'The Good Wife': Alicia finds out

The "Good Wife" case of the week is fairly boring, though it does let America Ferrera and Ana Gasteyer back into our lives as guest stars, which is always nice. But the big news is the campaign and Alicia finally finding out about "Leela."

Case of the Week


The client, Luis Rios, had a heart attack and has sent his daughter Aida to be at the deposition in his place. The deposition is of Ryan Francis, a bigwig in oil conglomerate Platico Stillman, who did not pay Luis Rios of Latin Star drilling. Platico Stillman maintains Latin Star should not be paid because they were four months late. Will asserts that it's because of the changing political climate in Venezuela. But Natalie Flores, who is interning at the firm, finds a mistranslation in the documents that renders the deal with Luis and Latin Star null and void.

But suddenly Frank Michael Thomas (an actor who also practices law, played by Fred Dalton Thompson) and counsel for the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chaves swoop in because Latin Star's Venezuelan subsidiary has been nationalized. The government is the plaintiff now, not Luis Rios and Latin Star drilling. Natalie suggests asking for a delay to assess the company's fair market value, which is what happened to a cement company she owned stock in and took a bath on when they were nationalized. It could buy Latin Star some time.

It becomes clear that dictator Chaves is completely cuckoo for cocoa puffs. He changes the law on the spot so the company cannot ask for a fair market value. Will calls it like being in a Woody Allen movie - more like Marx Brothers, if you ask me.

They take it to court and Judge Lessner is back (Ana Gasteyer), which is delightful. In my opinion. She's a little starstruck by Thomas and suggests that they work together against Platico Stillman.

When they continue the depositions, the dictator has a witness, Director of the Interior in Venezuela, who will swear that Platico Stillman's CEO admitted cheating Latin Star. Conversely, Platico has four men who will swear to Latin Star's human rights violations, which means Platico does not have to compensate.

But three of the men get in front of Chaves in the depo and back down because they have family in Venezuela and feel threatened. Kalinda goes to Cary about the fourth one, Esteban Gonzalez. She also asks him about Andrew Wiley. Cary says the more he tries to stop Wiley, the harder Wiley digs. He asks Kalinda to smooth things over with Peter for him via Alicia, then she can come clean about sleeping with Peter.

Kalinda finds that Esteban was hurt on an oil rig, but it was an offshore rig (Esteban had saltwater in his lungs when he was hospitalized). Latin Star is only land-based - but guess who has offshore drilling? Platico Stillman.

Platico Stillman offers $50 million in a settlement, with a gag order. But Chaves lawyer Thomas says no deal. It's because Chaves wants maps of the untapped oil reserves in Venezuela that Platico Stillman has and considers their proprietary work product. So it's back to Judge Lessner's courtroom. She won't sever the cases, but Will and Diane tell Thomas they'll drop out of the case so Chaves can go after his maps if they get $86 million for Latin Star.

The Relationships

Eli is still trying to get back in Natalie's good graces, but her boyfriend Andre is hanging around like a big creeper. She shows up at the election party and informs Eli she's been hired by Thomas as a translator in D.C. They have their wonderful "Lost in Translation" moment and she leaves. Awww, you're breakin' my heart, America and Alan.

The Campaign

Wendy Scott-Carr is marching out her kids and husband to gain the sympathy vote, so Eli and the DCCC know they need Alicia to do an interview too. She balks, but Frank Landau (DCCC chair) goes above her to Diane so that Alicia is forced to take the afternoon off and just like that, poof, she can do the interview. She is upset, but she's glad it wasn't Eli who went over her head.

Meanwhile, Andrew Wiley, the investigator who found out about the missing pages from Blake's report, tracks Alicia down and tells her the Blake interview was about her and he's trying to piece together the missing pages. She asks Kalinda about it and Kalinda "reassures" her it's just Childs last stab at intimidating her. She also asks if they can speak at some point.

When Alicia does the interview, Andrew calls her right before she goes on air and she threatens to sue him for harassment. On air, Alicia gives a good interview. The interviewer, Erica Hill (as herself), asks Alicia about her own political career and she laughs. It's pretty cute. As Kalinda and Will watch at the office, he comments that she's fantastic and Kalinda urges him to tell her that. Oh, Kalinda. Don't go doing that now. I still really like you, don't use your nerves about your bombshell to try to drive Alicia and Will together.

During the election, we are left wondering if Alicia voted for Peter or not, which is kinda funny. But Peter wins anyway. DCCC's Frank informs Eli the next campaign is U.S. Senate, backed by the DCCC. Innnnteresting.

Grandma Florrick is a little tipsy at the party, singing "Danny Boy" and getting all weepy. Awesome. And (dun dun dun) Andrew Wiley finds Alicia at the party and tells her that Blake's interviews were made up. Huh. But he still tells her there was a rumor Peter slept with a co-worker, but no one could substantiate it because there was no one in the department with the woman's name. It was Leela. Alicia is staggered. And leaves the party just as Peter is introduced. She dissolves into tears.

Edited to add: I had an email and a commenter both wonder about how Alicia knew "Leela" means Kalinda. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe she has heard Blake call Kalinda that at the firm.

Thoughts & Tidbits

* Chaves' attorney Thomas was basically playing himself. Actor Fred Dalton Thompson was a practicing attorney for many years, including serving on the Watergate committee, and was elected to the U.S. Senate before becoming an actor. Cool.
* Erica Hill, the interviewer, is a co-anchor on CBS' "The Early Show." That's neat, but I think it would've been cooler if they'd gotten a prominent Chicago news anchor to do the cameo.
* Julianna Margulies was just tremendous the last 60 seconds of the episode, no? She was good all episode, as she always is, but that last bit ... outta sight.
* What on earth is the fallout going to be?
* I love the U.S. Senate set-up. Plenty to keep the ball rolling in the Peter department if he's going to start eying a Senate seat.
* I hope they find a way to bring America Ferrera back, if not this season then next. She and Alan Cumming are surprisingly amazing together.

Source : http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/04/the-good-wife-alicia-finds-out.html