The Good Wife

This is the best new show of the season. The "story within a story" method is used to great effect, as we follow Alicia's marital woes, the inter-office politics, the husband's efforts to get out of prison, and the family ups and downs at home. Interwoven with these ongoing plot lines, there's a new legal case to tackle each week. I find this show a rich combination of humour, pathos, romance, mystery...

Kudos to the young actors who play Alicia's children (Makenzie Vega and Graham Phillips). They are likable teenagers, neither bratty nor too-good-to-be-true. In fact, I think this show is very well cast overall.

For five years, during its original runtime, I avoided watching "The Good Wife." I didn't see the appeal in a show about a corrupt official and his lawyer wife. Even with the constant adverts from More Four, it just never appealed to me.

Then, in early 2014 I worked abroad and had no access to internet. A friend gave me the first three seasons and, after having given up on "Downton Abbey" during the second season premier, decided to give "The Good Wife" a shot.

"The Good Wife" is one of those quiet shows. It's rarely melodramatic, despite the potential for melodrama in its storylines. You get a better understanding of how Alicia is doing by how much we see her drink in an episode, than how often she screams at colleagues.

Alicia Florrick is the wife of disgraced DA, Peter Florrick. Despite the fact he maybe traded the law for sex and drugs, Alicia continues to stick by him. She actually goes further when, due to his assets being frozen, she returns to work after 16 years. How'd she get a job? Well, her ex-flame is now a named partner at a law firm and he hires her on the (secret) condition that his partner also gets to hire a new start, with only one being kept on after a year's probation. While she deals with duking it out with a boy half her age for a job in an office that makes her uncomfortable, she deals with her husband's mess through the tabloids, the blackmailers and, worst of all, his mother. Drama, no?

"The Good Wife" manages (for its first 6 and a half seasons) to find surprising and satisfying ways to remain exciting. Alicia, played by Julianna Margulies, is just such a power house of emotion and remains magnetic throughout. The creators often stumbled with the periphery characters, but Alicia is so perfectly created, from her dress sense, to her walk, to her little laugh. Even when the show dipped in the final season, Alicia remained worth watching.

That's not to say the side characters aren't pulling their own weight: Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry), Will Gardiner (Josh Charles), Diane Lockart (Christine Baranski), Peter Florrick (Chris Noth) and Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi) all put in excellent work and each have arcs or moments throughout that often rival Alicia's ongoing story. My favourite story, involving Cary's false imprisonment, is one of the best montages in the show and it doesn't occur until Season 6.

Throughout the show, guest actors pop up repeatedly as judges, lawyers, family members and I don't think a performance was ever squandered. Alan Cumming, who appeared as Eli Gold, was so damn good he became a regular. Michael J Fox, Stockard Channing and Nathan lane all show up throughout the run, alongside some other surprising special guests.

My love of the show stems from Alicia's character arc. She's a tragic character who learns, unfortunately, that power comes with a price. Throughout the show, she is named "good" or "saint," but as her confidence and ability grow, and as she steps out of her husband's shadow, she becomes what she hates. Despite never losing the namesake "Saint Alicia," her actions from season 5 onwards see her use her power for selfish and mean reasons. What's interesting is that she never once sees herself as the villain. Not until the very final moment of the show when it comes full circle. She wants to get ahead in the game, who can fault her for that?

If you're on the fence about The Good Wife, I recommend jumping right on it. It's a sexy, sophisticated procedural with some stellar and exciting character arcs throughout.

Why is The Good Wife such an extraordinary show? (I write this while eagerly waiting for the fist episode of Season 7) 1) The character. Alicia is independent, but not a feminist; she sometimes fails, but she never gives up; she is deep, but witty and funny; she has principles, but is sexy; she is true to herself, but dares to experiment and change; she is wise, but you can never take her for granted. In a word, Alicia is brain, morals, fun and passion.

2) The secondaries. They are all pertinent, unpredictable and greatly acted characters. They give perfect balance without distracting from the main line.

3) The themes. The show presents very contemporary and controversial legal issues, related to seldom visited subjects such as Bitcoin money, odd consented sexual behaviors, electronic fraud, bots interactions, non-conventional marriage, new intellectual property rights, and the like.

4) The action. The show is always fast-paced but not frantic; lots of interesting and very gripping things happen across the episodes, which always seem plausible and well-grounded, and are a pleasure to see.

5) The direction and concept. It is a 23-episode per season show. Now, when many series are restricted to less than 12 episodes per year, The Good Wife keeps the fantastic habit of producing lengthy seasons, with time enough to develop both short-time and long-time parallel stories and create loyalty among fans.

I really like this show. It never bores me, it always delivers, it keeps surprising me but not to the point of losing the essence. I remember watching the first episode 6 years ago without great expectations, just to give it a try, and I came to love it and wait for each new season with renewed enthusiasm. Kudos for Ms. Margulies who works the magic in such a natural way! And long life to this superb show!

This is not a family/drama series.

This is an intelligent and well written series about politics and the law.

The system, if I may.

The character developments are great, indeed, but the focus of the series is not on the main character as a wife or parent - but as a lawyer, and the cases her firm handles. Her struggles with her husband becomes another way of portraying examples from politics, rather than being the center of the series. With that being said, the drama scenes here and there are extremely well written.

This is a show that grows on you, like great series does, building up slowly - Until you find yourself hooked. It gives me the same feeling as another great TV-series, The Wire. It is also visually stunning.

Take your time with it, watch the whole first season. It won't disappoint you.

I keep under-estimating this drama; perhaps because there are no big names associated with the production of it - my mistake! This drama continues to capture me hook, line and sinker every week. I am loving it to the point that it has become one of my 'must see' TV shows.

The writing is strong, the acting is as good as one finds on any other hit drama show (CSI franchises, Law & Order franchises, Criminal Law, etc.) and the direction is excellent. The budget is clearly huge. Given all that, this show may not win a bountiful of Emmy's although it may win for the lead actress or the support actress.

However, with all that is on the air these days, this is in the top 10% of all television and the top 2-3% of Drama.