Eli's Desk

What’s up with “The Good Wife”?

“The Good Wife” is a legal drama by acclaimed showrunners Robert and Michelle King that aired from 2009 to 2016. Starring Julianna Margulies in its eponymous role, the show has consistently brought on a dizzying array of stars into its episodes – such as Alan Cumming, Nathan Lane, and Matthew Perry.

Far from being a run-of-the-mill legal procedural, “The Good Wife” has surpassed expectations with its exceptionally realistic portrayal of the American justice system. As much as it sought to create drama in the courtroom, it did so with respect to how American law actually worked.

For me, “The Good Wife” inspired my interest in law. Of course, I had grown up with my fair staple of Hong Kong law dramas. But as with most American legal dramas, they were chock full of dramatic courtroom scenes whose main export was grandstanding rather than an explanation of how the law worked. “The Good Wife” was the first show I watched that delved into the legal world with such eager wonkishness. It used each episode to take apart the legal system and show me how one part worked, such that by the time I had finished several seasons, I had a cohesive understanding of how the American justice system worked.

Beyond the law, “The Good Wife” extends this conscientiousness to other fields, such as accounting, politics and government. These are all topics which advise us on how to formally structure ourselves – be it as an organization pursuing profit, or how to ensure the equitable distribution of power in society. All too often, we are confronted with formal systems that appear scarily complex. We respond either with cynicism (“the deep state” / “governments and corporations are all evil”) or apathy (“it’s too boring” / “I don’t care about politics”). But like it or not – people are using these systems, and we must get to understand them before resigning our fates. “The Good Wife” is an especially meaningful vessel to explore these concepts, because it always starts from the ground-up and helps us build a step-by-step understanding of large formal structures.

Therefore, in this blog series, I will analyze one concept derived from each Good Wife episode – be it legal, accounting or political.

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