Episode 12 | Aired Jan 13, 2013

Carrie Preston's Elsbeth Tascioni makes her triumphant return, and Peter receives conflicting advice from Eli and Jordan
By Breia Brissey @ ew



Elsbeth Tascioni is easily my favorite non-regular recurring character on The Good Wife. So I was thrilled when the quirky litigator (played by the brilliant Carrie Preston) made her season 4 debut. And based on the episode's conclusion, it looks like we'll be getting a lot more Elsbeth in the future — but more on that later.

Alicia received a call from Elsbeth early in the morning. The call interrupted Alicia's breakfast with Zach and Grace — not to mention some, ahem, sexy daydreams. Elsbeth had managed to get herself arrested, and she needed Alicia's help handling a contract enforcement arbitration. Erobos, a shoe company, had reneged on her client Anna's endorsement deal.

Elsbeth tried to question Simon Fassel, the CEO of Erobos, following a speech he made, but Simon had her arrested for harassment. Since she was unable to attend the arbitration meeting -- you know, since she was in jail and all -- she sought out Alicia's help. Unfortunately, Elsbeth was in a Skokie jail on a Friday. If she didn't get a bond hearing that day, she'd be stuck in the suburbs for the weekend. So while Alicia tried to get her transferred out of Skokie, Will had to step in for the contract negotiation.

It seemed like an easy deal: Anna's endorsement contract was iron clad, and she won two silver medals. They couldn't argue against her performance. Anna's commercial never aired, but since payment was not dependent on distribution, it was clear Anna was still entitled to her $5 million. (And that reminds me, how can I get an endorsement deal?!) But this is TV we're talking about, where nothing is that simple: Erobos' lawyers said they had a right to void a contract with any athlete once he or she had been banned from a race for doping. Anna's most recent drug test showed signs of an illegal substance. As a result, she would be banned from her upcoming race. And that was all Erobos needed to void her contract.

So while Elsbeth was stuck in jail, Will had to prepare an appeal for the AADL's decision. This involved going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS. Elsbeth warned Alicia that the CAS wasn't run like the American courts. Nonetheless, Will was totally unprepared for what was about to happen. I'd type something clever in French to illustrate my point, but I, along with Will, do not speak a lick of French. And I don't think this counts.

The three French-speaking judges on the CAS panel made Will incredibly uncomfortable, and I have to admit it was kind of fun to see him so out of his comfort zone. But I know Anna didn't feel the same way, and was anxiously awaiting the return of Elsbeth. Thankfully, Judge Villapique (Ronald Guttman) & Co. agreed to host the panel in English for Will's benefit, but that didn't stop them from reverting to French as they discussed the case.

Technically Anna passed her drug test for the race in question, but afterward the tester found ghosting -- ICSH, the fingerprint for boosters. Additionally, they had a witness claiming he saw a courier bring drugs to Anna at the Olympics. Will managed to get the witness on the stand (or at least the chair in the middle of the room). Realizing he was in way over his head, Will went to Diane who happens to be quite fluent in French. (Notice both Will and Diane gave up their weekend plans to help Elsbeth.)

The witness in question was Anna's roommate from the Olympics. She claimed to have seen Anna accept drugs from a man, specifically Nelson Kimora from the Notorious Six, a group of six runners who'd been banned from racing for using boosters. Anna admitted that she previously dated Nelson, but they were no longer together. Will and Diane still felt like she was hiding something.

Elsbeth was facing more difficulties with her transfer from the Skokie jail. Due to her erratic behavior, she had to pass a psych evaluation before they would transfer her. And I'm not saying Elsbeth is crazy, but...okay that is what I'm saying. She's crazy! (In a good way, of course.) Alicia knew she'd have her work cut out for her. And Elsbeth practiced not talking as much.

But leave it to the bizarre Elsbeth to figure out Anna's secret: ICSH is also a pregnancy hormone. Anna was pregnant, and she had an abortion. Of course, this revelation came in the middle of Elsbeth's psych evaluation. A revelation that was preceded by an outburst of laughter at the oddity of human behavior. So while it was helpful for Anna's case, it pretty much solidified the fact that Elsbeth failed her evaluation.

The truth behind Anna's abortion was just the thing Will and Diane needed to win Anna's appeal. Unfortunately, in her eyes, an abortion was significantly worse that doping. Particularly if she would have to admit the truth to her parents and family. Will pointed out the risk of not telling the truth: She'd be banned from her race and lose her $5 million endorsement. But Anna insisted that they proceed with a lie.

Alicia was still trying to get Elsbeth a bond hearing when she spoke with Peter. He offered to make a call, but knew it would look like a political favor and not a personal one. He extended an invitation to Alicia to join him for a bite, and then told her to question the constitutionality of the arrest itself. And even though Elsbeth was technically out of the campus police's jurisdiction, Judge Politi (Vincent Curatola) held up the arrest. That said, Politi did agree to let her stay in the city for her bond hearing. Plus, he delivered this gem: "When the law's an ass, someone has to kick it!"

Back in jail, Kalinda visited Elsbeth to review her trial notes. Elsbeth told Kalinda that in doping charges, the burden of proof is reversed. Will and Diane would have to prove Anna's innocence. So Elsbeth suggested that they attack the three pillars, or the ways the panel substantiates doping charges. The first pillar, analysis, was pretty much already out the door. That left the second pillar, confidentiality, and the third, chain of custody.

Through the rules, all test samples had to be shipped by the same day. Anna's sample wasn't shipped on the same day, which gave Will and Diane the break in the chain of custody. Unfortunately, the panel judges believed it was just a technicality. But leave it to the wild Elsbeth Tascioni to swoop in at the last-minute to save the day. She posted her bail, and literally came running in to the CAS panel, heels in her hands, to present one final witness. Enter cyclist Dedrick Klein, who had been accused of using banned substances and was suspended from cycling. He appealed, like Anna, but the panel confirmed his guilt two to one. The leader of that panel was none other than Judge Villapique himself. Villapique swayed the Egyptian judge to vote for Klein's guilt. After he was stripped of his title, the honor went to the runner-up from France. This led to a panel argument about how Villapique should have recused himself, and obviously the other two panel judges weren't too pleased with the national bias. A successful flip of the German judge. And Elsbeth Tascioni = the new Rambo.

Meanwhile, Zach was checking out Maddie Hayward's campaign site and noticed a link that was accidentally left open that led to internal political documents. Zach grabbed a screengrab before Maddie's team could take it down, and he immediately alerted Eli with the news: Maddie would be going after Peter's supposed racial bias. Her camp had lined up two ASAs willing to say Peter was biased against them. Further complicating matters was the fact that Eli and Jordan (a.k.a. the newest thorn in Eli's side) had differing opinions on how to proceed with the information. Eli wanted Peter to talk to the ASAs and scope things out, while Jordan recommended that he just let it go. Additionally, Maddie was pestering Peter about the number of debates, another topic Eli and Jordan didn't see eye to eye on.

Peter ultimately went with Eli's advice and chose to speak with Geneva about his racial bias. And after encouraging Geneva to be completely honest with him, she called Peter out on his actions: He'd fired five African-Americans and promoted two Caucasians. Peter had his reasons -- as viewers I don't think anyone is upset with Wendy Scott-Carr's firing -- but in the end that didn't matter. It was all about who he was listening to, and how it appeared. Geneva then told him to rethink and review all of his promotions, and alerted him to the fact that his rejection to speak at the Minority Rights Coalition was considered a slap in the face. And since Maddie was going to be there, it looked pretty bad.

But things only got worse when Peter was booed while delivering his speech at the coalition. Jordan called Eli out on not listening to him, but the bad speech damage had been done. But things were looking, ahem, up for Peter. Alicia showed up at his campaign bus to get a bite to eat. Which for Alicia is apparently a euphemism for having sex with her hubby. (She had to follow through with her earlier sex fantasy. Please debate now on who that person was. Will? Peter? Someone else?) At the end of their sexcapade -- which was cut a little short by Eli's arrival -- Peter tried to question their relationship. Don't question it, Peter. Just have the sex. I loved Alicia's line to Eli as she left the bus: "Oh, don't worry! Just the wife." Eli's expression was priceless.

Despite his bad speech, Eli liked the fact that Peter spoke the truth about minority interests. Jordan didn't really see it that way. And their head-to-head battle continues. Eli, of course, was none too pleased when Peter called him out on going too hard Jordan. But Peter recognized the necessary evil of having Jordan around. Eli's being investigated, and there's not a lot anyone can do about it. Plus, Wendy Scott-Carr's investigation into the law firm left Eli lawyer-less. But not for long...it looks like Elsbeth is going to step up and represent Eli. At least that's what the end of the episode would lead us to believe. And I'm choosing to believe it, because more Carrie Preston as Elsbeth is never a bad idea.