Let’s Talk About Last Night’s Episode of ‘The Good Wife’

I’ve been meaning to write about The Good Wife for some time now. I watched the first 4 and a half seasons in about 2 weeks last month and it’s one of my better life choice. In all seriousness, if you consider yourself a true watcher of TV and you are NOT watching The Good Wife, you’re doing it wrong. It’s on CBS, sure. It’s a procedural, yes. But it’s so much more than those two things. It’s not just for your parents, TRUST ME. It’s quietly the best show on TV. I wish it was titled House of Cards because it is so much more appropriate for this show. Just…just trust me. But, before I go on….

IF YOU DID NOT WATCH SUNDAY’S EPISODE THERE ARE MASSIVE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW I WARNED YOU

For a show that, arguably, produced what I and others consider to be a season/series best earlier this year with “Hitting The Fan” (one of the best episodes of TV ever and a Top 5 favourite for me), The Good Wife has not only gotten better and stayed consistent but it’s never let that be it’s defining moment. So much has happened since! Everything they worked for was building to that episode and then they tore it apart and it was fucking SPECTACULAR. After I watched it, I thought, how can this show go on? Well, not go on, but, how can it top itself? As a writer and a writer of a series, I assume that is always the goal (or I’d hope so) and if not, how can we stay consistent. This show is doing exactly that.

I did not think last night’s twist was coming. I did not think Will Gardner was going to be killed off. I didn’t know what to think. And I remain conflicted. I’m less conflicted because apparently Josh Charles wanted off the show (oh okay…) and Michelle and Robert King had this storyline planned for about a year. So this isn’t a jumping the shark moment. No, of course it isn’t. The Good Wife is smarter than that. Is it abrupt? Of course. Uncalled for? Maybe. But as The Kings noted in their open letter to fans, it’s more satisfying in a creative way to do this than to “send him off”. Why? Because this is going to have the most amazing ripple effect for the other characters. As we can already see by the preview for next week’s episode, how Alicia, Diane and everyone else is going to handle this is going to make for amazing TV. I, with all the other fans, loved Will Gardner. Him and Alicia together, or not together, was satisfying TV and while I’m mourning the loss of a beloved character, I’m highly anticipating what’s to come. This is what this show does so well: the follow through. It’s brave and daring to do something like this, instead of “the send off” or, you know, never getting a little blood on your hands.