The opening scene of "Double Jeopardy" initially felt like a reminder of Alicia and Cary's new places in life: Alicia triumphant after successfully defending an accused murderer, with Cary the ASA glowering from the other table and seething "He killed her, you know," at Alicia. "We don't know anything," Will reminds Alicia, but Cary's righteous belief seems to unnerve Alicia. I weirdly didn't get that the case that had just transpired was obviously going to be the focus of the episode, thinking instead that we were just being eased into the new pattern of things, with Cary on the other side of the bench. "Double Jeopardy" turned out to be one of those cases where the accused murderer who everyone thinks did it is actually an innocent, saintly man, but the episode worked anyway because of the fish-out-of-water concept where the case is retried in military court.
Last season's episode "Fleas" featured Will trying a case in Federal court and highlighted the differences between that and his normal city courtroom scene, but putting him and Alicia in military court really amped up the farcical aspect of it all. There was much saluting, a stern-ass lady judge who is going through some sort of intestinal cleanse, witnesses and suspects who are either deployed in Afghanistan or already killed in action. Probably the best example was when Will objected to a juror during voir dire, and the judge just ORDERED him to not be biased. The message was clear: this isn't Chicago, you shyster! You better learn to play by the rules!
So the most fun parts of the episode were watching Will and Alicia try desperately to get around the rules and get some evidence to clear their guy. They were accompanied by a court-ordered JAG, Lt. Hicks (played Patrick Breen, an "oh, that guy!" kind of actor) who initially feels like a cold fish but it turns out he's a good guy AND a silver star war hero even though he's all reedy and nerdy! Ah, irony. Watching Will and Alicia think on their feet is always fun. Desperately seeking a continuance, Will baits the judge by accusing her of bias to get himself thrown out of court, granting Alicia one day to come up with a strategy. Her gambit, putting Cary on the stand to confirm that which a witness will not, was the best scene of the episode — Matt Czuchry did well in playing Cary as equal parts pissed that Alicia was using him to win her case and that it looked like he was wrong about the case all along.
Even though Randall Simmons turned out to be a good guy all along, the show got to play his release with a little bit of emotional ambiguity for Alicia, as it means that he has to deploy to Afghanistan, something Cary notes with only the tiniest hint of triumph in his voice. Since Simmons' wife died because she was sleeping with her husband's CO to try and get him out of being deployed, it's pretty bittersweet for him, I guess. But at least he won't go to prison for the rest of his life!