1. Florrick, Agos & Associates and Lockhart/Gardner are being jointly sued for $6 million by a woman who lost a baby in a botched adoption case. The baby was half Chippewa Indian, and tribal law made the process tricky. Also, David Lee (Zach Grenier) might have bribed the council. (MIGHT HAVE.) Lockhart/Gardner was hired to facilitate the adoption but Alicia (Julianna Margulies) — who is no longer at Lockhart/Gardner — was the associate working on the day-to-day operations of the case, so there is a dispute over who should actually be liable.
2. It's also very hectic because all three parties are conferencing into the meeting over video chat and they're all talking over one another.
3. When the meeting ends, David turns off the camera at the Lockhart/Gardner offices but accidentally leaves the audio on.
4. Other Carey (Ben Rappaport) is watching the whole sneaky mission at Lockhart/Gardner unfold in the conference room via the running camera. That is, until Clarke (Nathan Lane) notices and tries to do the ethical thing and tell Lockhart/Gardner that they can hear everything they're saying. But Other Carey and Clarke get into a fight over it. Literally, like children, they try pulling the controller away from each other.
5. Alicia is throwing a graduation party for Zach (Graham Phillips), who is leaving for Georgetown University the next day! She tries to leave work to pick up the lasagna and cake for dinner but keeps getting stuck so she calls her mom, Veronica (Stockard Channing), to help...and ends up convincing Alicia that she should be allowed to cook the meal.
6. Meanwhile, at Lockhart/Gardner, David and Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) have teamed up to push Diane (Christine Baranski) out of the firm. But Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) is working for Diane and trying to help her sway votes. Ironically, the only undecided partner is oldie-but-not-goodie Howard Lyman (Jerry Adler).
7. Eli (Alan Cumming) has found out that State's Attorney Castro (Michael Cerveris) has damning evidence against Finn (Matthew Goode) that he can and will use to destroy his campaign for state's attorney. So Eli tries to get Alicia to convince Finn to drop out of the race. It turns out that, many years ago, Finn bribed a prosecutor to drop drug charges against his sister. Technically, he cut a deal to lessen charges on a different case, but that's still a bribe. Finn really is a good guy — his sister was a drug addict and he and his family just desperately wanted to take care of her. But whether Alicia likes it or not, Peter (Chris Noth) is withdrawing his support for Finn.
8. And then Veronica calls Jackie (Mary Beth Peil) to help with the food and she decides to make a cake. Oh, Jackie.
9. Cary (Matt Czuchry), Alicia, Other Carey, and Clarke argue over whether to tell Lockhart/Gardner that their camera is still on. They pull up some legal rules on their phones because textbooks are a thing of the past.
10. Alicia tries to tell David and Louis they left their camera on but they don't hear her. Instead, she hears them talking about destroying Florrick, Agos & Associates in the next 48 hours with an unnamed wife of a client.
11. Everyone at Florrick, Agos & Associates screams. Robyn (Jess Weixler) proves she can whistle really loudly. The team decides David and Louis are going to try to disbar Alicia and steal her clients.
12. Veronica and Jackie take over Alicia's kitchen. This will not end well.
13. Clarke tells Cary that Florrick, Agos & Associates listening to Lockhart/Gardner is just like when the NSA listened to their phones. Always the honest one, that Clarke.
14. Peter and Eli talk in Peter's office about who can replace Finn as Peter's endorsement for state's attorney. They come up with Diane Lockhart.
15. Diane, Kalinda, and Julius (Michael Boatman) try to find out what Howard wants in exchange for a vote in their favor. He tells them he wants to cross-examine a witness. (Maybe he should have asked for an office with a lock on the door for when he takes his midday naps?)
16. Peter calls Diane to ask for a meeting. Diane thinks she's being asked to join a committee, but Kalinda thinks they're reconsidering her for the Supreme Court seat she was completely screwed out of months prior.
17. Florrick, Agos & Associates scan through documents to try to find something. Other Carey and Robyn try to convince Alicia to be deposed at Lockhart/Gardner so they can hear what their game plan is afterwards.
18. Howard cross-examines Alicia and it's an utter disaster. I mean, no wonder this guy hasn't done it once in 55 years as a lawyer.
19. Afterward, Alicia tries to question David, Louis, and Diane in the conference room. Louis suggests they go into his office, and Alicia tries to think up reasons why they need to stay in the conference room so that her colleagues can overhear the conversation. Louis thinks it's because Alicia can't go back into the office that Will (Josh Charles) once occupied and Louis now uses. Alicia plays along.
20. Alicia asks about documents left out of discovery in the adoption case and purposefully stands right under the camera on the television so they can be heard loud and clear.
21. Cary sees someone walking by the conference room and realizes the threat has nothing to do with a disbarment or the current case. Rather, Lockhart/Gardner has Deena Chumhum ("Mrs. ChumHum") and is going to steal their biggest client.
22. Veronica tells Jackie about Alicia and Peter's new marriage agreement. Jackie doesn't like it, obviously.
23. Cary, Alicia, Other Carey, and Robyn strategize how to save their ChumHum account and Peter calls Alicia to ask where to find the casserole dish in the kitchen.
24. Florrick, Agos & Associates hear Diane, Julius, and Kalinda talking about a merger with the two firms. They also hear Diane asking Kalinda to take advantage of her relationship with Cary to convince him to cooperate. And then Cary gets a call from Kalinda. He's not happy.
25. Cary and Alicia have a tense conversation on the Chicago streets among the honking trucks about merging. Alicia is in favor of it; Cary isn't. Alicia says they need to take the decision to a vote.
26. Cary has Other Carey quietly get a vote count.
27. Diane and Kalinda meet with Peter and Eli. Peter asks Diane to run for state's attorney. She's not into it. And not at all offended that she was a clear second choice, and really only asked because she's been pre-vetted.
28. But Diane considers Peter's offer and asks Kalinda to look into it. She also suggests quitting and moving to New Zealand.
29. Cary and Kalinda have an intense scene in bed. Those under-the-sheet shots...
30. Other Carey calls Cary to tell him Alicia is up by two votes at the firm.
31. Cary meets with Louis on a bridge along the river. Cary tells him Diane is trying to secretly merge with his firm. And that he should make moves.
32. Zach gets dressed up in his cap and gown and talks with Veronica about leaving home right after graduation. Jackie is in the kitchen, drunk and burning the cake.
33. Cary, Alicia, Other Carey, and Robyn hear Louis telling David that Cary told Louis about the secret merger. A shitstorm breaks out between Alicia and Cary. "This is a betrayal!" Alicia screams dramatically.
34. And then Finn calls Alicia to tell her he's dropping out of the race.
35. Diane and Louis have a whiskey together. And then, after they've had a civilized 20 seconds together, Louis tells Diane if he doesn't get the partnership, he'll dissolve the firm.
36. Diane shows a moment of weakness in the freezing Chicago air. Kalinda tells Diane to run for state's attorney, and Diane says she doesn't have the fight without Will. Kalinda tells her she's here for her. And all of a sudden, Diane knows what she wants to do next.
37. Diane meets with all of Florrick, Agos & Associates in a late-night, last-minute meeting. It's very scandalous! Diane proposes that she leave Lockhart/Gardner and join Florrick, Agos & Associates, taking all of her clients with her and her $38 million per year in billing.
38. Eli gets a call from Diane while he's at Zach's graduation dinner telling him she's not going to run.
39. Alicia runs into the school gymnasium just as Zach is crossing the stage to receive his diploma. She gets a little teary-eyed. Her baby (and go-to computer technician) is all grown up and leaving home.
40. Zach and Alicia hug in his bedroom and he tells her he's leaving that night rather than in the morning. They kiss and he walks out the door, leaving all his boxes behind. Doesn't he need those? Bye, Zach!
41. Alicia sits down at the table with Eli and starts drinking red wine. Eli looks at her oddly for a moment and then asks her if she'd be interested in running for state's attorney. And everyone in the world had the same response as Alicia:
