The actress talks with THR about showcasing what's going on in Alicia's head in the March 8 episode.

The March 8 episode of CBS' The Good Wife is taking viewers to a place they've never wholly been before: inside Alicia's (Julianna Margulies) private thoughts.

"Mind's Eye," which screened for fans before Saturday night's PaleyFest panel in Hollywood, has Alicia prepping for a big interview — one which could swing the election. In addition, she's dealing with a potential wrongful eviction lawsuit from Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox). With so much going on, her mind is jumping between those two topics — as well as her private thoughts about some of the people closest to her — in a way the series has never showcased in the past.

"Things get a little bit more serious with the next episode, which is one [The Good Wife co-creator] Michelle [King] and I wrote, and I directed, which is interesting, mostly, because 90 percent of it takes place in Alicia's head," The Good Wife co-creator Robert King told THR recently. "And there's drama. Obviously it's still meant to be entertaining and moving, and everything, but it's an attempt to do something in visual form that represents how our minds work, and how we jump from subject to subject."

But since the way the human mind works is very different from how television shows are generally shot, the process of making the episode posed some challenges.

"It was really hard," Margulies told THR before the CBS drama's PaleyFest panel. "There were so many [scenes that take place] in the mind: the campaign versus the law firm; Finn (Matthew Goode) versus Johnny Elfman (Steven Pasquale); watching Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) in bed with my husband [Chris Noth's Peter] — there was so much going on, that if Robert hadn't directed it, because he wrote it [too], I said I didn't know who would be able to direct this."

King's intimacy with the work led to Margulies leaning on him during the episode's filming. "What was fun, I finally said, 'Robert, tell me what I'm doing. I have no idea!'" she laughed. "And he led me through the whole thing."

Unfortunately, that led to an unexpected downside for King: "He said watching dailies, he heard more of his own voice than mine, which drove him nuts," Margulies shared.

And once the process was done, Margulies could fully appreciate the experience of the hour. "It was actually really fun. It was an interesting exercise."

The Good Wife airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Twitter: @marisaroffman