['The Good Wife' - 'Getting Off']

Who do I have to pay to get Mamie Gummer a series regular role on this show? Whenever her character, Nancy Crozier, pops up, it's a pure entertainment. Guest Emmy, please?

Crozier's client sued Lockhart/Gardner's client, Stephanie Engler (played expertly by Sarah Silverman), for her AshleyMadison.com-esque website's role in a gruesome murder. With Crozier involved you knew there would be deception. This time, Cary got in on the action. Quite the duo those two would make. Hint, hint, executive producers Robert and Michelle King.

'Getting Off' balanced the talents of both Gummer and Silverman better than expected. The two guest stars didn't take away from the main drama -- the implosion of Kalicia, yes the relationship between Kalinda and Alicia -- which continued to sizzle all episode long.

Via looks, awkward pauses and two very powerful scenes, the Kalinda and Alicia friendship ended. As I mentioned last week, the all-new, all-different Alicia Florrick is a force to be reckoned with. She's in take no prisoners mode, protecting herself and her kids at a 100 percent level.



The two Alicia/Kalinda scenes moved me to tears -- yep, I'm admitting it in print! -- and gave me chills. The first scene at the start of the episode was heartbreaking. And you know what? Over the last few weeks it's become a weekly tradition for Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick to break my heart. If you haven't come to terms with that, well 'The Good Wife' isn't the show for you. Seeing Kalinda crumble in the elevator was just as powerful as Alicia's hallway walk a few episodes ago.

Alicia's venomous tongue-lashing almost sent Kalinda packing. For a split second, I could see it happening, Kalinda back at the State's Attorney office. But, she isn't going anywhere, much to Alicia's chagrin.

In other Alicia being fierce/terrifying/breathtaking scenes, how about her words with Jackie? It's been in the pipeline for two years and bound to happen. Everything about the way Margulies delivered those lines to her fictional mother-in-law was perfect.

What was Jackie referring to happening at Alicia's house? Perhaps a secret viewers weren't privy too? When this all-new, all-different Alicia feels threatened, it's best to get out of her way. The custody battle could turn pretty nasty, but also become a very tired story in season 3. I'm kind of hoping they skip over it -- have it happen while the show's on break -- or just keep it to two episodes or so.

Back to Sarah Silverman as Stephanie, is it safe to say we're all universally impressed with her performance? Kudos to the writers for not making her character too over the top. The character was subdued, with a little flair for good measure and Silverman nailed it.

Comics often turn in great dramatic performances, just look at Richard Belzer and Robin Williams. Turns out her website wasn't responsible for the murder and neither was she as Nancy Crozier and Cary wanted the jury to think. It was Stephanie's husband, jealous about her affairs ... and that got Stephanie pretty excited. True love, people. True love.

Will knows about Alicia's separation, but will he act on it? Will Alicia? I was hoping he'd find out Kalinda slept with Peter, because his reaction could go various directions.


Total gasp count: I lost count. A truly breathtaking episode.

Some other things:

• More Diane in season 3! Starting a campaign for that to happen right now.

• So there's a porno about Alicia?

Do you think Kalinda and Alicia can ever get back on track? What do you think Jackie thinks happened at Alicia's house?

'The Good Wife' airs Tuesdays at 10PM ET on CBS.

Follow Chris Harnick on Twitter.