#will+gardner

We start the show by awkwardly handholding our way into a press conference with (first named characters woohoo) Alicia and Peter Florrick (and the woos die down). He's the freshly resigned state's attorney, she's a retired lawyer, meaning they are both a bit jobless, both literally and (as we'll find out through the show) figuratively. They are also married on the rocks.

Peter announces to the reporters and to us, that he denies the allegations that he has traded lighter sentences for sexual favours, which is something I would personally say too if I had traded lighter sentences for sexual favours, and damn, Alicia just looks IN THE TRENCHES the whole time, which is both understandable and a perfect introduction to her character. Her hair is done up in this proper a-woman-scorned hairstyle, she looks at least 15 years older than she is, and she disassociates her way through this entire press conference, staring passively at a loose seam on Peter's jacket, her gaze all but accusing the seam of too having offered sexual favours to her nasty piece of husband in the past.

In the hallway after the press conference, Alicia slaps Peter, which is a very significant moment on the show. Then she straightens her Hillary-Clinton-esque betrayed wife blazer, and walks on without him. And it's honestly one of the top 5 Alicia moments in the whole show.

~ TIME JUMP ~

Six months later, Alicia has a pen and a much, MUCH better hairstyle. AND A NEW JOB!! Because Peter is in jail and someone has to earn their two teenage children some money. She's sitting in an empty conference room that holds seating space for exactly six people, fully believing her first staff meeting at the new law firm is going to fit in here, and honestly, bless her soul.

She runs up to the right room, we get little peeks of the office space that looks vastly different from the one we will grow to love and call our homes from here on out, because this is a network pilot from the 00s, and THEN... history is made.

NEW CHARACTER ALERT: Name partner Will Gardner. Monologuing about billable hours and year end bonuses, while throwing a baseball around. He's silly as fuck from the very first moment. I love him more than life itself.

Next up, there's new associate Logan of Gilmore Girls fame. His name is Cary Argos, though we don't know that yet. What we do know from this single frame we get of him here, is that he's going to be very annoying for a bit.

And then... AND THEN: Name partner Diane Lockhart speaks up. Diane? She's the secret main character, and you know it from the get go. It's Alicia's show, but it's Diane's world. Her hair is tall and round, her brooches are big and various, her voice is deep and no nonsense, she's played fantastically by the great Christine Baranski. She's the love of my life. Actually.

Meeting over, and the first thing we find out: Alicia and Will have history. Seeping, tragic, star-crossed lovers history. The show is not subtle about it at all, and I love it completely for it. Will gives her a warm loving smirk, and while he is indeed the kind of guy to pass around smirks to women like it's a full time job, his Alicia Smirk is just so smitten, you know it's something special. Alicia thanks him for the job, he shrugs it off a bit, asks if she's okay with the pro bono case she's been assigned, because *ehem* perhaps someone up in the leading lines doesn't want to give Alicia bigger, more important cases compared to other associates, but they're interrupted by The Twilight Zone theme playing from Alicia's phone as her mother in law calls her, which was a fantastic pop culture reference back in 2009. Will and Alicia joke around a little, it's incredibly cute or whatever, and then Will passes Alicia over to his best friend in the whole wide world, Diane, to have her brief Alicia on the pro bono case.

Alicia and Diane chat, Diane says that Will speaks highly of her, which to me reads like Will already has formed a habit of busting into Diane's office to yell loudly about how in love he is with Alicia at this point in the canon timeline. Diane makes a bit of a face as Alicia mentions stepping away from the law for her kids and to support Peter's career, which makes sense because for the first like 10 episodes of this show, Diane is a cold-hearted catty feminist before the writers fell in love with Christine Baranski and turned Diane into a warm-hearted sarcastic feminist instead, and honestly, thank god for that.

In Diane's opulent yet unfamiliar feeling pilot episode corner office, we meet (*drumroll*) Diane's dog! Her name is Justice, because Diane is like that, I have no reference to the fact that Justice is a girl dog whatsoever except everything I know about Diane, which is first and foremost that she would not get a boy dog if it could save her life, and Justice shows up exactly one more time throughout the course of this entire show, but she quite truly is one of the core eight main characters. At least to me.

Diane talks on, spitting feminist one liners like she's a themed calendar, and mentions Alicia's "prominent baggage" before she points behind her to an awfully photoshopped picture of Christine Baranski and Hillary Clinton standing next to each other, and the best thing about this is that it's so bad and she keeps it all the way into her own spin off show, even years after Hillary herself has said in real life that she adores the show, and they surely could have arranged a photo session to replace it with a real picture of the two together, like, Hillary would have been so stoked and we all know it, but instead they commit to the bit and keep this awful photoshop around in Diane's office for all eternity, and I just think that's beautiful.

Diane quickly fills Alicia in on the bail hearing for her case that is (*dramatic drumroll*) TODAY; Alicia is stunned and intimidated by that revelation, Diane goes don't worry boo, the assistant states attorney won't argue against the release (she severely underestimates Alicia's prominent baggage, god bless her).

We meet Cary, the squirmy little other new associate. He chews Alicia's ear off for a bit and then reveals to her that they share an assistant. Alicia hates that but she's incredibly polite about it. Cary also tells her "May the best man win", because he knows something Alicia doesn't know. Which I'm sure will not turn into anything at all.

Alicia then meets the firm's private investigator: Kalinda Sharma. Kalinda is an icon. She's the baddest baddie. No one does it like her.

Kalinda used to work for Peter (and every time I rewatch this show, I sincerely hope that's a backstory they'll never expand on). She fills Alicia in on the case (someone shot man. client is ex-wife who didn't shoot man. the jury tied in the trial) and then calls Alicia old LOL?? I love these two together.

In court, we meet the ASA Matan Brody, who is very much a dick to Alicia about the Peter situation, the client, who immediately hates that Diane isn't representing her anymore, and Judge Richard Cuesta, who LOATHES Peter and in return just goes and grants Alicia's client's pre trial release, the title of America's Next Drag Superstar and a cash prize of $ 200.000 so he doesn't look biased lmao.

Intro time twelve minutes into the episode. They do that a lot and I like it a lot.

The show in the first handful of episode acts as though it's a crime show, both with the score that changes severely afterwards and flashbacks from the weekly case; I love that they drop this soon but it also makes them so ridiculous to watch, like what are we doing here, babes, this isn't CSI: Illinois.

Alicia is very cute to the client throughout the episode, which is her first step into the pipeline of the firm's on-staff "hand-holder", but she does give good advice because she's been through horrible times herself, and DON'T YOU FORGET IT. DON'T YOU FORGET THAT THIS IS A WOMAN SCORNED. Kalinda tells her that she's too emotionally invested. Alicia asks her to please say something nice to her for once. They go out for shots later this episode. I love them a lot.

Alicia goes to visit the jurors from the first trial, then lands with a cat lady who was so insistent to vote against conviction that she bullied the other five jurors into voting with her; not because she found the defence's case convincing, all because she liked Diane's vibe. Not even the client's. Just Diane. She's so real for that.

Alicia later sees Will talking to a woman and she hates it. She also hisses into her phone as her mother-in-law, Jackie, ye of Twilight Zone vibes, bodyshames Alicia's teenage daughter Grace. Alicia is really good in this episode ngl. Will and Alicia talk about the shit Cary threw Alicia's way earlier, and Will reluctantly admits to her that only one of them can stay with the firm in the long run, and the current situation with them sharing an assistant yada yada is like a trial period to see who's the better fit. I actually really liked this plot arc of their rivalry, the stakes are all over the place from the very first episode on.

Alicia visits Peter in prison, and we get the context that they're still married but in the eyes of Alicia they might as well not be at this point. Alicia doesn't let the kids visit Peter in prison, Peter tries to win her back by trying to help her with the case with all the inside infos that he has, which is a choice when you're in for like fraud and shit, and Peter tells Alicia that everything's gonna be super back to normal again soon because the authorities might return his case, and Alicia gives him a soft but semi effective death glare (she has very big brown eyes, they do make it more difficult to look at people lethally) and tells him that it's never going to go back to normal again. You tell him, sis, and you better fucking mean it.

Peter Florrick, if I see you on the streets, it's over for you. He's just the scum of the earth.

Peter does give her a nudge though that convinces Alicia to go with a new strategy for the case (tampered evidence), and Alicia and Kalinda team up again to get the security tapes from the night of the murder (Alicia gives a fed up woman a soda, Kalinda unbuttons her shirt and makes doe-eyes at the guard, they're the perfect duo fr).

At home, Alicia has to put up with Peter's mom Jackie, who is awful because he's her golden boy, and Grace says "I want her dead", Alicia says "Me too" and I say "Me three".

Back in court, things are rocky, because the entire staff of Cook County Illinois just loathes Alicia's guts because she's married to Peter. Kalinda though, the people's princess, slips Alicia a note, telling her to stay calm, and it really is super sweet. This dynamic dramatically slips out of the show's grasp in later seasons for various reasons (some fictional, some of them not), but it really is so enjoyable so long as it's good.

Everyone HATES the new defence strategy. Judge Cuesta warns Alicia that if she's being fed this stuff by Peter, she better be aware of the ethical line she's crossing (she wasn't entirely, she got the information solely by the power of one soda and Kalinda's tits, but Peter did nudge her in that direction in the first place).

Back at the firm, Diane and Will are yelling at each other, as they frequently do. They are best friends though, don't let the show fool you. Like, they basically grew up together, despite their severe age difference, they're cosmically linked, two birds of a feather, friends for ever and ever. Trust me.

In court, Alicia has a GOTCHA-moment, the true key to the US judicial system. Will and Kalinda are both there, all but cheering for her and giving her standing ovations right there in the court room. It's insanely sweet. Those are her people fr. I hope nothing bad ever happens that could take them from her. L. O. L.

That night, at the office, Will fondles his baseball again while he and Alicia talk about her case and a possible suspect. They reminisc about the old times, mock trials they lost badly together in law school, Alicia laughs for a change, the mood is light and wholesome, Will's baseball flies through the air like a white dove, symbolling that things might just turn around for her, and she honestly deserves that so much.

At Cook County, Alicia runs into the new state's attorney, Glenn Childs, who was actually also the person who leaked her husband's sex worker tape to the press? My mind just kind of blanks whenever Glenn Childs shows up on the show, it happens so much, too, in the beginning of the show. White noise voice, that man. Also, not the villain here that Alicia tries to paint him as, because the villain is quite clearly Peter. He's the one who made her collateral damage with the infidelity. Childs is a bitch, but he's not the husband who betrayed her and her children. But I do get the resentment.

Kalinda and Alicia get shots. Kalinda tells Alicia that it's a Stern/Lockhart/Gardner tradition. It's not. They take the shots. It's wonderful.

The girls also have a deep and meaningful about the Peter situation, and it's really the first time where Alicia can openly speak about her side of the story, here with Kalinda. Kind of because Kalinda is super blunt, and so Alicia feels like she can be honest, too. Because Kalinda has neither personal nor political stakes in the situation. Love love love them so much.

Also, they're re-opening the investigation, the charges against Alicia's client are withdrawn, and Will, my very bestest boy, brings Alicia a bottle of champagne to celebrate 😭😭😭

He doesn't even think that she's still going to be there when he does, he's even like a bit taken aback by the fact that she is when he waltzes in with the bottle in hand.

He also tells her that Alicia has been made his second chair on a civil case. All was well.

Until Alicia hears Peter telling her in a voice message that they're hearing his case again. The devil might get out. They play ominous music and Alicia is looking conflicted as the camera pans out. AND THAT'S THE PILOT.

Best characters in no particular order: Justice, Will and Kalinda

Best outfit from the episode: this dress Alicia wears in court and for drinks with Kalinda. Love the belt and the neckline. She ate.