The Good Wife: Season 4, Episode 7 - Anatomy of a Joke

In “Anatomy of a Joke,” Alicia and Cary head to Washington D.C. to defend comedian Therese Dodd, who’s being sued by a network and scrutinised by the FCC for a late‑night breast‑cancer self‑exam stunt. Meanwhile, Cary has a tense reunion with his father, who only shows up because he wants a favour—not reconciliation. Back in Chicago, the firm faces potential takeover attempts as Clarke Hayden pushes a buyer, forcing Will and Diane into survival mode. And on the political front, Peter flails with a ridiculous smear campaign involving a “Brazil‑shaped birthmark” and Alicia must navigate the press while also helping a former JAG lawyer land a job.
 This episode balances legal‑peril, family tension, firm intrigue and political scandal—and forces characters to ask who they really trust and what lengths they’ll go to.

 00:04 – Introduction of Therese Dodd (guest star) and her breast‑cancer awareness stunt.
 00:12 – Alicia and Cary arrive in D.C. and begin defence strategy with Will and Diane.
 00:18 – Cary meets his estranged father at the FCC building and senses the agenda.
 00:27 – The network and anti‑indecency lobby square off at the FCC hearing: nudity vs. language debate.
 00:41 – Back in Chicago: Clarke Hayden brings a buyer to the firm; Will and Diane scramble.
 00:52 – Alicia helps Laura Hellinger land a job in Peter’s office and the campaign scandal (birthmark) surfaces.
 01:00 – Alicia accepts Peter’s “laughing” PR approach to deal with the birthmark allegation and episode closes with firm and family fallout.

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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 S4 E7

​[00:00:00]

Welcome to the Good Pod, where today we're talking The Good Wife, season four, episode seven. Anatomy of a Joke. I'm one of your hell. Jason Reed with me as always a woman that I have promised to leave my shirt on the whole time. This podcast is on Marissa Garza. Marissa, you good? I am good. Now that you have gotten that out of the way, 'cause I didn't know which way that was gonna go.

Uh, how are you? Are you good? I'm good. Listen, there's negotiation about the, uh, the way that the opening joke was gonna go in this, in this podcast. I think Marissa's relieved, uh, that as the way that I would. Yes, yes. I never just, just a little behind the scenes, everyone. I never really know Yeah. Where it's gonna go.

So sometimes, listen, when I think it's, when I think it's a little risky, I throw it out to Marissa and get her, uh, vibe on it. There was a joke I made and she's like, oh no. I was like, okay, no, [00:01:00] no. Getting on that one. I'll change it. I'll change it. Uh, so yeah, here we are. Good wife. Season four, episode seven.

Uh, interesting things happen in this one. Mainly more background about cargos, which I think we've all been Yes. Asking for. Yes. And we got it this episode. So really interesting, uh, vibe from Carrie's dad. Uh, so we'll talk about that in this episode of The Good Wife. Before we dive too deep into the episode, we want, we want to remind you of some free and easy ways you can help this podcast.

You can do that. By rating, reviewing, and subscribing. Wherever it is you're listening and or watching. You can also give us, uh, leave us comments, feedback questions, whatever you want, over on the good pod [e-mail]. And if you wanna help the show out, just, uh, monetarily, if you so choose, uh, we take amounts big and small.

You can go over to buy me a coffee.com/good pod, leave any amount of money that you wish, uh, to help this independent [00:02:00] podcast business we have going on here. And, uh, you know, we don't have, uh, networks that we have to, uh, you know, deal with pander to. Yeah. Yeah. So we, we can say whatever. We can make whatever off color jokes we want, but we won't.

But we won't because Marissa Garza's here. Uh, Marissa Garza is the good pods. F ccc. Yeah. Um, to make sure that we are staying, staying within the lines. Marissa Garza's name is on a lot of the things that produce this podcast. So Marissa Garza is going to speak. I have been fined by Marissa before, uh, in the past.

You haven't about jokes I've made. Um, it was a fine if you could sleep at night. That's up to you. It was a verbal fine. It was not a monetary. Um, let's, uh, let's, without, with that done, Marissa, let's get into the episode. The case this week touches on a lot of different storylines, so we're gonna spend a lot of our time there and then kind of clean up with some other things.

So we are introduced to Theresa Do comedian extraordinary [00:03:00] also Wednesday Adams also. Yes. They won Christina Ricci. Yes. I I think Where, where would you say Christina Ricci's like heyday was like late nineties. Yeah. I mean there was the Adams family now and then Casper era. Mm-hmm. And then she kind of like disappeared and then she reappeared in yellow jacket.

And mm-hmm. Other things, there was like a kind of time period before Yellowjackets, but either way, a woman is insanely talented and mm-hmm. Uh, can play someone who tells bad jokes really well in this episode, uh, speak for yourself Marissa. I enjoyed the, uh, sure. Rest humor, if you will. Um, yeah, so that, this is our like, big guest star of the week is Christina Ricci, uh, playing Theresa Dot.

Yeah. I mean, I love Christina Ricci. I just, yeah, it was, well, we'll talk about it. [00:04:00] Okay. So Christina dot, again, like I mentioned, comedian extraordinaire on late night tv, and she has on a mission to help people or women specifically understand breast cancer because her mother recently passed away from breast cancer and she thinks the best way to do this is to do a demonstration of a self check on herself.

On late night tv. Mm-hmm. Uh, and this kind of, you know, I mean, applaud her. Great. But the, um, network says not so fast. We're gonna sue you because obviously this MCC is gonna sue us, so we're gonna sue you to kind of comp some of that cost back. So, um, the clip is being shown in court and we are, we see that our good friend Burl is from, you know, Mr.

Bigshot from California is defending the network and he's suing them for $2 million. And while she's on the stand, Theresa smiles at Will, Burl picks up on it. It's like, oh, you obviously have been coached by your lawyer. And she's like, no, [00:05:00] he's just cute. Yeah. I, Theresa is interesting because I think she has this characterization of, I'm gonna say a lot of female comics, uh, certainly in that age and definitely in this age as well, who.

You know, I, it's a, it's a, huh. How do, how do I wanna say this? Choose your words, Susan. I definitely draw, choose our words very carefully. Um, I'm appreciative of women that are bucking the stereotype and bucking convention by being more, uh, I mean more sexually forward, forward, forward, free forward. Okay.

Sure. Free or forward. I think this is definitely a representation of that because, I mean, definitely in 2012 it was kind of like, it was kind of new. Right. When did that happen? When did that happen? Remember that one time when Drew Barrymore went [00:06:00] on David Letterman and flashed him? We didn't see it, but she did.

But Dave did. I vaguely remember that. So, but yeah. I mean, but there, the, what this conver what this entire case brings up is a conversation around when nudity is appropriate on television and when it's not. And I think like in this case, she is definitely presenting it as an in an educational format, which she thought would like cover her a little bit.

But it is on a late night show. And also think she's been coached by Will and Alicia. Yes. Uh, to take this testimony and kind of spin it to like, I was trying to help by, well I wasn't doing anything bad, and Burrow was like, it has nothing to do with the fact that you have a book coming out and you maybe want to like get some pub around the book.

Like that had nothing to do with that. She's like, no, what do you mean? But then at the same time, well at least it's being inferred. Alicia gets Theresa to say on the stand that she's always brought in on the show to like push the envelope of places and do things. So we don't really [00:07:00] know where this is lying, but we do learn something.

We learn a term. Called the safe Harbor period, which, um, is apparently between 10 and 6:00 PM where the FCC has said at this time, don't really know one, if there is an FCC at the moment, and two, um, if there is, if there's people there, and three, if there's still the law anymore if you're watching this current season of South Park.

Uh, yes, exactly. They did something very interesting about the fcc. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So, but like, yeah. So, but apparently the FCC was, or is do your, do your own research people mm-hmm. With nu was okay with nudity and language between the hours of six or 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM So this, this brings into question when the, when this was, um, taped, when they thought it was going to be on tv, 'cause normally it would've not been in the safe harbor period, but what Alicia's trying to contend here is that the show was going to be delayed [00:08:00] because of football, football, and it was gonna be on later.

So she's trying to really just drive home the point of like, this was not something. That Theresa thought would actually incur a fine because she was under the impression that all of this, it's a very weak argument. Very, this is what she's going with. And the show also is doing some creative ways of educating us on how the network has to like, cover up some of these words.

'cause Alicia does say these words, and at the time she's saying words she shouldn't be saying, like, Christina Ricci puts her arm up to like block her voice mouth and then there's like a, a, a car honking outside. And so I just thought it was a very meta and fun cheeky moment on the show. Well, I, there was another moment where, uh, Christina Ricci is on the stand and she's like, isn't it crazy that the, the, the network would let people say certain things that are set on cable only because of, of the network's [00:09:00] choice not to do that.

She might as well have like walked up to the camera and just said it like right in the camera and. Isn't it crazy CBS that you don't let us Yeah. Say shit and, and the F word. I mean, that's even too much for the good pod for to, to get, to get past Marissa. Cara's name is on a lot of the stuff. Jason, to get past the Marissa ft C of this podcast, I'm not gonna say that word, but she might as well just, I could bleep it.

I could bleep it. Yeah. I'm not gonna make you do all that word. Isn't it crazy that we don't get to do, we don't get to say this word, this word, even though we should be able to, because we're on at this time. Well, it makes me, I feel as though my pop, my pop culture history is failing me because I wonder if this is in response to a moment.

I don't know if it's in the moment. It could have been. It could have been. I don't remember when this was, but when the Janeta Jackson, Justin Timberlake thing happened, it could have been, 'cause that has to do with nudity. But I feel as though this is definitely like a response episode and I'm, I'm [00:10:00] not picking up on or remembering because my brain has been through the blender of 2025 as to what that moment might be.

Or there could have been no moment and they're just making a statement, I don't know. But knowing the show, there probably was something that was happening in real time that this is a response to. Yeah, for sure. I could definitely see that being the case. Yeah. Uh, will at this point argues, Hey, look, the only reason this lawsuit is happening is because of the advertisers.

You're afraid you're gonna use lose advertising money. The judge at this point tends to agree, but he is like, the only thing keeping me from agreeing with you and dismissing this case is I just wanna know if she, this was premeditated in any way, like, what's going on? And the, they were fine up until. Uh, Burl brings up a makeup artist onto the stand.

Mm-hmm. And the makeup artist is like, yeah, I did her makeup and burl iss. Like, where Basically making burl go through like all of the uncomfortable moments to basically say that Theresa requested makeup on her [00:11:00] chest and her breasts, uh, for television that night, showing that this was premeditated. Yeah.

Uh, side notes. The Justin Timberlake Jr. Jackson. Oh my God. When did it happen? Super Bowl 2004. No freaking way. Yes. Yes. My God. You had the same reaction. I did. I was like, damn, I'm old. It's like, boy, I would've said if you would've asked me what year and the, when you said, I was like, yeah. Was that like 2012?

That thousand four. 20 more than 20 years ago. Yeah. Might be. Yeah. Lemme just sit with that for a minute. I'm just, yeah. Let just all feel our ages right now as, as we, as we, oh boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My, my knees is creek. Thinking from that, speaking of advertisement, this has been brought to you by Aleve or Aaron?

The arthritis, the cream. Yes. [00:12:00] Well, at this point, uh, Pearl's like, Hey, I got this in the bag. Let's talk settlement. You know, and will's like, okay, fine. How much? He's like, $2 million, which was the original ask. And at, and while they're having this meeting, Clark walks in and he's just like sitting at the table clearing his voice, you know, making sure his presence is known.

And Will was like, we're not paying the $2 million. And pearl's. Like, like, okay, okay. There may be a way out of this. Basically we're gonna get fined by the FC $3 million. And if Theresa comes with us and gets the FCC to. To not vote to fine us, basically. Then we'll be okay with the case. Like, that's fine, we'll let it go.

Um, and Will's like, okay, like Alicia could go with her 'cause she needs a babysitter. And Diana's like, well, but also what about Carrie? Maybe we should sometime too, I love Will's reaction. Like, oh, he complained to you. Huh? Diane's hand plays it off. She's like, um, [00:13:00] I mean, no, I mean, you know, he's not on a lot of cases, so we need to put him on the, he didn't need to, he didn't need to complain.

I have eyes will, I don't need, you know, like I could see things when, when in reality we know that kid, Diane had no idea and Carrie didn't have to complain in order to get put on cases. And I, because it just, like, it's funny because you could, there's definitely still this residual tension between Carrie and Will over the, uh, grand jury.

Mm-hmm. Uh, that, that grand jury case will had to sit through in season, was it season three or season two? Season two. Early Season two. Yeah. And there's still like this residual like, nah, it's not, it's not, we're not cool, bro, because Will is like, will is purposely not putting care in a lot of cases. 'cause he, you don't like that man?

'cause that man tried to have him up. Well, he doesn't trust him. You know, like, yeah, I, I get it, I get it. But at the same time, Carrie has done nothing in his 2.0 time at the law firm to really Yeah. [00:14:00] Show that he's not trustable. Uh, but like I mentioned earlier, Clark was in the room and Clark did not leave the room.

While then everyone else laughed. He sticks around to talk to Beryl, like, Hey, just wanna let you know this place could use a buyer if you're interested. And Burls like, you gotta be joking. Like, that is not something I wanna do, except for like your family law practice is really, really profitable. Clark's like, great.

The sounds fantastic. Let's keep talking. Um, meanwhile, Carrie and Theresa are, you know, buddying up. I would've like That was a cute, that was a cute combo. Like that wa like, also like Matt, what's his face? Carrie? Matt Zucker. Yeah. Does look a little Devon Zawa esque Casper. So from Casper. So that's kind of like what happened in my brain.

Okay. I can see that. Um, the, while they're in DC Burl brings up the firm to Alicia. First of all, I just [00:15:00] wanna like place this in everyone's minds before we go any further in this episode. It's like a two and a half hour flight from Chicago to dc. I just, I just want you to be aware of that, that fact when you are looking at everything.

Yeah. Listen, we, we talk a lot about travel logistics on the show and how it's like, what does pop over to here? A pop over there as if it's like a two minute drive. It's like, no, it's a lot, a lot of going on there to travel. Yeah. Okay. To be the flight duration. I just looked it up to check myself. The flight duration is one hour and 55 minutes, and that's not, that's just gate to gate.

Okay. You gotta like, get through the airport, you gotta pick up your stuff. You gotta get, but just park in your mind. It's like a two hour experience just at the airport. Okay. But like, Marissa, what did, like, what do you want? Do you, do you want to, to have a scene at the airport? No, I don't. I don't, but I will tell you what I wanna see when we get there.

I just wanted to park this information in your brain. At this moment in time, we wanna, we wanna feel the [00:16:00] stress and the mm-hmm. And the, and the anxiety of traveling. That's not what I just. Just wait for it. Just wait for it. Okay. Alright. We'll get there. So they traveled to tce, Bri talks to Alicia about the firm.

She's like, I don't know, like bankruptcy isn't that bad. Like, I don't know why you're talking to me about this. And they go to their first f CCC meeting and they talk to the first guy and he is basically like, yeah, okay. Like I will vote to not fine you. That's fine. Um, but I do have a po a question like why do you show naked bodies covered in blood on your networks And bruised and battered, but you're not okay showing nudity just without that.

Which was a good point. And Theresa is like, yeah, what about that? That's what I've been saying. Why is this? But she's so awkward and so, so she's not helping herself in any way. 'cause on the way out of this office she comments on the paperweight and says, was that a metal, like metal making class 1 0 1?

And he's like, no, it's a piece from nine 11. I love how like they kind of keep grabbing. Theres like, all right, you, you're hurting. Let's go. Come on, we, we gotta go. You're, [00:17:00] you're just, you're remember hurting our case here. Come on. Yes, yes. While they were like, kind of debriefing from that meeting in the hallway of like the world's smallest building and hall in DC because everybody is conveniently there.

We run into Carrie's dad, we meet, Carrie's dad, AKA Jeffrey AGAs. Yeah. I, I was like, oh, okay, we're doing this. And the way that, the way that Carrie and his dad, like when Carrie saw his dad, he was just like, he wasn't like little smile. There was no like, oh, it's my dad. He is like, oh crap, my dad. Which is why, like, I really just wanna hug, carry all of the time.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the hotness of Matt Zachery. No. You just wanna be there for him emotionally. Yes, I can fix him.

Yes. Over, uh, but yeah, he was just like, he's like, oh crap, it's my dad. Yeah. And at first I didn't like, really, because we don't, the reveal that it's his dad isn't, [00:18:00] until Carrie introduces Alicia to this man. Because at first, like, yeah, the, I would, you could tell this was a family man, family man to like save his life.

It was just like, oh, is this, I was like, is this someone from the Peace Corps? Is this someone from like, no nemesis, where is this person from? But he introduces Alicia and was like, like, you, me, my father. And I was like, wait, what? But Alicia's as surprised as we're, she's like, oh yeah, like this is your dad.

Like, like you have one. Like where I thought you were just, you born a spawn. I don't know. I thought you just like, kind of appeared. Yes. Yes. And I, I recognize this guy, Jeffrey Argos. He was to me, Lex Luther. Yeah. Weirdly. Uh, he's been, he is a very like, uh, sci-fi ish guy he was in. He was Lex Luther and Lois and Clark, the Adventure Superman starring Terry Hatcher and Dean Kane.

Um, yeah. Which, yeah, not, we don't talk about him anymore, um, in, in popular culture. 'cause [00:19:00] he is a very, very, very problematic person. Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah. Mm-hmm. He was, he was the, uh, TV's Lex Luther of the nineties. He was also in Mutant X, which was like this very Oh yeah. Like X many, like, without calling it X-Men, uh, TV show back in the nineties.

So he was, he was something back then. I don't, he's not too, too noteworthy now, but he was, he was something back then. I, he was though. So good at l Luther, first of all, Lois's hair and Lois and Clark. Primo Primo. Second of all, uh, his Lexi voice was so distinct. I kept thought like, searching for like another voice to come out of this man's mouth.

Mm-hmm. I was like, are you sure? Am I putting the right thing? I don't know who are you? But, um, yeah, I, he, he's, he's been, well he was around in the early in the nineties. He was definitely more in the nineties. For sure. For sure. And he offers to healthcare. Here he is like, oh, whatcha doing here? You exactly, the FCCI, you met with those guys this morning, let me help.

And I was like, oh, okay. That's so nice of [00:20:00] you, Mr. S you're so cool. Great. Wrong. Um, okay. Wrong. We learned that the organization Parents Against Indecency, which I don't have enough time to talk about, which isn't real, but, you know, there, there are other you could infer, you could just infer. Yeah. Yeah. There, there are other, uh.

Organizations that, uh, you know, I don't know, Marissa, are you sure you're not like simpatico with these type of organizations? You, you're, you're, you know, you're really putting your, your foot down here on the FCC side of things, uh, in this podcast. I don't think, what are you trying to make me say? The Marissa against Indecency?

No, I'm not against indecency. I'm against putting myself in vulnerable situations that where I can be sued when I have no resources. Oh my, how could I just put it all out there? Vulnerably, but yeah, I am just me. Okay. Alright. I am not a corporation. I am not like, it's just little me [00:21:00] and you. Yeah. But parents, you know, I'm here too.

I'm here too. I know, I know. I wanna protect you too, but Parents against a decency. Yeah. I don't, I'm, I'm not sure. I don't know all the acronyms, but they're definitely people out there that, that Oh, for sure. Well, the same vibe. I mean, do you remember Tipper Gore and the, the explicit. CD rankings. Yes. And like all that stuff.

So like, this has always been, there's always been a parental group for something or against something at all times. This is, listen, this is as well as a good podcast. This is also a nostalgia cast. Okay. Yeah, for sure. Those of you that have listened know that already. Do you remember when they started putting the TA things on the, on the, the corner of the screens?

Yeah. And how big of a deal that was in the moment of like, it's huge. Boy, I had to stop watching so much TV when that came out. My mom was like, oh, this ist VMA, you can't watch this. Like, for real, bro. Like my, I know what my parents solution to that was. Turn around and plug your ears. [00:22:00] Yeah. My mom's just like, oh, I guess you won't watch that anymore.

It's like, damn. My mom goes, are you 14? I'm like, no. I guess you're not watching 14. 14. Oh, too late teeth. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To get you. Yeah. I feel that was a big moment because that was only on movies. For such a long time. And then it came into our world on tv. Um, and now we even have, like before it was just the rating.

It wasn't the description. But now we have like descriptions of what specifically is in that episode of tv. You know, it'll be like nudity, Lew language. Yeah. Blah, blah, blah. You know what's funny is that I feel like now I don't, I don't even clock it now. I don't even, it's, it's not even a part of what I look at when I look at TV now.

I feel like if you, if you ask me right now, Jason, are they still doing that little box in the corner? I don't know. I could tell you used to be real big people. It used to be big, but now it show up like just a little bit in the left corner before like [00:23:00] when a TV show starts and then, yeah, if you told me or like on the title screen on a streaming.

Yeah. If you told me they took it away and I just didn't notice, I'd be like, yeah, okay. Probably 'cause I. I, it is just, it's out of my, I see. I've probably seen it so much that I don't even register anymore. Yeah, yeah. But you know, at least the network can say they covered their, they covered themselves, they covered their boo.

So parents against In Decency, in decency is basically saying it's not about this specific moment. It never is. It's about the floodgate. Like we just don't want this to like open up the floodgates and there to be nudity everywhere. And every, every, everywhere we turn, we are concerned parents to which like the, uh, pearl's like you put on Schindler's List the other day before stuff, there's nudity in that.

It's like, well, are you comparing. What, what your comedian did to Schindler's List, like this values moral policing [00:24:00] of, uh, content has been going on since the beginning of time. Um, and that's just continuing here in this, in this case, uh, Alicia calls back to say like, Hey, we're not sure about the second deck guy.

'cause the parents against indecency people are here. Oh. And also, um, Burl is talking about the firm a lot and Will and Diana are like, we what? Hold on for a second. They're like, he's onto us and, um, we're, we're on Clark. That's what, that's exactly. Yeah. Oh, CO's being a little Ky Yes. And he, uh, will tells Alicia, like, tell Burl that we lost Steen and see what happens.

And Diane's like, we are only at $12 million. We need $6 million to get out from this. Like, what are we gonna do? Something has to happen. So I, I think, I think, you know, it's been all fun and games to Clark, uh, up until this point. Yeah. Like we've been able to deal with him. We've actually used him to our advantage a [00:25:00] couple times.

Clark sees me on our side, but now he's trying to sell us to someone else. Like, oh, I think I, this is the, the moment where they realize, oh no. Like this is not, this isn't cute anymore. Yeah, this is fun. We gotta figure out how to get rid of Clark. Well, he will go there like, yeah, he's gonna go there. We thought he wouldn't go there, but he's gonna go there.

Yeah. Thought he was our friend. We were all pal around with him, but now he's just trying to sell our firm out from under us. How man, Eric, dude, get away from Clark Res one Steve Jobs biography. Yeah. And his whole world changes. That's how powerful he was. Steve Jobs, even from beyond the grave, um, I-P-R-I-P.

And to black turtlenecks everywhere Alicia goes to live, we still have the rock. Okay, that's true. Yeah. I Sorry. Or ratio of the black Keeping the black turtleneck. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. Um, I do apologize to Black Turtleneck Nation. I would say. Um, here, [00:26:00] Alicia goes to go chill with Carrie in the hotel room, you know, business tripping it up, saying Hi, drinking wine, drinking whiskey, doing all this stuff.

And she, but she inserts herself into this, in my opinion, a little too much. She tries to big sister him into talking to his dad about it. It's like you only get. You only get like your one family. And this has been her thing, like she's given this speech before, so it's not like uncommon, but like, Alicia, that man had no warmth for, for Carrie.

And like, are you listening to what Carrie has said? He was kicked out when he was 18. He didn't say anything. He didn't say anything when he was the youngest state's attorney ever in the state of Illinois. He, he has no idea what this his kid is up to, but yeah, you know, people can change. I think I, I think it's more of like, Alicia doesn't, Alicia is inserting herself without knowing the full dynamic.

She just, sure. She just sees this like, oh, it's, uh, you know, a dad and a, and a son. Like, I can, I can, I can make this work. I can come in here and fix things. He's like, Alicia, you can't fix [00:27:00] everything, girl. Okay. Because I, yeah, uh, Carrie's, dad calls Alicia's run by mistake and she tells him like, here, call.

She hears Carrie and his dad arguing. She's like, let me go fix this. Like, and Carrie gives her pretty much the, the, the down low about the relationship and Alicia. Alicia kind of sets Carrie up for failure because Yes. Carrie at this moment is like, oh, you know, he's just my dad. My dad's gonna dad. And she's like, but he could have changed.

He could be a new person. Well, and they, because they have this conversation about how they have changed for each other. Yeah. Like, oh, I used to hate your guns, but no, I was share an office with you and Oh, I thought you were after me. So Carrie walks away from that conversation thinking, yeah. You know, like, Alicia changed on me.

Maybe my dad can too. Yeah. And I, I love the comradery that Alicia and Carrie have formed and like how she is comfortable just chilling with Carrie in, in his hotel room on, you know, separate beds and just like shooting the. Shooting [00:28:00] a beat stuff stuff and Yeah. You know, and just, they're comfortable enough with each other.

Now they're friends at this point. I love the conceit of that, but yeah, you're right. Like the, the, the stuff inside. This was Alicia. Amazing. Said carry up for disappointment was crazy. Yeah. I was like, what are you doing? And you just got to a good place with him and Carrie, this is so close to Carrie.

Luckily it doesn't, or hopefully, at least in this episode, didn't affect the relationship, but it was a real risk. I was like, yeah, I, I don't think it, I don't think it did, but it's just, it's just Alicia kind of thinking she knows best and, uh, giving, yeah. Giving her little brother some, some, some advice here.

Yeah. Um, and this conversation was interrupted because they remember that Theresa's on late night TV again on. Uh, I don't wanna say his name. Oh, the show on, you wanna say his name On the show of a man who has been on late night TV talking about politics for a very long time and has recently, uh, been [00:29:00] denounced by many people because of his attitude towards the Muslim community, specifically after nine 11 and his constantly recommended to people after watching John Oliver.

Even though the people who watch John Oliver would never watch Current Day, um, he has the same episode of this show, has the same initials as Bowel Movement. Oh, there you go. There you go. Yeah, that's good. That was a lot shorter than what I did. Yeah. But yeah. Mr. Bowel movement, he is interviewing Theresa on the show and she is, I.

It's so cringey to watch. 'cause she's like trying, first of all, why did they allow her to go on tv? Yeah. During all of this I thought this would be a good idea. But she's like talking about her day on the hill with the FCC and how the conversation she's having and at the end she's like, basically. That's it.

No censorship. My breath. Could do whatever they put their minds to or something like that. Mm-hmm. I was just like, well, as she's saying's, she was the queen of foot and mouth. Like she was [00:30:00] like, as she's joking that she is like stripping for the FCC people to like try and sway them to not, to not find the network.

And what made this even more cringey is that it's obvious that that Christina Ricci and Bowel Movement taped their segments apart because I don't blame that. I do not for the safety of Christina Ricci, I do not blame her because it was so stilted. And Bill Maher, I'm sorry. Bowel movement. Bowel movement, sorry.

Bowel movement was so wooden. Wow. It was just like, it was like, it's not even good acting. It was like, Ugh, this is bad. Whoa. So that, that made the whole thing even more like ridiculous. Yes. And luckily it was a very short segment of our show. Mm-hmm. Um. Then the next day Carrie's meeting with his dad. Okay.

In a restaurant at a circle table, and his dad is sitting on the left side of the screen and carrie's sitting at the right side of the screen. Again, I'm just planting [00:31:00] this information into your head as I did earlier, before I'm building my case. Okay. Okay. Right. I can't wait to it up. What this please, off to up building it up.

Uh, Carrie and meets with his dad and they're having breakfast and, you know, carrie's. Dad's like, Hey, I read a paper you wrote and it was like super smart. I didn't understand most of it, but it was really smart and you did such a good job. And also like, I'm so proud of you and I know it's been like so long and it's since we've talked and carrie's dad's really buttering the toast right now.

He's just like, oh my God, it's really, and then on think, but then he leaves it on even thicker by saying things like, I don't know how long many of us have. Mm-hmm. Like, I don't know. And Carrie is like, of course, like this is, this is. Child alert, adult child alert language. Right. You're like, what do you mean?

Like, how much longer do you have? And Dale's like, yeah. I'm just like, I'm just so proud. I'm so sorry. We should, we should talk at some point. This is something we should talk about and carrie's like, I am right here. Why don't you just like say what it is And Alicia comes [00:32:00] in and says, Hey Martinez, the other FFCC person they were gonna talk to, canceled.

And Carrie has to go right now. He has to be, yeah. For some reason this is an, an emergency. They had to get on a plane, write this instance to do strategy sessions. I guess I, I'm like, why is this such an emergency that you need to leave right this minute right now? And Okay, so again, just right now in DC Okay.

They have to leave DC right now. Mm-hmm. Just, just at a circle table where Mr. Argos is up the left hand side again building my case. Diane confronts, I think I know you're going. We'll see Diane confronts clerk at um, about selling everything. Clark is like, listen, I can't just make up money. Right? Like we can't just like, we have to start getting serious about this.

This is a solution to our problem. I have the rights to do this. I'm going to do this. Diane walks out of the office without really saying much, but then goes with Will to confront David Lee's the kind of make a [00:33:00] deal. 'cause still to this day, David Lee is the only department, family Law is the only department that is making money for his firm in Chicago, to which Carey has returned from DC to Chicago.

Okay. And then he calls his dad. Yeah. And where do we find his dad? Jason, sitting in the exact same spot we just left. But listen, here's the thing though, right? He's a lobbyist, right? So he has to have a lot of meetings. He does a lot of lunches with other people. No, maybe he was just at the same restaurant.

You ended up doing better. To me. If you said, look, he's like Lex Luther and he like. Can, I don't know, but Yeah, but I mean, let's, let's assume that the Carrie dad sat at the same table ever. Just it was, yeah. It could have, it was breakfast, it was nine o'clock in the morning. Alicia comes down, says, Hey, we gotta go Carrie.

Let's go. They get immediately on a plane that leaves immediately after they get to the airport and they get back to Chicago, let's [00:34:00] say at 12 o'clock. Okay, let's, let's try, I mean that, that's fine. That's fine. Put 'em on the other side of the table. Put him somewhere else. Like it was obvious that, uh, what's the actor's name again?

Um, Mr. L Luther. Um, Mr. Lex Luther John. She, it was obvious Josh, she had like limited time. He's like, all right, like, I can't be here a bunch. I got a what? I got lo to what? Jason? I got a Lois and Clark reunion to get to. I can't spend much time like, all right, we'll just shoot this Carrie scene and then we'll shoot the next scene where you get called by Carrie back to back.

How about that? There was another chair. That's all it's saying, like you didn't have to change the lighting or anything, just move the man to another chair. But he was like legit in the same chair. And I was like, wait a minute, you're, you got out a plate? And I clock that too. Like they adjust or they even address it in the conversation because he's like, I thought you went back to Chicago.

And he's like, I am. I did clock that. I was like, why she at the exact same spot he was about a minute ago. And I wouldn't be like, [00:35:00] yeah, I've been here, I've been here for the last four hours just doing work at this table. I son, I haven't left the spot. You left me in. I'm just doing work last hours. I've been waiting for you at this table getting just nonstop coffees at this table.

I just, I couldn't, I laughed out loud. I could not handle it. Uh, but, and I, this was so painful. This whole conversation carrie's like, okay, just tell me like, I'm right here. Like, I can't deal with this anymore. Just tell me, tell me what cancer you have. Tell me what like, yeah. You know, uncurable disease, you got that.

We gotta, you know, I gotta sit by your bedside and we'll be father and son again. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Tell, tell me. He's like, it's just like really hard to talk about and you know, I'm here for you Dad. I'm here for you. Sorry. Your mom, mom thinks we should wait. I mom thinks I should wait, but you know, Senator Byers from Illinois, um, I have a chance to be press secretary and you know, I have, I know that, you know, she's BFFs with Diane and you work with [00:36:00] Diane.

So like, I was thinking that maybe, maybe you could just like put in a good word. Oof. Oh man, I did not see that coming. I was like, oh, that's not good. So cold. So cold, so cold. Carrie, Carrie is rightfully just filled with anger. Like he wants to smash that phone that's in his hand because he probably was thinking about it on the whole one hour and 55 minute flight from, to, it's to Chicago's because it's 2012 and he is on the landline.

Yeah. Uh, he probably wants to smash the receiver in his hand because he is so, he, you can see the rage inside of care. He is like, this was, this was the big thing. He wanted to ask me a favor. Like what? Wow. They're so, and it was just like, so again, I just wanna hug Carrie, like, I'm so sorry. Your life sucks so much.

And it's not even, it's not even the, uh, even though you are a white man, and even though you're rich. Okay. It's not, it's not even the like anger that Marissa, you and I would [00:37:00] have of our parents that would do something like this and would just be like, you got me worried for nothing. Right. Right. It's the simple fact that the only time carrie's father is Yes.

Vulner with him is like talking to him really. And showing interest in Carrie is to ask for a favor. Like, I mean, I think there is a thing that happens at least with, uh, people my age that I talk to that are friends, I guess that's what you call them, um, compatriots. Acquaintances, yeah. Yeah. Those people.

Um, you know, I've been having conversations with like, parents, will you think like, oh, by the way, we're just coming home from the hospital. Yeah. Or, oh, like, you know, all of that stuff and that. Well, so don't get me started. Don't get like my mother, bro. Like, you had a, a, you had like a procedure. I'm just hearing about it two weeks later.

What, what do you mean? Your father was in a [00:38:00] car? My father was in a car accident and I didn't know about it and told the whole car what bro, what, what? Don't get, don't get me started. Don't. No, but I mean, like, that's, that's like the behavior and even that, like that, I don't know it like, all I could think of when Carrie was like, not getting the information is like that.

I, I was expecting something like that to happen of like, I, I had a brain tumor removed or like something like that. Some sort of thing like that. But this man has not talked to his son in 18 years, pretty much. And is asking for a favor. And he thinks by saying, I'm so proud of you at a, at a breakfast, is really gonna buy him the runway he needs for this favor.

Mm-hmm. So sad. So sad. Um, Kalinda comes in, she's been working on some other stuff which we'll talk about, but she comes in and she's like, Hey, so, uh, Martinez's only canceled on you guys. Hidden didn't cancel on the parents against in decency. So they're meeting up at 6:00 PM and so [00:39:00] what did they say? Like, great, let's get on a plane and go one hour and 55 minutes to tc.

It's a very smart strategy by Carrie's like, well, you know, we could just say we never got the notice and we could be there and what are they gonna do? Like we're there. At least we'll have a shot to have a conversation. Um, and while going to this meeting, because again, DC is the smallest place in the world and there's only one hallway he does run into his father.

Yeah. And. He confronts him on the way to the meeting. And I thought this, I was so proud of Carrie in this interaction. 'cause he's basically just like, no, I'm not gonna do this. You don't talk to me. You don't do any of this stuff. You, you didn't even say anything when I made state's attorney and now you're asking me for a favor.

And I gotta tell you, they picked the right man to play this. 'cause Lex Luther was very Lex Luther. I was about to say, he just got his best. Lex Luther in this, in this moment, like other families, gush a compliment is needing something from you is how we show our love in this family. It's like, oh, [00:40:00] okay, Lex.

All right, Lex. So it's transactional. It's not And unconditional. It's not unconditional. And he ends this conversation by saying, I will never talk to you again. And Carrie says, my loss. And just like walks away is like, oh, Carrie, get it. Boy. Get it. Oyy. Yy. So they go into the meeting with Martinez. They're like, oh, I didn't get, I didn't get the message.

Did you get the message? Oh. And this time Theresa does finally like tell the story about her mom and how her mom died of breast cancer. She was funny. And so she's been trying to like deal with this, going through all of this stuff. And the FCC Martinez man brings up a, a joke she made about rape. He's like, I could believe that if that was an isolated incident, but you joked about being raped by clowns to make rape funny.

And I am glad that the character said that wasn't right in the show and apologized in the show because it is not right. [00:41:00] Um, but this is where again, it was just like, oh, so cringey to like hear some of these things. Not saying that they don't happen in comedy. How. Um, shows today, but just like, oof. Um, and she, she's asked like, why do you tell these jokes?

Like, because I have a potty mouth. Mm-hmm. Which I thought was like such a weak response. And the parents against a decency, people are like, there are standards here to protect viewers from a decency like this, you know? And Barry or Burl in his, uh, Burl. Burl, oh my God, spelled his name, like 800 different ways in this document, but that guy, Burl Barrell was the victim in Nesmith last, last week.

Sure. Was. Uh, okay. So Burl mm-hmm. Uh, goes inside. But you know, viewers don't wanna be protected from stuff like this because they voted with the remotes and viewership is higher than ever. Yeah. And so then the FCC says, Hey, okay, [00:42:00] Theresa, will you sign a pledge? Never sign a pledge from the government. But, uh, she says, will you sign a pledge?

She just gets up. Well, first of all, she kisses Carrie. Yeah. And then walks out of the room. She's like, okay. And then Burl goes, I think that's a yes. All right. Burl way to try and save it. My guy. Way to try and save it. It would've been good if he started floating or something. That would've been funny. Um, because Casper, you know?

Mm-hmm. Okay. Just making sure the team comes back into court and the, uh, will's telling the judge, Hey, look, we had this agreement that if we were able to get the, um, FCC to vote against finding the network that we would be absolved of this case. The FCC hasn't decided. Um, but we have to talk about damages here.

Like, is there, are there any damages? Because. Burl is saying affiliates are dropping the show, but then the next second he's telling the FC, [00:43:00] C more people are watching than ever. So they're getting more ad revenue out of this. So the, is there any damage? Is there any reason we should be here at all? I love Burl, like, looks over to Alicia, because Alicia obviously told Will this 'cause Alicia's the one that Alicia heard in this meeting and went and told, well, Burl looks over at Alicia, like you little minks.

I thought we were, I thought we were friends. Alicia like, nah bro. Hey, you said it and Burls like that. That was, that was said at a different venue. Like, it doesn't matter. You said it doesn't matter. You said it. And he would pull the same thing on them, so. Mm-hmm. Okay. So with this knowledge from court, Burl walks back into the law office and sits down to deal with Clark.

He's like, okay, well they're angrily, I might add. Yes, yes. He's pissed. He's kind of pissed, but he's like, look it, we will take on your debt, but you have to take care of the severance. Like these are the, these are our terms, and who walks in? The middle of this in. Okay. Like this man, the man whose name I do not [00:44:00] know, but the guy who is David Lee.

Oh, Zach Granier can never play anyone other than David Lee again. Never. I, I, he, he has, he has messed himself up by typecasting himself as David Lee. Like, the only other project this man can get is a David Lee spinoff, because he, this is, this is the character so good. He was born to play. Right. He's like J White and Urkel, right?

Yes. J White can never get a job again because he was Urkel. Oh. But he did, he was in some stuff recently, but Yes. Yes, exactly. Like, yeah. Yes, he, but he's so good. He's so good at this. He walks in, they're like, whatcha doing? He's like, just waiting to be free. I'm like, what? Like, yeah. They just, you know, the partners, they just rewrote my contract and said if the firm has bought or sold, uh, I get to go like, I'm free.

And clerk's like with no penalty to his right. Contribution. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And clerk's like, excuse me, what, what, what, why? And, and then he, and the next breath goes to Burl, but [00:45:00] the rest of the firm's in great shape. Like, I'm out, I'm out. And Clark is picked, he's pissed. Cute. Like, and a, a pissed off Nathan Lane is really good.

Really good. I like, I was like, oh my God, this guy I, this, this nerd is about to like, like freak out on these people. They're about to crash out. Like he walks into Will and Diane's also, this was also very well played by Will and Diane because Will or Clark coming in with so much passion and like opens the door, bounces back off and all this stuff.

And Will and Diane are just kind of like, yeah, like, bro, you good. What do you want? Yeah. Right. Like. It's like I don't back down like neither do we. I was like, well be prepared to crash. I was like, oh my goodness Gracious Clark. So we've got a little bit of a Clark versus the firmware on our hand. Yeah, I got Will, like, will Diane being cool and common cucumber will's like, you know, Clark think you should take a step back from the firm.

Oh yeah. You're a little too invested. You know, it's like, [00:46:00] oh my God. So this is handled so good. So good, so good. We do end up finding out that the FCC isn't going to find the network, so basically Theresa's off the hook anyway, regardless of, of what was going on with Burl. So thank goodness that happened.

But there's a really awkward goodbye between Yeah. What's, what's the opposite? What is the opposite of a meet? Cute. This is like a it, like a goodbye. Cute. It's like a bye ugly. Like this is a bye ugly. It's like, she's like, alright. Like I don't do well. Goodbye. So like, bye bye. And Alicia's like all again, big sister, like, well, what'd she say?

Like, what did she do? He is like, she just said bye. I was like, well, but she kissed you. It's like, yeah, she's a comedian. Which I didn't really understand, but Okay. Yeah. Whatever. You know, comedians, they do weird stuff. Yes, yes. And, um, Theresa does, uh, Alicia a little bit of a favor here in this, because she talks publicly about [00:47:00] Brazil and her standup, which we will talk about.

You saw it as a favor. I didn't really see it as a favor. She laughed. Well, she was, I mean, she laughed. She was asked by Peter to talk about it with humor, so now she at least has something she can talk about with humor. About, I guess, I guess. But yeah, Theresa definitely used everything around her for material, like the entire time.

I see as a favor. I saw it as like material for Theresa. Well, maybe it could be. Well, but yes. Throughout this entire case, we had Laura kind of coming in and out. Laura, captain Laura, ak Amanda, Pete from last episode. Um, it, apparently all it took was that one case and she's out the door at the military.

Yeah. I, I honestly was not anticipating seeing more of Captain Hellinger. I was like, oh, she's, she's back. She's, she's here again. Which I, I guess we're gonna see more of her judging by the end of this, uh, segment. Yeah. I was like, oh, Amanda p was on the show for like. More than one or two episodes. I totally escaped my mind.

[00:48:00] Totally did. Yes. Yeah. And I have, yeah, I have a lot to say about this, but let's get through this part. Um, then Alicia, and she basically, Alicia is like taking on this mentorship role with her because she's like, I started late, started over late, you can call me. Uh, Laura takes her up on that. Alicia ends up calling who she interviewed with or who Laura interviewed with and finds out like there's no job there really.

And, um, Laura meets up with, Alicia tells her about all of this, and ex basically like, does networking 1 0 1 explainer here? Like, I got this job after not working for 13 years because I knew someone like, who do you know? And then Alicia realizes, wait a minute, you know me. I'm someone who I, who I could talk to at the state's attorney's office, a k my husband, and get your job there.

And that's what ends up happening. But this is what I wanted to talk about. Your, your friend Geneva Pine [00:49:00] Geneva. She was interviewing Laura. Okay. And Geneva Pine has brought up bias with Peter before. Yep. And Geneva was not keen on hiring Laura right off the gate. Like, she's like, well, we don't really, you know, we're not really short staffed.

We don't really need anyone, but we'll keep your, you know, application on file and get back to you. And what happens, Peter walks in, cuts Geneva off. Doesn't, doesn't walk, doesn't walk. Waltz is in the office. Yes. Yes. To exactly, to the office. Yes. Cuts Geneva off, grabs the resume out of her hand, says, oh, you're looking for a job basically here and here's a case.

Here you go. And just in case, uh, you have forgotten or have not watched in a while, um, Laura Hellinger is a white woman and so is Amanda, Pete. But like, so. Like, I'm just saying, I would hope so. This, uh, yeah, I would hope so too, but like, it would, it does not bode well for [00:50:00] the, I, I just, because I hate Peter so much, I really do hope that this does come back to, to haunt him.

Yeah. But well, listen, this is more like Gene was like, oh, okay, so why am I here? The, the white man comes in and just gives the white woman a job. Yeah. When, when, you know, we didn't really need another person, but, okay, cool. Like you could tell Geneva's just like, huh, alright. Uh, yet again, this same type of crap is happening.

Yeah. Um, and I honestly like, you know, to do it with all the, like the politics of it all. The fact that Alicia is recommending this very beautiful woman, younger woman than Alicia to work like closely with Peter, I think is a lot of growth in Alicia because I feel like season one, Alicia. Would not have done this season one should would've been like, you stay away from my husband like you.

Why? It makes me so nervous. Why? 'cause I don't [00:51:00] know. Like I can, I never trust Peter. I never trust him. I never do. You don't trust him to behave himself around Captain? No. No. I don't know. But but the fact that Alicia like got Laura this job and is like, yeah, sure. Beautiful younger woman than me. Go ahead.

Work closely with my husband. I think shows a lot of growth in Alicia's character to be like, even if something does happen, I, it's not gonna end me or destroy me. It is not gonna be my fault. Sure. Yeah. Like I've been through this. Yeah. So I thought it was interesting just to have Alicia get Laura that job so close to Peter and not be.

Uh, worried about it, not be like, oh, maybe I, maybe I shouldn't put a young person in front of Peter. Well, especially given the conversations that are happening on the campaign. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Uh, so, yeah, you know, much to Geneva chagrin, Laura's gonna, and honestly, we, it's been a minute since he really checked in with the state's attorney's office because Peter's been so wrapped up in running for [00:52:00] governor.

So it might be another door, a door reopened back into the state's attorney's office. 'cause when we saw, I was like, Geneva's here. Of course there was like minutes like to criticize the show for a moment. We didn't need a white character to come in here. Geneva is the enough of a character to have gone up against, you know, to go go up against Lockhart Gardner on her own.

We just like getting Carrie in on criminal cases, I think was enough to. Force more stuff in the state's attorney's office. Mm-hmm. I guess it's great to have another character, and again, big fan of Amanda, Pete, but at the same time I just, I just, I was just like, that means Geneva's not gonna be in charge anymore.

You know what I mean? Like, it's, I mean, Laura's not gonna be in charge. Laura's No, I know she's not gonna be in charge, but Laura's second carrie's, uh, crap spot that he left the state attorney's office with. He's not like, it's not like she's going to be the deputy state's attorney. She's just Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I know. But yeah, I, I get it. I just, you know, this is obviously gonna open the door for a Laura, [00:53:00] Alicia spit, uh, face off at some point because, uh, Alicia, Alicia can't do anything without it biting her, biting her in the, in the butt. And Alicia has like the friend slot slot open, you know? Mm. She tried to be friends with Maddie.

That's not gonna work out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, Chloe Linda is keeping her distance, which I don't blame her for. And also she has a lot going on in her own life, and so I think. Alicia's, I think kind of sees Laura as a friend and I'm sure that's gonna explode in some way. I don't remember, but yeah. Well, speaking of the campaign, Eli is doing a pre press conference call, which I thought was interesting and also probably really annoying, but I'm sure they did them at that time.

Uh, the story about the Dear Star is still a story, like people are still talking about this, this, what's going on, and it has been upped a level because one of the reporters says, I, that end dearest Star knows about a specific piece of Peter's anatomy. [00:54:00] And what is on that piece of anatomy? I just thought it was really interesting in, we did have breasts and penises in this, this entire thing, and they said it like 1500 times.

Like, I wonder if they were also trying to like test the FCC, like how many times can we say these words? But they're real, like they're anatomical words. So I don't know. Yeah, I think, I think you can say those. I don't think you can say the, uh, slang words. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was like, I'm also not, not allowed to say on this podcast due to the MCC.

Listen, or, or if you would like to donate to buy me a coffee.com/good pod. Yeah, help me pay my fines. If I get, if I get $50 worth of contributions this week, I will say a bad word on air that will cover my fine from the mcc. Um, also, not to note before, before we even knew about this, Alicia got a call her office that like, it's just a random person, ask Alicia, [00:55:00] Hey, what do you think of Brazilian food?

And then a hangup, which is like in the moment was like, what was that? Yeah. And then we find out about this piece of information that we get. It was like, ah, love it when a joke, uh, makes sense later, yo, because basically they're saying end dearest star knows about this Brazilian shaped birthmark on Peter's penis, which Eli at this point is like, I cannot.

I cannot believe this is happening. Like this is my life. I have to deal with this more. It just keeps getting worse. It's so funny when our characters like question the state of the world. They're like, because Eli's like, is this what media has come to? Like, is this, is this what we're doing now? Like I started rewatching the West Wing because I'm a sadist.

And um, there are times in there where they're like, oh my gosh, this is such a scandal. And I'm like, all fellas, all fellas, lemme tell you, oh boy. Take it from the future guy. Take it from the future. You don't know what, you don't even know what half of it. But yeah. Uh, Peter of [00:56:00] course denies the, that he has a penis with a birthmark of Brazil on it.

Um, and he, he does ask the question like, okay, who is smart enough to think this up? Like, endear Star is not that smart to do this. She's gotta be helped by someone he thinks, first of all. Well, that's what Peter thinks. That's what Peter thinks. So Peter thought that about in Endear Star and also says, the only person who's smart enough is Tiva to do this because Matt, because Maddie's not that smart either.

'cause she's abroad, right? Yeah. Am I right? I mean that you said it. I didn't say it. Peter thought it Peter Fa. Yes. Yes. And um, so he basically tested Eli with finding out like, who's behind this? And Eli is like, oh man, okay, what do we have? And we talked to, I forget his name, but basically like the hit man on the show, moody.

And he's like, okay, like, look, I don't got much, but Maddie's sleeping with the girl. And that's all I can tell you. And, and he was, is like, oh, [00:57:00] okay. It can't, we can't have better fingerprints on any of this, but go with like desperate times, call for desperate measures. So apparently Kalinda had agreed to go and stake out Maddie's house because she's there in a car with Moody and she catches in Dearest Star coming out of Maddie's apartment.

And then she does some more investigative work and finds out that Dear Star has been going over to Maddie's apartment for a month before the story broke at the magazine.

So, I mean, I was not right that it was Criti, but I was right. That it was some sort of plan. There was a plan, this was the plant. Yeah. This tells, because we were debating last episode, whether like what were Maddie's true intentions with getting to know Alicia and. It would seem like she's much more devious than we thought that this, the whole each thing was a plot to get closer to the foric, uh, [00:58:00] enterprises enterprise and figure out some inside dets about, uh, maybe about Peter, about the marriage, about whatever that Maddy could use as, as ammunition.

So I'm really interested to see how that comes through fruition. I'm interested to see when Alicia finds this information out and her next, uh, meeting with Maddie, how that goes. So, ooh, that's, uh, some intrigue there. That's some stuff is going on and, but this is like just gold to Eli Gold. He's like, yes.

Great. Fantastic. We have a direction to go now. Okay. Moody. You do this Kalinda eclipse. Like, I'm out, I'm out. I, I can't. And he's like, yeah, but you're really helping Alicia. She's like, it's not gonna fly anymore. Like, I'm done. She's like, listen, I have a Irish, uh, tow truck guy I gotta deal with. I don't have time for this.

Yeah, I'm out. I'm out. Um, Peter does call Alicia to say, Hey, so would you mind talking about my birthmark? That's not real to the press. And Alicia is actually very [00:59:00] amenable. Amenable here. She's like, okay, but I don't wanna do it. Like, I wanna do it my way. And he's like, well, what about with laughter? She's like, yeah, okay.

Laughter. Yeah. This, this is interesting because number one, we don't hear Alicia laugh out loud often so much in this episode. Yeah, she did at least twice this episode. I was like, oh, like, that's kind of a cute little laugh you got there, Alicia. Like it's, it's, it's fun because when Peter tells you, she's like, she's like.

I was like, oh, okay, I got you. And Alicia says, yeah, 'cause 'cause he was like, Hey, yeah, can you like talk to the person? She's like, oh, well, you know, I don't do outrage well these days. Or just like, I kind of a comment of like, I'm not trying to sweat the small stuff anymore. Like, yeah, Peter, you're gonna, you're gonna do you, Peter's gonna Peter and I'm not gonna, like, I'm not going to be distraught over things.

I'm not going to lose my head over stuff with Peter. Like, I'm [01:00:00] just learning to like deal with the punches. And it feels like that's kind of like where Alicia's mindset is nowadays. Like, nothing, nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing. Like, I'm not going to fall apart over the littles thing anymore. Well, I mean, listen, like what a affair that your husband committed was not a little thing.

She's like, not gonna fall apart over things anymore. Like, I don't do outrage wall. I was like, oh, that is like a nice way of like checking in with where Lisa's mindset is right now. Yeah. And she was able to like strike up a deal with like, Hey, I'll talk to the press if you, uh, hire Laura. And so that is our episode.

We got, I think it's setting some stuff up going forward. Yeah. We've got the Clark firm more. We're gonna see how Captain Hellinger comes into play. We're gonna see what else happens with this, with the campaign and how they're gonna fight back against Maddie. And we're all gonna give Carrie a hug. These are the things of this episode 'cause we care about his mental [01:01:00] wellbeing.

Not 'cause, not, 'cause he's hot. Two things can be true at the same time. Yes, I care about hot people's mental health too. Yeah, I for sure, for sure. You ask people, you always asking me how I'm doing, so That's true. Know exactly. Uh, Marissa, do you wanna fill the good folks in on where they can find you and your, uh, musings nowadays?

Yeah, yeah. Hey, good folks. You can find me at, it's me, marissa g.com, where I have links to all of the podcasts that I'm on, including this one. Um, I'm also over on Whirlwinds Podcast Network, talking about Pretty Little Liars one previously on at a time and talking about, uh, the Final Frontier in Star Trek, the Next Generation with my sister over on the US Sisterhood.

Those, that's what's going on in my podcast world. If you wanna know what's going on in my real life, uh, email me and let me know. But it's like, like I don't, if there's no, here's my cell phone number, there's like, there's just, I don't know if there's enough space on the internet for me to really lay that out there.

It's been a year. It's been a year. [01:02:00] Uh, and I can't believe we're in November for sure. But Jason, uh, what about you? What's going on with you? Yeah, you can find me talking about reality TV Mess and nonsense in several different places. This week I'm over on the Perfect Match Podcast with me and my co-host, Asia Welch.

We are talking Mary to First Sight. Season 19 is Mary First Sight is now on Peacock. It's uh, doing the Love Is Blind Batch thing. So, uh, we're having fun over there about halfway through the season at this point. So check us out over at, uh, you go to, if you type in, uh, love at First Sight, you'll find the feed with Merit First Sight and Love Blind in it.

Uh, so if you also, you're catching up on Love Blind, you can find coverage on that there as well. Also on Patreon, we are also doing more Merit for sight content over on the Perfect Match Podcast on Patreon. So check that out. We're talking to past maths participants about their experience and about how they feel about the new season.

So check that out as well. And I was also on the we Know, 90 Day Fiance podcast with pya, talking about 90 Day Fiance the other way this week. Um, those are all places you can [01:03:00] see and hear me. So, uh, check all that out and, uh, until next time. Stay good.