BWW Recap: Liar Taps on THE GOOD WIFE

All is not well in THE GOOD WIFE universe, even with those Whitney-loving goats to help lighten things up. People are lying to each other, they are doubtful of who and what to trust, and they're unintendedly revealing a lot more than just their biases.

And now the NSA is monitoring some of those revelations. Again. Hence the goats. And all the liar tapping.

Confused? Nah, it's just a regular old episode of THE GOOD WIFE, where the past is always present, and no secret stays secret for long. Except for what Will said in that second voice message. That's never been shared. Ugh. But I digress. Here are tonight's key revelations, one at a game-changing time...

Revelation One - Eli lies

He really is a little bit mad. A mad scientist, as Nora puts it, yes, but also mad in the way that sees him gunning for Ruth, no matter who else falls on the sword (including his beloved Peter). In fact, Eli can barely conceal his enjoyment at seeing Ruth struggle in her efforts to brand Peter as the new Obama-via-JFK (i.e. as presidential), and he takes a particular delight in finding new ways to set his rival up to fail.

That's clearly the plan when Mad Eli encourages the Florrick campaign to leverage Landau, the perennially dodgy DNC guy from scandals past. He's particularly gleeful when it is announced that Landau will deliver the speech to introduce Peter's newly decided run for President. That's because Eli has the goods on Mr. DNC - specifically on how Landau rigged the recent State's Attorney election.

How did Eli get those goods? From the (also perennially dodgy) bond court guy, Judge Schakowsky, who has a source willing to talk to the press - the day after Peter's announcement is made. People falling on swords all over. Except there's more to this lie than Eli ever considered.

Because...

Revelation Two - Peter lies

Peter helped rig the State's Attorney election that got Alicia kicked out of politics - and her own firm. That revelation was casually shared by Schakowsky, when he gave Eli said goods on Landau. I'll say it again - Peter helped rig the State's Attorney election that got Alicia kicked out of politics - and her own firm. That's big. Huge. And not just because it confirms Peter Florrick is as dodgy as the best of them, but because, despite rigging the vote to help his wife, when it all went wrong, the good husband let Alicia take the fall.

Watching Alicia watching her husband announce his candidacy, Eli sees the shift in how she looks at him. How she looks at her presidential husband, and he realises just how much there is to lose if Alicia finds out what Peter did this time. There is tentative repair going on in the Florrick marriage, and now Eli has accidentally uncovered what could be the final rent in their union.

Just how mad is Eli? Enough to hurt Alicia the most?

Revelation Three - Jason lies

And how about Jason? Is he mad in a different way? Is he set to hurt Alicia, too? When Alicia and Lucca decide to investigate their investigator's past - just to, you know, make sure they should be working with him, even though he's coming up with his own goods every time they need him to - Alicia gets a worrying assessment from the Judge involved in the assault that saw Jason arrested, and ultimately disbarred.

According to this (clearly unbiased!) source, Jason Crouse is a sociopath, which is not quite as bad as a psychopath, but nearly. The guy that Alicia is making eyes and head nods at might be crazy. Or crazier, on a scale of the men in her life. Is she going to trust him? Is she just looking for an out because those looks and head nods are too revealing in their own way?

The path to Alicia getting it on was never going to run smooth, was it!

Revelation Four - White lies

Over at Lockhart, Agos and Lee we have a different kind of lie being told. That would be the one where no one lets their biases get in the way of hiring practises, and where liberals know how to keep their privilege in check.

Because they don't. Not even Diane, who we've come to expect so much from. Our team of lawyers are put to the test - and fail - when they interview for new associates, and each dismiss Monica, the only black candidate, in their own clumsy way. When Monica doesn't get the job, she releases a video of all the assumptions and crass comments made by Lockhart, Agos, Lee - and Howard - during her interview process.

The reality check contained within that video is likely just the beginning for Lockhart, Agos and Lee (and Howard).

Revelation Five - Wired lies

The NSA guys are back. The ones who love goat videos, scare easily, and find the details of Alicia Florrick's life to be the soap opera of their cubicle dreams.

They're back because Alicia and Lucca take on a case that was initially about a woman being fired for failing a polygraph test, but is actually about an app she created being appropriated by the NSA (Details. They're not important). In the hunt for evidence, Alicia hides under a blanket and calls her former client, Jeff Dellinger, the former NSA employee, who is now undercover himself, somewhere, (Iceland, actually. Don't tell anyone). Jeff helps Alicia with the case, which inadvertently brings her back into the NSA orbit.

And because the NSA takes everything seriously, a joke about Edward Snowden is enough for Alicia to be back on the wire, so to speak. This makes those two NSA guys happy, and it kind of makes me happy too. I used to enjoy their commentary on Alicia's life back in the day, and they're clearly still fans of THE GOOD WIFE, even if they can't quite remember Will Gardner's name.

Stay tuned for more revelations to come!

But for tonight, that's it. Some big reveals, amongst the fainting, singing goats. Which one do you think will have the most impact? And are you buying this Peter as President thing? After Trump, I think it's anyone's race, don't you?

Image credit: CBS

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