'The Good Wife' recap: The paper chase

Well, Diane certainly has a type, doesn’t she?  

In the opening moments of “Alienation of Affections,” the first new episode of “The Good Wife” in 2012, we catch a brief glimpse of Diane in her downtime — wearing a pair of flats, no less! Of the show’s central characters, Diane is easily the most mysterious. We know very little about her, except she’s a fierce dresser and a committed Democrat, and the elusiveness only adds to her powerful mystique. As a result, the opening scene of Sunday night’s episode had a strange voyeuristic thrill.

Dressed casually yet impeccably, Diane is minding her own business at an art museum when a handsome, rugged Australian named Jack (played by Bryan Brown, of “Cocktail” fame) sidles up next to her. Diane helpfully points out the artist’s signature on the “inside top of the right thigh.” Jack follows her to another painting, and some serious flirtation ensues.  Just when it appears that Jack has sealed the deal, he drops a bombshell — or, rather, a manila envelope. Jack, it turns out, isn't a random stranger at all, but a process server there to deliver a grand jury summons.

It’s a brilliant little vignette, isn’t it? (A process server falls for the lawyer he summons to court. How has this not already been made into a romantic comedy called "You've Been Served!" starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel?)

The scene is great for a number of reasons, not the least of which it’s so novel to see a little romance between people over the age of 40. It’s also clear after this episode that Diane is attracted to her opposite: men who are smart but a little rough around the edges, physically tough, and are in some kind of adversarial position to her. It also perfectly sets up the rest of “Alienation of Affection,” an episode that was as playful as it was suspenseful.

 

Favorite TV Guest Stars of 2011

TV series have gone into overdrive with star cameos in recent years, particularly during ratings sweeps periods. Here are some of our favorite guest appearances of 2011:

Matt Dillon on "Modern Family": Bringing back classic TV actors to play parents on contemporary sitcoms has become something of an art, and "Modern Family" nailed it  when the series cast former "Cheers" star Shelley Long as DeDe, Claire's and Mitchell's mom. Even better, DeDe arrived with Matt Dillon as Claire's creepy ex-boyfriend, whose visit caused havoc during little Lily's princess-themed birthday party. He's not exactly competition for Phil, though. “The truth is, I am rich," Dillon boasts. "But not with money. I’ve got my abs, I’ve got my hair, and I’ve got a super sweet job ridin’ that limo outside.”

Steve Buscemi on "Portlandia": The sketches on IFC's cult comedy may be built around the talent and charm of its two cult stars, musician Carrie Brownstein and "SNL" star Fred Armisen, but the series quickly proved that it can throw in a low-key guest star when it cast Kyle McLachlan (who did his time as a northwestern character in "Twin Peaks") in the role of the whimsical faux-mayor of Portland. Even funnier is the use of Steve Buscemi, dropping his "Boardwalk Empire" period garb to play a regular guy who foolishly attempts to use the bathroom in the local feminist bookstore, Women & Women First. Word is that Season 2 will feature even more cameos, from the likes of Eddie Vedder, Kristen Wiig, the Smiths' Johnny Marr and several "Battlestar Galactica" cast members.

 

 

Parker Posey on "Parks and Recreation": If you've ever wondered why Parker Posey doesn't have a quirky yet sweet NBC comedy of her own, the actress' hilariously snooty appearance as Amy Poehler's best-friend-turned-archnemesis Lindsay Carlisle Shay probably soothed the pain slightly.

 

 Honorable mention: Posey gets extra points for her sharp turn on "The Good Wife" as Alan Cumming's ex, a presidential campaign worker who offers to do him a favor — in exchange for something she needs, of course.

 

Condoleeza Rice on "30 Rock": Jack Donaghy has had plenty of famous lady friends (played by Edie Falco, Isabella Rossellini, Salma Hayek, Julianne Moore), but the former secretary of state is the most unlikely. Rice was game to play silly, defending her love of "Mars Attacks!" and agreeing to help rescue Jack's wife from the clutches of Kim Jong Il.

Which brings us to honorable mention Margaret Cho, who impersonated that now-deceased North Korean dictator on that very same "30 Rock" episode.

 

Michael J. Fox on "Curb Your Enthusiasm": Larry David knows how to put a guest star to work. Past seasons have featured stars such as Ben Stiller and Jerry Seinfeld, and this season Ricky Gervais, Rosie O'Donnell, Mayor Mike Bloomberg and ballplayer Bill Buckner showed up to great effect. But Fox closed the season with a self-deprecating wink, leaving Larry convinced that the actor's shaky behavior isn't related to his Parkinson's disease — it's just rude.

 

Sarah Silverman on "Bored to Death": Silverman plays it straight as a rather unorthodox "friendship therapist" trying to help Jonathan (Jason Schwartzman) and his mentor George (Ted Danson) mend their relationship. By massaging her feet.

 

Josh Holloway on "Community": No list of clever and wacky cameos would be complete without "Community," which brings referential comedy to a new level.This fall featured an amusing appearance by Luis Guzman as a graduate of the community college returned to make a promotional video for the school, but the Season 2 finale wins the prize by bringing in Josh Holloway — a.k.a. Sawyer, lost to us since "Lost" — who swaggers in like a gunslinger in a spaghetti western. Sure, the guns are loaded with paintballs, but still, he darkens Greendale's halls with hints of a giant conspiracy all around them. “Sweetie, this thing is so much bigger than you can imagine," he mutters, before dashing out to catch a Coldplay concert.

What great guest appearances did I miss? Let me know below in the comments.

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— Joy Press

twitter/joypress

Photo: Julie Bowen, left, Shelley Long and Matt Dillon in "Modern Family." Credit: ABC.

How did prime-time TV become an adulterer's paradise?

Adultery is nothing new on television, but the proliferation of cheating as a plot point is making prime-time TV look like an ad for Ashley Madison, the online dating service for married folks, where the message is, "Life is short. Have an affair."

On "Homeland," the Iraq War hero turned secret terrorist falls into a reckless affair. Central characters on "The Good Wife," "Revenge," "Boss," "Ringer," "Nurse Jackie," "Justified" and even "The Walking Dead" engage in infidelity.

Cynicism about marriage is one of the factors leading to an increased depiction of adultery. "People believe marriages don't work anyway, so seeing affairs on TV kind of serves as a model for how things can and will go bad," said Julie Albright, a sociologist at USC.

But showrunners insisted they don't treat the topic lightly. Liz Brixius, creator of "Nurse Jackie," said of her cheating heroine: "We've never used cheating to be juicy. We use it to show Jackie's living a double life and making terrible decisions."

Brixius and her team had to assure Showtime and producer Lionsgate that Jackie would, indeed, get her comeuppance in the new season this spring. "It was not an easy sell for us to have Jackie continue to skate by without suffering for what she'd done."

There's more on TV adultery in this feature.

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'The Good Wife' recap: The loneliest woman in the world

One of the things that’s always seemed off to me about “The Good Wife” is Alicia’s glaring lack of friends. Once upon a time, Alicia was an obedient political spouse living in the manicured suburbs of Chicago, but once Peter’s scandal broke, the other Stepford Wives cast her out of their circle (long-time viewers will recall an early episode in which Alicia has to go back to her old neighborhood, Highland Park, to defend the son of two former friends.)  Alicia had not just been betrayed by her husband, but also by her so-called friends. To be honest, I never really bought this aspect of Alicia’s back story. I’m sure she made plenty of fair-weather friends out there in the 'burbs, but you’d think a woman like Alicia -- smart, loyal, funny, a good judge of character – would have retained one or two faithful gal pals, despite it all.

I always thought Alicia's friendlessness was simply a matter of narrative priority. As “The Good Wife” evolved and grew ever more complicated, the writers just didn’t have much opportunity to develop that aspect of Alicia’s life. Between her resurgent career, her messy relationships with Peter and Will, and her kids, neither Alicia nor the show had much time for a social life. For a while, Kalinda filled that void, and the introduction last season of Alicia’s brother Owen served two vital functions: filling out Alicia’s back story a bit, and also giving her a much-needed confidante. Alicia has made glancing references to her lack of friends in the past, usually after a few shots of tequila and/or glasses of wine. But only now, halfway through the show’s third season, do we get an episode (with the apt title “What Went Wrong”) that explicitly addresses this issue.

New version of 'Coma' on A&E to star several Oscar winners

Oscar winners Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn and Geena Davis have landed in the cast of A&E's upcoming reboot of "Coma," a modern-day retelling of the best-selling novel by Robin Cook and the film that starred Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold.

Also in the cast of the four-hour miniseries is Oscar nominee James Woods, Lauren Ambrose ("Six Feet Under"), Steven Pasquale ("Rescue Me"), Joe Morton ("The Good Wife"), James Rebhorn ("Law & Order") and Joseph Mazello ("The Pacific"). The two-night event will be produced by Ridley and Tony Scott and directed by Mikail Salomon ("Band of Brothers").

"Coma" revolves around a doctor who discovers that something sinister is happening at her hospital after routine procedures send more than a few seemingly healthy patients into comas on the operating table.

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--Greg Braxton 

Photo: Ellen Burstyn in "Our Fathers" in 2005. Credit: Ken Woroner / Showtime

 

'The Good Wife' recap: No more distractions

If you ask me, Grace Florrick has a lot to answer for.

For weeks now, "The Good Wife" has been foreshadowing the end of Will and Alicia's steamy relationship, but it was a surprise that Grace's Christian fervor played such a part in what was otherwise an inevitable break-up. Grace just solidified her reputation as the most annoying character on "The Good Wife." I'm being a tad facetious, of course, because the (very legitimate) point of this episode, "Parenting Made Easy," is that it's time for Alicia to realign her priorities -- and to discover that, alas, Will is not one of them. It's a sensible decision on Alicia's part, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to hold it against Grace forever.

As some critics have pointed out, this season of “The Good Wife” has gotten a little crowded with subplots and supporting characters, a trend that only intensified in this episode. In addition to Wendy Scott Carr, who re-emerged a few weeks back to spearhead the Will investigation, this week we also got Martha, the first-year associate Alicia wanted to hire instead of Caitlin. Having been thrown aside for a legacy hire — and a blond one at that — Martha’s now thirsty for revenge. While I understand Martha’s frustration, Alicia’s right when she says, “You’re a little young to be holding a grudge.”

Martha’s now working for none other than Lewis Canning, who sweeps in to provide some guidance on The Case of the Week, an arbitration involving a right-wing, anti-gay professor (played by Jennifer Carpenter of “Dexter”) allegedly dismissed for her political views. It had the potential to be very serious and thought-provoking — one of those moments of liberal self-reflection that “The Good Wife” does so well — but the case is mostly played for laughs, especially “Mr. Arbitrator,” who, paid by the hour, adjourns the case every five minutes. I have to admit, it was oddly thrilling to root for Caitlin, the pretty blond who got her job through family connections. Somehow Martha, the underdog, had become the enemy. “The Good Wife” is fantastic at these counterintuitive little role reversals.

It’s been a while since we last saw Canning, but he’s still trying to woo Alicia away from Lockhart-Gardner, this time with the enticing promise of a flexible schedule and more time with her family. His professional philosophy is that he does whatever it takes at the office to be with his wife and kids as much as possible. Or, as he tells Alicia, “We’re cutthroat. But you’ll always get home in time to see your kids.” You can tell she’s tempted by Canning’s offer, that is until she finds out he rifled through her bag during the whole Grace debacle. (Ever the lawyer, he insists he waited until Grace was OK before he started rummaging. I’m almost convinced that makes it all right.) 

'The Good Wife' recap: A series of showdowns

The headlines from Sunday night’s episodes of "The Good Wife:" Diane confronts Will, Alicia confronts Jackie, a special prosecutor from the state attorney's office confronts Diane, Will holds back on  Alicia, Zack gets a new car and ... well, I can't begin to explain what's going on with that good-time threesome of Cary, Dana and Kalinda.

The business side of the episode ran along two tracks: Will and Alica returned to military court, where Will so distinguished himself last season, to defend a woman who sent a drone aircraft to bomb a suspected Al Qaeda hideout but instead killed 12 Afghan civilians. Patrick Breen returned as the dorky but legally savvy Cpt. Hicks and Linda Emond returned as the frightening military judge. She liked Will as much as she did last time, which is to say, not at all, and Alicia and Lt. Higgs did the heavy lifting in court.

In comic counterpoint to the show's second take in three weeks on the military justice system was Eli’s efforts to make things right for the cheese industry after that unfortunate listeria outbreak. That quest included a trip to Washington to testify before a congressional committee on the unfairness of a new “My Plate” graph that replaced the old government-conceived pyramid of nutrition, and has shunted dairy products to a separate plate.

But Eli, a political op who is trying to remake himself into a one-stop campaign-managing, crisis intervention and lobbying firm, ran into a true Washington insider who got one over on him. By "true Washington insider" I mean that one day she was the chief of staff for a congressional committee and the next day, literally, she was representing an industry that the committee oversees. By the end of the episode, after ill-fated but quite wry attempts to form a cheese and fruit alliance against a common enemy -- vegetables -- and another gambit that would have extracted the corn industry from the vegetable lobby by declaring it a “grain,” Eli was back in Chicago questioning his role in the firm.

Diane was quite the lioness this week, and it was great to see Christine Baranski with more to do than usual. First she was visited by Wendy Scott Carr, the candidate who lost to Peter Florrick last season, who has been appointed by Peter as a special prosecutor looking into Will Gardner … or rather, into judicial corruption with Will as a way in. They want to crush Will and call it a judicial corruption scandal because Wendy thinks it will make a bigger splash. She's got the pieces of her career to pick up, after all.

Wendy basically tells Diane they won’t go after her if she’ll help them nail Will, but Diane raises one of her expertly sculpted brows. Their exchange was a gem of smiles and pleasantries masking threat and counterthreat. Diane closes the door behind Wendy, locates Will and, in that spot outside their building where the partners met during the Derek Bond ouster, lets him have it.

When Will protests that Scott Carr’s theory that Will’s pick-up basketball game is cover for introducing bookies to judges, Diane all but shouts, "I know it!" and then pins him to the wall with her intimidating glare. “Peter Florrick is coming after you because you’re sleeping with his wife,” she hisses. "Even if it's not wrong, it's not smart. Stop it. Make this go away.”

The only Will-and-Alicia action was when Will slid into his chair at the defense table after his conversation with Diane. He stared straight ahead and did not speak to Alica, but there was no mistaking his dread of having to explain some things to Alica. But not in this episode.

Alicia supporters cheered her discovery that Peter's mother, Jackie, had been going through her things at the apartment and trying to look at the contents of her computer. That led to new door locks and, when Jackie tried to enter with her old keys, an exchange between the two with Alicia standing at the door preventing Jackie from entering. When Jackie made disparaging remarks about Alicia's mothering skills, Alica smiled an amused, pitying and quite inauthentic smile and said, "You no longer have the power to wound." Because Jackie drives Zach and Grace to Peter's apartment when they stay there, Alicia had the impulsive idea to buy Zach a car.

"Good Wife" viewers -- at least the ones who really care -- have hoped to see more of Kalinda than we've seen so far this season, and, let's face it, we've hoped to see Kalinda and Alica sort out their difficulties and toss back tequila shooters again. But, no. Kalinda is now doing shots with Dana, a fellow prosecutor who is sleeping with Cary, who made out in last week's episode with Kalinda, who described the thrill of seducing a woman to Dana .... Where, you might ask, is this going?

The only thing I know for sure is that I snorted when Dana claimed to Wendy Scott Carr that she had a "source" inside Lockhart, Gardner: Kalinda. That woman doesn't know the first thing about who is whose source and who isn't.

Questions for the week: What does Cary think about the state attorney's assault on Lockhart, Gardner? He says the things his bosses want to hear, but I don't think he's that crazy about it ... maybe I just want to believe the best of that character.

How -- and when -- is Will going to come clean to Alicia? 

Diane is clearly forging a closer relationship with Eli -- how does that bode for Will?

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-- Kelly Scott

Above: Juliana Margulies as Alicia Florrick on "The Good Wife." Credit: Jeffrey Neira / CBS

 

 

 

'The Good Wife' recap: Both sides now

“The Good Wife” is a show that skews left, but executive producers Robert and Michelle King obviously strive for balance in their storytelling: They like to humanize conservatives as much as they enjoy painting liberals as hypocrites. This week's episode, “Death Row Tip,” feels like the counterweight to last year’s fantastic “Nine Hours,” in which Alicia and the gang saved a death-row inmate from wrongful execution at the last minute.

This time around, the inmate in question, Ricky, is guilty, but he’s also the only person who knows the identity of a gang member responsible for killing two people whose bodies were recently uncovered in Douglas Park. Lockhart-Gardner's client has been charged with one of the murders, and they win a stay of execution for Ricky so they can get him to squeal. The cynical strategy is to play up the hardship of Ricky’s youth, so Alicia and Justin stop by his mother’s house, hoping to take some “photos of sadness and squalor.” Only it turns out he grew up on a nice, semi-suburban street in a loving family. There’s some great dark humor to the scene, as it rapidly becomes clear that Ricky’s childhood was more “Leave It to Beaver” than ”Angela’s Ashes.” He even got tons of presents at Christmas.

Ricky’s crimes — the rape and murder of teenage girls — hit  home with Alicia, and she isn’t terribly excited about having to defend him. She and Justin have a thoughtful, if somewhat contrived, conversation about whether Ricky deserves to die. Justin says it would still be wrong to execute him; Alicia isn’t so sure. It’s nice to see Alicia get all morally indignant once again; it’s been awhile since we saw her so squeamish about her work as a lawyer.

'The Good Wife' recap: The gambler

"The Good Wife" is officially on a roll. This season took a little while to hit its stride, but the show has moved from strength to strength in recent weeks. Sunday night's episode was edifying and hugely entertaining, as wonky as it was hilarious.

The case of the week involves an American named Marwat who was arrested and tortured by the Army because of his alleged links to terrorism in Afghanistan. He's suing the U.S. government for his treatment. The case is a point of contention between Diane, a well-disguised bleeding-heart liberal, and Will, something of an apologist for torture. "Our government took steps to prevent another 9/11," he says.

One of the things that distinguishes "The Good Wife" from other procedurals is how cleverly it uses relatively obscure legal issues to generate big narrative twists. This episode is named "Executive Order 13224," after a decree issued 12 days after the 9/11 attacks. The goal of the order was to disrupt the funding of terrorist networks, but it also allowed representatives of the Treasury to interrogate lawyers representing alleged terrorists, an intrusion on the traditionally privileged attorney-client relationship.

The order means Alicia has to testify before cupcake-loving Treasury representative Gordon Higgs, played by the excellent Bob Balaban. (Seriously, "The Good Wife" is threatening to surpass "30 Rock" as the TV show with the most impressive guest stars.) Good lawyer that she is, Alicia is reluctant to disclose the details of Marwat's case, but she's also terrified by the threat of a $250,000 fine and eight years' prison time, so she seeks legal counsel.

Alicia ignores Diane and Will's suggestion and hires Peter's old attorney, the flaky-but-ruthless Elsbeth Tasconi (Carrie Preston). In an ingenious ploy, Elsbeth "asks" Alicia for help with a case dealing with the insurance company representing Marwat's employer and — voila! — Alicia is a protected by a conflict of interest. It's all quite entertaining, especially when Alicia recreates her conversation with Elsbeth in the most stilted way possible. "I need help on this insurance case. I'm swamped. Look at all this paper," she says, gesturing robotically.

'The Good Wife' recap: A fatal exception

This season of “The Good Wife” got off to a sputtering start, but after three solid episodes in a row I’m ready to declare that the show has its groove back. Like last week’s episode, “Marthas and Caitlins,” “Affairs of State” had three distinct, solidly written story lines that organically tied together. It was also the funniest installment of “The Good Wife” so far this season, and not just because of Parker Posey.

“Affairs of State” is a pun that works on at least three different levels. Most obviously, it refers to the case of the week: Lockhart-Gardner is representing Chen Jin-Pyn (Derek Mio), the son of a Taiwanese diplomat. He’s accused of attempted rape and murder of a drunken college girl on a “booze cruise.” The diplomatic immunity thing is a narrative device that TV writers really seem to love (see also: Indian burial grounds), but in typical overachiever fashion, “The Good Wife” adds a twist to the twist: Because the United States does not maintain separate diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Chen is not entitled to immunity after all.

Diane asks Eli if he knows anyone in the State Department who might be able to help get Chen released. Eli turns to his ex-wife, who’s working on the Obama 2012 campaign, for help. I have to take a moment to acknowledge the brilliance of casting Parker Posey as the ex-Mrs. Eli. She's one of the few actresses out there with the ability to be ambitious, hilariously bitchy and vulnerable all at the same time. Vanessa is willing to put in a few calls, in exchange for a favor from Eli. She’s mulling a run for state senate, and wants Eli’s help. He agrees and asks Kalinda to run a through background check on his ex -- “as thorough as her enemies will be,” he says.

Kalinda discovers that Vanessa cheated on Eli with a wealthy Arab developer who also happens to be Osama bin Laden’s second cousin. (Affairs of state, indeed.) Eli confronts Vanessa about the affair and expresses his dismay at “the thought that my semen mixed with Bin Laden’s.” Amusingly, Vanessa defends herself by arguing “The semen doesn’t just stay in us.” Thanks for the biology lesson, guys. Gross scatological conversations aside, it's an effective way to humanize Eli, who's always teetering on the brink of caricature.

'The Good Wife' recap: Who you callin' Caitlin?

There wasn’t a wasted moment in this episode of “The Good Wife,” easily the best of the so-far uneven third season. The writing in  “Marthas and Caitlins” was dazzlingly efficient: There were significant developments to virtually every subplot in the series, plus an interesting case of the week. Until this episode, it was unclear if the Kings had figured out a long-term narrative strategy for this season, but nearly every scene in "Marthas and Caitlins" set the stage for future conflict. It was all so well done that I didn’t even mind having Celeste back.

“The Good Wife” tends to cram a lot of narrative switchbacks into its extended opening act, and this might have been the most jam-packed one to date. Within the first minute or so of the episode, a whistleblower testifying against an aerospace company kills himself.  The backup plan is to use his videotaped deposition in lieu of testimony, but the judge won’t allow it. In a convenient twist, it turns out Colin Sweeney, everyone’s favorite wife killer/venture capitalist was advising the aerospace company on its IPO and was blind-copied on emails regarding the faulty plane, and Alicia has the unenviable task of convincing him to testify in the case. 

While all this is unfolding, the writers toss several more balls into the air: Will and David ask Alicia to hire a new first-year associate; Will warns Alicia not to let Celeste get under her skin; David advises Alicia on her divorce; Alicia and Peter discuss Grace’s eccentric tutor; and Eli asks Kalinda to dig up some dirt on Adam Spellman, a businessman who’s being groomed to give the coveted keynote address at the 2012 Democratic convention. In less than 10 minutes of airtime, the show deftly weaves together no fewer than six separate story lines, and does so without seeming jumbled or overstuffed. Folks, this is how you write good television.

'The Good Wife' recap: Those 3 little words

I confess: I was a little worried going into this episode of “The Good Wife.”

The third season is still fresh, but until now there's been no overarching narrative to tie the show together, and the "cases of the week" have been more prominent than usual. I wondered: Without the drama of a lengthy political campaign, would “The Good Wife” devolve into a better-than-average procedural, rather than the incisive, timely and unapologetically wonky show that it has been for two seasons now? Say it ain't so.

The previews for this episode, "Feeding the Rat," which touted the story of a wrongfully charged suspect, did little to quell my fears and as the first act unfolded, I remained nervous. A youngish man named Travis tries to withdraw money from an ATM, but he has insufficient funds; he wanders into a convenience store and, in a bit of foreshadowing, considers buying a cheap plastic water gun. Then a robber shows up with a real gun, shoots the store clerk and runs off. Travis, whom we know to be innocent, soon becomes the prime suspect. Would this episode be a rehash of last year’s excellent “Nine Hours,” when Alicia and Diane raced against the clock to stay the execution of wrongfully convicted man? Not that that would be so terrible, exactly, given how thoughtfully “The Good Wife” has handled the failings of the criminal justice system in the past, but it certainly wouldn’t have been groundbreaking.

I needn't have worried. In typically nimble fashion, “Feeding the Rat” morphed into something else entirely by the time the opening credits rolled: a lofty meditation on the purposes of the legal practice. At the risk of embarrassing myself with a prediction that may not come true, I’m guessing this will be the overarching theme of the season. Since Lockhart-Gardner is actively involved in the city’s pro bono program, Alicia is assigned to represent Travis. The case takes her away from more pressing (read: lucrative) duties at the office, and Diane, in a fit of recession-induced panic, decides that the firm can no longer afford to do pro bono work and that it should, instead, focus on bankruptcy — which, sadly, is the one area of the law that flourishes in harsh economic times.

It just so happens that Celeste, who is Will’s ex, is taking her firm’s bankruptcy division with her, and Will gets the unenviable task of trying to woo her to Lockhart-Gardner. So, to summarize: The firm can no longer afford to represent poor folks for free and, instead, needs to start capitalizing on the fact that so many people are going broke. Warms the heart, doesn’t it?