Let’s be real for a second: if you actually watched all seven seasons of The Good Wife, you probably started out hating Cary Agos. He was that smug, Harvard-law-loving overachiever who seemed like he’d step over his own grandmother to get an equity partnership. But by the time the series finale rolled around in 2016, a lot of us realized something kinda uncomfortable. Cary was actually the moral center of a show where everyone else was slowly breaking bad.
While Alicia Florrick was busy becoming the very thing she used to despise, Cary Agos was doing the hard work of actually growing up. He went from a cutthroat associate to a guy who realized that the "golden handcuffs" of a big Chicago law firm were actually just... handcuffs.
The Rivalry That Started It All
In the pilot, Cary Agos is introduced as the direct foil to Alicia. It’s the classic battle: the hungry young gun versus the "legacy" hire with connections. Honestly, the firm (Lockhart Gardner) was pretty toxic for setting it up that way. One spot, two associates, may the best person win.
Most people forget that Cary actually worked harder. He billed more hours, he didn’t have the "Governor's wife" safety net, and he was genuinely good at the law. When he got fired at the end of Season 1, it wasn't because he was a bad lawyer. It was because Alicia had more political capital. That rejection defined him for years. It sent him to the State’s Attorney’s office, where he became a formidable antagonist, but it also gave him the "street cred" he lacked coming out of the Ivy League.
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Why Florrick Agos Was the Peak of the Show
If you ask any die-hard fan, they’ll tell you Season 5 is the best. Why? Because of the mutiny. When Cary approached Alicia to start their own firm, it felt like the underdogs finally taking what they earned.
This was when the Cary Agos The Good Wife arc really hit its stride. He wasn't just a sidekick. He was the visionary. He saw that the old guard (Will and Diane) was stagnant. He wanted something leaner, faster, and more modern. Watching them sneak files out of the office in the middle of the night was peak television.
But then, things got messy. They always do. The "Florrick Agos" dream started to crumble as soon as Alicia’s political ambitions got in the way. It’s sort of heartbreaking to rewatch those episodes and see Cary realize that his partner—the person he finally trusted—was more interested in being the State's Attorney than building a legacy with him.
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The Prison Arc: A Brutal Turning Point
Season 6 was... a lot. The storyline where Cary gets arrested for allegedly helping drug kingpin Lemond Bishop import heroin was hard to watch. Matt Czuchry, the actor who played Cary, did some of his best work here. You could see the light leaving his eyes as he realized the system he spent his life serving was designed to crush him.
He was facing 15 years. He had to hire a "prison consultant" to learn how to not get killed in jail. It was a massive shift from the polished boardrooms of previous seasons. Even though he eventually got off (thanks to Kalinda Sharma's questionable metadata manipulation), he was never the same.
This is what most people get wrong about Cary: they think he stayed "smug." In reality, the prison arc humbled him to the point where he stopped caring about the office politics that Diane and David Lee lived for. He saw the "Dark Side" of the law, and he couldn't unsee it.
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The Finale and the "Professor" Ending
The way the show ended for Cary is still a point of contention for fans. While Alicia gets a slap to the face and a literal walk into the sunset, Cary just... quits.
He gets pushed out of his own firm. Again. Diane Lockhart and David Lee basically staged a coup to make it an all-female-led firm (which sounds great on paper but was pretty dirty in practice). Instead of fighting it, Cary Agos walked away.
- He didn't want the name on the door anymore.
- He didn't want to represent drug dealers or corrupt politicians.
- He became a visiting professor.
Some people think this was a weak ending. I disagree. Honestly, it was the only "win" in the entire finale. Everyone else was still stuck in the mud, backstabbing each other for a corner office. Cary was the only one who realized the game was rigged and chose to stop playing.
What We Can Learn from Cary Agos
If you’re looking for a takeaway from Cary’s seven-year journey, it’s basically this: Ambition is a tool, not a personality. Cary started the show wanting to be Will Gardner. He ended the show realizing that being Will Gardner meant losing your soul. He’s one of the few characters in prestige TV history who actually found a way to be happy without "winning" in the traditional sense.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch:
- Watch the eyes: Pay attention to how Matt Czuchry plays the scenes in Season 7. He’s physically there, but he’s mentally checking out of the "Big Law" nonsense.
- The Kalinda Factor: Notice how his relationship with Kalinda was the only thing that made him vulnerable. It’s the most authentic romance in the show because it was so messy.
- The "Other Cary": Don't forget the running gag of "Other Cary" (Cary Zepps). It was a hilarious way to show how the firm treated its employees as interchangeable parts—something the real Cary Agos eventually rebelled against.
If you’re feeling stuck in a career path that feels hollow, maybe it’s time to pull a Cary Agos. You don’t have to stay at the firm that doesn’t value you. Sometimes, the best move is just to walk out the door and teach the next generation how to do it better.