The Good Wife Recap: Alicia and the Heartbreaking Mystery of "The Last Call"

The Good Wife said goodbye to Will Gardner with another devastating episode

By Chris Harnick Mar 31, 2014 2:20 AMTags
The Good WifeCBS

Previously on The Good Wife: Will Gardner was shot and your heart broke. That's all the previously you really need to know.

"The Last Call" was essentially the second part of Will Gardner's swan song, a goodbye to him and his portrayer Josh Charles. There were tears. There were laughs. It was The Good Wife at its best.

The episode picked up right where "Dramatics, Your Honor" ended. Alicia was given the phone to speak with Kalinda. Yep, our girl Kalinda had to give Alicia the devastating news. Alicia's immediate response? "I can't…" And then tears. Our tears too. The Good Wife writers quickly inserted a comedic scene with Eli having to introduce Peter by reading a teleprompter with a speech written for Alicia. There are jokes about dresses and diapers and what not. Smart way to break the tension, but those tears started flowing again. And again. The episode showed how the news of Will's death affected almost every series regular, from Cary to David Lee.

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Alicia made her way from the correspondent's dinner to her car. Her grief and pain was palpable. Everything about this episode was expertly acted, especially from female leads Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski and Archie Panjabi. After receiving the news, Alicia went to Lockhart/Gardner, her home in many ways. She embraced Diane (more tears from us) and the two consoled each other. Forget about the two warring firms, these two women lost a very important person in their lives. "I loved him," Diane said. "I know," Alicia replied. "He loved you," Diane said back.

Diane got called away by David Lee and Alicia discovered she had voicemails. One from Kalinda, one from Diane and one from Will. "Alicia," he said. Followed by he'd call her back. That's it. That's the last call. This sparked Alicia's quest to find out about Will's last moments and if anybody he was with knew why he called her. She went to the judge, to Diane, to Finn (Matthew Goode) and only found out Will was angry … but not with her. He fired Damian (Jason O'Mara) off screen. So goodbye, Damian! After finding out he wasn't mad at her, Alicia envisioned Will called to say he wanted her back. He wanted the way things were (just like you, dear reader). This is what she thought about as Peter, her husband, hugged her and she looked off into the distance with cold, sad eyes.

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While Alicia was on her quest, Diane was called to deal with Will's clients. David Lee said there was one in particular who was giving him a hard time about staying with the firm and he wanted to meet with Diane today if she wanted to retain his business. So, she called him in. She listened to what he had to say and then she fired him as a client. But before doing that, she called the other major firms in town and told him what an a—hole he was and they all agreed not to take him on as a client. It was very badass and in her words, exactly what Will would've done if she was dead.

Kalinda went on a journey of her own this episode. She watched as police interrogated the guard who was in the courtroom, the guard who had his gun jacked by the client who shot Will. She listened to the police talking to Jeffrey (Hunter Parrish). She was on a mission to find out if the shot that killed Will came from Jeffrey or crossfire from sheriffs. It was from Jeffrey, and she wanted to make him pay. With the help of Jenna (Jordana Spiro), she got some time alone with Jeffrey and brought him his belt. She asked if he wanted to kill himself, to which he said yes. She teased him with the belt, but then told him he had to live with what he did. He killed her friend.

The death of Will Gardner will not just disappear from The Good Wife, it's now part of the greater story that is the series.

Gasp count: One

Tear count: Three times

Some other things:

The Alicia/Kalinda moments were a nice treat for viewers, even if they were on the phone. Can they defrost please!?

Grace tried to comfort Alicia with religion by telling her that Will was with God now. Alicia pushed back. "You think God is good. I don't find any good here," she said. We've long known Alicia Florrick was an atheist, which is rare to hear on network TV. It's refreshing to have a character so defined, especially in her beliefs.

The Good Wife airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on CBS.