and opinions some people might find offensive but for which I won’t apologise.
Don’t read any further unless you are open-minded.
As hard as I try not to give away too much, I can't guarantee there are no spoilers.
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The Good Wife - 2009 Drama Series - CBS USA 7 Seasons - Dvd or Netflix
In 2018 I don't know many other places people have access to more nourishing "infotainment".
After 13 years as a good wife and mother Alicia stands by her man, Illinois state's attorney Peter Florrick, when he is jailed following a sex and corruption scandal. She must now suck up the embarrassment and provide for her family by returning to work as a lawyer.
Soapie aspects of the 7 seasons include ups and downs of her relationship with husband Peter and their two children, but most of the air-time is dedicated to legal and social issues.
Apparently the idea for The Good Wife started with the big question of “Why?” - Why do wives stay with dodgy husbands?
I think it was a dig at the Hillary Clintons of this world.
Of course, that was just a starting point – it doesn’t tell us anything about the real Hillary at all – but it does start out on a reasonably interesting note. How much courage and character would it take to suck up all that negative publicity at the very time you need to go begging for a job? Why not divorce the bastard? What sort of coalhole treats his wife like that, anyway? What sort of anyone would treat their partner like that?
In Season One, The Good Wife does a good job of introducing a range of characters and making them real, including enough characters to make sure we don’t get bogged down in Alicia’s domestic problems (though these do help to humanise her).
One of the most interesting characters is Eli Gold who is hired by Alicia’s politician husband Peter, half way through the first season. The part of Eli is played by Alan Cunningham who is both a brilliant dramatic and comic actor, and once the writers work out what they can do with him, Eli quickly becomes a major part of the show’s appeal.
Chicago is not a pale town. The law firm on this show is large and only has a few token POC amongst its partners and associates. Diane (played by Christine Baranski) is a privileged leftie, while Will (played by Josh Charles) is indifferently non-racist rather than idealistic. Alicia as a character gives the series a chance to show how hard it is for women – even those of privileged backgrounds – to battle sexism and a precarious economic climate to find jobs unless they “know” someone.
Kalinda, the firm’s investigator, is a nationalised American of Asian Indian subcontinental appearance (yes I’m playing that game but it’s part of the storyline, does that let me off the hook?) and Cary is a recent white graduate of Harvard who is competing with Alicia for a permanent job placement 6 months down the track.
Alicia worked for two seconds as a lawyer and then became a Professional Political Wife - not the sort of woman likely to be a Social Justice Warrior. For The Good Wife to be a legal procedural with any sort of conscience, the writers have to find creative ways to involve the show’s characters in cases that raise socially relevant questions. This includes ways for a show based in a predominantly white law firm in a town like Chicago to talk about race.
Episode 01x04, for example, when the crew are preparing for a trial, has a lot to say on the subject.
The show also makes a lot of mileage out of Michael J Fox's physical disability;
Alicia is white, so it takes a while for us to meet her, her family and learn to navigate her world before the casting eventually becomes more representative of the real Chicago, but the casting does get there. I love the look on Renee Goldsberry's face in this scene from 04x12. (The road to Black Hell is paved with the good intentions of "non-racist" whites...)
By Season 2 there were already hints that the writers on The Good Wife wanted to comment on broader issues – for example, the question is raised in a few episodes about how civil liberties were eroded in the U.S. following 9/11.
While some shows run out of puff or freshness after a few years, it seemed to me that with each successive season The Good Wife just grew stronger and more interesting; the questions raised became more worthy of our attention, and the writing more entertaining.
Towards the end of its run The Good Wife was downright subversive, and there were lots of moments that had me roaring with laughter. Well, even before then.
Bingeability Very High. This show is not for everyone. If people are looking for legal stories alone, or for human drama alone, they will probably not love it beyond the first few seasons – I enjoyed the fact that the human and legal stories provided opportunities for exploring deeper issues. In later seasons, the humour was so polished it almost became surreal.
There are one or two characters I didn’t like and I found it no problem to just fast forward through episodes where they appear. I’m fairly broad minded, but the Colin Sweeney stuff is just plain offensive, because there is a point beyond which sexualised violence doesn't seem to have any redeeming dramatic purpose. Sweeney aside, there are still more than 150 episodes of pure gold in this series.
If you have never watched The Good Wife, why not give it a try? If you have watched it and enjoyed it, keep your eye peeled for my post in which I review The Good Wife – with spoilers.
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