S07.E22: End

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SERIES FINALE!

Quote

The Good Wife reaches its dramatic conclusion on the series finale.

Promo:

[CaptainCranky]

There are a lot of loose ends so it will be interesting to see how the writers tie them all up. I hope it's not some convoluted ending that will leave everyone scratching their heads or woefully dissatisfied.

[Almost 3000]

I'm sure there'll be all of, OMG, That's it? and WTF!

[Klapaucius]

Right now I just know there's "I don't give a damn".

Edited May 8, 2016 by Klapaucius

[Driad]

With a side of "I hope I have enough red wine to get through this."

[TVForever]

Thanks, Show, for a little more time with Will. I've missed him.

Can we have a new show starring Eli and his daughter? I loved those two.

So Grace is going to DROP OUT OF COLLEGE so she can visit her father. In prison. I need someone to explain the logic in this plan.

[ebk57]

Well...that was somewhat satisfying...  Diane slapping the shit out of her.  Nicely done.

[CleoCaesar]

What’s this I’m feeling right now? Ah yes, it’s sweet, sweet freedom from this crap. HOW the mighty fell with this show, seriously. Excellent early seasons with complex characters, tense intrigue, moving drama…ended up as shallow, badly written, painfully unfunny dreck.

Thoughts on The End:

Aw, Josh Charles. You are a good sport. THAT’S who JM had chemistry with.

I wasn’t paying enough attention to know exactly why Diane slapped Alicia but I still think it was richly deserved.

And…what? That’s it? That’s the best SERIES FINALE they could come up with?

…Oh who the hell cares anymore. I don’t. Because I’m free free free.

The only thing I’ll miss (besides a weekly dose of Matt Czuchry and Christine Baranski) is snarking on this crapfest with you good folks at Previously TV. You have all been my refuge from the mainstream where people gush about how “strong” Alicia is and how sexy Smirky is.

[Inquisitionist]

Meh.

[Callietwo]

Well... that was......... anticlimactic.  Not at all happy with how it ended, though I'm glad Will was "back".  I think the writers painted themselves into a corner they couldn't get out and it showed more here with this finale than even the last few months, even.

 Meh is right.  

Edited May 9, 2016 by Callietwo
punctuation.

[whydoievencare]

10 minutes ago, TVForever said:

Thanks, Show, for a little more time with Will. I've missed him.

Can we have a new show starring Eli and his daughter? I loved those two.

So Grace is going to DROP OUT OF COLLEGE so she can visit her father. In prison. I need someone to explain the logic in this plan.

Grace has been spectacularly stupid at times over the years.  

[Mama No Life]

Loved this show fiercely until Will died, and then stopped watching.  Heard tonight was the finale so I turned it on.....what dreck! The only thing worth seeing was my sweet Will.....I take it he hasn't been doing this often, lol? 

What a waste of chemistry letting those two fall by the wayside. Willalicia forever!

[luvmylabs]

A Gone With the Wind ending in my opinion.  Sorry for the double post.

Edited May 9, 2016 by luvmylabs

[FlyingDuchess]

That was honestly one of the more satisfying series finales I've seen in a long time. Everything about how it ended just confirmed what I've thought all along: we weren't particularly supposed to LIKE Alicia. She got exactly what she earned.

Love the symmetry in how the show began/ended. As soon as I saw Diane in the hallway I knew Alicia was gonna get slapped.

[TigerLynx]

Thank you Josh Charles for returning for the series finale.  Damn right Jason is no Will.

So did Kurt cheat on Diane?

Without Lucca to tell Alicia and Jason how they feel, how would they ever know what to do?

At least Alicia wasn't stupid enough to take Peter's hand at the end.  Although that probably won't mean anything long term.

[cardigirl]

In the minority, I know, but I hate Diane. She's back stabbed everyone at one point or another. 

 

I'll miss Eli and his daughter.

Edited May 9, 2016 by cardigirl

[Guest]

I was watching GoT and turned over as Alica was holding her cheek, no one was in sight. 

So, why did Diane slap her?  In the couple minutes of wondering who did it, that didn't occur to me.

[luvmylabs]

A Gone With the Wind ending in my opinion.  I think they just didn't KNOW how to end it.

[betha]

So Alicia stood by her husband ultimately to the destruction of every relationship that meant anything to her... Will, Jason, Diane, Cary, even Kalinda, and she ends up alone. It is fitting.

the will scenes made me cry, though. Hard. 

[vibeology]

Seeing Alicia alone with no one and a giant handprint on her cheek made me laugh. She's basically in the same place seven years later, but look at all the destruction the Florricks have caused making absolutely no progress. I'm glad Cary found something that makes him happy. Loved seeing Will again. Loved Eli making it very clear to the Florricks that he's team Alicia. And while I don't like Jason, I'm glad he knew to run far far away before he is destroyed by Ailcia. 

[me5671]

Three good things about this episode:

1.) Getting to see Will again!  Those scenes were a treat.  It really emphasized how much the show lost when he was killed off.

2.) Diane smacking Alicia.  She's had that coming for a long time and I'm glad it finally happened.

3.) The show is over!  Overall, it's a wonderful series, but it lost steam a good season and a half ago.  I'm glad it's ending now where, even though it's not as good as it once was, it's still decent.  Another season would likely have been very disappointing IMO and would detract from how great the show was overall. 

[HowdyTV]

This did not feel so much as a finale as it did as a wrap up to a case arc and a chaos creation to spawn new arcs. I had heard there was a callback to the first episode but it's been so long since I've seen it, I couldn't have told you what it was. They left everything an amorphous mass. At least Matt found teaching. 

[betha]

2 minutes ago, vibeology said:

 I'm glad Cary found something that makes him happy. 

He did? Did I miss something? I thought he just retired.

[Tetraneutron]

That wasn't as bad as the How I Met Your Mother finale, but it was close. 

It just didn't make sense. There was no purpose to any of the legal stuff. It doesn't matter if that guy actually killed that lady, just if Peter's donor thought he did. And so much of the alleged drama came from who will Alicia choose. And the writers couldn't have herchoose Jason, because it's happily-ever-after, and therefore predictable. But they couldn't have her stay with Peter, because subverting the predictable is predictable. And they couldn't have her be with Will because this isn't a supernatural show. So they went with the ambiguous ending! Just like all the classy cable dramas!

You know what bugged me the most, though? Connor being sexist. What was the point of that, just so Alicia can give two separate (!) speeches about how she's not a weak woman who cries and talks about her kids but a strong, tough, independent blah blah Helen Reddy song. Why? It's 2016. Connor is supposed to be slimy but not sexist. Where was that coming from? Just to show that Alicia grew from the meek wifey in the opening scene? We got that, thanks. 

I also was never that invested in the Diane and Kurt relationship. He shows up once a season, they're lovey dovey but politically opposite and then Kurt goes back in the box with Louis Canning. So I didn't care that he was having an affair with that random lady. Or if Lucca was just saying that to discredit him. But way to have the final moment of the series have Diane be a bunny boiling emotional psycho. How is any of this Alicia's fault? And doesn't she have a job to do, instead of being in Springfield at Peter's press conference? 

I think the writers were so determined to have a shocking and unexpected ending that they didn't stop to think if it was a narratively logical one. 

[ChuckWagon]

What was the point of doing that to Kurt and Diane? Why go there?

[TigerLynx]

When Alicia was imagining coming home to Jason and then Peter, and then she imagined it one more time, and it was Will, I thought finally they were going to have Alicia be proactive about something, but in the end that didn't happen.  I guess even though Alicia loved Will, and he was the one, she will continue to stupidly stand by Peter through everything, even if they get divorced, never really doing what she wants to with her life, or even knowing what that is?  That's depressing.

[Litnit]

For a woman who has raised a couple of children, had a successful law career, and isn't 25 anymore, Alicia was sure treating this relationship with Jason (I'm not even sure that's his name!) strangely, almost like it had to be true love or nothing.  What if I'm not happy with him????  Then move on!  I don't understand this sudden pressure for him to be "the one".  How about just enjoying life?  It seemed like unnecessary drama that made little sense.  Lucca's interference was very high school too.  

Good to see Diane slap her.  I knew the happiness with Kurt couldn't last.  I wish they hadn't left it ambiguous as to whether he had an affair.  

Like many others have said, and will say, it was a downhill slide to the end for a show that was really great at one point.  It's too bad.

[LadyintheLoop]

Quote

So Grace is going to DROP OUT OF COLLEGE so she can visit her father.

No, that's what Alicia said. Grace just wanted to put off college for a year, which was not completely insane. 

Glad Cary ends up happy. I guess even Kurt had to be knocked off his pedestal. 

Quote

So, why did Diane slap her?

Kurt and ex-student Holly both testified that the bullets (finally found in the evidence room) had come from Locke's gun. Lucca and Alicia wanted to undercut Kurt but Diane wouldn't agree. Lucca asked Kurt whether he'd had an affair with Holly, and he didn't blurt out a denial over the prosecution's objections.  

Any overlap between law and justice was purely accidental. At least the show was consistent in that. 

[TimWil]

I guess it's fairly safe to say that Kurt did have an affair with that blonde. Diane walked out of the courtroom because she knew he'd be honest-and his answer would be "yes." I just don't know how Alicia and Luca would have gathered this info.

Fun fact: the actress who played the jury foreperson (the one who asked the question on behalf of the jury) was Christine Baranski's stand-in for the past five seasons. And the guy-who-turned-out-not-to-be-Jason was Jeffrey Taylor Morgan's stand-in.

Edited May 9, 2016 by TimWil

[vb68]

Quote

Grace has been spectacularly stupid at times over the years.

Like brother, like sister.  Both so stupid in their own ways.

The slap is the one thing I'll remember from this.  Everything else is already fading from memory.

[Bedelia]

I really liked that there was closure with Will, though I still think it was a big mistake to kill him off.

I thought the Diane/ Alicia moment was good. I don't blame Diane, but at the same time I agree that they had to discredit Kurt. I think Diane was willing to sell out her own client to save face and Alicia knew it best because she's been selling out herself and other people for years to save face.

I liked that it ended with her alone. I think that's right. I can't say I loved Alicia the character, but I have enjoyed a lot about the series, and I'm sorry it's over. Also, a shame that Kalinda couldn't have had a cameo.

[CookieChica]

12 minutes ago, HowdyTV said:

This did not feel so much as a finale as it did as a wrap up to a case arc and a chaos creation to spawn new arcs. I had heard there was a callback to the first episode but it's been so long since I've seen it, I couldn't have told you what it was. They left everything an amorphous mass. At least Matt found teaching. 

The callback was the end. The press conference began the first episode and Alicia slapped Peter. 

[ichbin]

Was anyone else wondering if Alicia was going to fall through the floor at the office?  

Under other circumstances that slap was deserved, but in this case Diane would have done the same thing to Alicia had the situation been reversed.  Diane turned on Alicia countless times, and for that matter, didn't even want her to work there in the beginning.  That character was as big a user as any on the show.  

I think loyal viewers deserved better than this ending...

Is someone in casting a Broadway musical fan?

Edited May 9, 2016 by ichbin
Edited to add: Is someone in casting a Broadway musical fan?

[MizStaken]

Damn JM looked bad there at the end. What was that thing on her head? I was so hoping she was going to tear that thing off. This ending just blew, there's no conclusion, no neatly tied bows, just Alicia back at the beginning. Yawn!

[Tetraneutron]

7 minutes ago, ChuckWagon said:

What was the point of doing that to Kurt and Diane? Why go there?

Because sad endings make your show serious art.

8 minutes ago, Litnit said:

For a woman who has raised a couple of children, had a successful law career, and isn't 25 anymore, Alicia was sure treating this relationship with Jason (I'm not even sure that's his name!) strangely, almost like it had to be true love or nothing.  What if I'm not happy with him????  Then move on!  I don't understand this sudden pressure for him to be "the one".  How about just enjoying life?  It seemed like unnecessary drama that made little sense.  Lucca's interference was very high school too.  

Good to see Diane slap her.  I knew the happiness with Kurt couldn't last.  I wish they hadn't left it ambiguous as to whether he had an affair.  

 

Why did it make sense for Diane to slap Alicia? It was drama for the sake of drama. The one thing the show left ambiguous that made no sense from a story perspective, was that Eli was planning to have Alicia run for office, and told Peter's donors, but never said one word to Alicia. In what universe does that make sense? She ran for one office once, hated everything about it, lost that office under a huge scandal, and just became partner in a law firm. Why does Eli think that plan would work? As for Jason, the point was that Alicia wouldn't want just a fling. She wanted something real. Of course, bringing Will back just underscores that Alicia hasn't moved on from him and isn't ready for a relationship. And what was all that "It's not too late to be with Jason" stuff? It's 2016, phones exist. Jason isn't leaving forever if Alicia doesn't run out of the press conference right that very second. She could have waited two minutes to get in touch with him and if he didn't answer it wasn't going to happen anyway. That whole scene was odd. 

[CleoCaesar]

Someone on Reddit just asked what the point of the "Kurt had an affair" storyline line was. Someone replied "Diane is the new good wife".

HA!

[picklesprite]

Damn, nobody fell through the floor!

[TigerLynx]

I'm glad Cary wanted the truth no matter what.  However, with the bullets turning up, the witness who's cell phone was on the 911 recording, and who left just 23 seconds before the victim was shot, and the incompetent lab tech who kept screwing things up, I don't see how everyone involved in the investigation wasn't suspected for tampering with evidence.

I still think a better ending for the show would have been when Will was shot and died.  They still could have had the scenes with Alicia and Will, Alicia telling Will's ghost she loved him, Alicia divorces Peter, and Diane joins Cary and Aicia's law firm.

[kaygeeret]

I stopped watching regularly after season 3, but tuned in every now and then.

I actually liked the ending.  I think that Alicia for all the 'drama' in the past is the toughest cookie in the box.  Even tougher than Diane - and she is one tough nut, with one human weakness and that is Kurt, found late in life, but reminded her of a softer version of her self and therefore valued and loved.

Alicia, just got tougher and this epi accelerated it - a bit quickly, but still it is the end -

She will be the toughest person in any room and I think the last bit of softness is gone and I am a bit sad, but I do think her character arc ( as much as I could tell after season 3) has been leading to this.

She almost certainly will go on to the governor's mansion and then who knows.

She deserved the slap for sure and absolutely didn't care - or at least buried whatever emotion it meant to her so she could just go on.

Humbly, I think it was a good ending and consistent with the arc - wandering tho' it certainly was at times.

[CookieChica]

I was pretty satisfied. I like ambiguous endings (I'm the weirdo that thought the season three finale of Veronica Mars was a positive sign for the Logan/Veronica relationship... who's laughing now suckers?) and I like when a show doesn't "end". Diane and Alicia will be back in some chilly coexistiance soon enough, as they have every time. 

I was confused at first by how mad Diane was because I thought the affair being asked about was when Holly was his student and that Diane knew about it already but I guess I got her confused. With someone else. 

Also, there was lots of Will. It's hard to have a problem with a finale that had lots of Will. 

[whatsatool]

Sunday is stressful. First The Midwife then the Good Wife Final and now Elementary has hop scotched. Then it turns Person of Interest is on two nights. Oy veh.

[CookieChica]

10 minutes ago, ichbin said:

Is someone in casting a Broadway musical fan?

Definitely! It's filmed in New York and they have given lots of Broadway actors more national exposure.

[pookat]

Diane's slap was on behalf of all the viewers who stuck it out until the very end of this show.

[TigerLynx]

11 minutes ago, Tetraneutron said:

Because sad endings make your show serious art.

Why did it make sense for Diane to slap Alicia? It was drama for the sake of drama. The one thing the show left ambiguous that made no sense from a story perspective, was that Eli was planning to have Alicia run for office, and told Peter's donors, but never said one word to Alicia. In what universe does that make sense? She ran for one office once, hated everything about it, lost that office under a huge scandal, and just became partner in a law firm. Why does Eli think that plan would work? As for Jason, the point was that Alicia wouldn't want just a fling. She wanted something real. Of course, bringing Will back just underscores that Alicia hasn't moved on from him and isn't ready for a relationship. And what was all that "It's not too late to be with Jason" stuff? It's 2016, phones exist. Jason isn't leaving forever if Alicia doesn't run out of the press conference right that very second. She could have waited two minutes to get in touch with him and if he didn't answer it wasn't going to happen anyway. That whole scene was odd. 

To me, it reinforced what I've thought all along, Jason was just a stand in for Will.  Alicia missed her chance with Will, and cannot be with him, so she's focusing on Jason.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[sarkygal]

I had to watch to realize I actually didn't care how the show ended. Getting advice from a dead lover was Shonda Rhimes Denny ghost-sex odd. It doesn't help that JDM is smirking on this show too. I can't subscribe to alicia being considered seriously for any political office or Eli's ride or die for her. 

I don't see any circumstance (honeymoon or not), where Jackie would have missed her son's trial. I'm not sure I even see the character transition and growth that the Kings wanted Alicia to have. She's still whining about law and life being complicated in the last scenes. The only consistency was that the Florricks torpedo everything in their path, which ugh.

4 minutes ago, pookat said:

Diane's slap was on behalf of all the viewers who stuck it out until the very end of this show.

Amen to this and thank Gilmore that Cary is finally free. I agree that this show should have ended with Will's death. 

[buttersister]

Bye, F'alicia.

[Wouldofshouldof]

1 hour ago, TVForever said:

So Grace is going to DROP OUT OF COLLEGE so she can visit her father. In prison. I need someone to explain the logic in this plan.

I went to college.  They have these things called weekends...

[KaveDweller]

24 minutes ago, CleoCaesar said:

Someone on Reddit just asked what the point of the "Kurt had an affair" storyline line was. Someone replied "Diane is the new good wife".

HA!

Spin off? I'd watch.

I guess this latest falling out with Diane and Alicia means that their law firm will be changing partners again.

[OptimisticCynic]

I wanted to throw my remote when they used Will to tell her to go to Jason. Too much Jason in this finale. 

[dbell1]

Bringing back Josh Charles showed all the flaws from the past two seasons. We lost Will, we lost Kalinda, they lost the heart of the show. They got replaced by second rate characters and gimmicks.

As for the end, Peter needed to hang for something, but I can't believe it was some old never before mentioned case. Just sloppy writing. 

I said last week that I wanted Diane and Kurt to stay okay, and then they both got tossed under the Florrick bus. I cheered at the slap, just wish it had involved ripping off the wig too. I hope Diane went back to the office and fired both Alicia and Lucca.  Even David Lee is better than those two.

Go home to your empty apartment and drink wine. Maybe it'll wash out the bitter aftertaste of a show that lingered two years too long.