The 22-episode seventh and final season of the long-running and popular CBS show, The Good Wife, aired during the 2015/2016 TV season. It is, as all the other seasons have been, mostly about the journey of Alicia Florrick. The series takes the show back to its beginnings with Peter ending up in hot water again, after making a failed run for President. Since the show is set in the real political world (at least in part) that is not giving anything away. The first part of the season is about the presidential run, and Alicia is trying to make it as a solo attorney (with Louis Canning still trying to woo her). It is part case-of-the-week, and part larger storyline (as it has been during its entire run). The latter half of the season sees Peter back in court, much like he was in season one, and Alicia trying to decide whether to stand by him (yet again). I will not say too much so as not to spoil anything for the handful of people who have not seen the season yet, but I do think it did a good job with that.
What the season did a terrible job of is setting up the spin-off show, The Good Fight. If you have at least seen the pilot of that show (which I did before ever watching The Good Wife), the only thing about the new show that gets established is the character of Lucca Quinn (played by Cush Jumbo) who was brought in to replace Kalinda as a best friend for Alicia. But nothing in the final season's storylines set up the story that began the new show. I am not sure whether The Good Fight was decided on after The Good Wife wrapped, but if the showrunners knew ahead of time that the spin-off was a go, they did a crappy job setting it up.
The show did not wrap everything up in a nice bow, either. You only get a vague idea of what might have been next for the various characters, but there was very little of, even for the main characters, "this is what was next" for them. So, the show leaves a lot to the imagination of the viewer. They did manage to bring Josh Charles back for the final episode in a unique way. The only series regulars that did not at least make an appearance were Archie Panjabi (who had gone on to her role in Blindspot and, given the reported bad blood between her and Margulies, likely had no interest in returning for the finale) and Matthew Goode. Another bright spot was the addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the new investigator to replace that part of the Kalinda character and as a new love interest for Alicia, as the real replacement for Will. He seemed to have good chemistry with Juliana Margulies and played the role of the mysterious new character very well.
The DVD set is a six-disc set. For those who get the DVD set, it is much like the other seasons (sans the commentary tracks that appeared in the first couple of seasons). Most episodes have deleted and/or extended scenes, ranging from about 45 seconds for some to around 11 minutes for the longest group. The final disc has the rest of the bonus material, about 45 minutes of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, a short wrap-party red carpet event, and a series-spanning gag reel.
Overall, I would say the season was enjoyable but I would not have ended the show the way they did, at least not without adding about 10 more minutes to give the show, and the characters, more closure. Although, will say that I can see what they were going for with the way it did end. I cannot say that everyone will like how it ended, but as a whole, I think if you liked the prior seasons you will like most of this one.
What the season did a terrible job of is setting up the spin-off show, The Good Fight. If you have at least seen the pilot of that show (which I did before ever watching The Good Wife), the only thing about the new show that gets established is the character of Lucca Quinn (played by Cush Jumbo) who was brought in to replace Kalinda as a best friend for Alicia. But nothing in the final season's storylines set up the story that began the new show. I am not sure whether The Good Fight was decided on after The Good Wife wrapped, but if the showrunners knew ahead of time that the spin-off was a go, they did a crappy job setting it up.
The show did not wrap everything up in a nice bow, either. You only get a vague idea of what might have been next for the various characters, but there was very little of, even for the main characters, "this is what was next" for them. So, the show leaves a lot to the imagination of the viewer. They did manage to bring Josh Charles back for the final episode in a unique way. The only series regulars that did not at least make an appearance were Archie Panjabi (who had gone on to her role in Blindspot and, given the reported bad blood between her and Margulies, likely had no interest in returning for the finale) and Matthew Goode. Another bright spot was the addition of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the new investigator to replace that part of the Kalinda character and as a new love interest for Alicia, as the real replacement for Will. He seemed to have good chemistry with Juliana Margulies and played the role of the mysterious new character very well.
The DVD set is a six-disc set. For those who get the DVD set, it is much like the other seasons (sans the commentary tracks that appeared in the first couple of seasons). Most episodes have deleted and/or extended scenes, ranging from about 45 seconds for some to around 11 minutes for the longest group. The final disc has the rest of the bonus material, about 45 minutes of making-of and behind-the-scenes material, a short wrap-party red carpet event, and a series-spanning gag reel.
Overall, I would say the season was enjoyable but I would not have ended the show the way they did, at least not without adding about 10 more minutes to give the show, and the characters, more closure. Although, will say that I can see what they were going for with the way it did end. I cannot say that everyone will like how it ended, but as a whole, I think if you liked the prior seasons you will like most of this one.
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