The Good Wife - Complete Season 1 [DVD]

Enjoyed every minute of this 1st series of the Good Wife. Julianna Mergulies plays the role of the disgraced politician's wife to perfection. The series is a great combination of interesting legal dramas intertwined with Alicia Florrick's journey as she finds herself managing as a single mother, balancing the demands of new career with needs of her teenage children as well as the social and political pressure as former State's Attorney's wife. Can't wait for series two.

Initially, it seemed a little bit formulaic -new case to win, more revelations about her imprisoned husband (for corruption) and his extra-marital affairs, new eccentric judge -but while it never did really vary much from this formula, I stopped caring because on the whole the show was just too damn good in every other respect. This is down simply to good writing, involving characters, and a damn fine cast of actors firing on all cylinders.

Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick) is a revelation as the main character: she's very self-controlled, trying to keep her family together (she has a teenage son and daughter), trying to decide her feelings for her estranged husband and for her new boss (who is an old friend), trying to do a good job as a lawyer and beat off competition for a permanent post from a confident younger man, and more.

Josh Charles (Will Gardner) is an actor I've never come across but he's terrific as one of the (financially vulnerable) firm's three partners. Overtly charming, you're never sure if he's genuinely nice or wearinga false face. Is his interest in Alicia genuine or opportunistic. Christine Baranski (always good value) is the second partner (the third is mostly absent) and less than altruistic.

Chris Noth (Peter Florrick) is appropriately charismatic as the disgraced and imprisoned D.A. but again his motives are always suspect. Is he innocent of corruption, has he repented his liaisons with prostitutes, does he genuinely love his wife, etc?

And then as the firm's investigator Kalinda, there's Archie Panjabi an Anglo-Asian actress whom I was vaguely familiar with but can now state I think she's brilliant. And hotter than hell. Her character is intensely private, strong, cynical, with lots of contacts. Her sexuality is a matter for much speculation (particularly in the lesbians in the media website AfterEllen). Panjabi steals scene after scene and well deserved her Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

I could go on listing the various other key characters and how good the actors are but that would get boring. Suffice to say that the rest of the cast is uniformly strong. Alan Cumming arrives late in the series, but to good effect, as Peter Florrick's new manager.

This is a genuinely rivetting show packed with characters whose motives and allegiances are uncertain, a murky swamp that the vulnerable heroine has to negotiate in more ways than one. The various crimes/trials themsemselves are always interesting and, again, often morally ambiguous. One minor quibble is that the law firm tends to be on the side of good a little too often for plausibility and they also win a little too often. But despite that I really do highly recommend this DVD. I watched it all in less than a week and couldn't wait to get back to it.

The reason this stands out for me is because it is from the defences point of view. The only other legal dramas I watch, and I'm not sure you can even call them that, are the law and orders, so this was for me a new experience. Alicia florrick is well played, very subtlety and believably by juliann a Marguiles. Her simple acting is for me one of the best things about the show, she isn't too out there, she seems very real and natural. Similarly with all the other characters, calinda, will, carey anD particularly Diane. The relationship between them is also very believable. The simmering relationship between Will and Alicia is so well played, I am glad the way it continued in season 2 (I won't say what this is). The finale of season 1 is simply brilliant, one of the most OMG moments of TV, and completely unpredictable. The children of Peter and Alicia are well entwined into the story, how they react to the disaster that has hit their family is fascinating to watch.

Alan cumming as Eli gold is one of those characters you don't know where you stand with, he's very ambiguous, you don't quite know where he is going, whether he is good or bad, but you really want to find out.

The slow pace with which this starts is intriguing, definitely one of the better elements of a brilliant show.

Definitely recommended