When do we cross the line?

Is it when we mix business and pleasure? When we overstep our authority? When the lines between professional and personal become blurred?

All these questions were asked on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 5, as the series stepped away from Memo 618 for the most part and focused on the interpersonal relationships.

Liz and Caleb, for once, certainly found themselves asking these questions after they had to work together to defend a soldier court-martialed for sabotaging his superior officer's weapon.

Though things were initially awkward, Liz and Caleb were adult enough to get past it and focus on their work.

Liz: So why lawyering?
Caleb: I like this country. I’ve seen other places I don’t like, and I want it to stay the same. What are you thinking?
Liz: I was just thinking that I haven’t lived much of a life.
Caleb: No, no you have. I know enough to know you have.
Liz: This, this is how we got in trouble last time.
Caleb: I know, but I didn’t mind it.
Liz: Caleb, I am your…
Caleb: Superior?
Liz: Where should we go?

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Things went well enough, but the trouble came when Liz and Caleb found themselves in a similar position as on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 4 and hopped into bed again without taking the time to think about the consequences.

In the time of MeToo, any sort of inappropriate relationship will most likely find itself under extra scrutiny, even if nothing illegal ever happens.

The impropriety of such a relationship is enough for alarm bells to go off in people's minds, and given how seriously -- and sometimes to the extreme that -- HR takes these matters, as evidenced on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 3, Liz and Caleb are going to find themselves in hot water when someone learns of their affair.

They both know it's a bad idea, but that's what, in part, makes it appealing.

And while on the fence about the pairing in the first place, this installment proved the characters more than enough chemistry to go around.

It's still going to be a huge disaster in the end, but at least the burgeoning relationship won't be derailed by the lack of chemistry between the actors.

As for the actual case, it featured the return to military court, something viewers should have anticipated since the introduction of Hugh Dancy's Caleb, as the second-year associate spent five years in the service before going to law school.

As fans of The Good Wife know, the lawyers of Lockhart Gardner -- Diane's old law firm -- found themselves in military court several times throughout the first few seasons of the series.

What Major Brigham wants you to forget is that there are limits to obedience, even in the Army. Apparently, he forgot his training, but I haven’t, and I’m sure you haven’t either. The chain of command doesn’t mean you do everything your CO tells you. Every grunt learns on the first day there are commands and commanders you must disobey.

Caleb

• Permalink: The chain of command doesn’t mean you do everything your CO tells you.

Though it only happened a few times, it was a fun change of pace to see the lawyers, usually Will and Alicia, being thrown into a different legal setting.

The "fish out of water" aspect was just part of the entertainment, as it was also interesting to see the differences between civilian and military courts play out.

And while the lawyers and case were different this time around, Judge Leora Kuhn returned to help with continuity.

What was also great about the setting was that it shed some light on Caleb's backstory and fleshed out the character further.

Until now, he's been mainly the not-so-secret spy from STR Laurie who has an overall good guy quality.

This episode reinforced that Caleb is, in fact, a mostly good guy, as evidenced by his dedication to help his friend and fellow soldier. 

Viewers got to learn a little bit more about who this character was prior to becoming a lawyer, and again, everything we learned makes him more likable.

He's also a pretty kickass attorney when given the chance, so all things considered, Liz has picked a winner, if you ignore the whole boss sleeping with their subordinate thing, which you really can't.

Elsewhere, while there was very little movement on the Memo 618 front, it seems like viewers may be on the precipice of getting answers, now that Diane and Julius have teamed up.

Memo 618 represents a huge injustice that those in power don't have to follow the same rules and laws as anyone else, and as a champion of the people, Diane just can't help herself.

Diane: I think you and I should have lunch.
Julius: Why?
Diane: To trade information about Memo 618.

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For her part, though, Diane really did try to keep her promise to Kurt.

She didn't do any further investigation into Memo 618 and seemed resigned to let it go.

However, when answers seemed to be within her grasp, she just couldn't let the opportunity pass her by.

It's a good thing too because it was rather unnerving to see what an undriven and passionless Diane looks like, as the name partner was almost a former shell of herself for the majority of the episode.

It's clear that without a cause, Diane just doesn't know what to do with herself.

She spent the good first part of the episode as a zombie, only reacting when someone asked her something directly.

Even her encounter with Roisin, also known as Harvey Weinstein's lawyer from the alternate reality on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 1, barely made an impact.

Diane had just enough curiosity to approach Roisin and ask about the notebook full of dots, but otherwise, it was as if she was just going through the motions.

She probably would have found herself in that daze for much longer had Julius's ruling not been a complete 180 from his stance on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 2.

Roisin: I know people think I’m crazy. I’ve been doing it for a while now. I’m up to 987,000.
Diane: Why?
Roisin: It’s calming. I used to take notes, verbatim notes on every deposition, every meeting, trial, negotiation, and then I would go home and make notes on those notes. And then I would review those notes and make even more notes, and I was an obsessive writer. As a kid, it was my diary, and then in college, my journal, and then five years ago, I lost my notebooks in a cab. And then my hair fell out because I was so worried. But you know what happened? Nothing. Everything I ever wrote it didn’t matter. Everything everybody wrote, pointless, and that’s when I started drawing dots. I felt like I accomplished something every time I finished a book, and I’m almost up to a million. So now when I watch the news, when I see what’s going on in the world, when I realize how little impact I have, I draw dots.

• Permalink: I know people think I’m crazy. I’ve been doing it for a while now.

It was that abrupt change and confusion that sparked something in Diane, prompting her to ask Julius about pooling their information on Memo 618.

Julius's 180, though, was simply because the judge had a change of heart.

Sure, he has been struggling over what to do for several episodes, even arguing with his play counterpart, but it wasn't until someone told him to keep up the good work that he changed his tune.

Yes, the visit from the unidentified man -- the same one who visited Kurt at his office on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 4 -- had the opposite effect, as afterward, Julius went against everything those in power seemingly wanted him to do.

In fact, Julius took delight in rebelling as his face lit up like a little kid's on Christmas.

He was as chipper as could be and several pounds lighter. He even got to piss off those behind Memo 618. It ended the internal struggle with him.

It was a freeing moment for Julius, but it's unlikely to last.

While no one explicitly told him how to rule on these continuances, there was the expectation that Julius would continue doing this mysterious cabal's bidding.

Julius Play Counterpart: My god, look at yourself.
Julius: Go away. You don’t exist.
Julius Play Counterpart: You damn right. A conservative with principles. There don’t seem to be any of those around here.
Julius: Well, it’s very easy for you to stay true to your principles. You don’t live in the real world.
Julius Play Counterpart: Go ahead. Make excuses for what you’ve become.
Julius: What’s that?
Julius Play Counterpart: A bad judge. Someone slides a piece of paper with Memo 618 across your desk and you fold like origami.

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Now, that he's gone and upset the status quo, he could be facing monumental consequences, the least of which being him framed for corruption.

Viewers still have no idea of this organization's reach and power within the government, so at this point, any form of retribution, including death, could theoretically be on the table.

Lastly, Lucca's storyline involving her blossoming friendship with the fabulously wealthy Bianca continues to be one of the weaker aspects of the season.

On the whole, it feels like the writers just have no idea what to do with Lucca, something that has become increasingly clearer since Maia left the series.

Lucca told Bianca this episode that she devotes her time to being a good mother and trying to make partner. Yet, viewers haven't seen her son all season and repeatedly flying to the Caribbean for "work" doesn't feel like Lucca is trying very hard for the promotion.

While keeping a top client happy is part of the job, as Firth told Lucca on The Good Fight Season 4 Episode 4, it would feel unearned if Lucca made partner simply by just lounging around on the beach and playing poker with Bianca and her famous friends.

Though that is a plausible scenario -- where people get ahead by doing very little to actually deserve it -- in both this fictitious world and real life, it just seems false.

Part of the problem is this version of Lucca feels so foreign.

Chauffeur: You need something?
Lucca: No, it’s just hard to get used to this: the limo, driving me up to a private jet.
Chauffeur: Do it enough times, you get used to it.
Lucca: What are enough times?
Chauffeur: Five.

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She's now a very different lawyer from the one viewers met on The Good Wife Season 7.

Though characters can and do evolve, it's just hard to reconcile that version of Lucca with whom she has become, especially since only two seasons ago on The Good Fight Season 2 she was refusing to marry baby daddy Colin for the same reason.

Lucca wasn't interested in being a trophy wife of sorts, yet she seems to have no problem being a trophy friend here.

Yes, she supposedly reiterates to Bianca that she doesn't feel comfortable doing certain things, then yet she does it.

The argument could be made that Lucca is simply trying to do her job to the best of her ability and keep the client happy but walking away from the Caribbean with $1.5 million burning a hole in her pocket somewhat conflicts with that theory.

Maybe it's overcritical to judge Lucca like this -- I mean who wouldn't be tempted to keep that much money -- but again, everything about this storyline just rubs me the wrong way.

It also doesn't help that by spending time with Bianca, Lucca is isolated from the rest of the cast.

That separation only enforces the belief that The Powers That Be can't figure out where to insert Lucca into the other storylines, so they have to go and create a subpar one just to include Cush Jumbo.

Marissa: If you feel guilty get her a gift, something a rich person needs.
Lucca: What does a rich person need?
Marissa: Love.

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It's not entirely the writers' fault, as Lucca has fewer close connections to the characters on the show since Colin's and Maia's respective exits on The Good Fight Season 2 and The Good Fight Season 3.

But instead of reintegrating Lucca into the fold, they just left her out there on her own and now have to scramble to make up for it.

Whatever the reasoning for this particular story arc, the writers would be wise to re-evaluate things while production is shut down due to the novel coronavirus and find a remedy before filming resumes.

Some stray thoughts:

• Was anyone else wondering if Bianca asked her friends to let Lucca win that much money, so Lucca would be more open to partaking in costly excursions with Bianca in the future if the lawyer had some of her own money?

  It may be a leap, but it felt like Bianca wanted Lucca to have that money just so Lucca wouldn't feel as beholden to Bianca and reject some of her extravagant proposals.

• Did anyone else find it odd that Diane didn't appear in the episode until like 15 minutes in, or is that just me? I almost thought she wasn't going to appear at all this installment since it took so long for the character to appear on screen.

• In case you were worried the series had abandoned its mission to bash Trump whenever possible, you should be glad to know it'll always be a part of the show, even if episodes go by without any mention of the president's ineptitude and idiocy.

So what did you think Good Fight Fanatics?

Have Liz and Caleb crossed that line?

What will Diane and Julius's team up yield?

Have the writers run out of ideas when it comes to Lucca?

Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. If you happened to miss the latest episode, remember you can watch The Good Fight online at TV Fanatic.

Jessica Lerner was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in October 2021.