The Good Fight
This sequel to all-time great TV drama The Good Wife opens with the unmistakable tones of Donald J Trump. Our law yer hero Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) is watching his inauguration and the look of disbelief on her face is palpable as he gets sworn in as the actual President of the United States of America. Strictly speaking, this moment doesn’t have anything to do with what follows, but it does set the tone perfectly. This show is going to be every bit as bold, daring, caustically funny and invigoratingly topical as its predecessor. And, if anything, even pacier. In the first few minutes, we see Diane retiring from the slightly clunkily named Lockhart, Decker, Gussman, Lee, Lyman, Gilbert-lurie, Kagan, Tannebaum & Associates, buying a massive villa in Tuscany, defending a police racism and brutality case and welcoming her brilliant young goddaughter Maia (Rose Leslie, inset) to the firm. Each one of these plot threads is massively engaging, but then things really ratchet up as everything goes pear-shaped. Diane loses all her savings in a dodg y scheme run by Maia’s dad. Out goes the Tuscan-based retirement and her goddaughter’s life is ruined. Then, after 20 minutes of this captivating storytelling, the opening credits finally roll. (One of my favourite things about The Good Wife was how long they could string things out before the title sequence kicked in.) The entire opening episode fizzes with confidence and wit. Every scene grips and amuses in equal measure. The Good Wife went on for seven years and 156 episodes. I’ve no doubt The Good Fight can last even longer.