The Good Wife: an essential crib sheet for new and returning viewers
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Version 0 of 1. The beauty of The Good Wife, the CBS political/legal drama which returns tonight for a sixth series, is that it follows a standalone template. While understanding the nuances of relationships and in-jokes enriches viewing, and some of the plotlines do play out over several instalments, it is possible to dip into an episode with little or no background of the previous one and still enjoy it. Useful because, well, there isn’t much time to play catchup. With that in mind, and to recap for devoted viewers, hereis What You Need to Know About the Good Wife. There are two major narratives The first plot follows the marriage of fortysomething couple Alicia and Peter Florrick, which almost falls apart after Peter, then Chicago’s state attorney, is caught cheating with a hooker, goes to prison for 10 months, is released and sets about restoring his political reputation and marriage. The other, more primary plot involves Alicia’s decision to go back to work. She gave up her job as a lawyer to be a mother, but following Peter’s incarceration is forced to return to the office. She lands a junior role at Chicago firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner because her ex boyfriend – Will Gardner – works there, a role she keeps even after Peter is let out. In short The Good Wife satirises the Madoff, Clinton and Spitzer scandals of US politics, as seen through the eyes of The Wife, Alicia. In super-short Alicia stands by her man. Alicia is not the best lawyer in all Chicago Her speedy progression up the ranks can not be credited to her skills as a killer lawyer – indeed, most of her wins can be traced back to Kalinda (Archie Panjabi), the company’s investigator who delivers illegitimately sourced information at the eleventh hour, and/or nepotism. No, her various promotions are mostly down to the fact that Will fancies her. Nor is she actually ‘good’ She’s a great mother and great company, but also fairly unscrupulous when it comes to her career. There is a very real reason she doesn’t leave Peter – a move which makes the sex scenes all the more disturbing. Lawyer Cary Agos is the only person with his morals vaguely intact Cary Agos went head-to-head with Alicia for a junior position in series one, and lost. He started out as a bit of an arse: imagine a wideboy with a degree, dimples and a suit. Then, halfway through the five series, he mellowed, grew up, rejoined Lockhart/Gardner, then left again, taking Alicia with him to set up a new firm housed in a trendy, exposed-brick warehouse. The last series ended with Alicia and Cary overseeing their new firm and the possibility she would run for state attorney. Alicia might be an alcoholic You might be surprised by the amount of red wine Alicia Florrick drinks. She could almost be described as a functioning alcoholic. Either way, her approach to alcohol is Draper-esque, helped no end by the fact that her office is situated opposite a bar with a very decent selection of merlot. (Kalinda is also an alcoholic but, unlike Alicia, is religious about lining her stomach.) The series expertly handles two very dicky issues. One: race First, involving a possibly-racially-motivated firing at Peter Florrick’s office and second, involving the girlfriend of Zach Florrick (Alicia’s son), whose parents are Somali, and whose repeated phone conversations with Zach lead the NSA to believe the Florricks are involved in terrorism, thus opening up a lengthy line of investigation. Chinese whisper hilarity ensues. And two: sexuality Kalinda is bisexual, quite unafraid to sleep her way to information. Fortunately for her, most of the women-with-information she encounters happen to be gay and utterly incapable of discretion if questioned after a sexual invitation. These include a policewoman and someone who works for the FBI. Comforting. There are M&Ms all over the office But only family law expert David Lee (Zach Grenier) and Rizzo, I mean Veronica (Stockard Channing), Alicia’s mum, ever eat them. Its greatest asset is the recurring characters Eli Gold, Peter’s manic campaign manager, played winningly by Alan Cumming. The Beavis and Butthead characters who work for the NSA. Colin Sweeney (Dylan Baker). Diane Lockhart’s rightwing, ballistic boyfriend Kurt McVeigh (Gary Cole). Evil Chandler. Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston), an amazing lawyer who replaces charm and delivery with mad logic and tenacity, a character trait illustrated through the medium of wacky, dyed red hair. As a working mother, Alicia is an advocate of the lean-in approach to life Diane Lockhart, unmarried (until season five), childless and of a different generation, is not. Technology is a major plot device This is mainly focused around the social media site Chumhum, The Good Wife’s answer to Mad Men’s Lucky Strike, which brings in all the money, and the various political scandals, which tend to go viral. Will dies I left this to the end because it was wholly unexpected. As it happens, Josh Charles wanted out of the story. His death in season five was brutal and sad and Alicia spent the rest of the series “spinning” – this word crops up about six or seven times. But it’s sort of perfect because she can retain her arranged marriage setup without the distraction of desk sex (many, many surfaces have been dramatically cleared for this purpose) while allowing for new, uncharted sexual territory in the name of Finn Polmar (Matthew Goode). Women are better than men All the women in The Good Wife are better than the men. The Good Wife returns on Thursday 29 January at 9pm on More4. |