Thankfully though, “The Good Fight” is no longer a show about white women at a Black law firm and so can now plumb what it means for Diane (and to a lesser extent Sarah Steele’s Marissa Gold) to be a white leader in a Black space with balance and acuity. In fact, this conflict drove the season with Diane trying to convince Liz to re-imagine Reddick-Lockhart as woman-led rather than Black-led firm. It’s a classic left-y question—what should we prioritize, race or gender?—and it’s one that consistently leaves out Black women. Even though they’re the people who arguably have the most at stake and the most to say. Making Liz the arbitrator of the race-or-gender debate on "The Good Fight" was fresh, realistic, and compelling.
The other big sticking point of season five was the validity of the legal system itself. Is it viable? Or is it too corrupt, inefficient, and/or prejudiced? Plenty of courtroom dramas investigate this question but rarely do they propose an answer. “The Good Fight” tried in no less likable a person than the universally beloved Mandy Patinkin. He played “Judge” Hal Wackner, a rogue justice seeker who created his own court with his own rules in an attempt to fix the many problems of our current system. But when he landed billionaire investment, started handling criminal cases, and inspired copycats, had he gone too far? The answer depends on your frame of reference, and “The Good Fight” leaves it up to us to decide.
Indeed, this season is all about our internal conflicts. Yes, the outside world does impose a little (mostly in Diane’s husband Kurt getting implicated in the storming of the Capital) but the meat is in how we ultimately define ourselves. What is justice? What is right? What is wrong? And what is our role, if any, in pushing the needle toward fairness? At one point in their on-going struggle over what the law firm should be, Liz tells Diane, “You’re a good person” and Diane retorts, “No, I’m not.” They don’t settle that one, and, as a viewer and fan of Diane’s, I’m not sure who I agree with. It’s a small, provocative moment and one that’s stuck with me. It also perfectly embodies the genius of the fifth season of “The Good Fight,” the one where the enemy is vanquished and so somehow becomes ourselves.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmrKyimq6utc2gZq2glWK0sLvDZp2in5ipeqS7zKmjopuRqbK0ec6uqWaanJawrHnAp5tmr5iewaZ51qippZw%3D