'The Good Wife' recap: No harm, no foul, and 'microbursts of contempt'

This week’s episode of The Good Wife was titled “Two Courts,” referring to the courtroom and a basketball court on which Will suffered something of a defeat. Early on in the hour, he played a bit too rough for the liking of a judge presiding over one of Will’s cases, and the lawyer found himself being punished for his aggressive behavior. The case proved less interesting, however, than the new twists in Lockhart/Gardner’s ongoing intrigue.

The hour began with Will trying to keep Diane “on the reservation” — that is, not leaving in a huff with a passel of poached clients. Diane asked Cary to join her fledgling law firm; he was intrigued. Derrick Bond’s muscle, Blake, told Kalinda he’s now her “supervisor.” Never cross Kalinda, silly boy: She revealed to Alicia that Blake had been investigating her past, and others at the firm as well. Alicia scurried over to tell Will, which set things in motion for a Will-Derrick showdown. Tables were turned more than once in this episode.

Meanwhile, Chris Noth made one of his periodic, welcome returns, as Peter’s campaign was invaded by — his mommy. Yes, Jackie wants to be more involved, and she got a smarty-pants old pal of Peter’s to join up as well: He’ll bring in moneyed donors. All this was much to Eli Gold’s irritation. So was the pal’s move to bring Jackie into campaign staff meetings. This time it was Peter’s turn to be irritated.

(Hey, you know who I miss? Titus Welliver’s Glenn Childs.)

The court case — a guy who likes to dress up as a Nazi (irrelevant, Your Honor) was accused of murdering his dad — got an eccentric add-on: Lockhart/Gardner hired a guy who can read a jury’s “micro-expressions” and advise the defenders on how to proceed. Kalinda is our surrogate here; we mimic her disbelieving eye-rolling and eyebrow-raising.

But back to the best part of the night: Will’s confrontation with Derrick about the private investigating. They had it out, and Will concluded, he later confided to Diane, that he’d “been played.” So Will and Diane decided to play Derrick — they’re going to act as though the Diane exit is still proceeding, but in a future episode, it’s promised that in fact, Will and Diane will oust Derrick. As a sign that things are going to be right in the Good Wife world, Will gave Kalinda the raise she wanted and told Derrick that Blake is in no way Kalinda’s supervisor. (How ’bout that red kilt Kalinda was wearing? I must remember that the next time I ask for a raise…)

As though the producers could read our minds, the episode ended with a lesson for Alicia and Will: They found out that for all their planning and plotting and hiring of Mr. Microbursting, juries (as they say on CSI) follow the evidence.

What did you think of this week’s twists and turns?

Twitter: @kentucker