‘The Good Wife’ recap: The not-so-good wife?

As we hurtle toward the end of “The Good Wife,� Alicia asserts her independence and rejects the role of dutiful wife to Peter, while also going back and forth to court for a never-ending case involving a psychiatrist and an unmanned drone flying above his house.

Alicia and Diane argue a Reese Dipple case (I guess we’ll never actually see Dipple on our screen again since Oliver Platt is busy with “Chicago Med�) opposite young Caitlin D’arcy (Anna Camp), who you may recall was a first-year associate at Lockhart-Gardner (back in Season 3) -- and niece of David Lee -- before quitting to start a family. She’s back and stronger than ever, even though we learn that she’s now separated from her husband and feels that perhaps Alicia was right and she never should have left. But hopefully she has no regret, because she’s certainly a good lawyer, continuing to win after Diane’s client keeps shooting down the drone.

The client, Dr. Jeffrey Nachmann (Scott Cohen, Max from “Gilmore Girls�), initially sued his neighbor because she flew a security drone over his house, which is also his therapy business. After losing the suit (perhaps because of the judge’s bias against Dipple), the doctor takes matters into his own hands, shooting down the drone. When Caitlin counter-sues for damages, she again wins, and wins a third time when Nachmann takes the drone down again in a slightly more peaceful way. There’s clearly no way to win against this, and Nachmann is forced to pay damages. But there aren’t that many cases our heroes don’t win, so it’s interesting to see it when it does happen.

But this case seems more a nuisance than anything else. The bigger question is, why is everyone always after Peter? Is he really that bad a guy, or is it just the horrible nature of the political animal? Either way, Matthew Morrison’s Connor Fox returns again, making a general nuisance of himself to everyone, including Eli’s daughter Marissa.

Fox wants to force Marissa to testify against Eli regarding the latter’s warning Judge Schakowsky about the bribery scandal (remember that?) -- unless Eli agrees to testify against Peter. For what, we still don’t know. Something to do with a campaign donation and a possible payoff regarding Lloyd Garber, who we’ve barely met. Fox apparently knows Eli told Marissa about the bribery scandal because he tapped her phone, after she worked for the mysterious Garber.

After hiring Diane as his counsel, Eli confronts Fox and admits to obstructing justice, even though he could face jail time. Because he’s admitting this now, Fox can’t force Marissa to testify, and Diane tells Fox to leave Marissa alone. But if Eli ends up in jail, then he wouldn’t be able to testify against Peter either. So they’ve snookered Fox into letting Eli go. At least for now, until he’s subpoenaed against Peter.

Alicia’s affair with Jason remains hot and heavy -- regardless of any discomfort Jason may feel against his Greek Orthodox religious beliefs (where did this come from?) -- though it seems to be more about sex than love (if love had really entered into it the first place). But Peter, who was blissfully unaware of the relationship before, messes things up for the pair.

After a passionate night, Alicia asks Jason to stay at her apartment while she goes to court, but Peter shows up with his key after a short while, and is surprised to see Jason comfortably walking around in his boxers. He kicks Jason out, accusing him of sleeping with his wife. Peter never seems to remember that his marriage is for appearances only.

Peter’s stubbornness and machismo forces Alicia to finally take that step many of us have wanted her to take for years: She tells Peter she wants a divorce. He’s incredulous, accusing her of wanting one so she can be with another man. But no, she wants her independence, and to be free of Peter. Though angry at first, Peter eventually comes around, but still asks Alicia to stand by him through the impending trial. He can’t afford to have the divorce make him look like Alicia thinks he’s guilty. Of course we don’t know yet what Alicia’s answer is. We have to wait until the next episode (in 3 weeks!).

Alicia’s affair isn’t the only thing heating up, as the horribly-put “estrogen war� -- thanks Howard Lyman -- escalates, and David Lee and Cary assert their power. Or try to anyway. David and Cary are still paranoid about Diane’s desire to make a women-partnered firm, but at least they ask her about it point blank this time. She doesn’t admit that, but she does ask to have Alicia named as a partner. Cary says no (why exactly, I’m not sure), but David makes a deal with Diane so that she has enough votes to carry it through. We’re not sure what Diane’s deal with the David Devil is exactly, but it’s enough to make Cary sick and tired of the ridiculous political game -- finally -- and he decides to quit and have Diane buy him out. Though lawyering is fun, being part of this horrible climate isn’t, he explains. Are all law firms this poisonous, or is it just this one?

Cary also tells Alicia that he’s been subpoenaed against Peter, and it doesn’t look good for Peter. Uh-oh.

So what do you think, “Good Wife�-ers? How bad is this case against Peter? Will Alicia stay by Peter’s side for the duration of the trial? Will Diane and Alicia succeed in starting a women-partnered firm? And will they invite Caitlin as a partner?