The Good Wife

[frelling_tralk]

Unpopular opinion apparently, but I kind of loved The Good Wife series finale. It felt very fitting to me that Alicia would end the series still choosing to stand by Peter, even while chasing her fantasies of other men. It was definitely a very cold and lonely ending for her character, but it would have felt fake if the show did try and force a happy ending with Jason, or a close partnership for Alicia and Diane. Sometimes I wondered at how the King's spoke about Alicia in interviews, but the finale really made me feel like they completely got her character all along and ended it in the right place for her.

A lot of the complaints at ohnotheydidnt actually seem to be related to the King's interviews comparing Alicia to Peter, there were quite a few comments along the lines of how people feel that the show never actually showed Alicia becoming as corrupt and terrible as Peter, but then I never saw it as the King's making such a direct comparison between them? Rather it worked for me more on a symbolic level when it came to Alicia actually becoming that kind of ruthless and power hungry character that she had been a victim of at the start of the series, that Alicia is now the one sacrificing others to get ahead, not to mention shattering Diane's illusions about her marriage in a direct call-back to Peter/Alicia from the pilot. There have been parallels between Peter and Alicia's characters all along really, so I'm not sure why the final scene making it more explicit has so many people up in arms :shrug:

Really my only dissatisfaction was how open-ended it was for Diane and Kurt, I need to know that their marriage will get through this :( Urgh that scene of Diane in court was just devastating. It doesn't really surprise me at this point though that the rest of the cast will get short shift, and I suppose that again it would have felt wrong somehow if the finale wasn't pretty much all about Alicia's character, that's where things have been headed for a while now. And at least it did end things with Alicia in an interesting place

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I think it was the dullest finale ever, but it sure was in keeping with what the show had decided to become this last year/these last two years.

Basically, I agree with all your points, except that it's not what I wanted from this show. I miss the greatness of the first 5 seasons.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Lol well no argument from me that the show never lived up to seasons 1-5 again, but I'm happy that the finale did end things in an interesting place for me at least, it felt very full-circle. It was definitely tough to care about season 7 though as Alicia grew more and more isolated and cold

[kikimay]

I personally liked the ending and I talked about why it seems very fitting to me. I agree with you.


(Btw, Happy belated birthday!)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

I loved it, too! I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to replying to your comments yet, I wanted to wait until I had time to really answer properly. ITA with basically everything you said here, except I didn't see it as Alicia "becoming" ruthless and power hungry in the sense that there was, like, a fundamental change in her nature... I think she always had it in her, and over the course of the show she had opportunities to let that ~flourish. Though maybe that's just two different ways of saying the same thing.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Oh no I do agree, with that, the ending with Alicia being slapped was so hard-hitting (er no pun intended) because there were so many parallels there all along that she and Peter were the same deep down when it came to wanting more and more power and privilege, even at the expense of other people. I really loved how it ended on that moment to bring it all home to her, and then have her continue on her way.

[ever-neutral.livejournal.com]

I DIDN'T HATE IT EITHER.

Agreed on everything Alicia. As Kiki said better, it makes sense that Alicia the liberated ex-wife will only happen off-screen--that's the new chapter of her life that would have to be chronicled in a whole new imaginary series. That final image of Alicia all alone (but finally ready to go it completely alone) is pretty much what I've been anticipating for the last 7 years.

And yeah, my only beef really is the sidelining of the rest of the cast. The show nailed Alicia and lost the plot everywhere else tbh.

P.S. Happy belated birthday??!!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I was really taken-aback at first to find out just how unpopular it was because of "lack of closure", but yeah would it really have been better if it ended on a fake note of Alicia running after Jason and catching him in the nick of time, or clinking glasses with Diane as they toast a new firm? This was a much more powerful statement on Alicia's character to end it on

The only off note for me was that Cary didn't get much of a conclusion, and that it was a sad way to end it for Diane (although I choose to believe that she and Kurt will be fine). I guess I can kind of make sense of Cary's ending if I squint though lol, he was obviously ready to get out of the cut-throat world of law and backstage politics

And thank you :)

[bigboobedcanuck.livejournal.com]

I hated it not because of the ambiguity, but because of Alicia betraying Diane after she'd already betrayed Cary. Cary, who still stepped up to be a big damn hero to find the bullets when he had absolutely nothing to gain. I really wanted Alicia to apologize to him and for them to have a final scene, but nope. I mean, in S6 when he was going to jail, they asked him for the name of one person who he trusted to handle his affairs, and it was Alicia. She was the person in the WHOLE WORLD he trusted the most. Sigh. I loved the evolution of their friendship, and this season was just...ugh, whatever.

(Can you tell Cary was my fave character? Heh.)

The Kings said that Alicia "didn't knowingly betray" Diane, and that Diane was just collateral damage. Uh, DIDN'T KNOWINGLY BETRAY HER?? Of course she knew what she was doing! Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining, Kings. So yeah, for me it was just too much. I didn't always love Alicia, but I rooted for her, and now I'm like, whatever. Go screw yourself, Alicia. Not exactly how I wanted to feel after investing seven years in this show.

Also, the excuse the Kings gave for Alicia -- that she had to do whatever it took to stop Grace from not going to college because of Peter -- was super lame, IMO. It was so contrived that Grace would put off college. I feel like Peter and Alicia certainly could have talked her around on that stupid life choice.

Oh, and I didn't care one way or the other about Jason, who was so even-keeled and charming that he bored me. I kept waiting for them to dig deeper and see some cracks in that cool facade, especially since he'd obviously had anger problems in the past. But nope, he was just dreamy and collected. I'm glad Alicia let go of Peter's hand, but wish it hadn't been to chase after another dude.

But glad you enjoyed it! Sorry, apparently I have FEELINGS, lol. I still love 1-5 (and the first half of S6 with Cary's storyline), but the grim and cold ending was depressing for me. I didn't need sunshine and rainbows, but I guess betraying Diane like that was the last straw for me. :(

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I mean, in S6 when he was going to jail, they asked him for the name of one person who he trusted to handle his affairs, and it was Alicia. She was the person in the WHOLE WORLD he trusted the most. Sigh. I loved the evolution of their friendship, and this season was just...ugh, whatever.

I know what you mean, season 7 wasn't much fun for me as a whole because Alicia had so few personal connections with the rest of the cast by then, but the finale redeemed a lot of it for me in the way that it closed things for Alicia's character. As I said above, I would have been peeved if it tried to end things on a typically fake happy note of Alicia running off to the sunset with Jason, so I loved that it instead ends on Alicia being slapped and forced to recognise what she's become. I guess I liked that they were brave enough to write their female protagonist as such a flawed and troublesome character, that's not something that you typically get with most shows, so it felt like an unusual choice to end it on Alicia having driven everyone away and being forced to set out on her own once again

Also, the excuse the Kings gave for Alicia -- that she had to do whatever it took to stop Grace from not going to college because of Peter -- was super lame, IMO.

My interpretation was that it was less about Grace, and it was more about Alicia putting the law and ~winning~ above anything else, even personal ties. The King's have released a surprising number of interviews now talking about the finale, and in most of them I've found that they really haven't been trying to suger-coat Alicia's actions. In this interview for example http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/good-wife-finale-ending-slap-alicia-diane-1201769159/ they talk about how, "we saw Alicia watch Diane and Kurt McVeigh huddling and kissing, and her jealousy in many ways of their relationship...there was a hidden side of her that did want Diane brought down to her level: “If I can’t have a husband that I’m perfectly happy with, then I don’t mind that it happens to this other person.” On the other hand, you can view that under the guise of zealously defending your client. So what I love about the ending in my mind is one could defend both sides of this.

Not that that's a particularly flattering portrayal of Alicia obviously, but I feel like it's very honest to point out that Alicia envied Diane's relationship, and so that could have played a part in her decision to reveal Kurt's affair in open court. It's messy, but it feels like real life too. Someone like Alicia, still dealing with complicated relationships in her 40's, realistically she's not going to look at Diane/Kurt finding love in later life and smile and be happy for her friend, she's going to be bitter and think about what she could have had with Will

[bigboobedcanuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't want Alicia getting a fake happy ending with Jason either. Totally agree. That relationship already felt rushed and forced anyway. And I hear what you're saying about the rest, and intellectually I get it, but betraying her friends just sucked so hard and was a dealbreaker for me. The Kings say you can defend both sides, but for me, Alicia wasn't defensible. We've all been there with jealousy of our friends sometimes. But what she did was so awful. Feelings are one thing -- actions are another.

Anyway, sorry to dump all my negativity on you when you did like it! Glad it worked for you. :)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Hee that's okay, I'm always open to discussing different viewpoints :)

I didn't want Alicia getting a fake happy ending with Jason either. Totally agree. That relationship already felt rushed and forced anyway.

I never really understood what they were doing with Jason, or with Lucca for that matter. It felt a bit out of place to introduce a character just to be the best friend and obvious cheerleader for Alicia at this stage in the story, they never seemed to care much about Lucca as a character in her own right. And Jason only seemed to be included so that they could show Alicia having a sexually fulfilling relationship with him and acting freer, but again they hardly gave him any depth or background. Basically I totally agree with any criticisms on season 7 as a whole, and I feel like it will still be a drag to watch on re-watch (but even so I probably will end up buying the complete series collection lol), but in the end the full circle aspect of Alicia's ending did really click for me