Julianna Margulies stars as Alicia, who has to put up with an awful lot - not least her husband's sexual misdemeanours
Alicia Florrick is on stage at a press conference, looking much like Hillary Clinton did in the 90s. Although she's suited up, she is flat-haired and clearly fatigued ? but she's standing by her man. He is the former state's attorney, who was sacked after being accused of bribery. He denies those charges, but today he is admitting to sexual misconduct with prostitutes. When he is jailed for corruption, Alicia is forced back into the workplace after a 15-year break, as the lowest of the low at a law firm. She's lost all her friends and has flown her suburban home, taking her two teens Zach and Grace to a flat downtown.
Alicia, played by Julianna Margulies (aka ER's Nurse Carol Hathaway), has a lot of battles to fight. In the office, she is in competition with Cary, the other junior associate, for the job after their probation period; she is fighting the dirty looks of everyone who has seen her husband's toe-sucking sex tapes; and she is at war with the new state's attorney, who has it in for her family. Beyond this, she is being called frigid on national TV, and has prison-yard squabbles with her husband Peter (Sex and the City's Mr Big, Chris Noth). Then there's her overbearing mother-in-law to contend with, and her daughter who has found God.
And that's just the stuff she knows about. Because in The Good Wife, the intrigues keep coming. Someone is sending her damning images of Peter seemingly smoking crack, but Zach and Grace manage to intercept these deliveries. Who is the mystery mailman? And who's the anonymous tweeter posting terrible things about "Saint" Alicia? Why are the FBI investigating their family? Have their phones been tapped? Who'd bother?
Yes, there is a lot going on. But each gripping episode has a stand-alone structure, covering one of Alicia's cases in the classic three-act way: drama in the courtroom, shit hitting the fan, unearthed evidence means they win. It may be a little formulaic, but the fun lies in speculating on what that shred of evidence will be. And the cases are fantastic: students charged with murder after hallucinogenic threesomes; a celebrity who got away with killing his wife years ago, who is found at home handcuffed to his dead stalker, with his dog by his side. It's also dead.
There is a dazzling callsheet of regulars too: the charming Will (the cool customer with an ethically questionable judicial basketball game who has loved Alicia since college), and Cary (known for doing magic mushrooms during depositions); staunch Democrat Diane (who has a thing for Republican cowboys); and the fierce, dirt-digging investigator Kalinda (who is skilled at flirty prying and has informants in all the right places).
All roads lead back to Alicia, this good ? and wronged ? woman. And she won't be pushed around by anyone: not her bosses, not her mother-in-law, not even her husband's crisis consultant Eli Gold (Alan Cumming, on superb form). It's a show that doesn't spoonfeed you. Almost everyone is compromised, except Alicia, and grey areas abound in among all the thrilling legal shenanigans: mistrials, motions to dismiss, backroom settlements, shadowy leaks, impeachments, indictments and subpoenas ? plus lots of cries of "Objection!" and "Over-ruled!" Alicia is the star but Kalinda is the show's backbone. Without her, no one would ever win a case.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/24/next-box-set-good-wife
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