The Good Wife

Alicia turns down Canning’s offer, and in the interest of controlling her own destiny, Alicia has her first day as a bar attorney. She is initially hazed, but wins over her coworkers, befriending Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo). Peter fires Eli, and hires national strategist Ruth Eastman (Margot Martindale) to be his campaign manager in his run for Vice President. In a revenge move against Peter, Eli offers his services to Alicia as her chief of staff and she accepts. Cary worries that the firm is seeming like an older firm, not as friendly to new ideas, and efforts to engage the younger associates; hear out their ideas. One of the young men mistakes his interest for something else.

Alicia is assigned to a museum vandalism case with an oddly honest client. Alicia needs to hire an investigator to dig a little deeper. She ends up with Melanie Marcassin. Alicia discovers that the painting Erik attacked is actually one his mother took of him when he was a kid – he’s naked in it. Alicia, along with Lucca, tries to get the museum to drop the charges but they want their lawyer to sit in on the meeting – Nancy Crozier. The museum offers an ultimatum that Erik does not like. Alicia suggests they try to close the exhibit because Erik didn’t consent to those photos. They try to speak with his mother, but she is too attached to the art to remove them. Alicia argues that these photos have caused Erik psychological harm. They lose their initial motion, but Lucca pivots and argues against the museum using Erik’s likeness for any publicity purposes. Then they argue that these photos are pornographic but this doesn’t hold because it is not a criminal case. Their next argument is for child labor, which they win, but it doesn’t result in the photos being taken out of the exhibit. Cary is approached by younger associates about Howard Lyman’s office conduct. He wants to give Howard a lesser role but the other partners aren’t so much on board. Cary confronts Howard who pushes back. Ultimately Howard gives an ultimatum of him or Cary at the firm. Eli goes to apologize to Peter, but has ulterior motives – he wants to be Alicia’s chief of staff. Peter won’t have it, but Alicia insists that Eli work with her. Eli asks Alicia to meet with and apologize to Frank Landau so she can turn on him in the future. She does, and Landau offers her a seat on the election board but it comes with a cost. Peter notices this and thinks Eli has done good work.

Alicia and Lucca represent both the seller and maker of a GHB like drug, but Alicia discovers they are caught in the middle of an FBI sting. While considering bringing an ageism suit against Lockhart/Agos, Howard Lyman meets Jackie Florrick and they strike up a romance. Eli encourages Eastman’s idea of putting Alicia and Veronica on a mother daughter cooking show that, not surprisingly, backfires.

Alicia handles a shoplifting case in bond court, where she agrees to support a client’s plea of innocence. Jason procures security footage that leads to a shocking outcome; however Lucca respects Alicia for caring and they discuss the idea of working together. Eli gets wind of the vote on physician assisted suicide vote coming up and uses Peter's family to create chaos for Ruth Eastman, but she quickly catches on. Diane is pushed by Carver (Peter Gallagher) to argue against physician assisted suicide which she agrees to do mostly because it is against Canning (MJ Fox). Her loss in court frustrates her until Carver introduces the seductive possibility of taking the case to the supreme court.

Alicia and Lucca represent Lucca’s friend Maggie when she is harassed for payment on her student loans. Jason investigates using some aggressive tactics. Eli pulls Alicia into drama when he advises her on her case to threaten a debt strike, just as Peter is trying to support unions, pissing off Eastman. Meanwhile Eli’s daughter Marissa thinks his revenge obsession is unhealthy. Howard Lyman disputes ageism at the firm and points to Cary who has to defend himself against practical jokes. Diane is appalled and demands sensitivity training for the firm. Lyman later reveals that Canning was the force behind all of it.

Alicia and Lucca defend a woman fired from her job at a tech firm for failing a polygraph test. Unbeknownst to the lawyers involved, this seemingly straightforward wrongful termination suit unwittingly puts Alicia back on the NSA’s radar. On the eve of the formal announcement of Peter’s candidacy, Eli plots to leak a revelation that will cripple the campaign and hurt Alicia. Diane wants to hire a new attorney but the interview process does not go well with the various partners, especially Howard Lyman. Meanwhile Alicia researches her recent hire, Jason, and digs into his questionable history.

Diane and Cary defend a CEO and his employee, who test drove an autonomous car that ended up in an accident paralyzing a woman, represented by Canning. Canning shakes things up when he poaches the employee for Alicia, leading to a three-way case against Lockhart Agos. The case centers around a fascinating debate of humans vs technology/A.I. Peter stays at Alicia’s apartment to quell the rumors that their marriage isn’t kosher and Eli orchestrates a last-minute party as a ruse for Peter to land a potential billionaire campaign contributor, but she seems more interested in Eli. Jackie and Howard crash the evening to announce their engagement. Meanwhile, Alicia joins the Cook County Election Board but finds herself at odds with committee members, including its chair Frank Landau.

Ethan corners Diane into a heated case that weighs pro-choice against first amendment rights. Diane helps Ethan prep a woman who sues an abortion clinic for misrepresenting how they handle the aborted fetal tissue. When Diane manages to tear the woman’s story apart, Ethan decides against pursuing the case and moves to release an undercover video that implies the clinic sells the tissue. However, the doctor on tape sues to stop the video’s release and Ethan has just what he needs to get Diane on the case—the threat of someone’s first amendment rights. In the end, Diane finds a way to diplomatically remove herself from the case after she upsets the judge by implying he has bias. Alicia and Lucca are desperate for new business. While Lucca attempts to poach clients from Canning, Alicia is approached by Eli to advise Courtney Paige on her desire to set a salary floor for her employees. Eli and Courtney grow closer and share their first kiss. When Lucca and Alicia fail to land any of Canning’s clients, Grace surprises Alicia with four new clients she obtained from cold calls. Turns out, they’re pro-choice organizations who are looking to flee Lockhart-Agos because of Diane’s involvement in the controversial case.

Alicia and Lucca defend Chumhum from a civil suit brought by Diane and Cary on behalf of a restaurateur who alleges the tech company’s racist algorithm caused her restaurant to go under. The case is brought to Diane and Cary by a former candidate for the law firm who previously accused them of racist practices. Canning is defending Chumhum but enlists Lucca and Alicia’s help to bring more diversity to his representation. Ultimately, the potentially racist coding algorithm becomes moot when they discover the company was going under months before the “filter” went live. Eli has greater plans for Alicia and begins to calculate the idea of a senate run. However, his plan to pitch this to Alicia is thrown for a loop when Ruth brings Alicia and Jason’s flirtation to Eli’s attention. This leads Eli to start digging into the nature of their relationship in fear it will cripple a potential campaign. Jason, overhears Eli’s questioning Alicia and starts acting stand-offish toward Alicia, much to her dismay. Eli digs into Jason’s past only to discover that Jason has created a file on Alicia’s personal life. When Alicia finds out, she’s left speechless. Meanwhile, Lucca and Cary bond both in and outside of the courtroom.

Alicia and Lucca defend a well-respected surgeon accused of plotting to commit a sex crime. The surgeon has been a part of an online chat room for dark sexual fantasies and was plotting to kidnap, rape and sedate the mother of one of his patients but was arrested before any crime occurred. The legality of the debate centers around whether or not the surgeon had intent to follow through, as he claims he was never going to commit the crime—he only used the forum as a cathartic release for his fantasies. Ultimately, the jury declared the surgeon guilty but the Judge overturns the jury’s verdict and the surgeon walks free, leaving Alicia and Lucca shocked but pleased. Over at Lockhart-Agos-Lee, the young associates have fled the firm for Canning, leaving Cary and Diane stranded on the eve of a major case for Ethan Carver. Racing against a deadline to file the suit, Diane hires Monica Timmons and Cary plots to win back the associates. Cary and Diane manage to re-hire all the young lawyers in time to successfully file the suit in time only to get revenge by firing them immediately after and preclude them from working on Canning’s side of the case. Diane’s omission about the associates leaving and Cary’s act of revenge upset Carver, leading him and Resse Dipple to end their business with Lockhart-Agos-Lee. Meanwhile, Ruth schemes to remove Jason from the picture by persuading Courtney Paige to hire Jason for business in California for two months. Alicia is convinced Eli was responsible and confronts him angrily. Eli finds out Courtney is also leaving for a year, effectively ending their relationship. Eli, saddened, returns to Alicia to apologize and admits that six years ago he erased a voicemail on Alicia’s phone from Will Gardner declaring his love for her.

On the final day before the Iowa Caucuses, Peter tries to pull off a high-risk stunt: completing "the full Grassley" -- which means visiting every last one of the state's 99 counties. But en route, Alicia's anger at Eli over his admission that he erased the voicemail where Will proclaimed his love for her threatens to tank the entire effort. The entire Florrick family and several campaign members are crammed into close quarters on the campaign bus, which raises tensions as they debate whether or not the political stunt will work. An unexpected twist in Howard and Jackie's pre-nup negotiations puts Lockhart/Agos/Lee in a sticky situation. They discover Howard has 2.2 million dollars stashed away in his name, but Howard claims he has no clue where it came from. It turns out David Lee committed fraud by hiding the money to prevent Alicia from accessing it for her exit package. Lockhart-Agos-Lee also comes under fire as they become investigated for discriminatory hiring practices following a complaint from Monica Timmons.

Alicia and Cary join forces to defend their former client, musician Rowby Canton, after he’s slapped with a multi-million dollar lawsuit over a new single. Canton’s record label sues him claiming his single that went viral is actually theirs under contract. After losing initially, the label turns around and sues for copyright infringement, claiming the song is similar to another one under their label and ends up winning. During the case, Canton takes an interest in Lucca and the two spend a night together. Meanwhile, Alicia’s neighbors are unhappy that her law firm is being run from her apartment and threaten to evict her but Grace investigates and puts a stop to it. Alicia’s clients are also unhappy about the location of their firm, which Alicia and Lucca discover when they learn some of their clients have been approaching Lockhart-Agos-Lee. When they confront Cary, he asks Alicia and Lucca to join the firm but Alicia declines. Eli, still saddened by the rift between him and Alicia, strategizes on how to get back into Alicia’s life. When Marissa comes back and asks Eli for a job, he sends her to Alicia instead. Marissa learns about what happened between Alicia and Eli and unsuccessfully tries to convince Alicia to mend fences. Also, Grace’s grades are slipping so Alicia lets her go from the firm.

Alicia discovers that one of her past clients, Clayton Riggs, has been stuck in jail for eight months. She convinces Clayton Riggs to sue Judge Schakowsky, who was responsible for his imprisonment. The case turns in favor of Schakowsky, and Bernie Bukovitz goes behind Alicia’s back, convincing Clayton to sue her for malpractice. Alicia breaks down in front of Lucca, who offers her support and friendship. Cary defends Alicia, but the judge rules in favor of Schakowsky. Bernie Bukovitz refuses to accept a settlement, and Alicia fears that she will lose everything. Cary offers Alicia her old job back, with enough insurance to cover her in the upcoming suit. Meanwhile, Diane helps out the student editor of a private college’s newspaper, as the Dean threatens to shut her down for writing a politically charged article. Diane, with help from Jason Crouse, wins arbitration, by identifying the school as a “state,” thereby restraining their ability to limit free speech. Later, Jason and Alicia kiss for the first time.

Alicia starts back at Lockhart/Agos/Lee with Lucca, who struggles adjusting to less responsibility and more work. Their coworker in IT, Drummond Howell, comes to them for legal advice in regards to selling a tablet prototype, the Foil, which he found at a tech conference party. Diane tells them not to get the firm involved, but when the TAPS officers storm the firm’s office to arrest Howell for trafficking stolen property, Alicia takes the case. Lucca continues to support Alicia, despite Diane and Cary ordering her to do other assigned work. With some quick thinking on the part of Lucca, Alicia is able to get Howell off the hook by classifying him as a citizen journalist, after his twitter post about the Foil goes viral. Meanwhile, Alicia learns that Diane was against bringing her back in and she tries to smooth things over by promising to be fully devoted to the firm this time around. She also struggles to find a means to pay the entire expense of her malpractice suit, as her insurance will not cover one million dollars that she owes. Later, Eli learns that the FBI is looking into Alicia, and he tips off Ruth Eastman, who warns Alicia that Peter may be in trouble.

Alicia joins a secretive panel of attorneys tasked with providing the US government with a legal memo justifying the targeting killing of an ISIS recruiter. After some debate, the panel agrees that ISIS recruiters do pose a threat to the public and the target should be eliminated. However, things take a turn when Alicia learns that this particular recruiter is an American citizen, launching the panel into even more of a fierce debate. When one of the panelists who dissented from the majority opinion is dismissed for leaking information about the panel, Alicia begins to suspect that the panel's hawkish moderator may be steering the results. When she confronts the moderator about it, he accuses her of leaking information and violating her security clearance, resulting in her dismissal from the panel. Frustrated, she returns home, where Jason Crouse pays her a visit. Meanwhile, Eli, Peter, and Elsbeth Tascioni try to uncover why the FBI is targeting Peter. Elsbeth stumbles across something in her research that forces her to excuse herself as Peter's lawyer, but she refers them to her ex-husband, the quirky Mike Tascioni. With some crafty planning, Eli and Mike manage to fool Elsbeth into leading them to her conflict of interest: her client, and Peter's largest campaign donor, Lloyd Berger. Additionally, Lucca gains respect from Diane after helping to navigate a tricky case with union boss and longtime L/A/L client Ronnie Erickson.

Alicia and Jason Crouse plan to spend a quiet weekend together, but that's interrupted when Alicia's mother, Veronica Loy, storms into her apartment and proclaims that she's been deceived out of over one-hundred thousand dollars. Veronica invested in a riverboat casino at the recommendation of Gino Davidson and promptly lost it all. After an awkward conversation over bagels in Alicia's kitchen, Jason kindly agrees to help them and starts to investigate. He listens to Veronica's story and soon believes that she was swindled out of the money by a scammer and enlists her and Owen in a ploy to get the money back. As the grand jury against Peter is convened, Alicia, Eli, and Mike Tascioni no eyes and ears into the proceedings… until Eli discovers a vent in a handicapped bathroom in the courthouse that helps him learn just what Peter is being accused of. He overhears a name being mentioned, V-House, and he eventually learns that it's in regards to a case Peter was involved in back in 2012. Eli realizes that there is suspicion that Lloyd Garber, the uncle to an Aaron Hause, is suspected of donating to Peter's gubernatorial campaign in exchange for the case against Hause being taken care of.

Another romantic rendezvous between Alicia and Jason Crouse is interrupted when Alicia learns that Grace is being accused of plagiarizing a college entrance essay. She asks Jason to look into the software the school uses to compare essays and tries to refute the school's assertion of plagiarism, but the school holds its ground. Later, Grace admits that she helped her older brother write his college essays, which is why the software flagged her essay for its similar content. Alicia also faces a personal challenge when she sees Jason kiss another woman at a bar, without him realizing she witnessed it. Lucca mentions it to Jason and he confronts Alicia about it, leading to a very brief but honest discussion of how they're handling this blossoming relationship. Alicia knows that they never set any kind of boundaries, and she has no intentions of breaking things off with him. Jason reciprocates, adding that he's jealous of Alicia's husband. They agree to proceed with their relationship as it currently is, putting no restrictions or pressures on each other. Meanwhile, Eli and Mike Tascioni continue their stakeout near the Grand Jury courtroom as Alicia is brought onto the stand. Initially, they advise her to take the fifth on all the questions posed to her, but after Eli learns there's a particularly dubious juror on the panel, they encourage her to play to him and swing the jury. Diane, Cary, and Lucca defend the grieving father of a shooting victim in a defamation suit over a billboard he's put up describing a gun store owner as a murderer. The case looks like a lost cause -- until our lawyers are able to enlist unlikely allies: conservative buisness owners who have finally reached their breaking point when it comes to gun crime.

Alicia and Diane square off against Caitlin D'Arcy as they defend a therapist with a home office against a security conscious mother who flies a camera-equipped drone and post its videos to a neighborhood website. The therapist, Dr. Jeffrey Nachmann, argues that the drone violents his privacy and property, and ends up shooting the drone down after a judge initially rules the drone is allowed to fly. Nachmann takes matters into his own hands, shooting down the drone with a shotgun at first, and then a high powered frequency jammer after the judge orders him to replace the last drone he destroyed. Alicia and Diane wade through a very murky legal debate, as the drone was technically flying in as-yet-unregulated airspace above Nachmann's home. Ultimately, Caitlin puts up a great legal fight, and the judge rules in favor of her client, forcing Nachmann to pay compensory and punitive damages. Meanwhile, AUSA Connor Fox tries to use Marissa as leverage to get Eli to testify against Peter. Fox admits that he tapped Marissa's cell phone (with probable cause), and that he'll force her to testify against her own father if Eli doesn't agree to take the stand against Peter. Eli consults Diane for advice and brings her on as his counsel, and they ultimately choose to have Eli confess to obstruction of justice in the Don Schakowsky bribery case to keep Marissa out of the proceedings. Additionally, Peter confronts Jason about sleepign with Alicia, and the internal power struggle at Lockhart/Agos/Lee reaches a boiling point and Cary decides to quit as David Lee backs Diane and Alicia.

Jeffrey Dellinger attempts to return to Chicago but gets detained in Toronto's airport by US Customs officers who have the right to hold him for questioning on Canadian soil. On the eve of Peter's arrest, Alicia flies to Toronto with Lucca to represent Dellinger in a makeshift airport courtroom. When the USA presents a case strong enough to get the extradition request granted, Alicia trys a new tactic: saying that Dellinger is seeking asylum in Canada from his own government. Tyler Hopkins, a close friend of Dellinger from their days at the NSA, takes the stand and points out that the NSA has turned Alicia's phone into a hot mic and has been listening in on the court proceedings. Enraged, the judge grants Dellinger asylum. Meanwhile, Eli and Mike Tascioni conduct a series of negotiations with AUSA Connor Fox regarding how and where Peter will be arrested, but Fox sees through their ruse and arrests Peter well before the agreed upon time. Alicia is present for the arrest and does what she can to help Peter through it, though her heart is still very much elsewhere. Diane grows concerned when her husband, Kurt McVeigh, decides to sell his business and retire to focus more on their relationship. As she examines the financials, she sees that Kurt is seriously undervaluing his business and selling it to an attractive young blonde, which makes her very suspicious. After confronting him, he decides to sell the business to another buyer rather than risk hurting his wife.

Alicia is throwing a party for Howard and Jackie’s ketuba signing and if something can go wrong, it does. It opens with Jason and Alicia discussing the status of their relationship. Then the florist sends funeral flowers, saying Condolences rather than Congratulations. Zach surprises everyone by showing up with a new older girlfriend (24) and shocks them even further by announcing that they’re getting married, he’s leaving school and moving to France with her because she’s graduating and got a good job there. Then Veronica manages to discuss Alicia and Peter impending divorce in front of Grace and the news spreads quickly. Jason comes back and confesses he has feelings for Alicia but he doesn’t know what that means. Through this all, Alicia and Peter seem to be working together to manage their family: they agree to a single lawyer divorce, decide to let Zach make his own mistakes (in a fun conversation with Zach’s girlfriend Alicia gets some insight into young people’s attitudes towards marriage), and the episode ends with the two of them toasting their divorce. Meanwhile, Eli has asked Jason prove Peter is guilty but asks him to keep it a secret because Peter doesn’t want Jason on the case anymore. Jason uncovers what first seems like a smoking gun against Peter but digs deeper and finds it isn’t true. His digging causes Cary to ask Louis Canning to represent him. It’s unclear why Cary is so concerned, but Louis calls Alicia during the party and it becomes one more thing she has to deal with.

The trial of Peter Florrick begins and captures the imaginations of the media and the public. AUSA Connor Fox presents the prosecutions case-in-chief, relying on old enemies-- and in some instances, friends-- in an effort to hold Peter accountable for the mistrial in the Richard Locke murder case. Meanwhile, Alicia-- with the help of Jason and Eli-- works to negotiate a plea bargain that will keep Peter out of jail. And while she does, Alicia wrestles with whether to believe Peter's protestations of innocence. Dianne and Lucca move aggressively to expand the firm-- but face serious resistance from David Lee.

All good things must come to an end…experience the dramatic series finale of The Good Wife.