"On Tap" is the eighth episode of Season 2 as well as the 31st episode of The Good Wife. It was written by Robert King, Michelle King & Leonard Dick, and directed by Roxann Dawson.
Summary[]
Alicia Florrick discovers new information about Eli Gold and Will Gardner's feelings while listening to wiretap recordings for a case about a corrupt alderman, and Zach Florrick hurts his dad's campaign by producing and releasing a video about Glenn Childs, Jr.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
- Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos
- Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma
- Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick
- Mackenzie Vega as Grace Florrick
- Josh Charles as Will Gardner
- Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart
- Alan Cumming as Eli Gold
Recurring Cast[]
- Scott Porter as Blake Calamar
- Elizabeth Reaser as Tammy Linnata
- Michael Boatman as Julius Caine
- Dreama Walker as Becca
- Mike Colter as Lemond Bishop
- Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick
- Rachel Hilson as Nisa del Mar
- Ryan McGinnis as Glenn Childs, Jr.
- Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh
- Lana Delaney as Jill Flint
- Tim Guinee as Andrew Wiley
- Skipp Sudduth as Jim Moody
- Reiko Aylesworth as Nora Vashey
- Ana Gasteyer as Judy Patrice Lessner
- Remy Auberjonois as Martin Parillo
- Mykelti Williamson as Matthew Wade
- Seth Fisher as Jon-Erik Shapiro
Plot[]
Will is representing an old friend and Chicago Alderman, Matthew Wade against corruption charges. Will believes Wade is being unfairly targeted because he is Muslim African-American representing a poor neighborhood. However, the charges become more serious when the government links the case to terrorism saying the $50,000 donation came from an organization of "Muslim extremists". The day after Wade received the donation, he began to support the building of an unpopular Mosque in his district. Diane Lockhart takes over the case saying to the team at Lockhart/Gardner "The government was embarrassed by the Blagojevich fiasco and are gunning for any Chicago politician they can find."
The government's case is based on 135 hours of wire tapes from Matthew Wade's phone. Working under the direction of Julius Cain, Alicia listens to the tapes and realizes that some of the recordings are from Eli Gold's phone. She informs Diane and Julius of the tap, who respond by asking her not to tell Eli.
Whilst investigating the charges against Wade, Kalinda Sharma connects the $50,000 donation to a gas station owned by Lemond Bishop. Looking at gang territory maps she realizes that Bishop's area doubled from the previous year. She concludes that the payoff was not about building the Mosque but about demolishing the headquarters of Bishop's rivals.
Alicia saves the day when she hears a fictional member of the Obama Administration, Ruth Yamaguchi on the tapes. In court, Diane requests to subpoena Yamaguchi and the prosecution quickly drops the case against Wade for fear of connecting the Obama administration to Muslim extremists.
On the tapes Alicia also hears Will confiding to Wade about the voicemails Will left for her while she was at Peter's press conference. The tape cuts out parts of the conversation due to a legally required personal information exception but its clear that Will must have said something to her that she never heard.
Zach Florrick and his ex girlfriend Becca create and release a video mocking Glenn Childs, Jr.. Later while Zach is on a study date with Nisa, in front of the same restaurant, Glenn Jr. confronts Becca and Zach comes to her defense, getting in a fist fight. Upset over the video, the Child's campaign tells Eli that they will no longer keep the children out of the campaign. Zach and Nisa see an amateur video of Grace Florrick defending her father for "only sleeping with one hooker" set to music.