you can't even share an elevator with a person, how are you supposed to successfully not avoid each other? Only time will tell, I suppose.
Back at the morgue, Alicia prepped Janie on the motel clerk's testimony, and asked her if she knew who the mistress might be. Janie claimed to know nothing about the mysterious blonde. But this backfired, because the ASA of Lake County joined the trial and put Janie on the stand to question her alibi the night of the accident. Her original testimony had her home at the time of her husband's death. But the ASA had an affidavit from a neighbor who heard Janie leave the night in question and said she didn't return until almost midnight. Instead of coming clean, Janie invoked her Fifth amendment right to not answer. Things weren't looking too good.
Come to find out, Janie suspected the affair all along, and she lied to the police about her whereabouts during the time of her husband's death. Roger had mentioned the dinner with Bigelow -- who had apparently covered up some of Roger's past transgressions. Janie drove to the restaurant, but when she saw he wasn't there she drove to some other places, and eventually just drove around angry. When she returned home, she got the call about the accident. She said she was embarrassed, so she didn't tell the police the truth. But now, instead of losing the insurance money, she was at risk for being arrested since her true alibi was so flimsy.
To get the heat off of Janie, Kalinda and New Kalinda went to question Jared Bigelow about the mystery mistress. Jared said there was a colleague from a year ago, but that Roger had ended it. Plus, she wasn't a blonde. Enter Jared's wife, Bethany, a blonde who happens to drive an SUV with a specialty license plate. Kalinda got Bethany to admit that she was sleeping with Roger, but that she broke it off the night of his death. Bethany saw an SUV speeding after Roger's car, but didn't report it because Janie's a friend of hers. (You know, the kind of friend who sleeps with said friend's husband.) Morality issues aside, Bethany's story checked out.
A drunk driver, Landon Boyce, was arrested 20 minutes after Roger's car accident. The Lake County police didn't know about it because it happened two miles into Cook County. They acquired the event data recorder, or EDR, from Landon's SUV to determine that at 11:42, the exact moment of Roger's crash, Landon's SUV swerved and braked hard before coming to a full stop. (How awesome was it when Will flipped the copy of the EDR report into Hobson's hands?) The coroner agreed, that of all the theories, this was the most plausible. And that was all Janie needed to get the full $2 million insurance amount. Hobson couldn't risk it going to the jury because if it wasn't ruled an accident, they would have to pay double. Hooray for a win in morgue court!
Back at Lockhart/Gardner, Cary got some unexpected congratulations from Diane and Will. He landed Emmonds Pharmaceuticals, a huge account that the firm wasn't even going after. Cary tried to play it off as a team move -- clearly confused by the accolades -- but Will informed him that the chief counsel for Emmonds said it was all because of Cary. And since Cary single-handedly brought in $5 million in litigation costs, it was a great move for his equity partner track. A confused Cary left to greet the Emmonds spokesman for a quick hello, and was surprised to find his father waiting for him. The elder Mr. Agos (John Shea) set up the deal, unbeknownst to Cary. Jeffrey apologized to Cary for their last awkward encounter, and then got straight to the point: He's now lobbying for Emmonds and wanted Cary and Lockhart/Gardner to help draft a medical marijuana statute to take to the general assembly
There was a competing initiative, hence Mr. Agos' need for a new one. The competing initiative could potentially cut into Emmonds' profits. Cary and his dad have an obviously strained relationship, but Cary wasn't in a position to turn down the work—even if that meant listening to his dad's underhanded comments while working together. See: "It's fantastic how quickly [Alicia] made partner. And if that doesn't light a fire under you, I don't know what will."
So Cary took the reigns on the statute, but the tension was a little too much for both Agos men to handle. They clearly didn't see eye to eye on the initiative. Cary's dad requested that a partner sit in to help supervise. Diane spoke with Cary about working with relatives, and took Jeffrey's side on the matter because she had to keep the client happy. She told Cary she'd have to sit in on their next meeting.
But that point quickly became moot. Jeffrey Agos came in with the news that Emmonds had decided to go with another law firm. Apparently, management expressed concerns about Lockhart/Gardner's history of pursuing big pharmaceutical companies with class action suits. Diane tried to assure Jeffrey that their past work wouldn't impede their commitment to Emmonds. But Jeffrey said nothing could be done.
Even with that definitive conclusion, Jeffrey returned to Lockhart/Gardner in an attempt to salvage the deal. (He wanted more partners involved on the case.) But he underestimated his son: Cary swooped in with the CEO of Emmonds himself, who said that in spite of some nervousness from one of the company's VPs, that he definitely wanted to continue business with Lockhart/Gardner. The elder Agos was pretty surprised at Cary's initiative. Cary managed to save the deal, but it's unlikely that his relationship with his father will be on the up and up any time soon.
Meanwhile on the campaign front, Peter won the Democratic primary, beating out Maddie Hayward. Considering the ongoing drama with Maddie, this announcement seemed a little anti-climactic -- Maddie Hayward (Maura Tierney) didn't even appear in the episode. And I know Peter's got bigger political fish to fry (see: Republican opponent Mike Kresteva). But it still seemed as though they just skipped on over a pretty important political plot line. I'm hoping things with Maddie will come to a more rewarding conclusion in next week's episode.
I can't predict Maddie's future on the show, but a character we won't be seeing any more of? Jordan Karahalios. Eli Gold schemed just enough to keep himself out of trouble and to get Jordan the boot. Finally! After Peter won the primary, Eli brought up the issue of Jordan, recommending that they get rid of him. But nothing came of that discussion. Early in the episode, we were reminded of Zach's relationship with his girlfriend, Nisa (Rachel Hilson). When Nisa tweeted a picture of Zach with her family, Jordan was quick to interfere noticing that Nisa's father donated to a Hamas charity organizations that had terrorist affiliations. Jordan called in Zach to discuss the potential harm it might have on the campaign, and Eli sat back and let him dig his own grave.
Zach ended things with Nisa, and when Alicia found out Jordan had interfered, she was furious. He'd way overstepped his bounds. Because she's whip smart, Alicia also called Eli out, even though he wasn't technically involved. "I don't know what the game is here, but if you're using me, stop."
But the damage had already been done. Peter fired Jordan for getting involved in family business. Jordan had some harsh words for Eli before departing: "You’re going to die a sad and lonely old man because you don’t trust anyone." But I don't think it affected Eli too much. He's dealt with worse. And apparently, Zach wasn't all that upset about the demise of his relationship. He later told Alicia he was going to break up with Nisa anyway since college was right around the corner.
But really, the most important thing about this episode was that it served as a lead in to next week's all-new episode. We saw every one getting ready for the Chicago Shamrock Dinner -- a fancy political event in which all of our favorite characters will attend. That includes Diane and Will who were invited to purchase a table for the first time. Will did check with Alicia first, wanting to make sure Peter wouldn't have a problem if he was there. But it looks like Peter's going to be too busy dealing with Mike Kresteva to care about Will. They set up the return of Alicia's mother (Stockard Channing). And if the previews are any indication, it looks like it's going to be bananas -- in a good way. I'm I the only one unnaturally excited for this fictional event? I hope not.