The Good Fight Season 5 Episode 1 Review: Previously On
Jessica Lerner
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A hot mess.
That's the only way to describe The Good Fight Season 5 Episode 1.
It's a shame the season opener had to be such a dumpster fire, but there wasn't exactly another way in hindsight.
After a truncated fourth season, the writers were forced to wrap up the remaining plot threads and find a satisfying sendoff for Adrian and Lucca, two characters who have been there since the beginning.
It was a difficult task, and fast-forwarding to the present made it worse.
Adrian: I’m writing the book I want to write. You all do what you want to do. Now is not the time to talk positively.
Ruth: Adrian, just listen to me. I saw what happened too. I saw it, but the only way to bring change is to not give into anger.
Adrian: You’re kidding me? Giving into anger is the only sane response right now. Understand? Look at that.
Ruth: I understand. You’re not hearing me.
Adrian: Look at the fricking screen.
Ruth: You think I didn’t see it?
Adrian: Are you hearing me? Are you watching?
Ruth: Listen to me…
Adrian: Don’t tell me I’m not listening. You have nothing to say to me right now. Goddammit, nothing. Stop talking and listen.
Most of the installment was a disjointed series of scenes, poorly put together, as the writers raced through 2020.
They also had the horrible idea to include every travesty that's happened over the past several months.
Having the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack back-to-back-to-back-to-back, all in 50 minutes, was almost too much to bear.
We were bombarded with every bad thing that has happened since March 2020 at warp speed, and it was too much to take.
We're not at a point yet where these horrible events have lost their potency -- though I'm not sure they ever will -- and it was overwhelming to see them play out.
The Good Fight has never shied away from incorporating real-life events into the show's fabric, but this installment took that a step too far.
It's one thing for the series to open with Diane watching Trump win the 2016 Presidential election; it's another thing entirely for us to have to witness all the terrible things over the past year right on top of each other.
These events didn't take up a majority of the episode, but their presence still lingered, making it nearly impossible to focus on the good stuff, of which there was some.
Lucca: If I kill someone tonight, I will hire you to defend me but only if you get a degree and pass the bar.
Marissa: Really? You’d hire me if you killed someone?
Lucca: I might go out tonight and kill someone.
Marissa: I love you too. Why are you leaving here? I’ll miss you.
Lucca: Because they won’t pay me what I deserve. Anyway, I thought they fired you.
Marissa: But they didn’t mean it. It’s like the smoothie place. They kept trying to fire me, and I just kept showing up.
Marissa, as always, was an absolute delight and her going to law school was unexpected but still enjoyable.
She'll make a kickass lawyer one day, and I love how she decided to become a lawyer after getting fed up with her current job as an investigator.
It took guts to pivot careers, but she did it with her typical Marissa flare.
And while Marissa may not be a lawyer yet, the assumption is she'll work at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart while still in law school, similar to how Rachel did on Suits while at Columbia Law School.
That should yield plenty of fun, as Marissa can already swim circles around the other associates.
She really is one of the best characters on the show.
Diane was also in peak form and such fun to watch.
Whether she was prepping for oral arguments before the Supreme Court, kicking Kurt out of the living room as she watched the election results roll in, or defending Julius in court, she was utter perfection.
Diane: You don’t have to stay here. Watch FOX in the other room.
Kurt: I’m fine. I th5ink you need it more.
Diane: Yes, but Kurt, if you stay, I know this isn't sensible, but Trump seems to get more votes when you’re sitting on this couch.
Kurt: Are you serious?
Diane: I am so deathly serious. Whenever you’re sitting here, Arizona goes for Trump. Humor me. Just go in the other room. No, no, no kiss. If you kiss me, we’ll lose Georgia.
Kurt: Uh, if you lose, we’ll be fine, right?
Diane: Kurt, let me just say this. I’m only saying that I won’t be fine, so the universe will grant me a win.
Kurt: Understand.
There isn't anything Christine Baranski can't do, and her seamlessly oscillating between the lighter moments with her on-screen husband to the darker ones when her character discovered RBG had died further proved that.
Diane also has an interesting arc coming up this season, hinted at throughout the installment about whether she, a white woman, should be a name partner at an African-American firm.
After a truncated fourth season, the writers were forced to wrap up the remaining plot threads and find a satisfying sendoff for Adrian and Lucca, two characters who have been there since the beginning.
Liz doesn't seem to have made up her mind on how she'll respond to the other partners' request to demote Diane, but Diane plans to fight for her position.
It's a worthwhile exploration and one of the only parts of incorporating current events that worked.
There's been a nationwide racial reckoning since the killing of George Floyd, and the subsequent eruption of Black Lives Matter protests amid calls for more diversity and greater representation.
Race has always been woven into The Good Fight's fabric, and the series has never shied away from having those difficult conversations.
However, it's more important than ever to have them, and I'm excited to see where this storyline goes.
And then there were Adrian and Lucca's exits, one of which worked better than the other.
As annoying, unlikable, and pushy as Bianca was on The Good Fight Season 4, her friendship with Lucca provided a relatively believable departure for the young lawyer.
Lucca: God, I’m gonna miss you guys. I’m gonna miss this. It made me smile. I didn’t smile much before you guys.
Marissa: I smiled all the time, but I didn’t mean it.
Jay: So this is goodbye.
Marissa: I think I’m crying, so probably.
Lucca: I have to go. This is getting too emotional. Goodbye.
Marissa: Goodbye, Lucca. You were one of the best.
Lucca: No, but together we really were.
Bianca offering Lucca a job to work for her made perfect sense.
And while we're sad to see Lucca go, the decision to leave Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart has been a long time coming.
Lucca has felt undervalued and underappreciated at the firm for a while, and it's hard to argue to the tune of $1.3 million.
Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart refused to pay Lucca what she deserved, and with such a lucrative job offer on the table, she would have been a fool not to take it.
Bianca can be a handful, but Lucca doesn't seem to find her as irritating and grating as I do, even considering the billionaire a friend.
It's a good deal any way you slice it, and as much as we'll miss Lucca, we can rest easy knowing she's living it up in London.
And then there's Adrian, whose departure was more confusing than anything else.
Resigning from the firm to run in 2024 was an OK reason for Adrian to leave the show, but that all changed when President Biden chose Kamala Harris as his vice president.
Liz: You sure you know what you’re doing?
Adrian: No, but I’m all about improvisation, right? What about you two?
Liz: Well, it’s going to be interesting.
Adrian: Liz, Diane is a terrific lawyer, but this firm belongs to you. Your dad built it. He did Liz, despite all his faults. You got to run this place the way you want. This is a Black firm. After today, the world needs Black firms. You got me?
Liz: I got it.
Suddenly, there was no need for Adrian, as only one African-American Democratic presidential candidate was needed.
So what was the workaround? Well, someone decided that Adrian should move to Atlanta, a place where he's never lived before.
It made very little sense why he would uproot his life even after his relationship with Charlotte fell apart.
His home and family are in Chicago and at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart, so leaving the Windy City for the New York of the South felt random and just plain weird.
He didn't even have a game plan on what his life would like after moving to Atlanta, not appearing to have lined up a job or a place to live.
I'm not sure what would have been a better sendoff for the character, but I know it's not this.
Some stray thoughts:
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Julius being pardoned by Trump was terrific. It was ludicrous, of course, but still pretty great. After his brief stint in prison, his career as a federal judge is most likely over, and with Lucca leaving, there's a spot open at Reddick, Boseman, & Lockhart. Could Julius be rejoining the ranks? Seems likely.
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Jay being a COVID long hauler is something I'm excited to see play out. Not many TV shows have incorporated the lasting effects COVID can have, so it'll be interesting. Not sure what's up with the hallucinations, but I'll give the series the benefit of the doubt.
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It seems that Memo 618 is a thing of the past. We never did find out everything, but maybe some storylines were better left in 2020. Out with the old and in with the new. There's plenty to keep us entertained moving forward.
So what did you think, Good Fight Fanatics?
Did you hate the time jumps?
Were you overwhelmed by everything?
What are your thoughts on Adrian's and Lucca's exits?
Don't forget to hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts.
Jessica Lerner was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in October 2021.
