In this age of reality television, I have to be honest, it takes a really good new drama to hook me. And I can’t think of one in recent years (except Mad Men and maybe Damages Season 1) that was so well executed that I got good and hooked from go. Until now.
The Good Wife. In a word, it’s great.
A concept that could have jumped the shark immediately – i.e. a loosely re-imagined version of what happens to Eliot Spitzer and his wife and family post affair, political scandal, and in this case, incarceration. The show follows the stunning Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, the publicly humiliated wife of States Attorney Peter Florrick (played well by Chris Noth) after he has been removed from office and sent to prison to await trial for a political scandal relating to his extramarital affair. Alicia and Peter’s two children, Zack and Grace are often looked after by Peter‘s mother Jackie (Mary Beth Peil) while Alicia goes back to the work as a lawyer to keep the family afloat. Alicia is thrown into a cutthroat world of lawyering and office politics after fifteen years of being ‘the good wife’ on Peter‘s arm. Alicia juggles the challenges beautifully, proving herself a brilliant lawyer that has somehow managed to turn her years of being a wife, mother, political right hand woman to her husband, and victim of scandal, into a perspective that helps her, rather than holds her back.
This is my favorite kind of storytelling, one that has episode to episode arcs that finish out beautifully in the form of Alicia‘s individual cases, while an overarching story – that of the political scandal and the fate of her marriage and family unfolds slowly over time.
Every episode thus far has been masterfully executed with strong performances, smart consistent writing, and fascinating plot and character twists. Just when you think you know where everything is going, you learn something new. It’s not a thriller, or a mystery, but the best kind of drama – one that unfolds as life does – often unexpectedly.
The show is given even greater weight by an incredibly capable and star studded supporting cast including Josh Charles of Sports Night fame as Will Gardner, Alicia’s former friend and perhaps former flame, and a partner at Alicia’s new firm; the always powerful Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, the other partner at the firm. Relative newcomer Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma, an investigator at Alicia’s firm, is a delicious treat in every episode (and has quickly become my favorite character), while Alicia‘s foil at the firm Cary, is well handled by Matt Czuchry with just enough opportunism to make Cary realistic without becoming a caricature.
Time will tell if The Good Wife can maintain this fantastic pace but so far there has not been a weak episode in the bunch so I have no real reason to doubt it. The Good Wife is currently doing well in the ratings and has been picked up for a back nine, which is good news for fans of the show, or those who might want to jump on board.
The Good Wife is on Tuesdays at 10pm on CBS, and you can watch full episodes online at CBS.com.
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Kelly is a freelance writer and artist living in New York who is relatively obsessed with comics and feminism, which generally make horrible bedfellows and explains a lot of her recurring headaches. You can read her rantings about such things at: http://1979semifinalist.wordpress.com 
