'The Good Wife' Season 3, Episode 9 Recap (VIDEO)

['The Good Wife' - 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot']

It was old home week on 'The Good Wife' last night. I don't know about you, but I did a little jig of glee when I saw that Patrick Breen and Linda Emond were back as Capt. Terrence Hicks and Judge Loera Kuhn. When they appeared in a crackling season 2 episode, I wrote at the time that I'd happily watch a military-law spin-off starring those two characters.

(By the way, I just want to say hello to all our 'Good Wife' regulars. I'm filling in as Lockhart Gardner recapper for my co-worker Chris Harnick, who will be back on the case next week. I hope I do as good a job as Chris does at chronicling the weekly 'Good Wife' maneuvers, legal and otherwise).

I woudn't say that 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot's' case was quite as gripping as the firm's last military trial -- there was so much going on in this week's episode that the main case felt a little undercooked, as it were, and we barely got to know the young woman at the center of it.

Still, the episode offered a lot of good confrontations and moments, well before Judge Kuhn set Alicia straight on her client's harsh-seeming sentence. Eli battled the world's perkiest lobbyist, we moved a few steps forward on the Will Gardner investigation front (speaking of old frenemies, hello Wendy Scott Carr), and Alicia finally confronted her mother-in-law in a scene that was every bit as juicy as we could have hoped.



The Jackie-Alicia showdown was a long time coming -- three seasons, in fact. That woman has been all up in Alicia's business for far too long, so much so that I was delighted to see that Alicia had finally called a locksmith and made Jackie extremely aware of the fact that she was no longer welcome in her home. It was good to see that Alicia didn't fall for any of Jackie's passive-aggressive, "I'm just helping" tricks: Alicia's kids weren't doing the naughty things Jackie accused them of doing, and all her efforts to undermine Alicia as a woman and a mother were for naught (though we saw at the end of the scene that, behind her closed and locked door, Alicia was a bit more rattled than she let on). You have to wonder if a Jackie scorned will be even more dangerous. Still, there are two very big upsides to the confrontation: Alicia won't have to worry about Jackie snooping through her undies, and Zack got a car. I call that a win-win.

(Sidebar on the Alicia's Kids front: Like Chris, I find the whole tutor story line tedious this season. 'The Good Wife' has been praised for loading the show with topical trends and tech-savvy issues, which often is a good thing, but the viral-video story line feels contrived; it feels, frankly, like a really obvious attempt to be hip, and it doesn't help that the dancer-tutor just can't act. Grace storylines tend to be hit or miss at best, and in my humble opinion, this one is a miss and is best dropped. Though, speaking of the kids, Zach dating Eli's daughter could make for a fair amount of hilarity on the home front. I'd be amused if they pretended to date simply to weird out their elders, but maybe that's just me.)

Diane finally confronted Will about Alicia, but will those two really "pause" their relationship? After all, Will and Alicia admitted to each other recently that even if they tried to take a break, they'd probably be back in bed with each other before too long. Still, with Peter Florrick and the D.A.'s office breathing down the firm's neck, the Willicia situation is becoming a serious liability. Christine Baranski was on fire in the scene in which she told Will in no uncertain terms to back off. But the question remains: Even if Will and Alicia weren't sleeping together, would Peter have it in for the lawyers of Lockhart Gardner? Possibly. Even if Willicia break up, Peter may be ticked off by the way his mother was treated (she may be down, but never count Jackie Florrick out).

(Sidebar on the ADA front: The strange dance among Cary, Monica and Kalinda continued this week, and while it was the usual good, sexy fun, I do wonder how long these three can continue to play games without the situation starting to go stale or seem a little repetitive. Why is Monica feeding information to Kalinda? Is there really an attraction there? Where is the Monica-Cary situation going? Are they together because they really care about each other or are they merely ambitious people having a fling? So far the ambiguity among all three is fine, but on occasion this subplot leaves me wanting more or less. What I mean is, though it's not a bad little detour, at times I wish the writers would either delve deep into the Monica-Cary-Kalinda triangle or leave it alone until they were ready to take it on in a more substantial fashion.)

It was really a full plate this week. Yes, that's my lame attempt to be funny about the whole FDA-food lobby plot. Amy Sedaris is always a welcome face on my TV screen; the 'Strangers with Candy' star brings an edge of kooky energy to whatever she does, and her scenes with Eli were pure gold. (Can you stand how funny I am? Okay, I'll stop with the corny jokes. I know, you're counting the days until Chris is back on the 'Good Wife' beat, aren't you?) Again, I would have been happy if we'd seen a few more scenes of Eli and Stacie competing for business (and her using her brightest "call waiting" voice), but with any luck, we'll see the perky but deadly lobbyist again one of these days. And again, I have to sing Christine Baranski's praises; her scene of commiserating with a disappointed Eli was an excellent moment for both characters, and it's nice to see the rapport that Eli is building with employees not named Kalinda or Alicia.

All right, that does it for me as guest 'Good Wife' recapper. Anybody else is hungry for a slice of cheese?

Gasp count: 1

What did you think of the episode? Do you think Peter's likely to back off on Will Gardner? Do you think Willicia will really take a break?

'The Good Wife' airs Sundays, 9PM ET on CBS

Follow Mo on Twitter. Follow Chris on Twitter.