Good time to say goodbye: Final episode of The Good Wife airs tonight
‘Thinking person’s show’ airs its finale
To make peace with the end, Julianna Margulies went back to the beginning.
With The Good Wife airing its series finale, Sunday, May 8, on CBS and Global, Margulies admitted she did some serious thinking about the final episode.
“I can tell you right now, the ending had me — it hasn’t aired yet so I can’t say much about it, but it — I was very concerned about it, because I wasn’t sure until I read the script four times and went back to watching the pilot,” said Margulies, who plays lead character Alicia Florrick.
“The opening scene in the pilot really helped me conclude (Alicia’s) journey. And strangely, (it) left a door open for where she would go.”
To be clear, Margulies wasn’t suggesting necessarily that there could be more of The Good Wife, although she admitted she’d be happy to keep Alicia going in a smaller, recurring role if one of the other characters ever got a spinoff.
“It’s not that there would be a followup movie, per se,” Margulies said. “But what I love about how they (creators Robert and Michelle King) finished the series and how they did most of our episodes, was they don’t leave everything tied up in a neat bow.
“They allow the audience to think and feel instead of shoving something down their throat. And so the audience, I think, will be left thinking, ‘Where does she go from here?’
“It’s a thinking person’s show. And that’s what I loved about playing Alicia.”
Debuting in 2009 and thus having lived through TV’s so-called cable revolution, The Good Wife was one of the few network shows that creatively held its own with all the niche cable and online fare.
There has been tons of good TV over the past decade, we’re very lucky in that regard. But in terms of issues raised and discussions prompted, I’d say that The Good Wife not only has been entertaining, but also important.
“Absolutely,” Margulies agreed. “I think we touched on several episodes — a few last season and definitely this season — about equal rights and gay marriage, about gun control.”
Margulies pointed to a specific episode where there was a mock trial of a florist who refused service to a gay couple that was getting married.
“What I found fascinating in that, was to hear the florist’s point of view,” Margulies said. “Because I’m a liberal and I think everyone should be treated equally regardless of race, gender or sexual preference. And yet hearing that florist on the stand, and the actress did such a beautiful job of explaining it was just her own religious beliefs. And she felt put upon by the request.
“And so there was something, I think, that went beyond just trying to defend gay marriage. But trying to understand why people don’t embrace it. That it’s not just a one-way street in terms of, you know, everything should be fair for everyone.
“I believe everything should be fair for everyone regardless of your religious beliefs. Religion shouldn’t play a part in that. But what the show touches on, and what I think is so important, is it shows all sides of the story.”
While Margulies is open to doing another TV show, a far smaller number of episodes is a non-negotiable requirement.
All seven seasons of The Good Wife consisted of 22 or 23 episodes.
“I’ve been reading a lot of scripts and I’m incredibly flattered,” Margulies said.
“As long as it’s cable and not network, because I can’t star in 22 episodes a year.
“I will embrace any great role that’s 13 episodes or less. If the right part comes and it happens to be in a month rather than a year, I would jump on it, sure. But I’m going to take my time and be very selective.”
Good Wife, good plan, good show, goodbye.
‘What I loved about how they finished the series ... was they don’t leave everything tied up in a neat bow. They allow the audience to think and feel instead of shoving something down their throat. And so the audience, I think, will be left thinking, ‘Where does she go from here?’ It’s a thinking person’s show. And that’s what I loved about playing Alicia.’ ť JULIANNA MARGULIES STAR OF THE GOOD WIFE