Christine Baranski stars as Diane Lockhart, a character from The Good Wife. In the first episode here, Diane has announced her retirement from her law firm when she discovers that she no longer has a retirement fund, thanks to a Ponzi scheme run by her financial advisors, the Rindells, who also happen to be good friends of hers. In fact, Diane is the godmother to their only daughter, Maia (played by Rose Leslie), who has recently started at the firm as a new associate. Diane asks to be reinstated as partner, but since her firm is run by the ruthless David Lee (infamous from The Good Wife), she is forced to find a new job. She hires on with an all-black firm run by her good friend, Adrian Boseman, played with great style by Delroy Lindo. Diane asks if Maia, who is suffering from her parents' wrong-doing, can come with her, and Adrian agrees. Several other lawyers at the firm are familiar from The Good Wife, including Julius Cain (played by Michael Boatman), the only Republican in the left-leaning firm, and Lucca Quinn (played Cush Jumbo). One of our favorite characters is back, too: Marissa Gold, played by Sarah Steele, the sassy, go-getting, intelligent assistant/investigator, who also comes along to the new firm with Diane. In later episodes, Audra McDonald joins the cast as Liz Reddick-Lawrence, Adrian's ex-wife and a top-notch lawyer in her own right. Adrian's firm is very different from David Lee's cut-throat one that Diane is used to, with a focus on social justice and doing the right thing (though they are still a very high-level and successful law firm).
We both loved The Good Wife but weren't so sure about trying The Good Fight--it just wouldn't be the same without Alicia Florrick--but this show is just so much fun! Its creators have captured a kind of magic formula with the excellent cast, the outstanding writing, and the interesting, twisty plots. Each episode usually revolves around a new legal case, but there are plenty of continuing storylines about the main characters, including Diane's now-shaky marriage to conservative firearm forensics expert, Kurt McVeigh (played by Gary Cole); Maia's ongoing problems with her parents' ruinous financial scheme; and Lucca's steamy affair with the Assistant DA, which makes for some awkward courtroom moments. Familiar faces from the original show--like judges and other lawyers--keep popping up to our delight, though you absolutely do not have to have watched The Good Wife to enjoy The Good Fight--it stands on its own. Every single episode is interesting, gripping, and usually hilariously, laugh-out-loud funny. We often watch some sort of darker mystery/thriller show first in the evening, but I love to end our TV session with a humor-filled episode of The Good Fight. We are into season 2 now, and it just keeps getting better and better!
The Good Fight is a CBS All Access (CBS' streaming service) original show, so it is available there, as well as through Amazon (where you can also sign up for CBS All Access). Though we resisted signing up for new streaming services, we did sign up for CBS All Access this winter, for just $5 a month, so my son and I could watch NCIS, but we are finding that their original shows, like this one and their Star Trek shows, are excellent and well worth the price.
The trailer outlines the premise of the show but doesn't capture its humor:
We just ADORE this TV series and the first episode of the new season was EPIC!
ReplyDeleteOooh...Good to know it gets even better! We are just on season 2 now :)
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