The Good Fight, currently airing its 2nd season on the streaming service CBS All Access, is a spinoff of the CBS show The Good Wife, a biting legal drama that ended its 7-season run in 2016. What the hell is CBS All Access, you ask? Well, it's CBS's attempt to cash in on the streaming television phenomenon that has made other services like Netflix and Hulu huge successes over the past few years. CBS All Access charges a rather steep $9.99 per month for its no-commercials option ($5.99 per month for limited commercials), so I was skeptical about paying just to watch this show. The service offers very little other original programming, after all: the new Star Trek or 24-hour footage of the Big Brother house, anyone? But this problem is solved by getting a week or month free trial of the service. Yay for skirting the system!
While The Good Wife centered on lawyer and shady politician's wife Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) and her work at several different law firms, The Good Fight is more of an ensemble show, featuring a healthy mix of veteran characters from the original and fresh faces. Season 1 focused mostly on young lawyer Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie, Game of Thrones veteran and Jon Snow's real-life main squeeze) and a Bernie Madoff-esque scandal involving her father swindling people out of their retirement savings. One of Rindell's victims was Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), who had planned on retiring to France but instead was forced to take a job at prominent African-American led firm Reddick, Boseman, and Kolstad (now Reddick, Boseman, and Lockhart). The show has smartly (mostly) moved on from the Madoff story and given Diane a prominent role this season, since Baranski is such a commanding and electric force onscreen. New this season is Liz Reddick (Audra McDonald), replacing her deceased father and joining other managing partner Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo). Both actors are also very strong, with Lindo especially getting some really juicy dramatic scenes this season. Rounding out the main cast are Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn, another Good Wife transplant who this season is dealing with an unplanned pregnancy and her on-again/off-again relationship with a prosecutor, Sarah Steele as secretary turned investigator Marissa Gold, and Nyambi Nyambi as investigator Jay Dispersia. Of these actors, Steele is the standout, adding a much-needed dose of humor and sassiness to the sometimes serious tone of the show.
Along with the actors, the show itself is nearly perfect, starting with the mesmerizing and haunting opening sequence/theme song, in which various pieces of office equipment explode onscreen (my secret dream). Much has been said of the show's often strong political point of view: Diane, along with most of the characters, are liberal Democrats and staunchly anti-Trump. The only real conservative voice is lawyer Julius Cain (Michael Boatman), although he doesn't get very much screen time. Some may say that the show has gone too far with its politics this season, with plots about a Democratic party strategy to impeach Trump and the representation of one of the escorts who supposedly peed on Trump in Russia (the firm even gets hold of and watches the "PP Tape", as its called). I don't actually have an issue with these storylines, but I do find Diane's random drug-induced hallucinations rather odd and pointless. She imagines fake news stories involving Trump, such as him keeping a pig in the White House, and she envisions random people in Trump masks all around her, in one instance having sex in a building across the street. Diane's obsession with the president just makes her seem crazy rather than politically involved.
Along with the political commentary, the show has delivered some impressive standout episodes this season, mostly involving a plot involving the targeting of Chicago lawyers for overcharging. In one thrilling sequence, Maia and Marissa were assisted by a hazmat team when Marissa opened a letter containing a powdery substance believed to be Ricin. I was on the edge of my seat as the office was evacuated and the women were forced to remain completely still while being decontaminated. Another shocking moment came in episode 10 when, completely out of nowhere, a character (SPOILER ALERT) was shot. The scene will go down for me as one of the most shocking in tv history.
If you watched The Good Wife, then I would definitely encourage you to seek out The Good Fight. It's definitely worth the price of one month of the streaming service, if you aren't able to get a free trial. And even if you didn't watch the original, it's rather easy to enter the world of these characters, since not many plots are actually ongoing from one series to another.
Check out below one of the funniest scenes of season 2, featuring guest star Jane Lynch.
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