The Good Wife (season 7)

The Good Wife (season 7)
Country of origin	United States
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 4, 2015 – present

The seventh and final season of The Good Wife was ordered on May 11, 2015 by CBS. It premiered on October 4, 2015 on CBS.^[1] It was announced in a commercial that aired during Super Bowl 50 that the seventh season would be the final season of The Good Wife.^[2]

Cast

Main

• Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick (21 episodes)
• Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos (21 episodes)
• Alan Cumming as Eli Gold (21 episodes)
• Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn (21 episodes)
• Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick (11 episodes)
• Zach Grenier as David Lee (13 episodes)
• Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick (2 episodes)
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Jason Crouse (18 episodes)
• Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart (21 episodes)

Recurring

• Margo Martindale as Ruth Eastman (13 episodes)
• Chris Noth as Peter Florrick (12 episodes)
• Jerry Adler as Howard Lyman (10 episodes)
• Christopher McDonald as Judge Don Schakowsky (7 episodes)
• Nicole Roderick as Nora (7 episodes)
• Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning (7 episodes)
• Sarah Steele as Marissa Gold (6 episodes)
• Nikki M. James as Monica Timmons (6 episodes)
• Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick (5 episodes)
• Chris Butler as Matan Brody (5 episodes)
• Will Patton as Mike Tascioni (4 episodes)
• Matthew Morrison as Connor Fox (5 episodes)
• Vanessa L. Williams as Courtney Paige (4 episodes)
• Stockard Channing as Veronica Loy (3 episodes)
• Mike Pniewski as Frank Landau (3 episodes)
• Peter Gallagher as Ethan Carver (3 episodes)
• Brian Muller as Brian Carter (3 episodes)
• Rob Bartlett as Bernie Bukovitz (3 episodes)
• Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh (2 episodes)
• Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh (3 episodes)
• Kurt Fuller as Judge Peter Dunaway (2 episodes)
• Dominic Chianese as Judge Michael Marx (2 episodes)
• Mo Rocca as Ted Willoughby (2 episodes)

Guest

• Christian Borle as Carter Schmidt (1 episode)
• Amy Irving as Phyllis Barsetto (1 episode)
• Mamie Gummer as Nancy Crozier (1 episode)
• Bridget Regan as Madeline Smulders (1 episode)
• David Krumholtz as Josh Mariner (1 episode)
• John Benjamin Hickey as Neil Gross (1 episode)
• Patrick Breen as Captain Terrence Hicks (1 episode)
• Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni (1 episode)
• Denis O'Hare as Judge Charles Abernathy (1 episode)
• Anna Camp as Caitlyn D'Arcy (1 episode)
• Zach Woods as Jeff Dellinger (1 episode)
• Renée Elise Goldsberry as Geneva Pine (1 episode)
• David Paymer as Judge Richard Cuesta (1 episode)

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
135	1	"Bond"	Brooke Kennedy	Robert King & Michelle King	October 4, 2015	9.25[3]
Alicia attempts to revive her law career by working as a bond court attorney, representing indigent defendants and practicing privately. In her first day at bond court, she befriends a fellow attorney, Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo), who passes cases off to her as a favor. Meanwhile, Louis Canning tries to attract Alicia to work for him, but she rejects the offer, which makes him set Alicia's next case up against Diane and David Lee, unbeknownst to her. After Alicia agrees to support it, Peter rushes to launch his VP campaign, deciding to fire Eli and hire a national campaign manager, Ruth Eastman (Margo Martindale). Eli decides to seek revenge against Peter and Ruth by becoming Alicia's campaign manager and revive her image. At Lockhart, Agos & Lee, Cary laments the outmoded work culture and decides to open up to the younger associates.
136	2	"Innocents"	Jim McKay	Craig Turk	October 11, 2015	8.82[4]
Alicia argues a case regarding the vandalism of a museum photo, which escalates into a potentially lucrative civil dispute between a son and his mother's attempts at exhibiting naked photos. Lucca sits second chair on the case, while Alicia tries out a new investigator, who botches her assignments as the opposition gains valuable information. As Lockhart, Agos & Lee also look for a new investigator to replace Kalinda, Cary attempts to address associate concerns regarding senior partner Howard Lyman, but ends up antagonizing him and causing difficulty within the firm. Alicia finally settles on Jason Crouse (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as her investigator, who spurns a better offer from Diane to work with Alicia instead. Meanwhile, Eli's appointment as Alicia's chief of staff is initially vetoed by Peter, but he concedes and allows him to work with her, much to Ruth's discontent. In a strategic move, Alicia tries to smooth things over with Democratic Party committee leader, Frank Landau (Mike Pniewski), who torpedoed her State's Attorney campaign.
137	3	"Cooked"	Michael Zinberg	Luke Schelhaas	October 18, 2015	8.09[5]
Alicia takes on a new case involving a defendant who synthesized a designer drug, an apparent analogue to gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid. The case entangles Alicia in an undercover FBI-lead task force operation involving judicial bribery. Howard Lyman, fearing getting pushed out of Lockhart, Agos and Lee, approaches Alicia for legal advice for a possible ageism suit. While at her house, Howard meets Jackie and begins a relationship with her. Diane agrees with the partners to offload excess case work to Alicia in an attempt to prevent Alicia from becoming Canning's pawn. On the VP campaign, Ruth pushes Eli to convince Alicia and her mother Veronica to appear on a cooking reality TV show. Not surprisingly, the encounter goes awry, much to Ruth's annoyance.
138	4	"Taxed"	Jim McKay	Leonard Dick	October 25, 2015	8.82[6]
Reese Dipple appoints his general counsel Ethan Carver (Peter Gallagher) to liaise with Lockhart, Agos and Lee and he compels Diane to take over a case advocating against euthanasia. Ethan suggests to Cary that he speak to Alicia to lobby Peter to veto an imminent Physician Assisted Suicide bill. Eli happens to overhear the conversation between Alicia and Cary and schemes behind the Florrick family's back in an attempt to annoy Ruth. Alicia comes across a case where an African-American woman is wrongly accused of stealing from a clothing store.
139	5	"Payback"	Craig Zisk	Stephanie Sengupta	November 1, 2015	7.55[7]
Eli gets desperate witnessing Peter's vice presidential campaign unfold without him at the helm. His daughter, Marissa, wanting him to move on, urges Alicia to fire him. Alicia and Lucca, agreeing to partner, take on the case of a student debtor trying to stave off harassment from a debt collection agency. Realizing the potential for a lucrative contingency fee, they convince their client to instead sue the private college where she incurred the debt, while Jason deals with the agency. Cary and Howard Lyman clash again, to the point Lyman demands a mediation, which Diane agrees to chair to stave off an ageism lawsuit.
140	6	"Lies"	James Whitmore	Erica Shelton Kodish	November 8, 2015	8.27[8]
Alicia and Lucca take on the case of a former company vice president fired for failing a polygraph lie detector test. Concerned about her investigator's previous career as an attorney and subsequent disbarment, Alicia decides to investigate Jason's history. Ruth believes Peter's upward trend in the polls might give him an actual chance to run for President, something which prompts her to reach out to Eli. Diane, Cary, and David decide to hire three new associates, and face a contentious decision when faced with the choice of hiring a young African-American lawyer. Eli, still scheming behind Ruth's back, discovers that Peter played a role in the hacking of election voting machines last year that brought down Alicia's State's Attorney campaign.
141	7	"Driven"	David Dworetzky	Tyler Bensinger	November 15, 2015	8.52[9]
Louis Canning refers to Alicia the case of a defendant accused of recklessly crashing a self-driving car into another vehicle. Alicia is pitted against both Canning and Diane & Cary from her old firm. Eli, worried about how Peter and Alicia's marriage is perceived to the media, tries to arrange for them to temporarily live together. Alicia makes good on her agreement to vote with Frank Landau after being appointed to the election board. Eli tries to arrange for Peter to meet with a wealthy CEO to donate to Peter's campaign with a fake birthday party for Grace. Meanwhile, Jackie becomes engaged to Howard Lyman, much to Peter's disapproval.
142	8	"Restraint"	Matt Shakman	Adam R. Perlman	November 22, 2015	7.81[10]
Ethan Carver asks Diane to argue a case that she strongly disagrees with politically. Involving pro-life and pro-choice advocates, the case's high profile displeases several clients of Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Alicia and Lucca debate ways to bring more business to their firm, and decide to poach clients from Louis Canning. Grace tries to help out in her own way and is able to land the firm new clients. Eli refers billionaire Courtney Paige to Alicia for legal advice after she decides to raise the minimum pay to more than $70,000 per year for all of her employees. Jason, while still investigating for Alicia and Lucca, begins working part-time as an investigator for Lockhart, Agos and Lee.
143	9	"Discovery"	Rosemary Rodriguez	Joey Scavuzzo & Aaron Slavick	November 29, 2015	7.94[11]
Alicia and Lucca agree to co-counsel alongside Louis Canning defending Chum-hum in a racially motivated tortious interference case against an African-American restaurant owner that went out of business, blaming the racial bias inherent in the Chum-hum's maps application. Both sides trudge through massive amounts of emails, photos and other documents during the discovery process attempting to find a breakthrough. Ruth become suspicious of the nature of Alicia and Jason's relationship, which invokes Eli's concern. Ruth and Eli both discover Jason personally investigated Alicia. Eli convenes a focus group to assess how far Alicia's rehabilitation is going in an attempt to convince her to run for a state Senate seat.
144	10	"KSR"	Jim McKay	Craig Turk	December 13, 2015	8.49[12]
Lockhart, Agos and Lee are abandoned by their newly hired associates, right in the middle of a highly technical case representing Ethan Carver just before a filing deadline. Diane decides to hire the one associate they didn't the first time while Cary tries to stop the associates from working for Louis Canning. Alicia and Lucca represent a respected surgeon accused of conspiring to kidnap, sedate, and rape the mother of one of his patients. Alicia loses her investigator after Ruth asks Eli's girlfriend, Courtney Paige, to hire him for two months out of town in an attempt to remove him from her life. The jury finds Alicia's client guilty, but the judge vacates the verdict as a matter of law, which Alicia suspects he did because Eli warned him about an impending bribery sting. Stung from breaking up with Courtney Paige, Eli confesses to Alicia that it was he who deleted a voicemail message she received from Will Gardner six years ago.
145	11	"Iowa"	Matt Shakman	Erica Shelton Kodish	January 10, 2016	7.65[13]
Alicia, Peter and the rest of her family ride through Iowa attempting to visit every single county for the caucus vote. Extremely angered by Eli's confession, Alicia ruminates on the possibilities of what might have been had she chosen to be with Will Gardner instead of Peter; she also ignores Eli and agrees with Ruth to spite him. Lucca represents Jackie Florrick in pre-nuptial negotiations with her fiancé Howard Lyman. Diane and Cary face a state discriminatory hiring investigation. David Lee squirrelled away $2.2 million in Howard Lyman's name in attempt to prevent Alicia from getting a better exit package when she was running for State's Attorney.
146	12	"Tracks"	Félix Alcalá	Stephanie Sengupta	January 17, 2016	8.96[14]
Alicia's neighbors become annoyed at her running her law firm from her apartment, and attempt to serve her an eviction notice which Grace tries to resolve by herself. With Peter's presidential campaign over, Eli returns to becomes Peter's Chief of Staff and before leaving, Ruth warns Eli regarding Peter's continuing viability as a Governor. Alicia and Cary team up representing an old client to try to defend him against his former record label's assertion of a song he wrote. Cary offers Lucca and Alicia a chance to come back to Lockhart, Agos, Lee. Marissa, finding out about Eli's confession urges Alicia to forgive Eli.
147	13	"Judged"	Rosemary Rodriguez	Tyler Bensinger	January 31, 2016	8.03[15]
Alicia decides to sue a sitting judge after a former bond client of hers reveals he has been in prison for eight months on a minor misdemeanor charge. Alicia and Lucca lose the case only to be subject to a malpractice suit by the same client. Cary Agos agrees to represent her and Lucca. Alicia still aches from the missed voice mail from Will, and tries to elicit more detail from Eli about it before forgiving him entirely. Freelance investigator Jason Crouse returns from California, and takes up work with both Dianne and Alicia; helping Dianne in arbitration attempting to prevent the defunding of a school newspaper, and in Alicia's malpractice suit. Cary offers Alicia one more time to rejoin Lockhart, Agos and Lee, but only as a junior partner.
148	14	"Monday"	Nelson McCormick	Leonard Dick	February 14, 2016	7.96[16]
Alicia returns to work at Lockhart, Agos and Lee, alongside Lucca. She finds difficulty adjusting to worklife back at the firm when she and Lucca take on the case of the firm's own IT director who discovers a prototype device and is approached by media outlets to sell it. Eli's daughter, Marissa is approached by an FBI agent who tries to elicit information about people in Alicia's life, including Ruth, who urges her to leave Peter. Eli deduces that the FBI are after Peter.
149	15	"Targets"	David Dworetzky	Luke Schelhaas	February 21, 2016	7.91[17]
Alicia is appointed to join a panel of lawyers and attorneys for the Pentagon to reach a legal justification for the targeted killing of an American civilian who recruits for ISIS. After definitely gaining confirmation that the FBI is investigating Peter, Eli tries to hire Elsbeth Tascioni, but she recuses herself after realising she could be conflicted out due to a client she represents. Eli hires Elsbeth's ex husband, Mike Tascioni in an attempt to find out who that client might be. Jason Crouse is hired by David and Cary in an attempt to discern if Dianne is trying to turn the firm into a female-only run firm. Alicia and Jason become lovers.
150	16	"Hearing"	Félix Alcalá	Adam R. Perlman	March 6, 2016	7.27[18]
Alicia and Jason spend the weekend together, only to be interrupted by her mother and brother. Veronica seeks Alicia's help after she was apparently scammed out of money. A grand jury is empanelled against Peter, headed by AUSA Connor Fox (Matthew Morrison). Eli, with Alicia's help is able to determine that the premise of the investigation is based on a prosecution Cary was involved with in 2012. David Lee and Cary ask Alicia if Diane has approached her about forming an all-female firm. Soon after, Diane approaches Alicia about pushing Cary out as named partner.
151	17	"Shoot"	Frederick E. O. Toye	Stephanie Sengupta	March 20, 2016	8.08[19]
Diane and Cary represent a client who is being accused of defamation after paying for a billboard ad that asserts a gun store ultimately is responsible for his daughter's death, due to the former's irresponsible business practices. Alicia is next to be deposed by the grand jury and with Eli's help is able to develop a strategy in an attempt to encourage the doubts of an incredulous grand juror. Alicia's daughter, Grace is accused of plagiarising her college admissions essay. Alicia witnesses Jason meet and kiss another woman at a bar, and comes to a realization about the nature of their relationship.
152	18	"Unmanned"	James Whitmore	Tyler Bensinger	March 27, 2016	7.51[20]
Alicia and Diane argue a privacy case for billionaire Reese Dipple, representing a therapist who sues a security company over a drone due to concerns about privacy for himself and his patients and he shoots down the drone in the course of the trial. The opposition is represented by former Lockhart/Gardner associate Caitlyn D'Arcy. AUSA Connor Fox attempts to use Marissa to force Eli into testifying against Peter, prompting Eli to hire Diane as his attorney. Jason encounters Peter in Alicia's house for the first time, which prompts Alicia to ask Peter for a divorce. Peter, on the verge of being indicted, asks Alicia to hold off the divorce until after his trial. Against Cary's wishes, Diane and David vote to promote Alicia to the rank of named partner again, prompting Cary to resign and allow Diane to buy him out of the firm. Cary is subpoenaed to testify in Peter's upcoming trial.
153	19	"Landing"	Phil Alden Robinson	Luke Schelhaas	April 17, 2016	8.55[21]
Jeff Dellinger, a former NSA employee, changes his mind at the last minute at the US preclearance area at the Toronto airport. This starts a tug of war between the US and Canada over jurisdiction with Alicia and Luca at his side. He eventually seeks asylum, which Canada grants, much to the dismay of the US representative at the hearing. Meanwhile AUSA Connor Fox arrests Peter Florrick at Alicia's apartment. And Peter is offered a plea deal, which he rejects. Kurt wants to sell his business to be closer to Diane and asks Diane to check the sale contract.
154	20	"Party"	Rosemary Rodriguez	Leonard Dick	April 24, 2016	8.49[22]
Alicia hosts a party for Jackie's and Howard's Ketubah signing. Her brother Owen, her mother Veronica, Zack and Grace, Eli, his daughter Marissa, Peter, Diane and her husband Kurt all attend. Zack arrives with his girlfriend and announces his intent to marry her and move to France, something which both Peter and Alicia disapprove of. Peter loses his trial lawyer, Mike Tascioni, because his dog Tom is sick. Eli hires Jason to find incriminating evidence against Peter. Diane proposes to Alicia she becomes one of two named partners alongside herself, renaming the firm to Lockhart, Florrick and Associates. Cary hires Louis Canning to represent him during Peter's trial. Jackie discovers that Alicia is divorcing Peter.
155	21	"Verdict"	Michael Zinberg	Craig Turk	May 1, 2016	9.19[23]
Peter's trial begins with Diane defending him in court. Alicia and Eli try their hardest to keep Peter out of jail. The firm's conference room wall is accidentally destroyed when tradesmen mistake Lockhart, Florrick and Associates for another law firm, which forces the firm to evacuate to a lower floor. Diane tries to lure more female lawyers in an attempt to expand the firm, but faces opposition from David Lee who threateans a sex discrimination suit. Alicia hires Jason to investigate for Peter's trial, which puts him in an awkward position. Jason confides to Lucca his fear that if Peter is convicted, Alicia will not divorce him but will stand by him because it's in her character to be self-sacrificing. Diane asks her husband, Kurt to testify for her in Peter's trial which pits him against one of his own former star pupil, who embarrasses him by claiming that Kurt oversells his findings to the benefit of his clients. Alicia, through Louis Canning tries to keep Cary on the same side. Geneva Pine is a surprise witness against Peter. Canning gives Alicia evidence that Pine is lying in revenge for his ending their affair but Peter denies the affair and orders his lawyers not to use Canning's evidence. AUSA Connor Fox offers a plea bargain of two years in jail, which Peter decides to accept however before he can communicate his decision to Fox, Alicia and Peter are notified that the jury has reached a verdict.
156	22	"End"[24]	Robert King[25]	Robert King & Michelle King [26]	May 8, 2016[27]	TBD

Reception

The seventh and final season of The Good Wife received outstanding positive acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 100% fresh rating based on 12 reviews.^[28] The website's consensus reads, "Reinvigorated storylines and an even stronger cast keep The Good Wife fresh in its seventh season - and away from the doldrums that overcome many long-running dramas."^[29]

References

1. "CBS ANNOUNCES A MULTI-PHASE ROLLOUT FOR FALL 2015-2016 PRIMETIME PREMIERE DATES". CBS. June 9, 2015. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
2. Welch, Alex (February 7, 2016). "'The Good Wife' set to end after its current season". Tv by the Numbers.com. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
3. Porter, Rick (October 6, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'Blood & Oil,' 'The Simpsons' adjusted up, 'Madam Secretary' adjusted down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
4. Porter, Rick (October 13, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'The Good Wife' and 'Last Man on Earth' adjusted up, plus final NFL numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
5. Porter, Rick (October 20, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'The Good Wife', 'Madam Secretary' and 'The Simpsons' adjusted up, plus Final NFL Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
6. Porter, Rick (October 27, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'The Simpsons', 'The Good Wife' and 'Last Man on Earth' adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
7. Porter, Rick (November 3, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'CSI: Cyber' adjusts down, NFL and World Series rule". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
8. Porter, Rick (November 10, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'Family Guy' and 'Once Upon a Time' adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
9. Porter, Rick (November 17, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'Madam Secretary' adjusts up, 'CSI: Cyber' rises vs. last week". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
10. Porter, Rick (November 24, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: AMAs and scripted shows steady, plus final NFL numbers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
11. Porter, Rick (December 2, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'Madam Secretary' and '60 Minutes' adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
12. Porter, Rick (December 15, 2015). "Sunday final ratings: 'Blood & Oil' finale adjusts up (not that it matters)". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
13. Porter, Rick (January 12, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Simpsons' still at a season high after adjustment". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
14. Porter, Rick (January 20, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'The Good Wife' and 'Family Guy' adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
15. Porter, Rick (February 2, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Grease Live' and others unchanged". TV by the Numbers.
16. Porter, Rick (February 17, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Bachelor' special and 'Cooper Barrett' adjust up". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
17. Porter, Rick (February 23, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Shark Tank' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
18. Porter, Rick (March 8, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Madam Secretary' adjusts down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
19. Porter, Rick (March 22, 2016). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Madam Secretary,' 'Carmichael Show' and '60 Minutes' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
20. Porter, Rick (March 29, 2016). "Sunday Final Ratings: '60 Minutes' adjusts up, everything else holds". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
21. Porter, Rick (April 19, 2016). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Once Upon a Time,' 'The Good Wife' adjust up, 'Little Big Shots' and 'Crowded' adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
22. Porter, Rick (April 26, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: 'Once Upon a Time,' 'Simpsons' and all others hold". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
23. Porter, Rick (May 3, 2016). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Little Big Shots' adjusts up, 'Carmichael,' 'Crowded' and ACC Awards adjust down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
24. Ausiello, Michael (February 8, 2016). "The Good Wife to End After 7 Seasons". TVLine.
25. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cf5HG1_UEAAwXet.jpg:large
26. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20160414cbs01/
27. CBS says "The Good Wife" will end in May
28. "The Good Wife: Season 7". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
29. "The Good Wife: Season 7". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 2, 2015.