The Good Wife Season 2 episode 21 Music

The fifth season of The Good Wife began airing on September 29, 2013, airing Sundays at 9:00 p.m. The season received critical acclaim, with the general consensus calling it the series' best season. The show's critical resurgence and creative renaissance garnered the series many accolades, including the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama and the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama.

Table of Contents Show

Recurring[edit]
Reception[edit]
Awards and nominations[edit]

Recurring[edit]

Reception[edit]

The fifth season of The Good Wife received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 100% certified fresh rating based on 20 reviews.[5] The website's consensus reads, "The verdict is in: The Good Wife is a solid adult drama, with a delicately fine-tuned performance from Julianna Margulies and storylines that become increasingly absorbing as they progress."[6]

Scott D. Pierce, of the Salt Lake Tribune remarked: "I cannot imagine that any series on any network is going to come up with an episode better than [the October 27, 2013 episode]. Television doesn't get any better than this."[7] James Poniewozik of TIME: "A civil war breaks out in the office, and "Hitting the Fan" proves, if there was any doubt, why The Good Wife is currently the best thing on TV outside cable."[8] Chris Harnick; News Editor, HuffPost TV: "'Hitting The Fan' May Be The Best Episode Ever"[9] Stephen Marche of Esquire: "The Good Wife" is network TV's most intellectually ambitious show. It's a rare show that starts to come into its own in the middle of its fifth season, but somehow CBS's The Good Wife has managed to do it. This season has been among the strongest I've seen, and the last two episodes may be the best television produced this year.[10] Phil Dyess-Nugent of The A.V. Club wrote that "My recollection is that it was not one of the greatly anticipated new shows of the fall 2009 season, but for four years now, it's been a great example of a network show refusing to calcify and settle into formula. There was a scene in a recent episode where Robyn came to Kalinda to beg for her old job back, and Kalinda instead counseled her to make herself invaluable to her new bosses; it was what Kalinda had to do herself, and she tells Robyn, "Losing a job changes you." That line could be on this show's coat of arms."[11] Patrick Freyne of the Irish Times: "The Good Wife [is] the best-made, most nuanced show on television"[12]

The season received numerous accolades including three Golden Globe Award nominations, two TCA Award nominations, a field-leading five Critics' Choice Television Award nominations, and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including mentions for its stars Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, and Christine Baranski. Margulies ended up winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in "The Last Call".

Awards and nominations[edit]

During the January 12, 2014 episode, "We, the Juries", snippets of three songs from Bruce Springsteen's new album, High Hopes, which was released two days later, were featured. CBS struck a deal with Springsteen's record label to promote the new album, which will also be streamed through CBS.com from 10pm on January 12 to 7pm on January 13. Writer Keith Eisner, who is from Springsteen's home state of New Jersey said the deal came together after the season's 12th episode had been written and filmed, but not yet edited. He said when he heard of Springsteen's songs being used he literally jumped up and down in excitement. "High Hopes", "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Hunter of Invisible Game" were the songs featured at various points in the episode. CBS said this was a way to gain wider exposure for the album in an unconventional way, and lure his baby boomer fans to the show and the top-rated network's website.[13]

The second season of The Good Wife received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 100% certified fresh rating based on 21 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Good Wife's sophomore season explores exciting new layers of the show's meticulous mythology."[25] On Metacritic, the second season of the show currently sits at an 89 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]