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Wow, there is a lot to unpack in this week’s episode of The Good Fight. Every major character had a storyline, so this was a densely layered episode but the focal point is certainly Diane and Kurt. Kurt is now finding himself having to adjust to the new Biden administration, watching his colleagues being let go and being warned to not display his love for the former guy. But Kurt finds himself in a pickle when he thinks he recognizes someone on a wanted poster from the January 6 insurrection. Bringing the wanted poster home, Diane happens to spy it and wonders why Kurt drew a beard on one of the photos. Kurt says he’s not sure who it is, but he’s not going to report any names especially if he’s unsure. But deep down he seems pretty sure and there’s a reason he’s not eager to be involved … he gave the man, and others in his group of veterans, weapons training and instructions on how to breach a building such as .. The Capital.
Diane, of course, has no idea of how deep this goes with Kurt but she can’t let her love of Kurt cloud her judgment about doing what’s right so he puts Jay on the case to find out who the man in the photo is. And he does in about 30 seconds. How could Jay find out who he is when the FBI can’t? Jay had the information Diane gave him about the name of the gun club the man belonged to. Having the name, Diane struggled with what to do but when she asked Jay how to make an anonymous call, he pulled open a drawer of burner phones and gave her one. So she called the FBI. And the next thing Kurt knows, Agent Madeline Starkey (Jane Lynch) is in his office asking for the names of the other men in the group. Kurt says he doesn’t know, and Starkey assures him the FBI isn’t interested in him, but she will be in touch.
It’s unclear if Kurt realizes Diane is the one who got this ball rolling — how could he not think it was more than a coincidence that Diane saw the poster and a day later the man is identified? — but he tells her about the training he gave the men and Diane realizes how bad this could now get for him, appointing herself his lawyer. Starkey and Kurt arrange a meeting at the firm, and Diane goes into complete defense mode for Kurt. But the man has given a sworn statement that Kurt specifically gave them training on how to attack the Capital, which Diane shoots down as nothing more than an attempt to cover his own ass. Starkey agrees that the statement is suspect, but this isn’t taking any of the heat off of Kurt. The question now is how deeply this will impact their marriage. Kurt has gone so far to the right at this point that it seems inconceivable that Diane will find any common ground with him especially as the investigation goes deeper. Will the FBI turn up more dirt on Kurt than Diane knows about? (And with Gary Cole joining NCIS in a regular role next season, it’s possible this is a way of writing him out of the show.)
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Liz and Julius are in court representing a business owner in a lawsuit against a woman who has gone to great lengths to spread vicious rumors about the man online — accusing him of child molestation — through fake news websites and on social media, calling into question the validity of Section 230, which protects social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Chum Hum from being sued for what their users post. They seem to be losing their case so Liz switches tactics, changing the case from a lawsuit against the woman to a lawsuit against Chum Hum, claiming Section 230 has actually harmed the newspaper business by allowing people to publish anything online without any editorial oversight, something that would not happen with a newspaper. The argument — and it seems to be a valid one — is that Section 230 inordinately protects social media sites like Facebook while a website like Gawker was sued out of existence.
What makes Liz’s case more interesting is that the change of the lawsuit to challenge Section 230 is being funded by David Cord (Stephen Lang), someone Liz is familiar with — he hated her father, and vice versa — but he’s chosen Reddick-Lockhart to fight this case, infusing them with $12 million to go after Section 230. The question is why? He’s very shady about his motives, and when the judge ultimately rules that Section 230 is in fact constitutional, Cord hands Liz a file full of other case she can use to file an appeal.
Liz has other issues on her hands though as Carmen Moyo seems to have a new client, someone no one in the firm wants them to handle (a rapist). Carmen did not seek him out, but it seems the man was in prison alongside Oscar Rivi and that’s how her name came up. Liz is flummoxed that this new associate who’s only been with the firm for two weeks suddenly has two high profile clients, but this new guy is a major issue. While the Board was arguing about the client, David Lee just appeared out of nowhere to assure them that STR Laurie is fully behind the decision to represent this man and Carmen Moyo will be his lawyer. Lee also informs them that he is now their Gavin Firth, taking over for him as the face of STR Laurie. Liz and Diane aren’t thrilled that their nemesis is now their boss, but the bigger question is has he had their offices bugged? Diane suggests having Jay do a sweep of their offices at night so Lee doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Meanwhile, Marissa has found herself frustrated with sorting receipts and is enjoying what Judge Wackner is doing at Court 9 3/4. And Wackner is increasingly fond of Marissa and her legal opinions, asking her to be his law clerk. She knows this will conflict with her education and job at Reddick-Lockhart, but she agrees to give him a couple of hours a day to help out and bounce opinions off of. But her help with someone who is opening a Build-a-Bear franchise resulted in the office lobby being flooded with teddy bears, including one that was made as a Marissa Bear. Diane flipped out and told Marissa that she absolutely could not be involved with Wackner’s Copy Coop Court because of the issues it could open up for their firm. Marissa agrees and tells Wackner that she really can’t work for him, but after spending hours and hours sorting receipts only to be told she can stop because the case changed, she had second thoughts about turning Wackner down. And desperately wanting Marissa to continue working for him, Wackner went to Diane to hire the firm to help him build his court, giving her a heartfelt appeal about what he’s doing can actually help people who can’t afford to get tangled up in the real legal system. And it works. Diane agrees to draw up a retainer and takes him on as a client.
Another terrific episode — and we even got the return of the Season 1 animated ‘Good Fight Short’ explaining what Section 230 is — with so much going on but extremely well-balanced so that it was never overwhelming. I have to say it again: Where is the Emmy love for this show?!
What did you think of this episode? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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