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At the beginning of the month, the fantastic The Good Wife returned to More4, resuming exactly where it left off. Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), at a press conference for her cheating husband Peter (Chris Noth) whom she’s recently reconciled with, looks between him and her phone which displays her colleague’s name ‘Will’ (Josh Charles). We watched on as Will delivered an impassioned voicemail speech saying how much he loved her, and for her to ignore it if she didn’t feel the same way…only to have the message erased by Peter’s scheming political strategist Eli Gold (played convincingly by Alan Cumming).
OK, so maybe Alicia’s personal problems will be tackled a little later on in the season. But it’s a wise narrative move to not jump into a will-they-won’t-they relationship this early on. All the better to let The Good Wife flex its strongest creative muscles – and these lie in its multi-faceted storytelling. From a Wikileaks-esque trial where a man who’s published secret documentation defends himself on a murder charge (‘Taking Control’), to Alicia and Will being plunged into military court, playing with themes of how different legal rules apply when it comes to the army (‘Double Jeopardy’), it is hard to argue for any other TV series which is more on the pulse of today’s news-worthy issues.
But the creative team’s capacity to be in touch doesn’t stop with legal cases – particularly thoughtful is the portrayal of the very modern problem of how viral videos can damage a political campaign, while the intrusion into the personal lives of those closely associated with a political candidate, especially his children, is surprisingly disturbing. There are believable feuds between law firms, between politicians, and in the background the consistently popular Kalinda (Emmy award-winning Archie Panjabi), whose devious-bordering-on-illegal ways of obtaining information make her more admirable than ever.
For sure, the start of The Good Wife’s second season has already proven to me that it is possesses no risk of entering the so-called ‘sophomore slump’ that often plagues other successful one-season shows. One of the few programmes I watch without multi-tasking (and believe me, I’m a big multi-tasker), it holds firmly to strong US ratings, which is testament to its fascinating characters, intriguing cases and compelling story dynamics. Unlike a series I reviewed earlier on this month, it’s still showing how to balance a multiplicity of genres to deliver a high-calibre final product – without losing its sense of self. It has without doubt entrenched itself as one of the most outstanding – and unmissable – television creations on the current schedule.
Click here to catch up with Season 2 of The Good Wife so far on 4oD
New episodes air Thursdays at 9pm on More4
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