The Good Wife Makes A Defensive Defendant

The System Is Riggsed

Name:	Clayton Riggs.
Age:	Mid 30s.
Occupation:	Currently: jail inmate.
Goal:	He's got a bunch! To get a lawyer to stay on his disorderly conduct case, since in the eight months since he was charged, he's had four; to get a chance to defend himself at trial, which keeps getting delayed; to be freed from incarceration and get his son back from foster care, where he has been since Clayton was arrested; failing all of that, maybe to get the bail for his DISORDERLY CONDUCT charge lowered from its current $150,000.
Sample Dialogue:

How Lame Was My Valley

Who called the meeting? Jason.

What's it about? He's back from his Silicon Valley gig -- "I didn't like it," he says, which is how you can tell he's a quality person -- and curious to know if Alicia's got any work for him.

How'd it go? It's awkward, because Alicia is weird in general and extra-weird since Eli's big announcement. Jason is smiley and ingratiating, and Alicia is stiff and only gets stiffer after he asks for a $20-an-hour raise. She dismisses him by telling him she'll talk to Lucca about it, and then, as he's on his way out, calls after him that she's glad he's back. I don't know how Jason ever got in trouble for beating up a guy he was mad at; all his dealings with can't-pick-a-lane Alicia would suggest he's got the patience of a saint.

Show Us On The Doll Where The Editorial Hurt You

Alert Type: Trigger Alert Alert.

Issue: Illinois Park College is about to vote on whether to defund its newspaper for the year after student protests over an editorial arguing that the university's decision to divest from Israel is anti-Semitic; since the editorial's author, Imogen Stowe, is the daughter of a major Lockhart Agos client, Diane is representing her.

Complicating Factors: Illinois Park College is a private institution, which means the protections of the First Amendment don't apply.

Resolution: Jason, secret former lawyer, points out to Diane that the school is like a city unto itself, what with its police department, food services, and dedicated power plant -- even the school's own brochures boast "Park intends to be a city within a city; a student can shop, dine, and even go to a movie without setting foot off the campus" -- so she can argue that its having taken over so many state functions has made Park a "state actor." Once she's established that point, Diane can go on to argue that though the student protest on this matter has been noisy, the administration is still in charge, and since the school is a state actor, it can't defund the newspaper. Success! Diane wins.

Spoiler: Diane's so impressed by Jason's deep knowledge of relevant precedent that she makes him a fat offer to work at the firm full-time, and by the end of the episode he may have less reason than ever to continue turning her down.

Scab Re-Picked

Who called the meeting? Alicia.

What's it about? That voicemail Will left and Eli erased.

How'd it go? Like everything about this storyline, it's a pointless bummer. Eli mistakes her showing up at his office (and sitting in his chair to wait for him, in a power move that, all things considered, is a little unnecessary) as a sign that she's willing to hear his apology and make peace, so he starts to repeat it. But in fact, she just wants to hear, in as much detail as Eli can recall, exactly what Will's message said. He tries to fake like he doesn't remember, but Alicia reminds him that he claims to have thought about that message every day since it happened, so Eli obliges by disgorging what he's able: "'You want to know what my plan is? My plan is that I love you.' And then he said something about Georgetown....How he'd always loved you, ever since Georgetown." "What else?" Alicia breathes. "Don't stop." Eli tells her she's torturing herself. "Which is my right," she grits. "He said he would meet you anywhere," says Eli, "and you could make a plan then." "Did he mention a place?" she asks. "A time?" He did not. What else? "Just that if this didn't make sense to you, to ignore him," says Eli. "Ignore the message. And things would go on as usual." "So when I didn't respond, he thought I got the message," Alicia summarizes. "And things-- We just-- We went back to usual?" "Yes, I guess," says Eli quietly.

Satisfied -- if that is what this emotion she's experiencing actually is -- Alicia silently glides out again, leaving Eli to his self-recriminations -- or, if he were actually starting to feel more irritated and like she might not deserve his efforts to make amends, could anyone really blame him?

And Justice For Maybe One?

Alert Type: Mission Impossible Alert.

Issue: Clayton Riggs has, by any reasonable standard, served a lot of time for a pretty minor charge, and after he silently begs Alicia in court to help him, she decides that she should, on his behalf, sue Judge Schakowsky for his part in the months of continuances that have been granted to the prosecution, deferring his trial.

Complicating Factors: Judges have immunity in cases like this, unless it can be proven that they've made shit personal, basically. And once Alicia takes over Clayton's representation from Bernie, Clayton's latest lawyer (Alicia was the first of the four, back in bond court), Bernie has a motive both to kiss up to Judge Schakowsky and to undermine Alicia, both of which he does.

Resolution: Mata throws out the case against Judge Schakowsky, thanks in part to Bernie's testimony. Bernie then turns around and takes Clayton on as a client in a lawsuit against ALICIA, for malpractice.

Spoiler: Despite her stated and re-stated stance on not wanting to be in a position for other people to tell her what to do, potential financial ruin may give Alicia incentive to reverse herself.

Let Lawyer Love In

So, that whole thing where Alicia's being sued for malpractice is not great for the firm of Florrick & Quinn, because the cap on their policy is $300,000, which is all they could afford, and will certainly be a much lower number than Bernie is seeking. Lucca says that they can always put "an investigator" on the case, but Alicia's like, Jason might be too expensive, and Lucca's like, we could probably talk him down, since we had drinks last night. Immediately, Alicia is suspicious about Lucca and Jason's friendship, as she has no right to be, and Lucca's like, WELL, SINCE WE'RE HASHING SHIT OUT, how come you told Jason you would talk to me about his coming by looking for work and then TOTALLY NEVER DID: "What's going on, partner?"

Alicia, like the shitty partner she currently is, stomps out of the conversation and into the laundry room, which is where Lucca finds her, messing around with some towels or something. Lucca waits a moment before asking, "Would you like to talk?" "I don't know anymore," says Alicia. "Do you want me to talk?" asks Lucca, starting to seem nervous about where this might be going -- and rightly so, as it turns out, as Alicia vomits up...all of this:

"I was in love. He died. I found out he left a message that he loved me but I didn't get it. Now I'm sick to death of...everything. This apartment. This laundry. The fact that things get dirty. The law. Just standing here. Sometimes I swear I just want to go into my bedroom, pull the covers over my head, and never do anything ever again. I'm drinking like I never have before, and all I want to do is have another one. And then everything just gets swallowed up by more disgust. I'm not built to be an unhappy person! I like laughing! I laugh like a banshee at videos on YouTube, and then I just sit here, alone, in this stupid little apartment, wondering what the hell happened to my life! Was it all about having two kids who I don't even know if I like anymore? And shoving them off to be someone important? Seriously, was that the point? I just-- I hurt, and I want it over, I just want it to end. I just-- I was loved, and it's over, over, so why am I doing this?!"

Alicia can, for sure, be annoying, and her crazy overreach in the Riggs case has definitely brought them to their current predicament, but Lucca is a human being, and she can't help being moved by this. As she hugs Alicia and cries a little herself, Lucca answers Alicia's meltdown with a speech that, for real, should be stenciled on samplers and pillows and t-shirts for me and my esteemed colleague/business partner/non-carnal wife Sarah D. Bunting to pass back and forth for every gift-giving occasion until one of us dies:

"You are here because I need you here. I don't like people. But I like you. I don't even think I like my brother. He bothers me. I have no friends. I'm thirty years old and I don't have a single friend. But I want to be your friend. I mean, do you have a ring or something? I'll commit. Because that's one thing you can choose: me. Here. Wanting to be a friend. Everything else is just handed to you. All you have to do is say, 'I'm willing.'"

Alicia, comforted, pulls out of the hug and nods, but Lucca very seriously tells her, "You have to say it." "I'm-- I'm willing," Alicia replies.

Alicia laughs that she doesn't. Lucca tells her that's good: "'Cause you scared me there for a minute." ...Because she thought Alicia might try to use one on the kids she maybe doesn't even like? PLEASE CAN WE COME BACK TO THAT in a future episode? Anyway: I'm glad Lucca and Alicia got to have this bonding moment. It's not great when a business partnership is tested by adversity, except for how it can confirm for everyone involved that they're one another's ride or die for life.

No! More! DRAAAAAAAAMA!

After their laundry room heart-to-heart, Alicia and Lucca have hired Jason to find proof of Judge Schakowsky's practice of "taxing" lawyers who displease him by jacking up their clients' bail -- which Jason has done, thanks to a court reporter who, because Schakowsky talks fast, started making audio recordings in the courtroom to make sure she got down everything he says. He's on his way out when Alicia stops him to tell him, in her usual annoyingly vague way, that she wasn't herself earlier. Things were swirling around in her head, but now they're in perspective. "Good," says Jason amiably. "Perspective is good." Alicia: "I just-- I didn't want you to think that I--" Jason finally decides he's had enough, I guess, and lays some shit out: "Here's the thing, Alicia. Whenever you worry about what I might be thinking, or you worry that I'm upset about what you're thinking? Just know that I'm fine. Even when I'm not fine, I'm really fine." Alicia is relieved, and lets him go...

...but she's barely closed the door behind him when she suddenly opens it back up, runs out after him, catches him at the elevator, and...

God, finally.

Alicia's in the middle of looking at her books and seeing that the firm's running a monthly deficit of close to $20,000 when Eli comes by. He starts abruptly, reminding her as soon as she opens the door, "You did end up with Will." Eli didn't keep Alicia and Will from getting together, and maybe they'd have had a few more months together if he hadn't erased the voicemail, but that wouldn't have prevented Will from getting killed: "You can't control fate!" He adds that it's hard for him to apologize, and to confess -- two things he never does -- but he did, to her, because he's sorry, he's so sorry! He's never been more sorry about anything in his life!

Really, she says. She'll talk to him later. What a difference one frenching by a hot investigator can make! Eli's shocked, but he's smart enough to know how to take yes for an answer!

Alicia and Lucca are in court, waiting for Judge Mata to rule on Bernie's suit against Alicia. Sure, Schakowsky got Mata to throw out the voice recording by putting a scare into him that the same thing could happen to Mata, but Lucca's still confident that Mata will realize how thin Bernie's case is and accept Cary's motion to dismiss -- because, oh yeah, when Alicia needed a lawyer, she had to go to the only other firm in Chicago. Anyway: Mata rejects the motion to dismiss!

Bernie is gracious in victory!

Back at Florrick & Quinn headquarters, Bernie offers to settle for $1.5 million. Lucca wearily says Bernie knows he can't get that, either from them or at trial, so what does he actually want? But Bernie stands firm! "And I disagree that I won't get it at trial. I might even get more. You're not well-liked, Alicia....People think you're rich. You're the wife of the governor, and the loser in the presidential primary. He's not well-liked either." Brrrrr! But also...he might kind of have a point!

Jason comes in as Bernie's leaving, just in time to see Alicia crack up hysterically (...literally) at her desk! He interprets this to mean she's just had good news, but in fact, it's the exact opposite! "We got shafted by the brotherhood of the robe," says Lucca. "Our insurance doesn't even come close to covering us." "And we won't be able to afford our lawyer," Alicia concludes. "Last I looked, you two were lawyers," notes Jason. "And so am I and maybe the three of us could partner up and be an actual dream team," he does not add. Lucca tells Jason they are tired lawyers, which is why she's taking off, but she tells Jason he should stay: "You should think things through with Alicia." Is that what the kids etc.?

Basically as soon as Lucca's gone, Alicia and Jason start making out, and I am here for it! They're going at it with so much focus, in fact, that when Alicia's phone rings she actually IGNORES IT!

For a while.

It was Cary on the phone, wanting to meet for a drink. He's heard from Lucca -- who was, you'll recall, a lot more receptive to the idea of joining Lockhart Agos Lee than Alicia was when Cary floated the idea last time -- that Bernie doesn't want to settle, and he knows Alicia needs a new office what with all that business with her building's HOA. "And we're looking for new associates," says Cary. "Lost half in a bit of a rebellion." Alicia sneers at the idea of coming back as an associate, but Cary tells her she wouldn't be. "You want me back as a partner?" gasps Alicia. "Diane would not want me back as a partner." But the offer is for her to be a junior partner. "You guys fired me," Alicia replies, but Cary says they didn't: "That was Dippold! Anyway, his people like you a lot more now that Peter lost the nomination." They both laugh, and then Cary adds the sweetener: "We can help you cover any loss you experience. Make it a part of your settlement. Come on, Alicia! Come on home!"

Man, she really does love to laugh. And, I guess, from her perspective, Cary's funnier than any YouTube video.

Well...almost any.