Note: Do not read on if you have not yet seen Season 4, Episode 17 of CBS' "The Good Wife," titled "Invitation To An Inquest."
When "The Good Wife" does a filler episode like "Invitation To An Inquest," at least they usually make them entertaining. Nothing really monumental happened in the episode besides Eli finally getting rid of Jordan (about time) and Robyn and Kalinda bonding more.
The main case brought "Glee" veteran Jessalyn Gilsig into the fold as the newly widowed wife to a judge. The insurance company was trying to prove the judge was negligent while driving so they wouldn't pay his wife. A series of events made it seem like the judge was murdered either by his wife or lover, but it turned out, he swerved to avoid a drunk driver.
"Who are you two? 'Cagney & Lacey'?" The one good thing about this case: Robyn and Kalinda. When will the Kings develop a backdoor pilot for them? The truck driver already called them "Cagney & Lacey." They'd be wise to keep Robyn around for a while and not make the two of them adversarial. The whole "hook" of the case was that Alicia and Will could not ask more than three questions for each witness. This just made them speak in really long, somewhat funny run-on sentences.
The Florrick children returned this episode with Grace basically yelling some stuff and Zach getting busy with Nisa ... that is until Eli and Jordan got involved. Apparently Nisa's father donated to a charity that is now on a list for possibly having terrorism connections. Eli tricked Jordan into talking to Zach and suggesting he break up with Nisa, which in turn, royally pissed off Alica. "Why does everyone think it's OK to parent my children?" she asked. Well Alicia, it's because you don't and I'm fine with that because Florrick children storylines generally blow. Jordan was dismissed after Alicia went to Peter (off-screen) and Eli was victorious. After seeing Alan Cumming live recently, I forgot how charming he can be. If only the writers could develop something a little lighter for Eli.
John Shea returned as Cary's father and was up to no good. Whenever I saw him on screen, I kept thinking he was playing Lex Luthor. Oh, "Lois & Clark." His scheming was thwarted by Cary himself much to Diane's delight. Then there was the hinting at a rekindling of Alicia and Will. The writers won't go down the same hot and heavy path again, so there's a certain amount of intrigue as to where they may be going with the two of them. Curiosity is piqued!
Again, it was very much a filler episode. Not terrible, just nothing too substantial to latch on to.
Gasp count: None.
"The Good Wife" airs Sundays, 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
