JOJO WHILDEN/CBSAnd just like that Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) has been chewed up and spit out by the political machine. She is heartbroken, disenchanted and of course mad. But to quote the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt theme song, "females are strong as hell." Alicia tried to fight the system and the system won. Where does The Good Wife go from here? I can't wait to find out.
But Alicia Florrick's future wasn't the only one at stake in "Winning Ugly." Diane Lockhart, Kalinda Sharma and Cary Agos are all us in a weird state of jail or death…yes, death.
Here's what happened:
"It doesn't end, does it? You win the election, you think it's over. It's never over."
"I wish I could tell you you're wrong, but you're right. Life…sucks."
The voting scandal was all over the place. Alicia was devastated. A "man in the middle" hack was discovered and Alicia did everything to try and stop a recount with the help of Eli Gold (Alan Cummning) and Spencer Randolph (Ron Rifkin). It was a roller coaster. In the process, they discovered the hack may have been old, from Peter's (Chris Noth) gubernatorial election. But twist, the hack wasn't for Alicia, it was for a state senator. The Democratic party asked Alicia to take the hit, they'd get her a position on a commission. You watch The Good Wife. You know Alicia isn't for this. She went to her lawyer Spencer Randolph and told him what happened and they decided to reveal everything to the voting board…but Spencer betrayed her, saying she lied to him and knew everything about the hack. It was her doing. It was like Alicia just learned magic wasn't real. She found out there was no Santa Claus. She really saw what people do to others for the sake of power. Cut to Alicia in an elevator, holding back tears. The doors opened. There was Peter. Even after everything, they're all each other has. She cried in his arms.
"So you lied?" While all this was going on, Grace (Makenzie Vega) struggled with accepting the fact Alicia lied to the press about Will. Alicia told her it really was an affair. We get it, Grace. You're supposed to be really moral, but Alicia knows lying was wrong. Grace's purpose is to keep Alicia from going too far. But after everything that happened to her, Grace probably doesn't have to worry about losing Alicia to the dark side of politics and power.
"There's been more remakes of this case than Spider-Man."
Alicia's crisis wasn't the only one. Andrew Wiley (Tim Guinee) broke the news to Diane (Christine Baranski) that she presented false evidence, evidence created by Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) to get Cary (Matt Czuchry) off the hook. Diane's panic was palpable. And how lovely was her half cape dress? If she's going to go down, she's going to go down looking amazing.
After consulting with Finn (Matthew Goode), David Lee (Zach Grenier) and Cary, Diane decided she needs to be upfront about the faked metadata and accept the consequences. This could mean bad news for her, Cary and Kalinda, but they've been caught. Geneva Pine (Renee Elise Goldsberry) agreed to not pursue charges against Diane…if Diane testified against Lemond Bishop. What a mess Kalinda made. Obviously she is going to do something to save Cary and Diane and that's how the character leaves the show, even though Cary saidh he'll give Geneva testimony against Bishop. What will Kalinda do?
Where does everyobdy go from here?
Gasp count: 2.
Some other things:
Maybe it was the nature of the crisis, but I thought Diane should've been more upset with Kalinda for faking the evidence she presented. Perhaps we'll see it in the future.
Alicia's call from Kalinda...my hopes for a scene between the two of them are not dead yet.
I hope this doesn't mean Peter and Alicia are heading back to a real marriage...
The Good Wife airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on CBS.