Wow, so the title of this week’s episode of The Good Wife, “After the Fall,” is a very literal and metaphoric interpretation of the happenings. The fall of Will Gardner and the fall of Kara Anderson. One from the heights of lawyerdom (that’s not a word, but I’m using it) and one from a bridge. Oy. Thank goodness there was some laughter this week too.

The Good Wife Recap “After the Wall” – Season 3
The Meteoric Rise of Caitlin D’Arcy
This week’s case involved a girl, Kara Anderson, who committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. The story was a bit close to home for me, so I’ll admit it was a little hard to watch that happen over and over and over. But that is not important – what is important is why this is even a case. Suicide is not illegal, so why is this in court? Because Aidan (Christian Camargo – the infamous Ice Truck Killer from Dexter) filmed it. He is making a documentary about suicide, hypothetically to help prevent it, so he set up cameras on and around this one particular bridge which is apparently a favorite for jumpers. According to the prosecution – the return of the adorably manipulative Nancy Crozier (Mamie Gummer) – Aidan encouraged her to jump, and did nothing to stop it.


Now this seems pretty simple. Of course he didn’t encourage her, and he couldn’t stop her because he wasn’t there. The real issue in the case, at least at first, is that Judge Edward Serena (Josh Hamilton) seems more than a little enamoured by the blonde sweetness that is Nancy. So Alicia (Juliana Margulies) calls Will (it used to be his case, but now she is first chair) and they decide to break out their own blonde bombshell – Caitlin (Anna Camp. That vixen!). She does a fantastic job, working her sweetness for the judge which leads Nancy gets flustered and frustrated and the judge to start siding with the defence more often. Well played. But the judge isn’t the only one who notices. So does Diane (Christine Baranski).

One of the keys to the case was proving that Aidan has called 911 when he say Kara was about to jump. But since 911 gets rid of their calls after a certain time period, Kalinda has to go through the State’s Attorney’s office. But Cary (Matt Czuchry) and Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) aren’t on the best of terms after the whole Will’s Grand Jury shenanigans. So she forces his hand by showing that the city is equally at fault – the “use this phone if you think about jumping” phone doesn’t work. The response time to a jumper on that bridge if someone does call 911 using a cell phone is over 40 minutes! So the city becomes a co-defendant and Cary hands over the tapes. And while he mildly appreciates Kalinda’s manipulation, he is annoyed about some other stuff we will get to in a bit. They still get their angry flirt on, so that’s really all that matters, yes?

As always – a lot of back and forth happens during the case, but it is ultimately won when Kalinda discovers that Kara’s dad told her 2 days prior that he would no longer support her and pay for her education because she didn’t keep up her GPA. Whether or not Aidan was in the wrong and encouraged suicide no longer mattered. The jury was going to blame mean ol’ dad. So they settle. And Caitlin? Well she rode Kara Anderson’s suicide right into being a full-fledged litigator and stealing half of Alicia’s assistant for at least a few weeks. Back the eff off, Caitlin. This is Alicia’s place of work. Or at least, that is what Alicia’s face said.

I Blame Donna Brazile
As you may have noticed, being the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention can be a one way trip up the political ladder. And quite quickly. So when Donna Brazile (who I adore for coming on and playing such a fun version of herself) asks for a meeting with Eli (Alan Cumming) and Peter (Chris Noth), Eli starts seeing a large political campaign in his future. He gets starry eyes. But he feels the only thing in his way may be Alicia and that impending divorce that David Lee (Zach Grenier) let slip he was handling, when fighting with Eli. Eli tells Alicia, partially as a way to get back at David. But it turns out that Peter’s possible divorce isn’t what holds Donna back from hugging Peter right there and naming him the Next Great Hope for the Democrats. It’s the fact that none of his friends and supporters seem to be supporting him anymore. So Eli goes on the hunt….

He talks to one of Peter’s main supporters and discovers why they are not talking up Peter as God’s Gift to Democrats. He didn’t give any of them jobs when he got elected State’s Attorney because he became all about running a clean office. So Eli tells Peter and Peter acts all scandalized at first. Dude. You were in jail and dated what amounted to a hooker. Shut up. He tells Eli that he will not succumb to the pressure!! NEVER!! So Eli realizes he may need to start looking for ways to move up in the world that don’t involve Peter’s political career.

Enter the wild west shoot out that seems to be going on at the law offices of Just Lockhart. The big open space (and ton of office space) left by the 6 month suspension of Will has the partners foaming at the mouth. Julius (Michael Boatman) plays the, “I want this and I want it bad” card. David plays the “I don’t want this so you know that I will give it back to Will when he returns” card. And Eli… well, Eli makes a tentative deal with Julius then goes to Diane and basically threatens her – she told him to make friends and he did and now they will out vote her if necessary. It is going to get ugly over there as Diane tries to deal with all these silly boys… none of whom were happy to see Will when he finally showed up in the offices again to consult. We will get to why he did that in a minute.

First back to Peter who ended up hiring that supporter that Eli talked to. And when he told Cary about it, he didn’t go well. Cary may have joined the State’s Attorney because he was pissed at Alicia, Will and Diane, but he stayed because he ended up respecting Peter for being the opposite of what he was one – a completely corrupted politician. But now he seems to be heading back in that direction, and Cary is left to deal with the fallout – like essentially demoting Geneva (Renee Goldsberry) who does not take the news well. This is why Cary was in such a bad mood. And I hope it will lead to more Cary! There has been not enough Czuchry on my TV. (FYI – it’s probably never enough….).

Behind Every Man There is a Good Woman. Or Two Nagging Sisters.
So Will (Josh Charles) is home alone, and frankly, he is good with it. He can sleep in. Not check his phone every 30 seconds. Stay in his comfy clothes. And generally look adorable. Of course when Kalinda finds him he is watching that suicide video, so maybe he’s not all hunky dory. But before we can get to that, he gets a knock on the door… it is his sister, Aubrey (Merritt Wever). She has come to check on her poor lost soul brother in his time of need. Will isn’t happy to see her. And he quickly deteriorates into a 10 year old when he is on the phone with Alicia and Aubrey asks who it is because he is using his sweet voice. His very mature response, “Shut up. No I’m not.” Wow, Will. Wow.

Then things get extra fun for Will when Sara (Nadia Dajani), his other sister, shows up too. The two of them go after Will’s entire existence. Rearragne his kitchen. Try to find him another line of employment, and most importantly find him a girl. But Aubrey tells Sara that Will has a girl – the one on the phone. No matter how much Will insists there is nothing going on with anyone. Oh Will, you may not be sleeping with her, but come on. Something is always going on with you and Alicia.

When Kalinda shows up, they assume she is the one he has been talking to and give her the third degree. They decide they approve and Kalinda is delighted in her Kalinda way at how Will is being tortured by these two well-meaning but overbearing women. So Will asks if she can get them arrested. Fabulous. Part of me was so annoyed by these two. But I also loved watching this side of Will we don’t normally get to see. And they loved Kalinda, which there is nothing wrong with at all! They also drove Will right back to work. Where hopefully he will remember his love for Alicia and not be distracted by Caitlin and her new office. Again -Vixen!

Next week: Colin Sweeney (Dylan Baker) is back! Yay!! And the week after that – Michael J. Fox. Oh, The Good Wife, three weeks in a row with returning guest stars I love?! You are too good to me!

Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @serrae

Photo: CBS

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