Seven years is a long time in TV life. Still, "The Good Wife" is gone too soon.
(Jeff Neumann, Courtesy of CBS, used with permission.)
If you’ve been one of the millions who, for seven seasons now, have followed along the story of Alicia Florrick, mother, attorney and “good wife,” then on May 8, you could finally close the covers on the virtual book you were reading, put it on the table next to your chair, and perhaps replenish your wine glass. Her story was completely wrapped up, sort of, into a grand finale. You knew what she’d been through and you saw where she was headed.
Or, you could have thrown the empty wine glass straight into the fireplace, smashing it into shards and shreds representative of the completed puzzle that no longer had any missing pieces. With this ending of “The Good Wife,” CBS has just had sledgehammer taken and a gaping hole knocked into the anchor wall of their Sunday night programming.
The devastating emptiness on Sunday night wasn’t a shock; it was programmatic and anticipated. And, so it began as it ended, “The Good Wife”—tonight, it all came to a close with a slap, one that brought tears as a growth cycle in life came ‘round to complete itself. The first slap that brought the show to life was when Alicia slapped Peter, right after having stood by his side when he was convicted the first time.
And a lot of things happened in the past seven seasons. The growth of law firms, the growth of attorneys’ careers, and life, love, death, and law all were bent, broken, twisted, faded, and rediscovered all flowed and ebbed for 165 episodes.
Immediately after the end of tonight’s finale, a quick trip over to the CBS show
web site provided a great video from Michelle and Robert King, who offered their insider perspective on tonight’s finale. “We started with this feeling that it should begin with a slap and end with a slap.”
And it did, reflecting “the transition of the character of accountability and power attained” by Alicia Florrick over seven years of this show. Juliana Margulies is the only actress who could have brought Alicia to life properly. Similarly, Christine Baranski is a brilliant character actress who is concurrently portraying Dr. Leonard Hofstadter’s mother, on another CBS show, “The Big Bang Theory,” but that’s just a measure of her versatility. She can do anything. You could say similar things about each of the major character actors who ensured the storytelling would truly come to life. Matt Czuchry was able to remind you there was character life in Cary Agos with far greater depth than Logan Huntzberger, a character he is reprising after much fan demand over at the long-awaited "Gilmore Girls" reboot.
But, back to Alicia. “The victim becomes the victimizer,” offered the Kings. Alicia starts out as the insecure, undetected victim of her husband’s larger-than-life scandal. Privacy dies, peace of mind flies out the window, and her husband is off to jail. She gets to go to try and find a job. She does, and she finds Will Gardner.
Then the middle happened. So, final question posed and answered: “What is the next stage for Alicia’s life?” The Kings offered that Alicia was definitely not going back to support Peter; she was searching for Jason as she was strolling up (and back down) the hallway, encouraged by the virtual memory of Will Gardner to go on and move forward for the sake of her happiness.
The Kings explained, “If Peter had gone to prison, Alicia would have been tied to him forever, and to save her daughter…Alicia would be considered collateral damage staying with Peter, and so, too, would Grace be considered the same (Zach's character was brushed off in a weird way last week, out of sight, out of mind). So, Alicia’s decision came down to saving Grace, literally. Diane Lockhart had to be the collateral damage this time. Curt McVey (Gary Cole) was key to the prosecution and the defense, but the information that came out on the witness stand destroyed the relationship between Curt and Diane, and then between Diane and Alicia, irreparably. Alicia didn’t hold the knife, but she was the one who instructed Lucca to cross-examine him and essentially destroy his credibility. Hence, the genesis of the final slap.
Who does Alicia end up with? They said, "It’s clear she is going after Jason. We wanted it to be a little ambiguous. Three things in her life, Peter (weighted down with concerns, she's the good girl who likes to take care of others), Jason (representing weightlessness, giving her property on Mars. Not a person to take things seriously), and Will Gardner (we were fortunate to get Josh Charles back). He’s fantasy, the love that got away." That's their story and it's appears to this writer that they'd written the end of the story just about as quickly as they'd dreamed up the beginning, likely over a bottle of wine, since at least one bottle would make an appearance per episode.
The Kings offered that lessons Alicia learned included: “…Zealously represent your client, despite what the truth is…As Alicia has changed, she’s gained great strength, great confidence, done wonderful things for her clients and her family.” One curious observation: where were Jackie Florrick (Mary Beth Peil) and Veronica Loy (Stockard Channing) in the courtroom audience? Two of the most versatile character actresses in the show portfolio were missing; oh well, it was just a one-hour finale, but still you'd think they'd be there with lines or furrowed brows. They'd shown up before, for far less good reason.
The master storytellers offered sincere and repeated thanks to the fans and then they thanked CBS, in the same sentence, "because they both allowed us to tell a complicated story."
As the final cameras position themselves for the very end of the very end, Alicia Florrick finds herself walking down a kitchen hallway toward her future. Josh Charles’s character, Will Gardner, reappearing tonight was poignant, relevant, and not the least bit cloying. It was, in fact, quite sweet and fit right into what Robert King described as the trinity of people in Alicia’s life. It was actually a triune-pronged fire of decisions she had to walk through between Peter, Will, and Jason in her growth phase, was it not?
As Michelle said, “We hope that you can feel for that ending, that ending that is emotional and still embraces what Alicia’s future will be. I hope you have had even half as much fun as we’ve had.” We have.
And now what’s ahead for next year? Tea Leoni’s “Madam Secretary” may have to be retitled, “Madam Vice President,” and Sherlock Holmes will have to deal with the dull, deceptive relatives. Aw, who cares? “The Good Wife” is over, and the new brainchild from the Kings, “Brain Dead,” certainly doesn’t promise to fill that "Good Wife" gap. It's new, it's supposed to be a "comic thriller." That notwithstanding, we’ll give it the old CBS try, just for good measure.
Thanks to Robert and Michelle King for great writing, colorful characters, sassy dialogue and thanks to Mark Saks for casting, which was literally superb. Every character was brought to life by a brilliant contingent of actors. And how about our running series of “interesting” judges? “In my opinion,” they were the most fun of every episode. That, and the number of times Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) and Colin Sweeney (Dylan Baker) were the characters you loved to detest added another layer of incredulity weaving in and out of the focused and directed law firm with the ever-changing name.
It’s been a solid run for all 156 episodes, and the creators were the ones to pull the plug rather than the network, so there’s that. We’ll all just be sitting here waiting for 1,000 days until you write us a reunion episode, and then we’ll call it even. Sound fair? The series had, at one time, at least nine executive producers: co-creators Michelle and Robert King, Ridley Scott and the late Tony Scott (2009–2012), David W. Zuker, Brooke Kennedy and Ted Humphrey, along with Leonard Dick, Keith Eisner, for over 100 episodes each.
Even actor Julianna Margulies became a producer in 2011, and was credited for 98 episodes. Yet, there are 20 more people who served as producers in some abbreviated, but relevant capacity. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of people worked to make these seven seasons happen. Then, there’s the sterling group of actors who took characters on paper and brought them to life, as only they could. Many will be forever tagged with their character’s name when someone recognizes them in public, for a while anyway.
So, whether you’re refilling your wine glass or sweeping up glass shards from the fireplace, the end is the end is the end. Go to "The Good Wife" web site on CBS.com and hear from the Kings for yourself. You'll be glad you did. To borrow a line from Edward R. Murrow, “Good night, and good luck, ‘Good Wife’ and thanks so much, Robert and Michelle King.” It’s been a grand ride.
