The Good Wife's Christine Baranski on Diane's Love Life and What's Ahead for the Firm

Two weeks after Alicia and Will's passionate kiss, it looks like they may not be the only ones getting some office action on The Good Wife.

On Tuesday's episode (airing at 10/9c on CBS), Diane (Christine Baranski) and ballistics expert Kurt McVeigh (Gary Cole) take their flirtation to the next level.

"He shows up and you can see Diane can kind of light up when she sees him," Baranski tells TVGuide.com. "You can see how a woman of Diane's stature would have trouble just finding a guy who can match her in terms of strength, but she finds somebody who matches her and she's intrigued by him because he's very much his own man."

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The spark between Diane and Kurt hits a big speed bump when their personal connection becomes public knowledge. "He comes to our rescue again ... but then it backfires because of my personal involvement with him," she says. "The case is in jeopardy because of it, and the professional and personal cross over for Diane and she's horrified by it."

The episode also deals with the aftermath of that liplock between Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Will (Josh Charles). "The characters are a bit blindsided by their own emotions and the consequences of their getting involved," Baranski says. "There's a price to be paid for venturing out in any direction that maybe is unanticipated."

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To complicate things even further, Will and Diane's personal lives are heating up just as business at Stern, Lockhart and Gardner is cooling down. The dismal economy, combined with the recent exit of partner Jonas Stern, has created great financial hardship at the firm, and a lot of tension in recent weeks between Diane and Will. Baranski says things are only going to get worse as the season finale nears.

"There's some disagreement on how we should handle this: whether we should break up or whether we should move on or whether we should stay together," she says of the partners. "Diane has to be very careful with Will not to alienate him. I think she really wants this firm to hold together, so she's dancing very delicately with him right now."

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Although Baranski says it was painful to shoot an upcoming episode dealing with the recession, she's glad that The Good Wife has embraced the topic. "You're really feeling that this is a law firm that's living in the year 2010," she says. "These are things that are talked about everyday in the press and why shouldn't a television show actually deal with what's actually going on in the country?"

Baranski says a number of the series' biggest questions won't be answered until next season. "A lot is not going to be resolved in the first season," she says. "The audience will be longing for some kind of is-she-or-isn't-she, is-it-or-isn't-it, are-they-or-aren't-they and they're not going to get those answers."

So does that mean that Kurt might be back next season? Baranski says yes. "The way it is in my mind, he could definitely still be a presence."