Television

Is The Good Fight Good Enough To Justify Yet Another Streaming Service?

The $64,000 question (or the $5.99 per month question) is whether or not it is worth signing up for yet another streaming service just to watch The Good Fight.

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The Good Fight 2016 Launch Key ArtHow much do you pay for cable? And Netflix? And Amazon Prime? And maybe Hulu? If you are a television aficionado, your cable and streaming service bills likely add up to a significant amount each month. That amount may be palatable given the number of quality shows these days. But CBS has now introduced another streaming service into the mix: CBS All Access. The service was initially created to house current and former CBS programming. Now, though, CBS is airing certain shows exclusively on All Access; it aired a season of Big Brother on the service in the Fall, and now the new legal drama The Good Fight — a spinoff of The Good Wife — is airing there.

The novelty of a CBS drama airing on a streaming service instead of on traditional CBS means that it is difficult to separate The Good Fight from its delivery method. That is too bad, because The Good Fight is a promising show that would have undoubtedly been a big hit on regular CBS. But now, every discussion of The Good Fight’s quality will inevitably revolve around whether the show is good enough to warrant subscribing to yet another streaming service (this review will contain mild spoilers through its first two episodes).

The Good Fight centers on Diane Lockhart, Christine Baranski’s character from The Good Wife (confession time: I never watched The Good Wife. Sorry!). As The Good Fight begins, Diane is about to retire from her firm and move to Italy. Her goddaughter Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) has just joined Diane’s firm as a first year associate. But Maia’s father — and one of Diane’s oldest friends — is arrested for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme, and Diane’s savings are wiped out. Diane’s partners successfully force her out of the firm, and Diane is recruited by one-time adversary Adrian Boseman (Delroy Lindo) to join a predominantly African-American law firm which also employs Diane’s former colleague Lucca Quinn (Cash Jumbo), a mid-level associate. Maia is fired from Diane’s old firm and joins Diane to work with Adrian.

Thanks to being a spinoff, The Good Fight hits the ground running. In the span of an episode, Baranski convincingly portrays Diane’s excitement about retirement, her anger about losing her money, and her reluctant acceptance of her new position. Diane is extremely liberal politically, so the chance to do plaintiffs’ side work appeals to her political views.

Leslie is a very expressive actress and she brings that energy to Maia. We are first introduced to Maia as she is absentmindedly refreshing a webpage to see whether the Illinois bar results have been released. When she finds out she has passed, she breaks out into celebration. Leslie is also able to portray Maia’s serious moments, such as learning of her father’s arrest or her abject terror in having to provide pro bono advice to workers even though she has been an attorney for mere weeks. Leslie was very good on Game of Thrones, particularly her scenes with real-life boyfriend Kit Harrington, and I am glad she has been rewarded with a starring role in a major series.

As with any new show, the supporting characters are hit and miss. Adrian and is definitely the most formed, as Adrian displays his passionate beliefs, whether it is obtaining a high settlement figure for his client or defending why he offers Diane a job. Adrian is also a big Chicago Bulls fan; he amusingly sells Diane to his partners as a “Jimmy Butler” type addition (though he will regret that line if Butler is traded before today’s deadline). But the show has not quite figured out what to do with Adrian’s partner Barbara Kolstad (Erica Tazel), who seems to exist as a buzzkill to Adrian’s plans.

The legal scenes leave something to be desired. The second episode features an evidentiary hearing on a motion to dismiss, complete with cross-examination of witnesses (including an expert witness!). I have said this before, but every legal series should show its scripts to a litigator before filming to avoid obvious mistakes like this.

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There are also several scenes in which Adrian and Diane pitch cases to litigation financers. I definitely appreciate The Good Fight’s attempt to portray litigation finance, which is becoming more and more prevalent. But one of the representatives from the litigation finance firm was a guy in casual clothing hovering over a computer and talking incessantly about what his “algorithm” thinks about each case. This was an overly simplistic view of litigation finance and veered towards a Trouble With the Curve-level antipathy towards data and technology.

The $64,000 question (or the $5.99 per month question) is whether or not it is worth signing up for yet another streaming service just to watch The Good Fight. Without any other relevant shows on CBS All Access, The Good Fight will likely not be enough for many viewers. But it is definitely promising enough that viewers might have to consider it.

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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