'The Good Wife': Alicia Emerges Victorious

CBS

Alicia gets the job. After weeks of sustained rivalry, the competition between Alicia and Cary for an Associate position with their Chicago law firm has ended. Alicia is the winner and Cary, who has been politicking with unusual (for him) obviousness, is let go—though not without moment of quiet fury. He will, we are assured, immediately go to work for Peter's bitter enemy, his successor as State's Attorney. And the picture won't be a pretty one.

In the meantime, Alicia helps her firm protect the substantial financial interests of a client whose rocker husband is about to divorce her in favor of a much younger model. On the eve of a contested divorce settlement, the rocker is gravely injured (one has to admire the script-writer's thirst for synchronicity) in a motorcycle accident and is on life supports, presumably for the rest of his life. The older wife wants to keep him alive, though vegetative, on grounds that he always had a zest for life (the ironies abound), failing to mention that until the divorce agreement is complete she would control the rocker's $40 million estate. The new wife wants to pull the plug, on grounds that the rocker always had a zest for life (and possibly because as his widow she would inherit the $40 million).

A shrewd judge rules in favor of the old wife, Alicia's client, but awards wife No. 2 a $1 million/year consolation. Everyone is happy except Cary, though Alicia's moment of triumph is shaded by the discovery that Peter's lawyer, who has helped bring badly-need clients to Alicia's firm, expects a quid pro quo. Alicia must be an active participant in Peter's bid for reelection, something Alicia had declared she was unwilling to do. In Chicago, no free lunch.