The Good Wife and the Revenge of Peter Florrick

Until this episode, I'd thought the long game for The Good Wife would be that Alicia eventually gets back together with Peter. While I'm loving the Will/Alicia romance, I don't think that it will last, for a variety of reasons, not least of which his revelation to Kalinda last week about being a sociopath.

But now it seems that Peter is hell-bent on destruction, and I could not be more excited. While it was heartbreaking seeing Zach's face when he learns the truth about his parents' split, that scene reveals something important about Peter, that he is aware of who he is and what he's done, which he wasn't at the end of last season.

So it's all the more revealing that he not only knows the breakup is his fault, but still wants to take it out on Alicia. And he doesn't care who goes down with her. That's why he's kept Cary on. He needs a compatriot as invested in bringing down Lockhart Gardner as he is, albeit for different reasons.

I think that this season we're about to witness an intense battle of the minds, as the power struggle between LG and the state's attorney's office intensifies.

And you know what? Alicia can be just as brutally clever as Peter. She's never more alluring than when she's destroying people professionally, and I look forward to seeing that side of her turned on Peter.

But when the battle really gets going, I think Will and Diane are going to step out, and will not tolerate collateral damage. We're in an odd situation where Alicia has never seemed more powerful, and yet, in this quadrangle, she has absolutely no power, and any of the other three might destroy her.

That's where the fifth power player becomes invaluable: Eli. In a battle between Peter and Alicia, I think he'll side with Alicia. Peter's no good as a candidate without Alicia, but Alicia will make a perfect candidate.

And that is my theory for the new long game: by the end of this show, Alicia will be running for office.

OTHER THOUGHTS

This may be the only time in history where I ask for more exposition. I know absolutely nothing about British law (though I'm familiar with the Trafigura case that inspired this storyline), so I would appreciate a little more context to the quirks of British law.

Will is fantastic in this episode, reacting to Eddie Izzard's OTT ridiculousness the best way possible: laughing in his face. That, combined with his naked lust for Alicia, makes him the person of the episode. "Intimidation is not a sonnet."