Last night’s episode of The Good Wife started off with a bang. Alicia’s husband, Peter, who has just returned from jail to live with his family (while hooked up to electronic monitoring) looks in his wife’s bedside table for a letter opener. Instead, he finds a strip of condoms.

Peter looks a little concerned, but goes back into the kitchen to continue working with his team of lawyers on how to handle his upcoming retrial. He later goes back into the bedroom to puzzle over those condoms some more. After all, he’s been away a long time, having been jailed for corruption and involved in a very public sex scandal.

His suspicious mind isn’t helped by the tweets of an anonymous Twitter user, upriser7. The upriser seems to know a lot about the Florricks’ situation, from the fact that they’re sleeping in two different bedrooms to the gossip that “St. Alicia” is not only sleeping with her boss, Will, but she’s using him to get promoted.

Of course, Alicia is most definitely not sleeping with Will (yet?) but Peter doesn’t know that.

That night, Peter doesn’t confront Alicia with the condom questions right away; instead, they talk about the fact that the tweets are coming from their house and from their children’s school. Creepy. Given the fact that the kids have hidden some secrets from their mother in the past few months, Alicia and Peter feel they need to ask their offspring if they could be the upriser. After all, it has been a trying time for both of them with their dad in jail and their mom working all hours.

They agree to talk to the kids the next day, then Will calls (remember, it’s late at night) and asks Alicia to come back in to work. It’s legit, but Peter doesn’t know that.

Peter decides to ask about Alicia about the condoms. He goes through a variety of scenarios he considered as to why she might have them (that aren’t related to her using them). He concluded that they couldn’t be hers because she has an iud.

“I had it removed,” she stated, neither confirming nor denying her condom usage or ownership.

But she did pour out her purse as if to say, “I have none in here!” Peter responds by saying he’ll never touch another woman, since he knows he really has no moral high ground to stand on.

Alicia says “trust me”. Then Peter asks her not to go to work (I suppose he thinks Will was making a booty call). Alicia responds by defiantly grabbing the condoms, saying “Trust me” and walking out the door.

When Alicia confronts the kids the next day about whether they tweeted or not, Grace denies being upriser7 and Zach gets all defensive. Grace proclaims that it must be him since he and Becca (his girlfriend, of sorts) talk that way “all the time”.

Ahhh. So it’s Becca, the high school girl who’s sleazy and seems to be toying with Zach. Mr. Gold, who’s on Peter’s legal team, goes to the high school to have a chat with Becca. He lets her know he knows about the tweets and warns her against typing anything else about the Florricks. As Becca sees a police car cruise by on campus, she screams loudly for “help”, hoping to get Mr. Gold into trouble. But the policeman knows Mr. Gold and Becca admits she’s not in any danger.

To underscore his earlier warning, Mr. Gold tells Becca, “If you tweet, I will know you tweeted. Have you seen Drag Me to Hell? It will be just like that.”

Next we see Becca, she’s seducing Zach outside his apartment door. Judging from the comments, they’re considering having sex. Zach tells her to hang on, runs into the apartment and looks through his mom’s bedside table. No condoms to be found. He leaves with Becca anyway and we’re left with the feeling that not having protection won’t stop them. Yikes.

As always, there was an exciting case going on throughout the show — not just Alicia’s personal woes. One of the threads is how the law firm where Alicia works is really low on funds and could fold. At the end, partners Will and Diane decide the firm will have to seek a third partner to help keep it afloat.

Previews from next week indicate that Peter finds religion and Alicia finds her lips on Will’s. We shall see on Tuesday.

Oh, it’s a classic, cliche story about a stripper with a heart of gold. But what happens when said stripper moves to Wisteria Lane and rubs elbows with the Desperate Housewives? Well, if you missed Sunday’s episode, we’ll catch you up on what happened:

Lynette and the Stripper: All the ladies of Wisteria Lane were a little miffed that Susan let a stripper move in with her. But Lynette was especially concerned because she still has a teenage boy at home. Lynette caught her son, Parker, and his friends peering out the window with binoculars. When she took a look for herself, she realized they were watching Robin, the stripper, take a shower through a partially open window. Lynette marched over to Susan’s house to warn Robin to close the blinds, since there are “innocent children” in the neighborhood. But Robin broke the news to Lynette that her teenage son isn’t so innocent and actually propositioned her for sex and offered to pay cash for it. (She turned him down.)

Shocked and horrified, Lynette and Tom sat down with Parker who explained himself by saying that he is the only one of his friends who hasn’t had sex and that he feels like it’s never going to happen. They assured him that one day, years from now when he’s emotionally ready, it would happen and he wouldn’t need to pay for it. After their son left the room, Tom asked Lynette if she thought Parker believe him, since the truth is that guys always pay for sex in one way or another. (Tom had just bought Lynette an antique ring for an anniversary gift.) Lynette was furious at the implication and called off her intimate “anniversary gift” for Tom later that night until he apologized for what he said.

Gabi and the Stripper: Robin, Gabi and Susan were talking one day and Gabi heard the story of how Robin ended up as a stripper. Once a promising ballerina, she turned down an opportunity to dance professionally because she’d fallen in love with a boy. But the boy dumped her, she had a knee accident and couldn’t dance ballet anymore. Long story short… she ended up taking her clothes off for money. So Gabi asked her to share her story with Ana, her niece, to convince her not to pass up a modeling opportunity in New York.

The stripper’s sad tale worked on Ana, who decided to leave for New York immediately to take the modeling job, even though it meant saying goodbye to boyfriend Danny (which is exactly what Gabi and Carlos wanted to have happen.) Gabi even helped Ana go out and buy new pink luggage for her trip. When Robin found out she’d been used to manipulate a break-up of the teenage couple, she told Danny what happened and he left in a taxi with an overnight bag, probably headed to New York.

Bree and the Stripper: Robin wanted to bake a cake for Susan and Mike, to say thank you for all their help and hospitality. She asked Bree for help, and the two women ended up bonding over baked goods. Bree told Robin that her marriage was a little shaky, and Robin offered a little professional insight on how to re-establish intimacy with a man. She quoted her grandmother by saying “If you want to save your marriage, there’s only one room to do it in.”

So Bree tried to take the advice and perform a little striptease and lap dance for Orson. But she got her earring stuck in her sweater while trying to take it off over her head. Orson tried to help but ran over her toe with his wheelchair which made her fall down. It was disastrous (and pretty funny, too). But it did finally get the two of them talking about being close again, and they had a sweet moment at the end of the scene with Bree sitting in his lap while they listened to music.

Susan and the Stripper: Things were going just fine with Mike, Susan and the Stripper — until Mike hurt his back. Robin offered to help because she had experience helping her fellow strippers who often had back pain after sliding down the pole too many times. She cracked Mike back a few times and stretched and pulled and even walked on his back while wearing some skimpy work-out clothes. Susan tried to be cool about it, but she finally couldn’t take it anymore. She tried to fix Mike’s back herself and ended up putting him in the hospital. She told Robin that, given her history as a stripper, it made her too nervous to see her straddling her husband that way. So Robin offered to move out because she didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship.

Katherine and the Stripper: Robin didn’t have to move very far away, as it turned out. She asked if she could rent a room from Katherine across the street, and Katherine said yes. The ladies went out for a drink and were approached by a couple of guys who wanted them to sit at their table. Katherine wanted to go sit with them, since it had been a long time since anyone had flirted with her. But once they got to the table, it was abundantly clear the guys were mostly interested in ogling Robin’s blonde hair and big chest. So Robin suggested to Katherine that they go home and she agreed. The guys made it clear they wanted Robin (and only Robin) to stay. Robin took offense for Katherine and told the guys that Katherine was the witty, smart beautiful one and then leaned over and kissed her — a move that surprised the guys and really shocked Katherine.

Later at home, they laughed about the guys’ reaction and Katherine complained about her lack of dating life. Robin suggested she “widen the net” and date girls. (Yep, apparently Robin is a lesbian.) Katherine said she didn’t think that was a good idea for her. But we could all tell, especially at the end of the episode, that Katherine is thinking about that kiss quite a bit. It all reeks of “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It,” by Katy Perry. Perhaps Katherine is considering some alternatives.

What did you guys think of this episode? There were quite a few controversial angles in it, from the sex talk with the teenage son, the conversation between Lynette and Tom about how guys always “pay for it” in one way or another, the idea of “saving a marriage” with sex, and the surprising kiss between Katherine and Robin. Feel free to post your comments below.

The Good Wife was back in business last night.

In the last episode (before the Olympics), Peter had just arrived from jail to the apartment that Alicia shares with their kids. Last night, he made it into the house and was fitted with a stylish new electronic monitoring device for his ankle. An officer also gave him the specifics about what he can and can’t do while being monitored at home. Awkward with Alicia and his teenagers looking on.

After dinner and his favorite upside down cake, Peter came into the kitchen while Alicia was finishing up the dishes (I think that after all those months of going it alone, he should have been cleanin’ the kitchen, but I digress). He started to make small talk, noting, “It’s weird, huh? You’re going to work and I’m staying home.”

Alicia exited fairly quickly lest he try getting too close, saying, “It’s good to have you home.”

After kissing him chastely on the cheek, she fled to her room. Where he’s not sleeping. Yet. Ever?

The next day, Alicia went to work at the law firm, defending a man accused of murder, while Peter watched reality television and began to go stir crazy. After the kids came home from school, their son Zach showed him the pictures he and his sister had intercepted from outside the apartment door and never showed Alicia. Zach also showed his dad the video he had secretly shot of a man hanging around outside the apartment while Peter was in jail.

Peter called in his legal team to discuss retrial strategy. He insisted that they hire a man named Eli Gold to assist. Eli took one look at a still shot from the video and pronounced that the FBI is investigating Peter and they need to find out why. New twist.

Meanwhile, Will called Alicia off a case and explained that he did so because Peter was home and he thought she might want a break. She said she didn’t want any time off and that she wanted to be at the firm, working. “Peter can take care of himself,” she said.

There was a little bit of sexual tension working during that scene. Not sure where they’re going with that story line, but they keep bringing up the fact that Alicia and Will knew each other from law school and there could have been some “unrequited” love in there somewhere.

Speaking of love, Diane and a ballistics expert were flirting back and forth a little on the show. I find myself rooting for them to hook up. Diane seems a little lonely at times.

Let’s see, what else… well, Peter told Alicia about the kids intercepting the photos and she was understandably ticked. He reassured her that they were only trying to protect her and suggested firmly that she sleep on it and talk to them the next day.

Next week’s teaser indicated that Alicia will make some headlines of her own and that Peter is jealous about something. He asks her not to go to work that night and she walks out.

Interesting.

Usually, I don’t like it when shows do “flashback” episodes. Typically, these kinds of episodes are full of footage you’ve already seen, and it’s obvious the writers just needed a break that week. But this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy did not “phone it in.” This flashback episode showed us what the main characters were like years ago as well as what specific cases, patients and colleagues helped shape who they are today. If you missed it or your DVR is on the fritz, here’s what happened:

Hard-charging Dr. Miranda Bailey, aka “The Nazi,” used to be a sweet little timid intern named Mandy with purple glasses and LONG braids. While working on a difficult case, she learned from sheer necessity to take up for herself. She had a little help from Chief Weber, too, who warned her that surgery is like a shark tank and she can’t be a minnow and expect to survive. So that minnow-like intern named Mandy defended herself and her patient and stood up to her bully resident, thus beginning her journey as the Dr. Bailey we all love today.

By the way, Dr. Bailey is totally crushing on the cute anesthesiologist, and he’s flirting with her, too! I’m so glad she is finally getting a little luck in the love department.

Dr. Callie Torres reflected on one of her defining moments in medicine when she helped a severely deformed man walk again by basically rebuilding his legs in a series of complex surgeries. Alex Korev was her intern on the case, and he had a major role in it, too. Callie’s flashback was funny because it showed us how freaked out she gets by public speaking, and we can ALL relate to how that feels. (She had to explain the case in front of a room full of doctors. She was so nervous that she was puking the morning before her presentation.)

In a surprise visit, Chief Weber was back at Seattle Grace. He has been in rehab and has been sober for 45 days now. He came back to the hospital hoping to get his job back because he was promised it would be there for him once he completed rehab. Derek said the board would have to approve the decision and it might take them a couple of months to be convinced that the Chief is ready to lead again. Derek offered him a job as an attending general surgeon and also asked him to give a lecture to the surgeons about one of his most memorable cases.

Surprising everyone, he did show up to give his lecture. He told about a case that he worked on with Dr. Ellis Gray, Meredith’s late mother and his former lover. The flashback showed how the two worked together to help diagnose one of the first cases of AIDS in Washington state. The two of them bonded with the AIDS patient, who was feeling the full-force of the discrimination and fear that people felt about this disease when it was first discovered in the 1980’s.

One of the flashback scenes that bothered me most was when Ellis Gray’s husband, Thatcher, brought their little girl, Meredith, to the hospital for a visit because she missed her mommy. Meredith looked to be about 3-years-old or so. Her mom brushed her off quickly and left with Dr. Weber as Meredith cried for her not to go. Heartbreaking.

The flashback also showed us how Chief Weber began to become an alcoholic. He warned the doctors not to “lose their way” as they went through their lives and careers and to remember the oath they took when they first became doctors. His speech was emotionally stirring, and the doctors stood to applaud him. Maybe there is hope for Chief Weber, after all.

What did you guys think of the flashback episode? Liked it? Hated it? Click the word “comment” below to post any thoughts.