What I’m Watching: The Good Wife (Season Premiere)

The Good Wife: Season 5, Episode 1 “Everything is Ending” (B+)

I’m always impressed by just how much gets fitted into one episode of this show. I still find this show to be as good as ever, even if Emmy voters have stopped having confidence in it. Starting with an execution was an unusually serious beginning, though it did provide a fantastic impetus for drama throughout the episode. Malik Yoba, last season as a series regular on “Alphas” and in a less compelling guest spot on “Revolution,” was a good choice to play Eddie, the convicted man whose last moments weren’t so final. Because Diane, Will, and Alicia are so endearing, their repeated arguments about why he should be kept alive seemed much more legitimate than similar stall tactics employed by the likes of Patti Nyholm and Louis Canning. Jeffrey Tambor was just the latest in a series of big-name actors to appear on the bench, in this case as a mostly comic but then extremely serious part as the decider of Eddie’s fate. Utilizing the DEA to ultimately stop the execution was clever, and it’s nice to see a happy ending to an episode that started out bleak. The symphony music playing throughout the episode was extremely effective, even for some of the lighter plotlines, like the ridiculous rolling teleconferencer who was always in the way. David Lee noticing the fourth-years being way too obvious about leaving was worrisome, especially because he realized that Kalinda wasn’t being entirely forthright with him. Cary actually saying that he and Alicia would be the new Will and Diane was a staggering wake-up call that this might actually happen, if the fourth-years’ desire for their bonuses doesn’t get ahead of them. Melissa George seems more than competent as Peter’s new ethics consultant, and Eli suggesting promoting her out of the office has clearly led to a bad reaction, which means that she’ll likely stick around and cause trouble for an obviously interested Peter. Zach always seems to be browsing the Internet, and his latest find – a scandalous picture of Grace on a site about the top ten hottest politicians’ daughters – can’t lead anywhere good.