The season five premiere of "The Good Wife," titled "Everything is Ending," saw the characters preparing to end one chapter of their lives and embark on another.
The fifth season opened where season four left off, with Cary (Matt Czuchry) at Alicia's (Julianna Margulies) door on the night of the Illinois gubernatorial election to talk about leaving Lockhart/Gardner.
Later that week, Alicia tells her plans to Peter (Chris Noth) and Eli (Alan Cumming), but not to Diane (Christine Baranski) or Will (Josh Charles), seeing as they are busy with a death-row appeal.
Later, it seems as if the partners have figured out the fourth-years by checking into their company phone records. Yet, they still believe Alicia is part of the team. The phone calls reveal that they've been talking to wealthy clients, which prompts Diane to tell Alicia to "get closer to them," unaware of the truth behind the calls.
Alicia later tells Cary, "We need to leave by the end of the week." She also tells him that they need to stop using company phones to garner new business.
Meanwhile, governor-elect Peter is trying to suppress his libido while talking to Marilyn, the new head of the Illinois Ethics Commission (Melissa George), who he can't seem to take his eyes off of. Eli is clearly against her, especially because she is not afraid to speak out against Eli being Peter's chief of staff.
Peter then tells Eli to promote Marilyn to the Transit Authority Board. "Did I do something wrong?" Marilyn asks. "You did something right: It's a promotion!" Eli responds, his words dripping in disdain. "You guys are making a mistake," Marilyn says, possibly foreshadowing impending drama.
The week's central case focused on the execution of a man that was held up for 2 hours and 20 minutes because the on-call nurse could not find a suitable vein for the prisoner, played by Malik Yoba. Once the man's arm starts bleeding, Diane says, "This is the definition of torture!" Lockhart-Gardner then files a class-action suit fighting the death penalty, arguing that Eddie is evidence about torture that must be "preserved."
Diane and Will are then able to refute the testimony of a prison snitch, but the judge (Jeffrey Tambor) refuses to overturn. Will then calls in the DEA to stop the execution on grounds that the lethal injection was transported illegally via the U.S. Postal Service. The Indiana governor then suspends the sentence, effectively stopping the death penalty sentence.
Although that story arc ends well, Alicia's ambiguous semi-romance with Will is not so cut-and-dry. Will tells Alicia,"We were on a merry-go-round, and we needed to get off. So we're off. That's all." Alicia then whispers, "Don't end up hating me," but he doesn't hear her.
The next episode of "The Good Wife" will focus on a new law suit, this time against the NSA.
The official episode synopsis reads: "Alicia and Cary sue the NSA on behalf of search engine Chumhum, unaware that Lockhart/Gardner's connection to a former client has resulted in the spy agency monitoring the firm's communications. Meanwhile, Alicia's mom takes steps to support her daughter, and Eli works to secure Diane's Supreme Court nomination."
Julianna Margules and series creators Robert and Michelle King shared some hints to Entertainment Weekly about what we'll see in forthcoming episodes.
Margulies revealed that Alicia and Cary won't leave right away. "Alicia starts to realize that the associates she's leaving with are thinking idealistically and not like mature partners would. She keeps trying to get them out faster and they want to wait for bonuses," Margulies said. "Alicia knows that that's just not going to play out well, and sure enough, it ends up blowing up in her face."
Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) will face a dilemma: Alicia or Will? "In many ways, she reaches a fork in the road of which way to throw her commitment, and that is going to be a dilemma for her in the first part of the year - who does she stand beside?" King said.
Diane's pursuit of the judgeship will cause some series problems for the firm. "Is Diane doing something to work toward her confirmation or doing something for the firm?" King said. "It's really like if someone had an affair in a marriage, because in many ways, the business is a marriage. Obviously, Diane's eye is wandering."
As for Peter's new ethics woman/potential romantic interest? Marilyn believes in ethics over all, which could lead to some interesting story developments. "She almost doesn't care whether there are good results that come out of politics as much as that they be handled clean. We want to see the debate going on between ethics devoid of logic and then ol' Machiavellian politics that works for effect no matter what," King said.
King also said that the voter fraud issue from last season's gubernatorial election might mirror real life, in which "sometimes things come back to bite you later on."
America Ferrera's character will also soon reappear. "It's an unresolved relationship in his [Eli's] life, and it comes back at a very inopportune time for Eli," King said. "Sparks fly." Eli will also have to deal with Peter's mother, Jackie (Mary Beth Peil). "The battle with Eli gets more intense because it's really a battle over who has veto power over Peter: The family side or the chief of staff side?" King added.
He also shared that "Fringe's" John Noble will return in the 100th episode.
"The Good Wife" airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. on CBS.