‘The Good Wife’ Review: All Hail the Warrior Queen

Ladies and gentlemen, Alicia Florrick is back and with a vengeance, kicking ass and taking names on The Good Wife! Holy crap, she is visibly still grieving, but Alicia is not letting that hold her back from handling every other thing that life is throwing at her right now.

In last night’s episode, ‘All Tapped Out’, the Alicia Florrick we all know and adore returned to us and boy is she pissed. We were also given the return of Michael J. Fox’s character, Louis Canning. A return that not everyone in this fictional Chicago world were happy to see.

I would like to talk about the moments that stood out the most to me in this episode.

Cary and Clarke are worried about Alicia

And frankly, so am I! I mean, she is still in bed. She is still in those sweats. Hey, I get that she is grieving; I just don’t like to see her hurting. When Alicia hurts, I (and every other Alicia fan) hurt. It really was touching to overhear the conversation between Cary and Clarke regarding Alicia via the NSA, though. Sure, the NSA part was weird, but let’s focus on the good. I, for one, love the relationship that has formed between Alicia, Cary and Clarke. They have a mutual respect for one another that causes them to look out for each others’ best interests. Things may be a little strained right now thanks to Alicia and Diane’s chat about a possible merger between Florrick/Agos and Lockhart/Gardner, but in the end, they still make a great team. And Alicia and Clarke’s “Crapital Structure” exchange from ‘A Few Words’ will forever be my favorite moment between them. More Nathan Lane, please.

Kalinda throws a bad pitch

Louis Canning is back. I remember when I found out, months ago, that he was returning and I was thrilled. Then Will Gardner died and Canning is in Will’s old office telling Kalinda that he is “The new Will.” Nope. I know you’ve just returned, sir and that you are due to be around for an arc, but I think it’s time for you to go. In case you weren’t sure if that was the consensus, the baseball Kalinda aimed (and missed! Dammit, Kalinda) for your head, should be a clear indication of how everyone feels. I do not care what he can, or cannot, do for Lockhart/Gardner. He needs to go. Even Diane thinks he’s the devil. She said it herself. Also, how awesome was her eyeroll when Canning started to explain his ‘condition’? Epic.

Peter Florrick does something good

Upon finding out that all of her calls were being monitored by the NSA, Alicia heads to Peter’s office to inform him and Eli.  Peter decides to play a little game of his own with the Senator by twisting his arm, so to speak, to say things over the phone that could possibly be used against him. I am not the biggest Peter fan, by any means, but he deserves a whole lot of points for that. It was pretty bad ass, if I do say so myself. I think Eli would agree, seeing as he slid off of the couch he was seated on to bow down in front of Peter in response to his verbal attack on the senator.

Warrior Queen Alicia returns

Now we all know that Alicia is naturally a force to be reckoned with. When we last saw her, though, she was broken and grieving for Will. Burying herself under her blankets in bed; not communicating with the outside world; fighting with Peter and making rash decisions about their marriage. In the beginning of this episode, she was still in bed looking as if she had no intention of leaving her room, until she received a phone call from Finn Polmar requesting her assistance.

When Alicia arrives at the States Attorney’s office to talk to him, she finds herself distracted and becomes fixated on a board of crime scene photos, proving that the wounds are not yet healed. At the initial hearing against the SA’s office, we can all see that Alicia just isn’t ready to be back in the courtroom. After the hearing, she breaks our hearts when we see her fighting back tears after hearing why Will was shot. I also may have felt a little bad for Finn, since he was blaming himself for Will’s death.

Then Alicia returns to her firms offices, learns about the NSA monitoring her phone conversations and I swear, it was like someone released the beast from hibernation. She caught the NSA guy in a lie and after questioning him, you could see the life return to her. Sassy Alicia even made an appearance when Canning called her and she managed to manipulate him into NSA monitoring during their conversation.

“Mr. Canning, what do YOU think of Al Qaeda?”

I do not know about his thoughts on the subject, but I do know that I am even more in love with Alicia Florrick than I was when I started this episode, if that is even possible. But wait, there’s more.

After a “good night’s sleep” she claims was her reason for being in warrior mode, Alicia returns to court to defend Finn against the SA’s office. She informs them that she had some questions for SA Castro, in regards to what “G.D” means, which is apparently “general detention”. He claimed it meant taking someone down as in “going down”. Jesus Christ, hilarity ensues and we get what I consider the best moment of the episode.

SA Castro: “What I meant was, I can’t wait to take him down.”

Alicia: “By going down on him?”

While we viewers were all laughing our asses off, Alicia proceeded to rip the SA a new one and shut Matan Brody up before he could even try to say anything. When she dropped that little remote control clicker thing? That was her dropping the mic on everyone in that courtroom. This week, I repeat; Bow. Down. Bitches.

Bill and Hillary on steroids?

Last week left us with Alicia basically telling Peter they would have an open marriage. This week, we are left with another Florrick scene. Alicia arrives at Peter’s office to thank him and they then proceed to discuss upcoming events and meetings he would need her to partake in. For a brief moment, Alicia has a look on her face, one that, to me, reads surprise at how easily Peter took her at her word. I’m honestly not quite sure how to take that last scene. To me, it was basically the Florricks defining awkward for us while an iceberg passes between them. It was weird, wasn’t it?

All in all, another fine hour of television and for the first time since the death of Will Gardner, I did not cry my way through the episode. However, I did laugh and I cheer Alicia on. Each and every week, I am left looking forward to what’s next for these genius writers to throw at us and they have yet to disappoint me. What were your favorite moments from the episode? Hit the comment box, because, you know, sharing is caring.