Throughout the seven seasons of The Good Wife, never has Diane Lockhart felt more natural than she does in The Good Fight. Perhaps the fact that the writers for the spin-off series, which aired its season 1 premiere last night, have finally shifted focus to her. The original series had Alicia Florrick as its protagonist, who, by the way, is nowhere to be seen in this new series. Gladly, The Good Fight doesn’t completely ice her out.
The cast of The Good Fight (Courtesy: CBS Network)
After years of getting overshadowed by Florrick, Lockhart doesn’t miss a moment to prove that she is just as good, if not better. There’s a significant time jump of a year between the events of the two shows. Christine Baranski works the camera phenomenally. In what can be termed her most feeling moment over the years, Diane gets taken aback with the election of Donald Trump as President. But, her brighter moments are short-lived.
Rose Leslie (left) as Maia Rindell and Christine Baranski (right) as Diane Lockhart
After declaring her retirement, Lockhart gets knocked on her ass as she loses all her money following an exposé involving her goddaughter Maia Rindell’s father, who also happens to be her financial advisor. To be honest, never before has she manage to win hearts like she did at her lowest point. Baranski too lives up to the new challenge of portraying the fallen queen.
(Courtesy: CBS Network)
Another tough player in the series would have to be Rose Leslie’s Maia Rindell. The naive yet, fierce Maia has it tough as she pretty much signed a certificate to a life of humiliation when she joined Lockhart’s firm.
While she doesn’t get a lot to do, the way Maia is being developed in the show foreshadows her future prominence. After passing her bar, she questions her godmother about why she defends the bad side to which she says, “people I thought with all my heart were guilty turned out to be innocent. People I thought were saints … they weren’t.” She has a lot to learn and both Diane and Lucca are there to guide her through it.
(Courtesy: CBS Network)
After her father’s scandal, Maia and Diane get kicked off from the firm only to join up at Reddick, Boseman, & Kolstad with Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo). To watch three powerful women carry the episode forward was refreshing. It was also blissful to hear Lockhart drop an f-bomb. Boy, have we been craving for that one.
Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn. (Courtesy: CBS Network)
There’s also the suspenseful back-and-forth of whodunnit? as Henry Rindell cries fowl in his little Ponzi scheme. His wife, however, she seems like she’s had her hands dipped in red paint. Whatever it is, it’s good to have a great, suspenseful drama back on TV and we know The Good Fight can deliver.
