The Good Fight - Inauguration & First Week - Advance Preview: “Bigger and Bolder”

The Good Fight, spin-off of CBS’s successful The Good Wife series, comes out swinging ready to make its mark in the world. After the scandalous slap that ended the original series a lot of people have anxiously been waiting to see where this new series will pickup. To those hoping to get some resolution as to what happened after the episode faded to black your wait will continue, because it goes unmentioned. The series picks up a year after The Good Wife ended and a lot has changed, but a lot is also still the same. This series is everything The Good Wife should, could, and would have been had it been given the sort of freedom bestowed upon this series by its home on CBS All Access. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have proven that original content from nontraditional sources can be groundbreaking, award winning, and extremely successful. CBS is betting on The Good Fight and upcoming Star Trek: Discovery to help launch its online service in a bid to tap into this ever growing market of original online content.

Launching two extremely high profile and much anticipated shows in a new format could be considered a big gamble for the studio who could certainly use the high ratings these shows would likely pull. In truth, at least as far as The Good Fight goes, the decision to shift this series to an online venue was genius. This format will permit the writers to be bolder than The Good Wife writers ever could. They can delve into the darker aspects of this conspiracy filled legal universe without any of the confines that the parent series had to deal with.

To be fair, I must admit to having a love/hate relationship with The Good Wife. At times it was an incredible series with big ideas and a willingness to do the unexpected. Other times it just fell flat. A big reason for that was the fact the writers seemed to have big, grand ideas that network standards and practices wouldn’t permit them to properly execute. The Good Fight on the other hand has none of that to worry about. There is a bare butt and some f-bomb cussing in the first hour that will actually air on CBS, so it should be interesting to see if they make it into the final network broadcast version especially at the 8 o’clock hour. All the hallmarks are in place for a gritty law series that has more freedoms than any other to date.

While this is its own show it is still a spinoff and as such there are a lot of familiar faces that will be immediately recognizable to The Good Wife fans, but there are a lot of new ones as well. Among the new additions to this group are series lead Rose Leslie as Maia and Heléne Yorke as her girlfriend Amy. Leslie is given some very deep material to work with and she runs with it executing one outstanding performance after another. Her native Scottish accent does slip out in a few places, but given the caliber of her performing that can be forgiven.

The character of Amy could have easily been a throwaway character with no purpose other than to be Maia’s girlfriend, except in Yorke’s skilled hands and smart writing choices Amy quickly becomes a vital character. The seeds are sewn in these first episodes for her story to rapidly grow and evolve. As an Assistant State’s Attorney I expect she’ll swiftly become immersed within the context of the series as the season progresses. Just in these first episodes, Amy gets thrown into the thick of things with Maia, causing her some considerable issues; yet she remains firmly by the side of the woman she loves. Some lovely tender moments between the characters in the midst of all the chaos beautifully illustrates the wonderful chemistry Leslie and Yorke have. Maia and Amy are certain to become fan favorites before the first hour is over.

Maia may have a stable relationship with Amy, but that’s about the only stable thing in her life. Family drama causes her life to implode around her. Her excitement over passing the bar exam is short lived as her father’s legal issues threaten her own hopes and dreams. With her future derailed she’ll have to rely on some unlikely new allies in order to rebuild her reputation. She’ll quickly have to learn that what she once thought she knew as truth might not have been the whole picture.

Rose Leslie is the heart and soul of this series and she quickly proves herself a more than worthy addition to this expansive universe. She was the perfect choice to take on the heavy burden of leading The Good Fight. Though, as any fan of The Good Wife would tell you, this world can’t exist without Christine Baranski as the fiercely powerful Diane Lockhart. Leslie and Baranski’s characters have a long history together allowing these two performers to share some amazing scenes together. Maia is Diane’s goddaughter making the whole situation they find themselves in during the pilot all the more heartbreaking. Prepare for these two to blow you away with their scenes. With them at the helm this series really has no limit as to what it can do.

Baranski makes her triumphant return, bringing Diane Lockhart back to life without losing a shred of the gumption that made her such a force to be reckoned with. Baranski isn’t the only The Good Wife performer to make the move over to the new series. The creative team made some very smart and strategic choices on who to bring with them from the original series. Their involvement sets the stage for some very interesting legal battles in future episodes. The ones that occur in the first two episodes prove that this series isn’t going to shy away from controversy. In fact, it seems very happy to charge head first into some of the big legal issues currently dominating daily news headlines.

Unexpected alliances provide for intriguing new dynamics, while old friends will find themselves on different sides of the fight. Cush Jumbo, reprising her role as Lucca Quinn, perfectly recaptures Lucca’s insatiable drive and determination. It really is as if no time has passed despite the show picking up a year after The Good Wife ended. Delroy Lindo (Robert Boseman) and Sarah Steele (Marissa Gold) also shine as they too reprise their roles. Steele quickly makes it evident why Marissa was a character that absolutely had to be involved in this spinoff. Lindo and Baranski have always been able to create a fun dynamic between their characters which translates well over to this series. They share some very important moments that serve to setup the premise of the show.

The Good Fight is everything fans wanted it to be and so much more. It is both a homage to its predecessor and something completely new. The story is bold, the characters are strong yet vulnerable when need be, the writing is perfect, and the acting is flawless. One doesn’t have to be a fan of The Good Wife or even have ever watched an episode to be able to enjoy this series, however, those that were fans should enjoy picking out the connections between the two shows. This series has the potential to put CBS All Access on the map as a real contender for original online content.

The Good Fight will premiere its first episode on both CBS and CBS All Access at 8/7C this Sunday, February 19th and will be immediately followed by the premiere of the second episode exclusively on CBS All Access. Subsequent episodes will also air exclusively on CBS All Access. Those who become engrossed in the series thanks to its highly addictive premiere episode will have to fork over some money for a subscription to CBS All Access in order to keep watching. Many who don’t currently subscribe to the service may wonder if this one show is worth it. The answer is a firm yes, but the service also offers access to many other current and former shows plus live broadcasts that makes the fee even more justifiable. CBS All Access offers a free 1 week trial, so if you’re unsure start with that, but after watching the first episode I don’t think many people will be able to resist watching more. This series alone is certainly worth the cost of the subscription. Be sure to tune in to this bigger, bolder, and highly addictive new series.

Hit the comments with your hopes for this series. Will you pay the subscription fee to keep watching? Which characters are you most excited to see more of?

Special thanks to Donna Cromeans, freelance editor/proofreader (@DJRiter on Twitter) for editing this article.