The Good Wife: Season 4, Episode 3 - Two Girls One Code

Alicia and Will are back in court — this time defending two young coders who take on Neil Gross and ChumHum in a battle over online rankings. It’s classic Good Wife tech-law chaos, complete with Viola Walsh back in the mix and a judge who’s not here for anyone’s condescension. Meanwhile, Eli scrambles to contain another possible scandal — is Peter cheating again, or is the campaign being set up? And Kalinda’s messy, dangerous home life gets even darker. Jason and Marissa break down the courtroom brilliance, the political tension, and why this Kalinda storyline just doesn’t work.

Timestamps

00:12 – Introducing “Two Girls, One Code” and the very online CBS era

04:00 – The case: Neil Gross, page rankings, and the return of Viola

13:00 – Judge Marks doesn’t need your “gopher” explainer

23:30 – Alicia, Will, and the hotel receipt that shakes Eli

44:00 – Peter’s alleged affair, Alicia’s reaction, and Kalinda’s chaotic subplot

Enjoyed this episode? Rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen or watch! It helps more Good Wife fans find us. Support the show at https://buymeacoffee.com/goodpod — every cup keeps the conversation going.

Creators and Guests

Host

Jason Reed

I’m a simple guy with simple interests. Pop Culture, Tv, Movies, Comics. Constantly chasing that nostalgia dragon. Podcaster talking Married At First Sight on A Perfect Match and The Good Wife verse on The Good Pod.

Host

Marissa Garza

MTv never told me the Real World would be like this // podcaster, consultant, and tv watcher

What is The Good Pod?

Calling all fans of courtroom intrigue and complex characters! Join us each week as we dive deep into the gripping world of "The Good Wife," "The Good Fight", "Elsbeth," and the entire legal drama universe created by Robert and Michelle King. Jason Reed and Marissa Garza, break down each episode, unpack intricate plot lines, and analyze the moral dilemmas faced by Alicia Florrick, Diane Lockheart, Elsbeth Tascioni, and their colleagues. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to these addictive shows, you'll gain fresh insights and catch details you might have missed.

The Good Wife S4E3
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[00:00:05] And then, and the recording is going. So just go leave it in. Leave it in. Welcome to the Good Pod, where today we're talking to Good Wife, season four, episode three, two girls, one code. I'm waiting for your host Jason Reed with me when you look up Chicago Plus Nerd On, on Chum hum. You get this woman's picture.

[00:00:28] Marissa Garza. Marissa, you good? Me? I'm good. Jason, are you good? I'm good, I'm good. Uh, you know, two girls, one coat. If you don't know, if you don't, dunno what this episode Tyler's referring to. Uh, good on you. Don't look it up. Don't, don't look it up. Don't, don't put two girls win anything. If you don't already know what it is.

[00:00:49] Uh, we're go, we're trying to save you. Don't look it up. Yeah, don't look. I was really kind of surprised that they went there. Although the show is like telling us just like how in like they were extremely [00:01:00] online during this, especially for CBS show. You know what I mean? Like. Uh, yeah, two girls, one code. Uh, I mean, listen, it, it had a lot to do with the episode Two girls and one code.

[00:01:11] Yeah. Yeah. You can't, sure. You can't really say it's, uh, something, you know, mischievous. But it is. It's, uh, here we are season four, episode three, getting into it. Um, yeah, I thought this was another solid episode, minus that one storyline, you know? Yep. Yep. If we can just like cut that out of the Good Wife pie for a while.

[00:01:33] Like this was a final episode. Like it had, it had all of the, like there was a good case we could follow the case from start to finish. We had some firm development stuff going on. We had some Alicia and Peter, unfortunately, but also Okay. Stuff going on. Um. And it didn't have a lot of kids, or Jackie. So, you know, it, it hits all the success, it hits all the marks for me.

[00:01:55] Successful. Uh, before we dive into the episode, we want to remind you of some [00:02:00] free and easy ways you can help this podcast. You can do that by rating, reviewing, and subscribing, whatever it's you are watching and or listening. If you're watching us on YouTube, please hit the thumbs up. It, uh, lets people know that are into this content that we are around.

[00:02:13] We are, I'm, I'm sure there's tons of people out there that are into the good wife that have no idea we exist. We try to get the word out, but you can help us during the. Doing that by rating, reviewing, and subscribing. Wherever it is you are, uh, digesting our contents, it helps us a great deal. You can also email us at the good pod [e-mail].

[00:02:29] If you wanna chop it up with us about any and everything, uh, either good wife related or whatever related. You can do that at that, at that email address. If you wanna help us out monetarily, you can also do that by going to, uh, buy me a coffee.com/good pod. There you can donate any amounts of money you wish, big or small.

[00:02:46] Uh, we appreciate anything that you're able to drop into our coffers, uh, to help us maintain this year podcast. Now that, that's all the way, Marcel, let's deep dive into the episode. Oh, wow. That was such, that was [00:03:00] so traumatic, Jason. Yeah, I try. I try. Whoa. Oh, all right. Here we go. Case of the week, uh, we have the case of two girls in one coat.

[00:03:07] Pretty much. There are two girls who idolize Neil Gross. Are gross, gross, gross, gross, gross. Gross. Because gross. He's kind of gross. Yeah. Yeah. Um, from Chum hum. Chum hum. As we talked about throughout, like doesn't go away. Chum hum is around for a long time. Um, but these two girls created their own company called Margarita Voice Recognition, or Margarita Moments, which was voice recognition software.

[00:03:33] And they're suing Neil Gross because before the certain day of like, I think it was July 13th, 2011 or something like that, uh, June 13, they were at the top. June 13th, they were at the top of the rankings. And as you know, as a citizen of the internet, page rankings are very, very important when it comes to businesses.

[00:03:50] And they were at the top, they were there. And then after June 13th, they were on page 28 and they're saying that this happened because they refused to buy ads on [00:04:00] hum hum. So that's setting everything up. We see our good friend Viola. Representing Neil on the other side, we've got Will and like everyone picks a turn, but it's mainly Will.

[00:04:10] Yeah. We have Alicia, we have Carrie come in and sometimes Diane's consulting like it, it's kind of a, a team effort over there. But Will's Will is back. Yeah. Will's, Will's, will's back in his, his his bag now he's like, he's relishing being back in the courtroom. He is having fun again. Laughing at, at our, at the, the defendant's office.

[00:04:31] Like you think, you think that's enough? Get out. You're not laughing. 'cause usually you laugh when you joke. So. Yeah, I tell not laughing, I mean, Will's back on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the, the one of the girls on the stand is like, Neil, like, Mr. Gross, we went to the same college like I idolized you. So like, this was so hard to like really take.

[00:04:51] And we learn at this point that the judge, judge Marks, uh, is hard of hearing. And, um, judge has been around for a [00:05:00] while. Uh, did you recognize him, Jason? Uh, no. I didn't recognize him right off the bat. Uh, 'cause I am not a Sopranos watcher. Those of you that watch Sopranos would probably tis tisk me because, you know, this is Junior Soprano.

[00:05:14] I, I know the name Junior Soprano just from being in the world and hearing people talk about Sopranos, but I had no idea that this was that guy until I looked him up after watching the episode. This is Dominic Chinese Ch Chese Chi. Yeah, Chie Chie. I don't know. Uh, it's his name. He was Junior Soprano on the soprano.

[00:05:35] So he is very famous to a lot of other people, not me, but this, that guy. I like this judge. He was, he was, I liked how at certain times when he was like being, uh, disregarded, he'd be like, no, I know more than you think. I know. Even though I'm not hearing, I, I'm still with it 'cause I'm a judge. So don't try and patronize me.

[00:05:53] Uh, Viola. Yeah, it was great. It was great because right now we're just introduced to the fact that he is hard of hearing 'cause he's like mm-hmm. Asking the [00:06:00] witness like, Hey, can you like, can you speak up please? Can you say that again? And Viola is contending that the Margarita moments fell on page rankings, not because of anything that had to do with Hum home, but because there was an a review on Uber Tick that said that Margarite emotions has plagiarized and it stinks.

[00:06:18] So obviously the, that was strong enough to, you know, tank the ratings. And um, you know, our friends over at Lockhart Gardner come back and say, yeah, but like also, oh no, uh, Viola says, and it couldn't have been anything because Wicked Savage design went on sale and they had a lot of press, so that might have like pooped or whooped them up in the, um, rankings and kind of sent you down.

[00:06:42] So that's kind of where they're standing at this point. Yeah. They go back to the offices and Will is like ready to set this up. He's like, okay, like we're gonna talk to them with, with our, our clients. We're gonna go into the conference room, do all this stuff, but he tells everyone like, [00:07:00] wait here, we'll be back.

[00:07:01] Have to go get ready. And as he goes, he finds out that Clark has rented out the conference room. Yeah. Apparently too. Maybe some other law firm that's ha handling a divorce case. 'cause Will, will, has the best confusion face in the business because Will walks in and there's this guy there who I guess is the husband who's being divorced and probably sued for half his money.

[00:07:24] Maybe he's like, is this the guy? Is this the bastard? And starts getting upset with Will. We'll just stand there looking at him like, who are you? What are you doing in my law office? What's going on? And this is when, you know, we find out that Clark is renting out office space to smart move other lawyers.

[00:07:40] Smart. Yeah. Smart move. He is like, they're giving us $8,000 to rent out this, this office space. So, you know, we, we need to take any money we can get. There's like, and you know, will is like, what am I, like, I, what am I gonna look like? Not having office space to, you know, Neil Gross talk to my people, talk to Neil Gross.

[00:07:57] And so they all have to meet in the, in will's, I guess in [00:08:00] this instance where there's so many people s shrinking office where it looks like, like everyone's kind of huddled together in a circle in Will's office. Yeah. It's like a co a combination of like a sofa, some cushy chairs. They brought in some other chairs.

[00:08:12] There's coffee table. There's not a real table. Yeah. And in the background you can hear like the arguments happening Yeah. In the conference room. It was a really great setup. It was, uh, at this point it, it's a good running bit throughout the whole episode. Yes. Yes, exactly. And Viola sits here and she's like, we're gonna be so generous.

[00:08:29] We're gonna offer $123,000 to cover the cover. What you lost in setting up your business and everything. And we'll, we'll just call it a day. And this is when Will comes in and says, why aren't you smiling? Because that's a joke. You usually smile when you're telling a joke. And Neil calls the, you know, will out kind of by saying, and by talking to the clients and saying like, look, they don't have any leverage, so you might as well take this deal.

[00:08:54] And Viola is playing to Clark because she gets up and she walks out and goes to talk to him [00:09:00] and says, Hey, you're representing the creditors. I don't think it would look bad or look good if they denied this $123,000. And then. Or like had a chance to have it and lost it. And meanwhile, Carrie is like rubbernecking himself around the corner trying to watch this all happen.

[00:09:16] Carrie, who we're three episodes in, and I'm waiting for, I know Carrie's a carry moment. I, I'm waiting. I mean, he's, he's back, he's striking his feet back under in lock our garden. I'm just waiting for that care episode where we're like, oh yeah, there's the care we know and love. He back baby, he back. But as of right now, he's uh, he's moving in silence, watching things.

[00:09:37] He is like, Hmm, what's going on here? A little, little viola going to go see Clark. What's going on? So he, uh, he's, he's clocking stuff. He looking, he, he, he might be silent, but he's watching, he's always watching silent, stealthy. That's, that's where he's doing a better job with that than Belinda. Um. At least the storyline in general.

[00:09:57] She's got her own stuff going on. Yeah, she's got her own stuff. Uh, [00:10:00] back in court, the, uh, a viola puts a like explainer video on how chum home works by it. Like there's a gopher that goes through and finds the pages and the internet that you need and all this stuff. This is what the judge is like, I don't need the stinking gopher.

[00:10:13] I know exactly what this is doing. He's like, you're trying to talk, talk about a hyperlinked based algorithm system for search engines. Correct. And she's like, yeah, yeah. He's like, I, I already know about it. We don't need this. Well, at first she's like, whoa, is, do you need it louder? Is it, is it too soft?

[00:10:31] Like no. She's like, no, I already know about all this. You don't need to, you don't need to patronize me by trying to explain to me like I'm a 5-year-old What a, what an algorithm based search engine is all about. I do like Neil, like as they're playing the stupid little instructional video we have, we have chummy little gopher trying to explain to people Neil Neil's so like, pleased.

[00:10:51] He's like, like, yeah, I, I came up with the chummy. Do you like that? Like you underst stand smiling was like, yeah, it's my baby right there. And the judge is like, this is [00:11:00] stupid. Like, I already know what this is. Turn this shit off. Like, I really love the judge. He's like, so no nonsense. Yeah, he's, he's like an upgraded quester.

[00:11:07] 'cause I, you know, question might be out, but this guy's just like, nah, I, I don't need to hear all your fluff. I don't need to hear all this. I know what I need to know. Let's keep it moving. Let's keep it, let's keep it rolling. Let's go. And the reason for all of this is 'cause Viola is trying to argue that there's no connection between ad sales and search ranking.

[00:11:23] 'cause the gopher doesn't even know about the a like he, there's no, you know. There's nothing there. And Neil is saying like, we don't touch the algorithm. That's the whole reason why we are what we are. We just don't touch it. And this is what like Will takes a deep breath, fix his neck. Like he's warming up to go on the mound.

[00:11:41] Like he's like all ready to go and he's like, oh. So like you never like touch or tweak the algorithm and. Neil's like, I never, I never said that. And it's like, but you do. Right? Like when would you do that? And he's like, oh, for spam. And also like we check on it daily. The algorithm is tweaked [00:12:00] daily. I was like, Neil, you are going down so fast in this situation.

[00:12:04] And Will's laid out for him. He's walking right into Will's track. Yes. Yeah. And true. Let's go. Yeah. And he leans in hard and he is like, okay, well if you are saying that you didn't touch the algorithm on this specific day, the date that the, the clients are saying that their rankings tanked. We need to see the records on the algorithm.

[00:12:23] And, 'cause he asked, he asked about the specific day, right? Like the same day the, the R people's page went from page one to 28. He's like, so on this day. Did you touch it? Did something happen to it? Neil's like, I don't know. I don't know, man. I have no idea. He is like, but you said that you, that it gets tweaked daily, right?

[00:12:39] And Neil's like, yeah, but I, I don't know. But like, well, I was like, well guys, basically, he's like, like, well, I have no choice. I have no choice. If Neil doesn't know, we have to find out. So why do we go ahead and take a look inside the algorithm, everyone? 'cause that's, that'll be okay, right? Everybody will be okay with that.

[00:12:57] And then, yeah, because like [00:13:00] algorithm is like their product, right? Like, and they're gonna hide behind trade secrets, which is something that tech companies do all of the time. They're like, we can't tell you because of trade, blah, blah, blah. Uh, Viola's like, this is outrageous, but okay, fine. If you're gonna subpoena, like the judge is like, this makes total sense.

[00:13:16] Like this is the thing that we're gonna do. Um, and Viola goes, can we have 24 hours to prepare? And he's like, huh. 24 hours to prepare. So they bring on two witnesses to kind of delay the subpoena. We've got Tom, the SEO guy, and like again, Viola's trying to explain search engine optimization to the judge.

[00:13:36] And he's like, I know exactly what that is. And, um, she's claiming that Tom, the CEO guy, was hired by Margarita Motion to help them climb the ranking systems. So saying that they gamed the system to begin with. And so if there was any tweaking to the algorithm, it was to undo the game. Like to Yes, to make it clear again.

[00:13:56] And then they got this advertising lady who was, were the people [00:14:00] or the person that approached, um, Will's clients saying or asking for the ads. And she's saying, I didn't tell anyone that this wasn't a done deal before I went on vacation, because bad news is always best when it's delayed. So they're saying that because she was on vacation during this June 13th, 2011 date, she couldn't have been responsible for having.

[00:14:23] The, um, rankings tank. Yes. I mean, it totally, it totally undercuts our people's argument of like, well, they were, they were sent down the pages because of denying ad rev, uh, denying selling chum home ads. So that's why they're put down to 28. And this is saying, no, that's impossible because, uh, the Adelaide didn't tell Neil Right.

[00:14:45] That, that they didn't buy ads. So, uh, we gotta find some other reasoning for, for the, for the page being sent down to page 28. Yep. And so they think they've got like a good enough case that they go back to lock Rock [00:15:00] Gardner and say like, Hey, we're gonna give you 20% more, $160,000 and will, I know like your ego's in on this, but like, you really should just like, take the offer.

[00:15:11] And at this point they're like, no, we're not going. And in this room we have Will Diane, Alicia, Carrie. And Clark. Anybody else. And Clark. And Clark. Clark, yeah. Because Viol Viol looks at Clark. Viol looks at Clark. Like, get your boy, get Well also like does 20%, you know, like, I'm doing your favor. Yeah. 20%. Yeah.

[00:15:30] Because we, because Will laughs at her again. Will's like you now you're coming 160. Get real. And you see, you see Viola shoot Clark a look, which makes Carrie look like Yes, Carrie. Yep. Yep. Something's definitely going on here. Yeah. But they have found out in while, um, in the 24 hours to prepare for the subpoena, they have found out that Neil actually bought Margarita Motions Competitor.

[00:15:56] Wicked Savage. Wicked Savage Designs. And so [00:16:00] wouldn't that make sense that Wicked Savage Designs would go up in the rankings if Neil bought them around the time that Margarita motions fell in the ranks. So that's their new positioning, which is pretty strong. And at this point carrie's like. Very, he's like, I gotta say something.

[00:16:16] I don't know who, who should I say, who should I tell it to? Should I tell it to Will? Should I tell Diane? Walks out the door, follows Diane pauses for a moment. Yeah. And then goes and then tells Diane. I think, I think Carrie carrie's so nervous about his new footing in Lock hard Garden. He does not, he doesn't wanna make any waves, but he is just like, Hmm, should I, should I number one snitch on Clark?

[00:16:39] 'cause Clark does seem to have a lot of pull with, you know, who stays and who goes if he stays or he goes, yeah, so do I want to snitch on Clark right now? He's like, but if I don't snitch on Clark. Then I could be letting something crazy go down. So I do kind of have, I, I loved just the pause he took of like, it says so much the pause he takes like, whoever, [00:17:00] whoever made that directing choice to be like, alright, Matt Zachery, uh, before you walk into, uh, to the scene with Christine Baranski, uh, you're gonna pause.

[00:17:10] 'cause you're really thinking about this. You really thinking It could have been Matt, Matt could have done it. Like, hey, it could, it could have been his choice. Like he could have didn't just done it one day. Yeah. I don't wanna take No, no. Trying off off of Matt. Matt could have done it himself as well. And because, because that pause says so much in the moment to be like, Hmm, is this a good idea?

[00:17:28] I don't know. It's have a lot of consequences for you, but yeah, I'm gonna go do it. And like, and the fact he went to Diane, he was like, you know, this was happening before Carrie left. Like Di Carrie was Diane's LAPD dog. He went to her for everything. And so he's doing it again. And not even to see the conversation, but to see like.

[00:17:48] The conversation on the outside was so cool. Yeah, it was because we, I mean, like, we didn't need to see the conversation. We knew what he was gonna say. We knew what he was gonna do, but like, the part with the pause is, was [00:18:00] what was really needed to be communicated to us as the audience. And I think, um, it's still like he still got his moral and ethical things.

[00:18:08] He's like, I could keep this to myself, but that's not ethical for me at, at the firm. Like, I have to do something with this. So he does, he goes in and tells Diane and wastes no time and ends up in Clark's office. Oh, Clark's ass. Like, like you mother f what the hell do you think you're doing? Yeah. Like, why are you talking to Viola?

[00:18:30] And he's like, I am on your, she's like, she's obviously low balling you. And Clark's like, yeah, but I'm helping, I am negotiating. Like I'm, I'm playing for your side. Like, I'm not negotiating, but I am like. Pushing her to go higher and it's working. And she says to Diane, you don't even recog or you've been paranoid for so long, you don't even recognize when someone's on your side.

[00:18:53] And I, so I think, I really do think that Clark is one of these people that is like so in love with bureaucracy [00:19:00] and so in love with the, like he, he's for like, he'd be a good government worker, you know what I mean? Like Yeah. One of those. Um, so I believe him. Do you? I mean, yeah. Like I hear it Clark. I, I get you.

[00:19:11] I do. Th I, I think he's correct 'cause he tells us like, your success is my success, so I wanna make sure we're getting the best, uh, money, the best whatever at any given moment. So we're working on the same side. You're being paranoid. I'm like, I mean yes and no because you should have told us that this is what you're doing.

[00:19:29] So that when Carrie snitches on you, I don't think you're doing something nefarious. 'cause I already know. So the fact that you're not telling me is what's getting my red flags raised up. But yes. And, and I also think. What Clark thinks is best and what Diane thinks is best are two different things we've seen so at, but at this moment or this thing, yes, we want the, we want the most money we can, we can get in this moment, but I don't, I think in from Diane's perspective, it's like, [00:20:00] yes, we are both going toward this goal, but we want to get there in different ways.

[00:20:05] So I need some communication to make sure that our ways are meeting up. You know what I mean? Like I, yeah, like trust me, I get you his own spot. Me. Like talk to Yeah. But let me know you're doing it on the side so that I'm not, when my, when my guy Carrie comes and bitch is on you. I ended up your asks. I already knew this is what you were doing.

[00:20:22] So communication is key here. Yeah. And I think Clark just thinks it's implicit. Like I obviously am on your side and, um, Diane is like, no, that's, that's not how this works. That's not, that's not a thing.

[00:20:36] All right. Back in court, Viola is raising the, a question of standing on the subpoena, because right now the subpoena is still in question. They're saying, because we need to see the algorithm, we need to see Chum Home's algorithm. Chum Home owns the algorithm. And Viola's like, actually, I don't know if they do or like, I don't know if these people, the clients should be the ones asking for [00:21:00] this data because I don't think they actually own the, um, own the company of Margarita Motions.

[00:21:07] Isn't that right? Chancellor Carlisle. And like, this guy stands up in the back and he's like, yeah, actually, because, uh, margarita Emotions was created on school property with school resources. The school owns it. It's according to the handbook. Like, I can't do anything about that. Like, that's just how it is.

[00:21:23] And yeah, this, this is definitely like a stalling tactic, like, oh sure, just try, like, let's, let's try and do anything. We can just get this. Case thrown out. So we're resorting to the fact that like, well, actually, these girls can't uh, even sue this Sue hum, because they are even the, the owners of this company, the cha, the, the school is the owner of the company, right.

[00:21:45] Chancellor. It's just like, yep, totally. We own the company because they made it on school property with school resources. So ha ha, nana, nana, boo boo. Now I think all of us at this point, watching this was probably like, we know how this is gonna go, [00:22:00] right? We, we know well, how this is gonna get defeated.

[00:22:03] It's so great because Will's like, okay, sure. That's the argument you're making. Great. Mm-hmm. Let's use that argument. Hey, chancellor Carlisle, did you write this book? Did it garner $70,000 worth of royalties? Did your school get any of it? No. Well, no, because I'm the chancellor and you know that that's it.

[00:22:23] And he's like, oh, the rules are different for you. Like this is, whoa, this is not, this is what it does in the handbook. Like, what are you gonna do about this? And Viola like, is objecting. The judge is like, no, this is real. Like, this is good. Let me lean in. Yeah, let me get some more information. And in, in his questioning, he's like, okay, so you're claiming that you own Margarita Motions that was created on school property using school resources.

[00:22:47] But didn't you read that in Neil Gross's book that he talked about your university and how he used your, your school and school's resources to create Chum Hub? So, and Chum Hub is like 8 86 mil billion. Million [00:23:00] dollars. And I know Neil Gross donated 50,000 million dollars to your, to your, um, university.

[00:23:06] But so why aren't you claiming ownership of Chum Hub? Like, that's just so weird. Hoist it on their own. Pitard, which they will do a lot in this episode. They introduce things and you're like, oh, crap. It actually works against us. We should not have introduced that. Like, yeah, thanks. Great. And I love the judges like, all right, I've heard enough.

[00:23:25] Like, you like chancellor, you suck. Um, you know, I love what we tell them to get out of my courtroom. Like, yeah. Like, I I'm done with you. Yeah. He is like, you know, I get it. I get it. Yeah. We're, I'm gonna dismiss the fact that, uh, you know, the ladies don't own this company. We're gonna just do away with that.

[00:23:41] Chancellor got outta my courtroom. You're an idiot. Get outta here. I was like, yes, thank you, judge. This waste of time is done. Yes. And Will's walking outta that courtroom feeling pretty good, feeling pretty high on himself. And Neil stops him for a little conversation and he's like, listen, I know what you're doing.

[00:23:57] Like, I know you're in trouble. I know you just lost your, you know, [00:24:00] highest paying client. I know that you're trying to get me to hire you. And Will's like, look, there's an advantage to knowing how your biggest competitor. Patrick Edelstein, um, you know, works and thinks, and he was like, that's so, so cute. I like you.

[00:24:17] Um, and I'm going to go out of my way to never hire you. Well, he say he doesn't like him. He said he doesn't like him because like, he like, yeah. Oh, I don't like you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry if I misspoke that. Yeah. Don't like you. And then he, okay. Usually I buy out my competitors. But see, here's the thing.

[00:24:31] Will, I don't like you like. And Will's like, takes that and turns it back on him. He is like, look, if I can annoy you, if I can irritate you, imagine what it could do to your enemies. Like, this is the relationship you want with your, your, um, lawyer. And Neil, of course is like, I'm too rich to care. Like I'm too rich to even think that through.

[00:24:51] I can just buy my way out of anything is basically what he's saying. I don't mean to drift Neil's back on the stand saying that he's not going to [00:25:00] EQU to the subpoena because this, you know, these are his crown jewels, this algorithm, we can't let it go. It can't be seen in the wild. And then he throws out an argument that this is protected by the First Amendment because it's freedom of speech.

[00:25:16] And he's claiming to have like the rights of a newspaper editor when giving up sources. He's like, I can't name my sources. The algorithm, just, just like newspapers can't name their sources on a story. And will at this point. Is giggling. He is like, this is where we're at now. Like, this is what's going on.

[00:25:34] And the judge is like, don't do that. No, I mean, talk about a stretch. So I was like, oh my God. Like you're, you're really reaching this far to like try to protect this algorithm by claiming it's first Amendment rights. Like, good outta here, bro. Yeah, yeah. So Alicia brings Uber tech guy, the guy who wrote the review at the beginning that was mentioned at the beginning of this case on the stand.

[00:25:55] And he is such, such a tech bro, blogger dude. [00:26:00] Um, he's first of all very proud of himself that he won like some sort of something in 2010. Um, but then he said he wrote that Margarita Motions was plagiarized, and Alicia's like, cool, do you have proof? And he's like, no, I don't need it. It was my opinion.

[00:26:17] Mm-hmm. And um, basically she's saying if Neil is claiming editorial discretion, then he is responsible. For checking the facts on all of the pages that Humum licks to. And, um, and I just, just to make sure, little blogger man, um, like Humum never called you to ask for the accuracy of this, and Viol was like, this is outrageous.

[00:26:40] We cannot be held responsible for every single page on the internet. And Alicia's like, well, you're claiming First Amendment rights. Yeah. Uh, this is kind of like the thing you're gonna have to do and there's gonna be a lot of defamation suits. If, if that's your argument. And then she's still, viol is still like, appealing to the judge.

[00:26:56] And she was like, no, like, you're the one making this argument. She's [00:27:00] not like, she's just answering your argument. Yeah. Like again, just turning, turning their arguments back around on them in such a masterful way of like, you guys don't even know what you're doing. Like at this point, girls should definitely fire viola and hire our people.

[00:27:14] Right. Because Viola's doing so poorly at this, right? I, yes. And she like, was not prepared at all. Like she, she acted surprised when, um, will said, Hey, Neil bought Wicked, um mm-hmm. Designs Wicked, Savage or whatever. Yeah. She's like, huh. Oh. So I don't know. She might not be the best lawyer for the case. Uh, anyway, she goes back to Clark and says, okay, a million dollars, I'm gonna give you a million dollars.

[00:27:41] And Clerk's like, no. And she's like, what? Why Clerk also, Nathan Lane has a fantastic like, lean Yes. Like, are you asking me to really do this? Like, really, that's what you wanna be doing? Um. He says, no, he refuses and will is like, that's [00:28:00] crazy. It's a million dollars. You guys aren't debt. And Clark's like, look, I've seen the evidence.

[00:28:03] Like, you're not gonna move, you're not gonna move me on this. So then they have to go negotiate back in Will's office because not only has the conference room been, um, rented, they broke the wall, the wall has been shattered. So I'm sure that's gonna cost some money to get back. Yeah. At the end of the day, it probably will be a wash of renting out this, uh, this conference room.

[00:28:25] Now we have to replace the whole glass wall that I'm, that I'm assuming has got like, through a chair, through the glass wall. He was so mad at the divorce proceedings. That's probably what I love that we didn't see it, we didn't see the glass breaking. We just see the, the after effects. So this is like, yeah, you could, you could probably guess what happened here.

[00:28:41] Yeah. Like the guy, the guy brought the glass wall out of frustration. Uh, so I just love them having like a tiptoe through the glass. Like the hell. Why is the glass hole here? And everyone is here. Like Diane is here, everybody's here, and she walks in, she's like, so where are we at? And they're like, basically like nowhere.

[00:28:58] She's like, what do you mean? It's either [00:29:00] subtle or release the algorithm. And you know what the thing is? The thing is about the, uh, US judicial system is there's always a third way out being capitalism. And so, uh, Neil bought out, um, bought. Out the clients basically gave them enough money and hired them to run Wicked, Savage design for him at J and they're like, you know, oh my God, is Neil Gross?

[00:29:23] Like, I'm gonna do blah, blah blah. So that's where it ends. Yeah. That was, that was kind of shitty, right? For these, for these, I mean, listen, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you're the, if you're the clients in the client's seats where they offer you something like, yeah, like something good, you go, you gotta take it.

[00:29:39] But I was like, damn, that's kind of shady. 'cause they just, they went out of their way to cut out Lockhart Gardner to be like, listen, yeah, y'all won, but you didn't actually win. Like, we're gonna make sure that you don't get the scores from this. Oh yeah, exactly. It will not be recorded as a win. Like you, you won.

[00:29:57] So you say like, there's no receipt. [00:30:00] Yes. So like, I thought it was like a, it was kind of ingenious way to like go around them to be like, yeah, we, I hate you so much. I don't want you to profit off this win, so I'm gonna do what I can to like go around you. I really enjoyed that part of it. And to look on everybody's faces.

[00:30:14] At least you, at least you're like running to find the clients, like you little Brax and they're like, oh, hey Alicia. Yeah. We're just writing you a note to let you know. Like, oh my God, this is so great. We got jobs. Negros like, ah, so good. I'm like, if we get in trouble in the future, we'll definitely give you a call like.

[00:30:32] Okay, great, great, great. Yeah, El Alicia just sits down. She's like, starts laughing to herself. She's like, oh, not, not as good of a laugh as a Diane laugh, but it's, it's, it's up there. It's, it's getting there. It's getting there. Yeah. So we are still got money problems over at Lahar Gardner and things in the campaign are also kind of heating up because Before, before we move onto there, yeah.

[00:30:53] I just, one more button on the Chum ho stuff. Will, does look, look himself up on Oh yeah, that's right. And it [00:31:00] says, do you mean will Gardner de Sparred lawyer, which is like, which just goes to show like Neil Gross was be, was like not being told truthful because you know Nick, you know Neil Gross was just like, I'm gonna have it say this whenever anybody looks up the gardener.

[00:31:13] Yep, yep. Love. It's a button to that. Just a button to that, to that, that storyline. No, that, thank you for, I forgot about that. But yeah, that was funny. Uh, so over in the campaign we see Eli meeting with a magazine board, basically at the beginning of the episode. And the magazine is planning to run a cover story on Peter and, um, they wanna talk to Alicia's mom.

[00:31:36] They wanna talk to Will. So this is putting like a bunch of red flags and alarm bells up in Eli's mind because he is like, oh my God, they know about Will. Oh my God. They know about Will. Um, so Eli asks Mandy the editor, if this is a hit piece at the end of stage. She's like, what is this? And I recognized Mandy, who's played by Miriam Soar mm-hmm.

[00:31:58] As being in younger. She basically played the same [00:32:00] role. Younger was a TV show, is a TV show, was a TV show, was was a TV show with Hillary Duff and Meka Harget's husband. And yes. So she is basically playing the same role here. And he's like, is this a hit piece? She says, no, but I, I do have information of an affair and I'm just, you know, trying to.

[00:32:22] To verify it. And Eli goes, when are you going to press this week? And Eli walks out and shakes the plant. Mandy does ask about Alicia's mother too. Yeah. And Eli is very like, Hmm. Like, I've never, like she has a mom. I've never thought about Alicia's mother, like, wonder what she's up to. I don't have no idea, idea what Alicia's mother is up to, or like, he's like, yeah, I don't know about that.

[00:32:45] Like, well, I have to get back to you on that because I have, I didn't even realize Alicia had a mother till right now. Yeah. Yeah. He like, is so upset. I do love that moment when he shakes the plant and then someone walks by it and then he like set it. He's Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. [00:33:00] Calls Alicia. Alicia goes, it goes to Alicia's voice voicemail.

[00:33:03] Uh, later in the episode, uh, Eli is back on Alicia's couch and he's like, remember those days? Remember those days when I would sleep on your couch and we'd work together as a team and like talk about stuff. Alicia at this point is like, what is it Eli? Like, why are you here? I, and I like, well, like Alicia comes in like as if this is just some like.

[00:33:22] Regular social call. She's like, oh my God. What now, Eli, you silly goof. Eli's like, close the door. Lee shook. Yeah. He's like, uhoh. This is serious. Yeah. He is like, we never talked about this. I've avoided talking about this. I don't wanna talk about this. However, um, were you with Will on September 30th, 2011 and Alicia's like, wait, what?

[00:33:44] Um, okay. It's, it's just, uh, what, it's just the like bringing out into the light what was in the shadow. Because the Will and Alicia thing, I feel like in this world is it's something that [00:34:00] everybody knows, right? It's just like we can just tell something's going like. Was going on. Yeah. Was we, we we've seen it.

[00:34:07] We've seen it even before it was happening. We've all been wondering like, what, what is this? I mean, Eli himself definitely knows about this because of the fabled voicemails he deleted way back when. So he, like, everyone knows it. And now Eli's like, okay, like it's been this dirty little secret that no one's talked about, but now we're forced to talk about it.

[00:34:30] And how uncomfortable he is in these, in this moment here is such good acting from, uh, from Alan Cumming and of course from, uh, Juliana Margus, Julian Mar moment to be like, alright. Like, it, it, it's like a parent. It's like a parent child talk of like, I don't wanna talk about this. Like, like, I don't wanna, like, yeah.

[00:34:51] It's not something I wanted to talk about. It's something I've been trying to ignore, but now we have to talk about it 'cause things are coming up. It was such a good introduction to the [00:35:00] moment and the moment itself is so good. Absolutely. And Eli continues by saying there's a hotel receipt for September 30th, 2011, and Alicia's like freaked out and he's trying to say like, this could be a bluff.

[00:35:14] You know, like, this is part of the politics game. Like this is, could it be, but whatever you're doing, you need to stop seeing Will like, I don't wanna know. And he says, he says he, if you're still seeing, will you need to stop for a time, like, you know. You can see like you need to, you need to call it quits for like a little bit.

[00:35:33] 'cause he says, you know, people are gonna follow you around 'cause magazine does that. So if you're doing it, you're still doing it. They're gonna find you if they're following you. But you know, it'll blow over eventually. And then you can go like, as if he's saying you can go back to seeing Will after a little bit.

[00:35:46] Cool. Yeah, I mean, I think that it's just like the respect that Eli has for Alicia and like, he's not gonna tell her what to do. He knows he can't tell her what to do. Um, so he is just gonna, like, advise her in the best way he possibly can is like, now's not, now's not it like you need, you need [00:36:00] to do. And he and Alicia says like, I'm not seeing him.

[00:36:03] And then he follows up with. Can you tell me when you stopped? And Alicia says No. And walks out and freaks out in the elevator. And I was very proud of Alicia for saying no, because she doesn't need to give more information at this point. Um, but she freaks out again in the elevator. Elevators. Things happen in the elevators.

[00:36:21] Just watch the elevator. She needs to run to the safe sanctuary of the elevator. Be like, lemme go back to them, to the, to the time me and Will were in elevators.

[00:36:33] So with all this going on, Alicia does have to like ask Will. Like, Hey. So she like comes in after they're coming in from court, from the chum Home case like follows, will, and like gives them a look. And he's like, okay. He surprises Will because Will like, will is talking, it's a moment when they, when they're leaving court, he dismisses everybody.

[00:36:53] He's walking to his office. At least he's like following. He turns around, oh, like, you're, you're following me into my office. What's going on? And I look [00:37:00] like a concerned look on his face. Like, oh crap, what is this about? And so it's like, what, what He knows like, uhoh, what's up? Like we, we get caught. Like, 'cause when Alicia look at you like that, you know, it's probably concerning your Dion affair, whatever it's, you wanna call it.

[00:37:15] She's looking at her. He is like, let me make sure nobody else is watching. I closes door. Like, it was so, so funny. Uh, yeah. And I mean, she's like really, really nervous. So she just goes right in and asks like, were we together on September 30th, 2011? It's like, I, I don't know. You know, like I. I don't know, I can find out.

[00:37:37] And she says, well, this magazine has a receipt. They're, they're looking for proof and we need to give Eli something to like not run the story. And was like, okay, cool. I, I will look right away. Like, I'm gonna make this a priority. She gets up and will just an arm reach, arm reach crushing. I wasn't sure if, I wasn't sure if [00:38:00] she just didn't clock that he was trying to reach for her hand or if she was just like, nah, bro, it ain't that no more.

[00:38:05] I don't think she clocked it. I don't think she clocked it. Yeah, I don't think so. But the way that he like tried to grab for it and then like, I know he looked, he's so crushed and she is, and she's just like, I don't know. I feel like I'm cursed. Like Yeah, because Alicia, yes, exactly. Exactly. Back at home, uh, Alicia is waiting for Eli to call.

[00:38:24] Grace wants to use the phone and she's like, no, I need, I need the phone. I lost my cell phone at work apparently. And also conveniently. Can you imagine, can you imagine, like, this was in what? 2012? 2011, where we were like, oh, you know, I left my cell phone at work. As if it's as if it's not like now where it feels like now our phones are sewed or glued into our hands.

[00:38:49] Well, I don't have a house phone. Like I don't have a landline to like, yeah, me neither. I, I, I have no other way. Yeah. It, it's just, it's another one of those like stark [00:39:00] reminders of how things have changed when you could just leave your, you leave your phone, leave your work, leave your cell phone at work, as if it's like, eh, whatever.

[00:39:08] Whereas now it's just like these things are such a part of our lives that you can't imagine leaving it. Anywhere because you're constantly on it. You're constantly, it's, it's like checking for your wallet when you get up and leave places. Like it's, it's that big a part of wallet, wallet, keys, phone. Yeah, exactly.

[00:39:25] Wallet, keys. It's that big. A part of our life. And just to see that it wasn't that big a part of our life back in the day where you could just like leave it places and like, oh, I forgot. I just left myself phone at work. Also though, also though, I mean, I know it's a Blackberry and they had like really good security, but that is like a liability from a, like, are you sure it's at work?

[00:39:43] Do you know where it is? You know what I mean? Like, are you sure someone like tow truck guy didn't pick it up? You know what I mean? Like, let's just have a little concern here, Alicia. But she's, she's definitely just like waiting for Eli's call and says, grace, you're gonna have to wait for the phone. Yeah.

[00:39:58] And Eli calls and [00:40:00] says It wasn't about you and. Alicia is so like, happy about it. Like she's so relieved. She's like, okay, great. Thanks Eli. Thanks so much for calling. She goes and she says, okay, grace, like you're, you can use the phone, gives her a hug, tells her how much she loves her. It's so funny that some of the only times we see Alicia like hugging and embracing her children are, are after moments where she doesn't get caught with the, with the affair with Will, because there was, there was the grand jury thing Yeah.

[00:40:33] Last season where it's like, Hey, good. Like she's trying to rush home and tell her kids about the will affair before it gets out, but because the grand jury didn't go further, it's not gonna get. Put out there. She's so, it's such relief that her affair is not gonna, she's like, oh my God, kids, I love you so much.

[00:40:50] Let's go on vacation. Like, and now she's like, oh my God, great. Thank God it's not gonna get put out again. Here. Here, grace, let me hug you. Oh my God. Uh, mommy was about to have to tell you she [00:41:00] was, she was effing her boss, so I'm so happy. But then it clicks to her, she's like, oh, I should probably tell Will.

[00:41:06] So she takes the phone back, calls Will, and was like, cool. Thanks for calling. If it wasn't about us, who's it about? And she's like, oh yeah. Like, who is it about? Wait a minute, I gotta go. Let me find out. Let me go to Eli, to the office. Confront Eli. Um, she is there and he, he's like, it's, it's not about you.

[00:41:26] It's not about you. I was like, okay, who's it about then Eli, you better tell me Who's it about? And he says, it's Peter with a campaign worker. Like, this is politics. Like this is politics. Like, we're still investigating. I'm just learning about this now. Like, don't take it for serious. Uh, but Alicia, of course, because she has been burned by Peter in the past is already down that, down that road.

[00:41:50] Yeah. I love that. Because as Eli is slow out the office with Mandy, the reporter. Mm-hmm. And like as Alicia comes storming into the office, you can see Mandy in the background, like, [00:42:00] oh yeah, Alicia. Yeah. Eli's like Mandy, get back in the office. Love that. And yeah, it's so interesting because, you know, Eli's like, Hey.

[00:42:10] Hey, great news. It's, it's not, it's not, it's not you. It's not you and Will, so please leave it at that. It was just like, no, I won't leave it at that. And like, she calls it out. She's like, there was a rumor that Peter was sleeping with someone, you know, a while ago. Like, did we know about this rumor? Did we hear No, no, no.

[00:42:26] She is like, she's just saying like, look, I can guess, I can guess what this actually is. He's, she's like, let me make this easy for you. Yeah. There was a rumor that somebody slept together and they have a receipt and, and this like, basically like, I'll do the hard work for you, Eli. Just tell me what is there.

[00:42:42] Uh, so yeah, I, I think what my question will be is do Alicia have a right to be mad about this? Like, I don't know. I mean, it wasn't when they were together, they were separated. Yeah. She, because [00:43:00] Peter has told her that they're working on it. And has said that that's never gonna happen again. Don't even, nuh nuh uhuh.

[00:43:08] Mm-hmm. We'll talk We'll, let's get further in. We'll talk, we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it. Uh, okay. So obviously this entire time, um, Eli needs an investigator and has been trying to get ahold of Kalinda, but she's busy doing other things, and which we will talk about. So he asks like, Hey, would you help Alicia?

[00:43:29] Like, this is not to help Peter. 'cause you know, Kalinda stance on helping Peter. She's like, I'm not a, I'm not gonna help Peter. It has to do with Peter. No. And she's like, well actually like, this is about Alicia, because if this gets out, it's about Alicia. She's like, oh, okay. So there are us looking at a photo of the campaign workers who were at the scene, Martin Witch Mandy has had identified like where this had taken place or whatever.

[00:43:53] And immediately Lin's like this blonde lady, was it her? And [00:44:00] Peter walks in and he is like, what, what are you doing here? Oh, who this is? Why are you here? That was so cringey awkward to be like, this is the first time they've been like in close, close, close proximity. There was that moment, uh, when everybody was in the lobby of Lock Our Garden.

[00:44:17] It was at a funny moment where like, uh. Hey, iHome kid was in the background or whatever a couple episodes ago, but this is the first moment. They're like really face to face, like with only one other person in the room. This is really weird. Weird. It's really weird. Peter's Peter's like, oh, what? What are you like hands up.

[00:44:34] Like, what? What are you doing here? Like, I'm, as it should be, as it should be. This is weird. And Ken was like, yep, super weird. And meanwhile, Eli's over here like, what's weird? Why is this weird? What's going on? Which I think at a certain point, because this has happened before where, you know, we, where Eli asked me like, why does Clinton not wanna do any work for you?

[00:44:57] What's going on? So I think at some certain point [00:45:00] Eli's gonna put two and two together to be like, oh, uh, but yeah, that was such a funny moment where Peter, Peter walks on the bus. Peter obviously does not look what he's doing or who he's talking to because he like gets on the bus and starts talking, walking the steps.

[00:45:13] He is like, oh crap, clinda here. Yeah, he's like talking about like, anybody could be on the bus. It could be another reporter. Yeah, it'd be like anything. And he is got like, like, let's look at this thing. But yeah. And, and Kalinda iss, so like discombobulated, she starts leaving without the photo Uhhuh. Eli's like, do you want this?

[00:45:30] Do you wanna take this with you? She's like, yeah, okay, fine. Uh, so Kalinda does her thing and finds one of the, um, well, we didn't touch, we didn't touch on the Alicia Peter meeting at home. Oh, I did skip that. I don't know why I would skip, uh, Peter anything. But yes, Peter was home one day when Alicia came home and he's like opening up a bottle of wine, making himself at home.

[00:45:56] And he's like, it's not true, Alicia. Like, it's not [00:46:00] true. And Alicia says, remember what you said last time. Remember what she said last time? You said it's not true? And um, he's like, yeah, that's where they're doing this is because they want to really like corner me. And Alicia says, I don't give a damn like.

[00:46:14] We know You do though. You do, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. Yeah, but I mean, this, this came at a time when they weren't together though, right? It is like, as far as I am remembering, or this probably is in the time where they're trying to work it out, I don't know, but the man said he would never do it again.

[00:46:32] And he, but they weren't together if it was just around the time where Will and Alicia were, you know? Sure it is. Yes. Okay. I see that. Like, that could be a little like, but I also understand her response. I'm not saying that her response was right. I just think that she, I understand it. Of course she's gonna react this way.

[00:46:53] And also, uh, they've just been talking about like, they were laughing on the bus. Ha ha ha. They got the house. Like they're doing all this [00:47:00] stuff. And then she's like, you didn't tell me about this. Like, if it was a thing, why didn't you tell me about it? She had to find out this way. There's a lot of factors I think in this for her.

[00:47:08] I mean, 'cause he didn't wanna ruin the fun times. You're like, by the way, just so you know, I've been begging a campaign worker. Yeah. I mean, like, to be quite honest, I think she would respect that a lot more than having to find out from Eli or from some sort of news something if she would be devastated.

[00:47:25] But she would, well I mean apparently she still loves this man for some reason, and that also totally leaves out the ickiness of him banging a campaign worker. Yes, agreed. Yes. It's not if you just met some other, other woman and some other profession and was having another relationship. So yeah, that would be icky enough to be like, and it's someone that works for my campaign, like, Ew, bro.

[00:47:45] What? Yeah. So yes. I, I'm not, I'm not defending Peter by any means. I'm just saying I don't That's right. Alicia's acting as if he cheated on her again, where it's just like, no. Well, I think if anything happens like that, like you're, like the [00:48:00] tendency is there, you know what I mean? To react in the way she did before.

[00:48:05] Like she's got her guard up with Peter no matter what happens. So yeah, she's, she's reacting in that way. I get it. Yeah, I get it. I see it. So Kalinda goes on her little investigation and finds the blonde staff campaign worker who's like, I don't know, 16, 18, somewhere in there. Very, like in early twenties.

[00:48:25] Early twenties. Early twenties. Early twenties. Uh, Indira Star, what a name. She's like, okay, so like, how, tell me about it. She's like, oh, we were so flirty. At first. I was like, you know, older guys, blah, blah, blah. And Glenda's like, okay. Well, how many times did you it? Eight times. Eight times in the hotel? Oh, no.

[00:48:43] Sometimes we were in the apartment and you know what's really funny is like Alicia saw me and one time, um, she told me it was okay because we had an open marriage. And this just like, at this point, probably like laughing in her mind because this is something, this is not an Alicia reaction at all. Yeah.

[00:48:59] It's like, it is [00:49:00] like, oh, so you're just totally lying. Like that's, that's what the, oh, you're probably being paid the lie something because this, because she said it so confidently. It was like, why, why would this be your story? Like, why would you, okay. Lying one on one. Don't involve more people that need to be involved.

[00:49:18] Don't bring in other people to, you know, fight against your story. It's so weird that that's the story she came up with. Well, if she is being paid by Mike Tiva, Mike Tiva has a reason to get back at Alicia. So this is just a kind of like a smoke screen to just kind of embarrass Alicia. Yes. Uh, you know. Uh, yes, it's gonna get, it's gonna get found out to be untrue, like very easily, but it's still something that was out there that could have, well, and it lets him, it lets her know like, you're not, you're not out of the conversation here.

[00:49:54] Like, you can't be as out of the conversation as you were in the last one. Like, people are gonna find things, they're gonna [00:50:00] talk about you, you're in here, which is what Eli says when he goes into Alicia's office and asks her after she is, you know, been informed that the clients have been paid by Neil Gross, and they're leaving and she's in her little, like, laughing stage.

[00:50:15] Eli comes in and asks, do you have an open marriage? Like what? Like what? Like Eli's, like Eli I think knows this is all bs, but you gotta check just to make sure he is like, yeah, just, just so I can do my due diligence. You don't have open marriage, right? Because it'd be pretty funny if you had an open marriage this whole time and you were acting the way you've been acting about Peter and his shenanigans.

[00:50:37] But just to check, you don't have an open marriage. At least it's like, what bro? What? Like what do you think Maji Like, come on. And at this point she's like, well, or Eli goes to Alicia. Well, that's what she said is she said you were in an open marriage. And Alicia's like, I can't control what Peter says.

[00:50:55] And Eli's ah, uh uh, she is [00:51:00] saying, it came from you, not from Peter. So they're lying about you. Not just me. And like for Eli, he's like, okay, this is good. Like I know more about like the way that they're going. But now I think Alicia's realizing she's like in it now, like she. She can't hide as much as she did last time.

[00:51:20] And then because she's so relieved that whatever, it didn't really happen, she goes and kisses her, Peter or whatever. I'm like, what is the motivation for this exactly, because I don't know, I don't know. She's so relieved that this wasn't true about Peter, that she's now, I guess, apologizing by kissing him on the bus, which I was like, I, I don't know if we need to go that far.

[00:51:44] 'cause I mean, it's not as if she accused him of being so out of character because it's something he has done before. She rightfully called him out for lying the first time. So why should I believe anything you're saying now? So I don't really think an apology was really [00:52:00] needed. No, because you do lie, bro.

[00:52:04] You are a liar. So I cannot be blamed for not believing you in this moment. But yeah, I guess as an apology she goes and kisses him and Lord knows. Yeah, but like, what, what kind of signal is that? Right? Like are, what is, if I Peter, mm-hmm. Unfortunately, I'm like editing my little thing. I'm like going about my business, doing my stuff, and then all of a sudden my ex-wife comes in and kisses me even though we haven't talked.

[00:52:29] You know what I mean? Like it's, what is he gonna take that as? And also like, what did Alicia mean to communicate? Like it's a very mixed signal type of thing. Yeah. It could have, I don't, I don't know. I guess I, I, and we also don't know like. Is this the first time this has happened in a white hole? Yeah.

[00:52:47] Has, when, you know, maybe when she's over at his house with the kids, something's happened. I don't know what, what else, what else happened on that bus that night? What this could lead to. Anything else [00:53:00] with the kids? I don't know. But it, yeah, it really confirms that, you know, Alicia's going more and more back into that wife role, uh, with Peter.

[00:53:10] They're, they're rekindling their relationship in these ways, which I know you just love. I love it so much, so much. But there wasn't arm grab anyway. Um, so we'll see. We'll see what happens there. Uh, if you're tuning in now, I mean. Or if you wanna leave now, please stick. Thanks for listening. So great.

[00:53:32] Thanks for sticking with us. If you wanna tune out before the clinda wick segments, you can do that. I wouldn't recommend it because I think you probably have fun with the amount of hate we give this storyline. I know, I hate that. I hate that It deserves, so you should probably stick around and Yeah. It's like, uh, a different vibe is coming your way.

[00:53:51] Yeah. Especially if you're not watching with us and you're just doing this off of memory and vibes and to know how ridiculous the storyline continues to [00:54:00] evolve, to get, to stay tuned because it, it just gets weirder and weirder at this point. Wait, okay. So over at Clint's house, which still has like no furniture or no anything, and also she's like using the kitchen sink to get.

[00:54:14] I don't know what was we needed that scene for. But anyway, to Guy, he was freshly banged. Right. Because you know, she hair is a mess. Yeah. She had a drink outta the faucet for, 'cause she took all the cups out of the, out of the place. 'cause she didn't want, uh Oh yeah, that's right. She didn't want Nick Steeler cups, I guess.

[00:54:30] I don't know. Well, and he's coming outta the bedroom, like tucking his shirt into his pants and all this stuff. Mm-hmm. And he puts out the eggs and says, I want one of your omelets. And Kalinda takes the eggs and breaks them on a plate. And then, uh, tow truck guy is like, I'm gonna call him tow truck guy, even though I know his name is Nick because I refuse to give him an actual name.

[00:54:53] But anyway, tow truck guy, uh, decides, oh, is that how we're gonna play it? Let me take [00:55:00] an egg, squeeze it, and then rub it all over Collin's chest. Then she's like, okay, let me go make, let me go to the stove. I'll make an omelet. He's like, not so fast, I'm gonna pull a knife. And then she pulls the knife. No, no.

[00:55:14] She, she goes to the stove, grabs a pan, tries to hit the, oh yeah, that's right. That the rap Rapunzel defense. Yes. What is a Rapunzel defense entangled her, um, her weapon is a cast iron pan. Oh, okay. Yeah. She, she literally tries to hit him with this pan. She misses, I guess, or grazes him, whatever. Or he like ducks.

[00:55:37] Yeah. He pulls a knife on her. She pulls a knife on him. It's like, and he, and then he's like, you have a strange idea about how things work. Now I'm back. And she's like, well, this is my house. So clean up. And he doesn't clean up and he leaves like, y'all think this is cool? Like, y'all think this is like cool dialogue, cool story.

[00:55:58] You think this is like [00:56:00] edgy and I don't know what. What is going on and just the, the strangeness of this storyline. The, I don't know. I, I, I feel like there's something, there's another shoe would drop here, but they're not dropping it yet. But it just, it's not working y'all. It's not working. I do, I do love, go ahead.

[00:56:23] I do love the beginning of this one. Eli calls her to like, talk to her about the penis. So she's like, do you even work here anymore? Like, where are you? It's like, see, yeah, that's the problem, Eli. They, it's like, it's, it's so meta because it's like, no, Eli, she doesn't work there anymore. 'cause they're pulling her into this terrible storyline.

[00:56:38] Like, so she's not able to interact with our favorite people anymore. She's, she's stuck in this like, whirlpool of a storyline. Something I, something I did. Which I wanted to kind of get, I wanted to get the tone, get the tone and tenor of the thoughts around this storyline in real time. Oh, did you do some research?

[00:56:59] Yeah, so I went and [00:57:00] like, looked at some old, like reviews and some old thoughts about the storyline as was happening. Yeah. And yeah, we were right. Like the people hated this. Like as it was happening, it was like, good, we're not, we're not like crazy for remembering this is an awful storyline the whole way through.

[00:57:15] People hate this storyline because it's so mysterious and so like, well, it's unwarranted. Yeah. We don't know why this happened. We don't know the motivation of Clinton in this moment because it seems that she doesn't wanna be doing this in moments and then she flips to going along with it. At other moments.

[00:57:31] It's, it's so weird. We don't really understand why she's going on with this. And at times she seems to enjoy it. I don't know. It's very odd. And the whole like. The violence of this storyline, the knife stuff, the hinting with the pants stuff is so out of place on this show. It really feels like it, it just doesn't belong here.

[00:57:52] Well, it's not, but it is, you know what I mean? Like Kalinda will fight and has like self-defense skills and will do that, but the fact that it's [00:58:00] not paying off in any way, like we still have this guy Yeah. Is what is like really hard for me because it's like destroying the season one, two, and three kalinda.

[00:58:12] I mean, they did something weird with season three kalinda, but we thought we were going back to like old, old Kalinda. Um, but I need, I still like, I still need to know why and I just, it's, yeah, it's hard. Obviously it's hard to talk about because these are the words I have. Uh uh yeah. Uh, Kalinda then goes to visit FBI, lady Lana.

[00:58:40] They are under the covers. They have had relations. Uh, she gets a phone call and she's like, I gotta go. I think it's Eli at this point as well, calling back. I gotta go and Lana's like, listen. Oh, it was Nick. Yeah. Lana's like, look, or I feel like I'm warming you up for someone else. Like, you come over here, [00:59:00] you call me, we do our thing, and then you leave.

[00:59:03] And she's like, no, you're not. I you're not, that's not what happening. And then she leaves and we see that tow truck guy has been following Kalinda this whole time. Not great. Not great. And he, and he, he sees Lana out on the balcony, wrapped in a sheet watching after Kalinda. It's like, okay. So then, uh, at the, well that night, Kalinda said, okay, tomorrow we'll do something tomorrow.

[00:59:28] Yeah. Okay. So Kalinda goes to meet Lana at a bar, and guess who's sitting next to Lana? None other than to Kai, Nick. And at this point, Kalinda then excuses him herself, and Nick calls her something I will not repeat on this show. Um, but it is a derogatory term towards lesbians and, um, clinda punches him.

[00:59:53] Okay, great. And then to truck guy back at the apartment says, you don't understand. [01:00:00] You belong to me. I belong to you. And by the way, I know where your little girlfriend lives. And Melinda's like my girlfriend, first of all. First of all, girlfriend. Okay. My girlfriend is a federal agent. I'd like to see you try.

[01:00:17] Yeah. And Nick, Nick is like, you know, stop doing that college dorm stuff. Yeah. It's like, yeah. Yeah. He basically says like, yeah, you can't do this anymore. Yeah, you're mine and I'm yours. You like, you know, I own you or whatever. Oh, the suit, the silver bad better. I, I can't wait till this is done and over. I, I don't think it lasts all season.

[01:00:41] Uh, I hope it gets cut soon, soon, soon, soon. And this, listen guys, this is all, it's, it's like a punishment for Archie Punjabi from like Juliana Margolis not wanting to work with her because we have to find something else for Clinda to do. Yeah. And [01:01:00] this is what they found for her to do. And it sucks. Well, and also like, to that point, you know, I know Kalinda doesn't wanna like talk to Alicia about much stuff or, you know what I mean?

[01:01:10] But if they're trying to like, rebuild the relationship, it's very interesting to me that like, Alicia's not at least asking Kalinda, where are you at work? You know what I mean? Like, there's no tie-ins, which only makes it even more obvious that it was, you know, part of the, I mean, we, after or behind the scenes drama Yeah.

[01:01:26] We have people, you know, inquiring about Clinda and why she's being so different, why she's not around all the time. But it's not Alicia. Not Alicia, because that would require them to be in the same space. They all, they happen in the same space together this season, but they, you can tell they're really cutting it back.

[01:01:42] Like there was, I don't think there was any Alicia Clinda interaction this episode at all. No, no. Um, so yeah, it sucks. I, I, I, I fully appreciate them trying to. Do something with Alinda. Give her her own storyline. But this ain't it, folks, this [01:02:00] ain't, I liked when she was trying to get more money, I liked when she was playing Eli and Will off each other, you know what I mean?

[01:02:07] Like, I, I liked her trying to be a free agent, like talking to her other friend who had the agency or whatever. I, I like that. And I also liked the mysterious, like having this husband out there, but I wanted her, I, I wanted this story to be more empowering for her, like kicking him out and having him leave or something.

[01:02:28] And he, she has pulled a gun on him, pulled a knife on him, beat him up in a parking lot, like, done all this stuff. And I, I understand I'm not gonna yuck anyone's yum. You know, like I, if that's what gets you going, that's what gets you going. But I don't believe that with this character, you know, like I just, I just don't.

[01:02:46] Yeah, and I think we've always seen clinda as cool, calm, collected, unbeatable, smart, uh, and the fact that she has not turned the page to this guy yet is out of character for her. 'cause usually with these, like, [01:03:00] with people like this, clinda will have found a way to get rid of them. Uh, done something else to, I don't know, make sure that they don't come after her, but it just seems like she's going along with being treated poorly.

[01:03:12] So it's just like, that's not the clinda we know and love unless so, and I don't remember exactly how the storyline resolves itself. Um, unless at the, at the end of the day, she's been stalling for time until she can get something else together. And she, you know, epically pulls one over on him at the end, which I assume is what's gonna happen.

[01:03:31] I don't remember. Uh, well. Yeah, I mean, like the fact that she mentioned that Lana is a federal agent, they could team up against him. Right. But I don't remember. So until then, it just feels like it's beneath her character to go along with it, with these shenanigans. Um, but like I said last week, it's also showing that Clinda is a little human because Yeah, a lot of us, uh, are in toxic relationships, same toxic relationships Yeah.

[01:03:57] That they, that we know we shouldn't be in and [01:04:00] so on and so forth. But it just, it feels icky with, again, I would appreciate it if I knew why. I would, you know, like if I knew something, did something happen in her childhood? How did she get into this, to this relationship? Like, what? Then I could say, oh, I understand what's going on, but right now it just doesn't match up with the character we were shown for the past three seasons.

[01:04:22] Yeah. If we've got some sort of like monologue from Clinda of why she can't quit this guy, why she feels like she's drawn to this man, but for the most part, it feels like she hates him. But I'm like, so then why are you living in this space with him? Well, and why are you like, it's weird. I, I, I think she has in the past three seasons shown signs of like, her not respecting herself based on like, some of the stuff she did with Blake.

[01:04:45] Mm-hmm. Like I didn't, was not great. But again, I would love to know more. I would love to know why. Yeah. Like, I can, I know I, I usually can write the show, but I, I can't really write this one. Exactly. So yeah, that's, uh, that's our [01:05:00] episode for this week. Y'all. Uh, Marissa, you wanna tell the folks Yeah. Where they could find you and all of your musings, all of your, uh, space out there on the worldwide web, oh, on the interwebs, on the, what did we used to call it?

[01:05:14] Internet superhigh. Um, you could find me at, it's me marissa g.com. I have links to all of the, uh, all of the websites, all the podcasts that I am on, including this one here with the Good Pod. We will be expanding our coverage to Elsbeth later this week, so stay tuned for that. 'cause Elsbeth is back and apparently has a lot of guest stars, which I am excited about.

[01:05:38] So we shall see how season. Three Ghost of sba and then, um, I'm over on World one podcast talking about Pretty Little Liars one previously on at a time. That show is also a show that I can't write 'cause who knows where the heck it's going. And then I also talked to my sister about Star Trek to the, the next generation on [01:06:00] USS sisterhood over on whatever podcast player you're listening to.

[01:06:04] Outside of that, I do have my own business. If you're interested in looking, supporting anything like that, please go to marissa garza.com and you can find out more information there. Outside of that, Jason, I'm just like, catching up on is blind, so tell me what's going on with over with you. Listen, the mess is messing over there on Love and g Linein.

[01:06:25] You can hear me break down with Asia Welch. Mary Krakowski over on the Rob has Podcast Network on the Love at First Sight feed. Uh, we have, uh, we've done the first six episodes. We are going to be talking about this latest drop of seven through nine coming up this week, so stay tuned for that. Uh, you can also catch me talking about the show Mary at First Sight over on my Patreon, A perfect match of Patreon, uh, with Asia Welch.

[01:06:47] We're talking about Old seasons of Mary First Sight right now. Uh, the New Sea, the newest Mary first sight season is coming on October 23rd. So when that comes out, you can check me in Asia talking about that. Over on the same fe you Get. Love is [01:07:00] blind on love at first sight feed. Uh, so a lot of things coming up.

[01:07:03] October is a packed, packed month for all the things, uh, that I talk about. So if you are looking for me in different places, I am very easy to find. Uh, but until next time, stay good. Hold on. I can't find my cursor. I'm getting there. Nope, didn't do it. Hold on, and we're done.

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