BWW Recap: Under the Influence of THE GOOD WIFE; Steven Pasquale Guests

Alicia used to be a good wife. The kind who hosted parties, and served the right food, and made sure her guests were comfortable and catered to. At the very beginning of tonight's episode, we're reminded of this earlier, Highland Park Alicia. Watching her set the table and prepare for her dinner guest, that earlier, eager to please Alicia really comes through. The softer St. Alicia, who liked to drink a nice glass of wine at 5pm.

And then, with just a little "Oppo Research", we're reminded of why that Alicia couldn't last ...

Things just move faster now. They just do.

Things do indeed move fast on The Good Wife these days. Just four or so minutes into the fourth episode of the season, Alicia has decided to run for State's Attorney. Or she's seriously considering it at least, over a generous pour of wine. She even seems a little nervous as she sits down across from Eli, like it somehow matters now (the Steinem influence, perhaps?).

Eli Gold, for his part, can't believe his luck - and then goes ahead and pushes it anyway, by inviting Johnny Elfman, an Obama-connected, well-known campaign manager, to their soiree - without being entirely honest with either Alicia or Johnny as to his match-making plans.

The thing is, if Alicia was to go head to head with that horrible Castro right now, she'd win by eight points. Eight points. A landslide. So Eli's going to do everything he can to make this happen. Even if Elfman has had it with first-time politicians, and even if Alicia is not really in it for the people. This is Eli's chance to make history - and maybe Mrs. Florrick will be easier to manage than the good husband he's spent the last five years zipping up after.

Then again, that thick oppo research file on Alicia might complicate things, just a little ...

That's a lot of skeletons!

THE GOOD WIFE is so good at using the present to tell us about the past. Tonight's episode offers yet another clever way of revealing backstory without unnecessary exposition (when you've only got 43 minutes and 22 episodes to say so much, you really do have to be economical!).

Eli and Elfman have done their research on Alicia. They've dug up the dirt so she knows what to expect going into the race. They have dirt on Castro too, but she'll have to wait for that. First it's Alicia time, or more specifically, Alicia's family time. She's given a choice, a last minute chance to choose what she doesn't know and how it can't hurt her.

But of course - with just one more pour of wine - she wants to know.

Christianity: 3. Atheism: 0

And so it begins. Revelation after revelation about the lives that have been going on around her. Some of the dirt is hilarious, and most of it is gasp-worthy at the same time. There's Veronica's issue with dealing out a spanking to a child, and Owen - well Owen has not exactly been a good boy, in all sorts of ways.

But it is the Zach revelation that stops Alicia, and shifts everything in a different direction.

Grace might be safe in her bedroom with the school choir, advising from afar to trust in the lord, but the older Florrick child has been up to something else entirely. Turns out Nisa and Zach got pregnant over the summer, and with the help of Nisa's parents (and some lying to Alicia from Zach), they procured an abortion.

It's a tricky topic, and THE GOOD WIFE doesn't usually shy away from tricky topics. But on this one, we don't get much of an insight into Alicia's views on the abortion itself, save from a brief reference to her willingness to bring up a child, had she have known. Because ultimately for Alicia, it's that last part that matters. She didn't know. She didn't know that her child, her smiling, loving, honest Zach was actually fast on his way to becoming an adult - without her.

It's an interesting side of Alicia. Her first reaction is to get mad at Zach. Furious even. But there's something in how she keeps seeing Zach in her memories that isn't just about his lying to her. She's seeing her kid. Her baby. Elfman is right that they'll put all sorts of absent-working-mother issues on Alicia as the campaign progresses. But I have a feeling it's nothing on what she is going to put on herself.

Like Hillary, huh!

In the end, well and truly inured by wine, Alicia does decide to run.

What's she got to lose! Will is dead, her marriage is dead, and hey, now it's all out in the open about exactly what happened with her former best friend, Kalinda. Eli was shocked at that revelation, but as a viewer who misses the tequila shots and bonding of Kalicia, this was a very interesting way of reminding us just why they're not friends anymore. (The writers, bless them, have Kalinda bristle at the "best friend charge" when Eli later confronts her at a restaurant - as if to also remind us that they do know how we feel. And they wish it could be different, too. If only Kalinda hadn't slept with her husband.)

The thing is, Alicia's world is so small these days. Smaller, and more contained in some ways than good old Highland Park ever was. She's going to have to drop her key client, Bishop, and she's going to have to resolve the fall-out from the random disciplinary tendencies of her mother. She's going to have to upset her brother, and she's going to have to own the story when it comes to Zach and Nisa.

At least there's one bit of fun to be had in all of this resolving. A drink with Finn Polmar that manages to make witness prep sound really, really sexy. They're flirting, and they're flirting well, the guy who is trying to put Alicia's partner in prison, and the good wife who hasn't looked this beautiful and alive in a long, long time.

She should have stayed for another drink. She should have caught a cab, much, much later. But she left, because she's still Alicia, even at the end of a very long day. It backfires of course, her reticence, because she walks away from Finn, and right into a DUI set-up. She only had one drink (who knew this was possible for Alicia!) but that doesn't stop a photo and story leaking that suggests Alicia Florrick was caught under the influence.

The truth of course is always so much more interesting than the stories we tell ...

There's more money where that came from.

You don't start with the dirt. You end with it. And boy does the episode end with some dirty business. Earlier in the episode, Grace - the only one without a section in the oppo research file - googled her mother and discovered a brand new super pac set up to donate to Alicia's campaign. As they watched, the money kept coming in. There seemed to be some will-of-the-people, grassroots thing going on.

The rising donations helped sway Alicia's own vote for herself - but everything benefits from a little research. Had she known where the money was coming from, she might have felt a little differently about her decision. See, Bishop didn't want to lose Alicia as his lawyer, and he cornered Kalinda on the real reason that he was being dropped. It's not Kalinda's fault, exactly. He would have found out anyway. But timing is everything, isn't it.

Because Bishop started the pac that helped Alicia make up her mind to run for State's Attorney.

And now that she's in, he's let her know. Just what influence she's really under now ...

What was your favorite reveal from the oppo research file? Are you intrigued by the beautiful mother-of-the-intern that I almost forgot to mention? Did you miss Cary and Diane tonight? And that was definite flirting between Finn and Alicia, right?!

CBS's THE GOOD WIFE stars Broadway's Alan Cumming (Cabaret) as Eli Gold and Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart. Stockard Channing (It's Only a Play), and Steven Pasquale (Bridges of Madison County) also made guest appearances in Sunday's episode.

Below, check out a promo of next week's epiosde titled 'Shiny Objects'

Photo Credit: CBS

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