Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) suspects foul play when a top tennis star drops dead on the court in Thursday’s episode of “The Good Wife” spinoff.
She immediately zeroes in competitive tennis coach Cliff McGrath (guest star Blair Underwood), whose son is a rising star in the game. She also finds time to try out a few balance balls, until an irritated Cliff asks her to stop.
“That’s so interesting. You’re his father and his coach. That must get tricky,” says Elsbeth as she bounces on one of the balls, until she slides right off.
“Maybe you shouldn’t touch the equipment,” he tells her. When she asks if he was a better player than his son back in the day, he says he was “a complete mediocrity” but son Hunter “has the potential to go all the way.”
She’s also getting on the nerves of Detective Smullen (Danny Mastrogiorgio), who tells Cliff to ignore her questions. “She’s just a lawyer. They got her tagging along and observing us. At least, she’s supposed to be observing,” he says with a sidelong glance as the smile fades from Elsbeth’ face.
Captain Wagner (Wendell Pierce) is also skeptical when Elsbeth floats the theory that the tennis star was poisoned, possibly during the game itself. And he’s beginning to suspect Elsbeth’s real reason for being in New York.
“The Good Wife” spin-off costars Carra Patterson as Officer Kaya Blanke and Fredric Lehne as Lt. Dave Noonan and Gloria Reuben as Claudia, Captain Wagner’s wife. Guest stars include Stephen Moyer, Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Retta.
New episodes of “Elsbeth” air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and are available to stream live and on-demand for subscribers of live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers. Paramount+ Essential subscribers can view the episode the day after it debuts.
