This week on The Good Wife, Alicia has to get a woman to confess she had an affair so she she can reveal information pertaining to a horrific train crash in which a trio of women lost their husbands. As if that wasn’t enough, Alicia goes to to toe with her mother-in-law and Diane has Kalinda look into a potential partner for the firm.

Alicia and Will are working on a case against a freight train company.  They represent the widows of three dead engineers who were worked over 18 hours a day and derailed the train.  The company is claiming that the train was going too fast and it was the engineers’ fault.  After finding a document that excluded information, they decide to take it to court where the judge gives them three days to get the information they need.

Will and Alicia both score points in their depositions, tripping up Mrs.

Conley and Mr. Merriman.  Mrs. Conley comes after hours and tells them unofficially to look at Newbury Heights.  It turns out there was a derailment a year or so back because they upgraded some equipment, but not others, making the train go too fast but not alerting the engineers.  Alicia finds Mrs. Conley knew that information because she and the technology manager, Mr. Eldredge, were having an affair and he told her.  During Mr. Eldredge’s deposition, the freight company’s lawyer, Patti, feigns pregnancy pains when it becomes clear that they’re losing.

Mrs. Sarah Conley begs Alicia not to make her testify because it’ll hurt her family like Alicia’s family was hurt.  After talking to her daughter, Grace, Alicia realizes she has to do her job.  She puts Sarah on the stand and, while she does try to avoid her having to admit the affair, ultimately Sarah has to.  Alicia is really torn up by what she has to do, especially when she sees Sarah crying alone on a bench outside the court room.  The freight company decides to settle and the widows get what they’re owed.

During the crash lawsuit, Kalinda is sent by Diane to look into a Mr. Overby, who may be coming to the firm.  Kalinda does a thorough search and finds Mr. Overby and Diane are involved romantically.  After Mr. Overby is smarmy to Kalinda, she reports to Diane that he’s “nonexclusive.”

In a turn of events that makes me want to reach through the television and throttle a character, Jackie, the mother-in-law, takes the kids to see their father in jail even after Alicia tells her no.  In a stunning performance by Julianna Marguiles, Alicia tells Jackie that she can either respect her as a mother or leave.

What a charged episode!  So many emotions fly at you from the screen, it was hard to duck them all (see the above throttling comment).  There was no indication of what’s in store next week, so we’ll just have to wait with baited breath!