The Good Wife’s Great Season 6 Premiere

The Good Wife had a lot going for it when it premiered in season 1 to immediately jump on my “must watch” list.  I was a longtime fan of #Julianna Margulies from her ER days.  And Mr. Big from Sex and the City? Yes, please.  Throw in #Matt Czuchry from Gilmore Girls, and you’re rounding the list of some of my favorite shows—and a few halves of some of my favorite TV couples (Dr. Ross and Nurse Hathaway, Carrie and Mr. Big, Rory and Logan…oh, the good ol’ days.)

I’ve loved a lot of this show and last season had begun to wither a little for me.  And then they killed off Will.  And while I was sad to see him go, I was also glad to see where that shift would take the show.   And by the end, there were some cliffhangers I couldn’t wait to find out the answers to:  Would Diane join Florrick-Agos? (Please, yes!) Would Alicia run for States Attorney? (Please, no!) Was Finn a new love interest? (Oh, la la, I’m all for that.)  The Season 6 premiere gives hints and direction for the season and so much more.

Episode Spoilers Ahead

Cary Agos

In this episode, we start with Cary (Matt Czuchry), who after a few minutes on screen is immediately arrested.  For what? We don’t know.  The way the show approaches this is fantastic—it’s a view from the person being arrested, in a manner of what one website I read today (for the life of me cannot recall which one) said felt like a kidnapping.  It did, but it a legal one. Cary was under arrest, but as we watch him be cuffed, we see him languishing in holding and being processed, we’re as in the dark as Cary.  We also believe in Cary’s innocence, because we know and love him, but he isn’t treated as innocent until proven guilty.  He’s treated as guilty who probably won’t be proven innocent.

Eventually, we learn that he’s been arrested for conspiring on a drug deal —this relates to the Florrick-Agos client, Lemond Bishop.  This episode did a great job of setting up the season.  Cary’s arrest is not going away in an episode or two, and the timing of it is primed to have long reaching affects on the characters.   Diane appears to be headlong into moving over to Florrick-Agos, but Cary’s arrest could derail that.  Alicia and Cary have been at odds about the firm, about Diane coming over, and now Cary is behind bars.  How will Alicia respond?  In episode one, she’s already at Cary’s side, fighting for him.  What will this do to their fairly young firm?

Alicia’s New Love Interest?

And Peter’s chief-of-staff, Eli, is angling for Alicia to take on the campaign for State’s Attorney.  To him, it’s the best positioning for Peter and his career and Eli is already manipulating those around him to achieve his own ends.  In episode 1, he gets Peter on his side.  So what will Eli do to get Alicia on his side, as well?

And then there’s the romance department.  The Good Wife isn’t what I’d call a show with romance. It’s a show about relationships, and some of those happen to be romantic … at times.  Alicia is married still, but they have a political marriage —he goes his way, she goes hers.  Peter seems to have his eye on an intern (or at least one he won’t let Eli fire.) And last year, Alicia’s off-again, on-again love interest Will was killed.  But also last year, Finn came onto the scene.  They have some serious sparking chemistry between them…and I loved the scene where Alicia and Finn agreed not to let Cary’s case damage the friendship they’d built.  Yet another ripple effect in the making.

I love this show for so many reasons, and this episode was definitely one of its finest.  Can’t wait for next week.

Photo credits: CBS