After two episodes, we posited that “The Good Fight” may actually end up being better than “The Good Wife” and we stand by that assertion.
But one thing we never thought we’d say was “stop trying to do so many interesting things at once.” Yet here we are, having that exact reaction to Sunday’s (Feb. 26) episode, “The Schtup List.”
The three main plotlines of the episode involve trouble in Diane’s (Christine Baranski) new firm, a compelling case of the week that ends with a tragic twist, and an intriguing development in Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) investigating her father’s case — all interesting enough to carry more of the episode than they do.
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The firm trouble stands as both the political commentary and comic relief of this episode, as Barbara (Erica Tazel) and Adrian (Delroy Lindo) spend the episode looking for someone at the firm who voted for Donald Trump to act as a pitchman for government contracts. They find one in Julius Cain (Michael Boatman) and lay some solid groundwork for future strife with Julius — it’s possible he may feel uncomfortable as the only conservative in a sea of liberals and jump ship to another, minority-run firm that aligns with his conservative viewpoint and, apparently, exists.
The case of the week sees a doctor (Zachary Knighton) on trial for aiding terrorism, as he is helping a Syrian medical team perform open-heart surgery via Skype. In the end, it turns out the patient is not a terrorist, but his brother is — and the US military used the courtroom stalling on the part of the AUSA to execute a drone strike on the hospital after the patient’s dire situation drew the terrorist brother out of hiding.
The reveal at episode’s end — was so startling in effect, if not surprising as an outcome. A little more setup for that, and exploration of the outcome, past a news report Lucca (Cush Jumbo) and new love interest AUSA Colin Morrello (Justin Bartha) watch in a bar.
“The Good Wife” was known for stellar cases of the week and “The Good Fight” is so far no exception — but it would feel more complete if the episode could spend more time on them.
Finally, the Rindell case saw some tiny movement after the reveal that Maia’s mom Lenore (Bernadette Peters) is sleeping with Uncle Jax (Tom McGowan) — and may or may not be in cahoots with him to frame Henry (Paul Guilfoyle) for the Madoff scheme that provides much of the premise’s energy. This week, Maia takes that information to her father, and Henry points her in the direction of Jax’s personal computer and something called “The Schtup List.”
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The logical conclusion is that Jax’s “schtup list” is his list of people to screw over — although it’s odd that this is how it would come up — but we still don’t know anything about this list, so it feels like little more than a breadcrumb: Jax/Lenore backstory, for example, would inform Maia’s reaction to all of this… Not to mention her dad’s.
During most of “The Good Wife’s” run, we always thought it could have benefited from having a shorter, and therefore tighter, season. With “The Good Fight,” we are so fascinated it almost feels like the show’s overcompensating. There’s a reason these threads are called A-story, B-story and so on — but with only ten episodes, and only A-stories, it’s a bit frantic. Especially considering that “Good Fight” is a streaming show, and doesn’t need to clock in at that 44-42 minute line. “The Schtup List” could have easily gone another five to seven minutes and been much better for it… Which we suppose is a backhanded complaint, seeing as it just means we can’t get enough!
“The Good Fight” goes live around 3 a.m. ET/PT on Sundays at CBS All Access, which costs six dollars a month, which works out to around a buck fifty an episode — which is honestly low-balling how much we’d be willing to pay for this show on iTunes or Amazon, but still feels like a lot.
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