If you were watching TV on Sunday nights back in 2013, you remember the feeling. It was that specific, heart-thumping anxiety that only happens when a show decides to set its own house on fire. The Good Wife season 5 didn't just move the needle; it broke the glass, jumped out the window, and started a new life in a different city. Honestly, most legal dramas get sleepy by year five. They fall into a rhythm of "case of the week" fluff where the stakes feel lower than a limbo bar at a retirement home. But Robert and Michelle King decided to do the opposite. They blew up the entire premise of the show, and it was glorious.
I’m talking about "Hitting the Fan." That's the episode. If you know, you know.
The Big Betrayal: Why Alicia Florrick Finally Snapped
Most people think The Good Wife is a show about a loyal wife. It’s not. It’s a show about a woman who realizes that being "good" is a sucker's game. By the time we hit the fifth season, Alicia Florrick is tired of playing by the rules of Lockhart/Gardner. She’s tired of Will’s lingering glances and Diane’s subtle condescension. So, she decides to steal the firm’s top clients and start Florrick/Agos with Cary.
It was a heist movie disguised as a legal procedural.
The tension in those early episodes is thick enough to choke on. You’ve got Alicia literally hiding files in her desk while Will Gardner—played with a ferocious, wounded energy by Josh Charles—starts to suspect something is up. When the truth finally comes out, it isn't a polite conversation. It’s an office-wide war. Will sweeping everything off Alicia's desk in a fit of rage remains one of the most visceral moments in network television history. It wasn't just business. It was deeply, painfully personal.
The brilliance of The Good Wife season 5 lies in how it forced us to pick sides. You love Alicia, but you also feel for Will. He gave her a chance when no one else would after the Peter Florrick sex scandal. To him, this was the ultimate betrayal. To her, it was finally taking what she earned.
The Shocking Death Everyone Remembers
We have to talk about the courtroom.
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Halfway through the season, the show did the unthinkable. They killed off Will Gardner. Now, usually, when a lead actor wants to leave a show, there’s a long, drawn-out goodbye. A character moves to Seattle. They take a job at the UN. Not here. In the episode "Dramatics, Your Honor," Will is shot in a courtroom by a client played by Hunter Parrish.
It was sudden. It was messy. It felt like real life because there was no closure.
The aftermath of Will's death is what separates this season from every other legal drama. Usually, a show mourns for one episode and then returns to the status quo. But The Good Wife season 5 let the grief linger. We saw Alicia’s brain literally try to process the "what ifs." The episode "The Last Call" is basically a masterclass in how people actually handle sudden loss—checking phone records, wondering about a missed voicemail, and feeling that hollow, ringing silence in your ears. Julianna Margulies delivered her best work here, hands down. She managed to show Alicia’s world collapsing while she still had to maintain that "Good Wife" exterior for the public.
Why the Critics Went Crazy for It
It’s rare for a network show—one with 22 episodes a year—to keep pace with the "prestige" cable shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men. Yet, in 2014, that’s exactly what happened. The Kings (the showrunners) leaned into the chaos.
- The pacing was relentless. Every episode felt like it could be a season finale.
- The technology was actually accurate. Unlike other shows where "hacking" looks like a neon screensaver, this season dealt with the NSA, metadata, and search engine algorithms in a way that felt terrifyingly real.
- The supporting cast peaked. Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart was a force of nature, caught between her loyalty to Will and the crumbling infrastructure of her firm.
Matt Czuchry’s Cary Agos finally got his due, too. He wasn't just the "other lawyer" anymore. He was a co-conspirator. The dynamic between him and Alicia was shaky, built on a foundation of shared ambition rather than actual friendship. It made every meeting at their makeshift "office" (which was basically Alicia's apartment for a while) feel like they were building a bomb that might go off in their hands.
The NSA and the Surveillance State
One of the weirdest, coolest parts of The Good Wife season 5 was the ongoing subplot involving the NSA. Because Alicia’s husband, Peter, was the Governor of Illinois, she was caught in a surveillance web. We got these hilarious, unsettling scenes of NSA contractors listening to her private conversations and gossiping about her life like it was a soap opera.
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It added a layer of paranoia to the legal battles. While Alicia and Cary were trying to win cases, these dudes in a basement were watching their every move. It was a commentary on privacy that felt way ahead of its time. It also served a narrative purpose: the audience knew more than the characters, which turned the dramatic irony up to eleven.
The Real-World Impact of Florrick/Agos
Starting a new firm isn't just a plot device; it's a nightmare. The season did a great job showing the "un-glamorous" side of law. They had no furniture. They were fighting over who got the desk in the hallway. They were desperately trying to lure clients like Chumhum (the show's version of Google) without getting sued into oblivion for breach of contract.
It felt like a startup story.
This shift changed the show’s DNA. It stopped being about "Will they or won't they?" regarding Alicia and Will, and started being about power. Who has it? How do you keep it? And what are you willing to sacrifice to get it? Alicia’s transformation from the humiliated wife in the pilot to the cold-blooded partner of her own firm was completed here. She became the "Red Queen."
What Most People Get Wrong About This Season
Some fans argue that the show fell apart after Will died. I think that’s a total misunderstanding of what the story was actually about. The show was always about Alicia’s awakening. Will was a part of her old life—a romanticized version of who she used to be. His death, while tragic, forced her to stand entirely on her own two feet.
The back half of the season is actually quite dark. Alicia becomes more cynical. She realizes that the law isn't about justice; it's about leverage. If you watch the final episodes of the season, you see a woman who has lost her "moral north star" and is okay with it. That’s a bold move for a broadcast TV protagonist.
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How to Re-watch (or Watch for the First Time)
If you’re diving back into The Good Wife season 5, pay attention to the clothes. It sounds superficial, but the costume design by Daniel Lawson told the story. Alicia starts wearing more structured, "armor-like" suits. Her hair gets sharper. She’s literally dressing for a war that she started.
Also, keep an eye on Eli Gold (Alan Cumming). His frantic energy as Peter’s Chief of Staff provides the necessary levity when the legal drama gets too heavy. His attempts to manage the fallout of the Florrick/Agos split while also running a Governor's office are pure comedy gold, but they also highlight how interconnected the law and politics really are in Chicago.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators
If you want to truly appreciate the craftsmanship of this season, or if you're a writer looking to understand why it worked, look at these three things:
- Burn the Boats: The creators weren't afraid to destroy the status quo. If your story feels stagnant, do something irreversible.
- Consequences Matter: Every choice Alicia made had a massive, often negative, ripple effect. Don't let your characters off the hook.
- Silence is Power: Some of the best scenes in the season have almost no dialogue. Watch the way the actors use their eyes during the depositions.
The Good Wife season 5 remains a high-water mark for television because it treated its audience like adults. It didn't provide easy answers, and it didn't give everyone a happy ending. It just gave us the truth about how power works.
To get the most out of your next binge-watch, try tracking the "Chumhum" case across the entire season. It’s a perfect example of how the show used a single client to mirror the internal power struggles of the main characters. You’ll see that every legal win for Alicia was actually a personal loss for her relationship with her former mentors. It’s a bitter, brilliant cycle that makes the season's finale—where Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox) makes Alicia a shocking offer—the perfect setup for what came next.