LOCKHART/GARDNER

Diane cutely checks the time and goes scooting down the hallway to be with Will as the clock strikes midnight. They clink glasses of champagne, and she welcomes him back to the world.

A few seconds after midnight, Alicia arrives with a bottle of Veuve of her own, and sees them through the window. Mom and dad, together again. She puts down her bottle, softly, and sneaks away again into the night. This isn't about her. It never really was.

NEXT WEEK

Tune in at a random but definitely late hour, as Will flies too close to the sun on his first case back, millionaire PGOAT Maura Tierney involves herself in the Florrick equation, Alicia pulls some more PR rabbits out of her charisma hat, and Kalinda finds Nick sitting in her chair.

JACOB CLIFTON is a freelance writer and critic based in Austin, Texas. He currently recaps Gossip Girl, The Good Wife and Homeland for TWoP. Jacob can be found online at jacobclifton.com, on Twitter, and on Facebook. IRL work appears in BenBella's SmartPop series of anthologies, his novel The Urges, and a novelette, "The Commonplace Book," appeared this month on Tor.com.