Alicia and Cary take on a copyright case; Eli presses Marilyn for the identity of her baby’s father.
Recap:
We get to relive the lovely moment where Eli spits out his wine after learning that Marilyn plans to name her son Peter. She claims she’s naming him after the father, not Peter Florrick, another Peter that needs his privacy.
Alicia approaches the two, and Eli is having trouble diffusing the obvious tension.
The band working the party approaches Alicia with a case. A Glee-like TV show, Drama Camp, recently covered a Rebel Kane song, “Thicky Trick.” But the show’s cover sounds exactly the same as the band’s cover, except they’re not making a profit. Alicia and Cary aren’t sure they want to take the case until they learn that the song is a hit and they could take a percentage of the earnings.
Burl Preston is representing the network for Drama Camp and looks for Alicia in her old office. While he searches, Diane and Co. hold a quorum to determine whether new clients should be solicited. Will loses this debate and seeks out Burl Preston anyway. He wants to help him beat Alicia.
Eli heads to Kalinda to help find the father of Marilyn’s baby.
The band’s manager isn’t the brightest. He purchased the compulsory license, but not the derivative rights, because it was cheaper that way.
So Alicia and Cary set out to purchase the derivative copyright from Rebel Kane. He’s unusually agreeable and sells the boys the copyright for $5.
But nothing is ever that simple. The network, represented by Burl Preston and Will Gardner, are now suing the duo for $800,000.
Damian wants to know why Kalinda is following him and is worried that she’ll find out some sordid information, though he won’t let on about that info just yet.
On the first day in court, Alicia begins to question Mr. Canton (Matthew Lillard) about when he wrote the melody to the song. Will interrupts and objects at every possible moment, simply to throw Alicia off her game.
Cary encourages Alicia to use the same tactic against Will, and she does so with a simple change of clothes.
While Will questions the creator of Drama Camp about his inspiration for creating the new melody for “Thicky Trick,” his thought process is deeply interrupted with memories of his and Alicia’s first night together.
Kalinda follows Marilyn to the OB-GYN, but is interrupted by Jenna. Kalinda doesn’t take too well to Jenna’s interference with her work, but an apology and dinner will surely make up for it.
Back in court, Will questions Mr. Canton and determines that he was on the lot of Drama Camp before he came up with the melody for “Thicky Trick.” Judge Marx halts the proceedings to determine that, yes, the creator of Drama Camp did steal the work, but as it was unauthorized, the band stands to gain nothing from it and Preston’s suit can still go forward.
After dinner, Kalinda searches for clues as to the whereabouts of the other Peter, with Jenna by her bedside. She finds photos from a reunion, one of Marilyn with a Peter. Jenna receives a call, presumably from Damian, upsetting Kalinda.
Now Alicia and Cary are claiming that the band satirized the rap song, and a work of satire would automatically be protected.
Will attempts to draw the quorum together again by threatening some of the new partners, but Diane sees right through it and disassembles it quickly.
It turns out Peter from the reunion is married and didn’t hook up with Marilyn at the reunion. He says she was called to work at the Sheraton in Springfield. Guess where Peter, the governor, was that night?
The defense and the prosecution put two opposing musicologists on the stand, and they accomplish nothing really.
Rebel Kane is next on the stand, and he does little to help matters; he says his song is already satirical.
Kalinda went to the Sheraton looking for security footage from the night of September 7th, and sure enough, that disc is missing.
Alicia sets Robin up to look for any forums that agree that the band’s version of the song is satirical.
Eli tries once more to get Marilyn to cop to the identification of the father, but she’s sticking to her guns.
While checking the forums, Robin reads a comment that points out the bowling pins heard in the clip played on Drama Club.
After the quorum debacle, Diane heads to Will’s office for a pep talk. She’s worried about how Alicia’s departure is affecting Will. He’s not thinking clearly.
Anne Stevens of The Tribune phones Eli, asking for a comment on some video footage she’s just received.
Robin plays back the tunes for everyone to hear, and there it is: the bowling pins. The band recorded the song in a bowling alley, and Drama Camp sold that version on Swedish iTunes before cleaning it up.
Kalinda wants to cool things off with Jenna because she’s not so happy with her need to share things with Damian.
Eli comes in to watch the video, and it’s not hotel footage; it’s evidence of Peter buying the election. A few moments later, Marilyn decides to bring the real Peter to light: it’s Peter Bogdanavich! That matters little now.
Review:
Ah, the guest stars. Matthew Lillard is phenomenal, and I nearly choked when finding out the answer to the baby daddy drama!
I missed the later episodes of last season and have to catch up on this buying-votes fiasco, but it sounds wonderfully juicy!
– Lindsay
