The Good Fight 1×10 – “Chaos” Top Moments

Weaving together several dense storylines, The Good Fight manages to tie up its loose ends without going off the rails.

Written before its official season two renewal, The Good Fight deftly wraps up the most important storylines of the season.

After receiving an unfavorable progress report, Maia (Rose Leslie) is instructed to be bolder by following one of the partners around for the day. While Diane (Christine Baranksi) seems to be the obvious choice, she appears to be busy with Dylan Stack (Jason Biggs) – A.K.A. Mr. Bitcoin.

Claiming someone has tampered with his laptop, Stack fears he is being setup for a virtual attack on Chicago’s power grid. Instead of investigation the hack themselves, Lucca (Cush Jumbo) takes the files to her ‘contact’ at just – Colin Morello (Justin Bartha). Turns out Stack’s flash drive served as a Trojan Horse, infecting the DOJ’s system with malware as they downloaded the data. Oops.

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After arresting Lucca for bringing those corrupted files to the A.S.A., none other than Felix Staples (John Cameron Mitchell) testifies she was just an unwitting mule. Desperate for Diane’s approval, Felix draws out Stack – allowing the FBI to arrest him. Good riddance.

Elsewhere, Diane managed to find some time to work on her marriage. After she received a call from the hospital – claiming Kurt (Gary Cole) had been injured in a car accident – she rushed to be by his side. When he was finally released, Diane decided it might be time to patch things up, inviting herself into his house. Yes! #TeamDirt!

This week, Maia finally kicked ass in court as she replaced Adrian (Delroy Lindo) who was uncharacteristically late to the party. While she proved to have great potential as a lawyer, there was no time to celebrate as she learned her father (Paul Guilfoyle) had fled the country. The only person left to take the fall? You guessed it – Maia.

Dylan Stack & Felix Staples – join the revolution.

The season finale of The Good Fight brings back two familiar faces: Dylan Stack (Jason Biggs) – the elusive Mr. Bitcoin – and Felix Staples (John Cameron Mitchell).

Back when Stack made his first appearance in The Good Wife, it became clear his actions were mostly influenced by liberal beliefs. In this particular case, he forms an unorthodox alliance with Alt-Right troll Felix Staples to take out the Chicago power grid. The goal? To take out a number of large financial institutions.

While the two don’t agree ideologically, the end seems to justify the means – and it contrasts beautifully. A Bernie Bro working together with a deplorable. Apparently, party lines are not set in stone when it comes to breaking the law. Luckily, Diane (Christine Baranski) convinced Staples to switch sides, effectively exposing his weak spot – her approval.

Much like Alicia (Julianna Margulies) had Colin Sweeney (Dylan Baker), Diane seems to have found herself an equally strange relationship in Staples.

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“You’re a Bernie Bro?” – Felix Staples
“We don’t need to go there.” – Dylan Stack

Lawyering 101 with Maia Rindell.

The Good Fight kicked off its first hour with the graduation of Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie) from law school. After successfully having passed the bar, Maia seemed destined for greatness as she was mentored by her Godmother – and legal genius – Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski)

While seemingly ready to take on more responsibility, Maia’s wings were clipped because of her father’s multimillion-dollar Ponzi Scheme. Instead of becoming a great lawyer, Maia chose to focus on her family – passing up on the opportunity to make a name for herself.

For most of the show’s first season, the character struggled to connect with audiences because she seemed weak and out of place. Apart from her personal issues, she never seemed fit for the job – and that’s a problem. This season finale finally provided us with a different side of Maia. Encouraged by her superiors, she stepped up – and kicked ass in court.

Turns out the character could actually be fun to watch as long as she’s given a win from time to time.

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“Who are you?” – FBI Agent.
“She’s gonna fuck you up.” – Lucca Quinn

Dramatics, Your Honor.

While The Good Fight is technically a spin-off, it always manages set itself apart from its predecessor. While this show tackles themes different from The Good Wife, it always respects its legacy without definitively succumbing to it. The writers (Robert & Michelle King) manage to draw inspiration from the series’ first iteration while infusing the stories with a more diverse narrative.

One thing The Kings are consistently good at is bringing in little elements that make us realize the characters are still operating within the same universe. While bringing back our favorite guest stars provides us with a sense of intimacy, it is the visual storytelling that makes the bigger impact.

When Diane (Christine Baranski) visited her husband Kurt (Gary Cole) in the hospital, director Robert King made an immediate reference to one of The Good Wife’s most tragic moments: Will’s (Josh Charles) death. In Diane’s mind, the symbol of the missing shoe has become synonymous with death – explaining the look of horror on her face. While Kurt turned out to be fine, this visual reminder of her best friend will definitely influence her in the future.

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“Last time I was in a hospital… Things didn’t end well.” – Diana Lockhart

When you stop fighting The Good Fight, people get hurt.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past ten episodes, it’s that Henry Rindell (Paul Guilfoyle) only looks out for himself. While Rindell never admitted to being responsible for the Ponzi Scheme, this episode saw him accept the consequences of his actions – sort of.

Early on, Henry decided to take a 35-year plea deal in an effort to do the right thing. Desperate for one last goodbye, he pushed his daughter Maia (Rose Leslie) to join him and his wife – Lenore (Bernadette Peters) – for dinner. After Henry finally came clean about his actions, Maia seemed peaceful and ready to forgive her father.

In truth, Henry only considered turning himself in as a way to protect his daughter from the FBI. Since Maia lied to Madeline Starkey (Jane Lynch), she could still be prosecuted as a co-conspirator to fraud. Thank God for Henry’s clean conscience, right?
Wrong. Turns out Henry changed his mind and decided to go on the run – no matter the consequences. Instead of driving off with his lawyer, Henry gets a false passport – leaving his wife and daughter hung out to dry for his crimes. The worst part of it all? Maia gets arrested the same night – and there’s no turning back.

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“I’m guilty. I did it. We paid off anyone that got suspicious.” – Henry Rindell

Car crashes and couple’s therapy.

After The Good Wife ended on a sour note by exposing Kurt (Gary Cole) had cheated, many wondered whether the couple would every get back together. While Diane (Christine Baranski) is a strong principled woman at heart, she seems burdened by the expectation of others.

After successfully starting her own firm, she set the bar and always managed to raise it in the years to come. As soon as Diane met Kurt, we discovered a side of her she thought she had lost. Thrilled by his opposing views, Diane seemed giddy with excitement around Kurt – for a moment forgetting all of her principles. It was all love and respect – until he betrayed her.

When Cole was announced to star on The Good Fight, we were happy to see the couple reunite. For most of the first season, #Dirt has been separated – with the exception of that one night. There was a whole lot of will-they/won’t-they storytelling until the finale aired and Diane finally decided to stay over at Kurt’s place again. While it’s only a small step in the right direction, we’re confident the couple can repair their relationship to its glorious former self.

Season two material?

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“I represent unscrupulous people, and you… You save children.” – Diane Lockhart.

Final Verdict: weaving together several storylines, The Good Fight ties up its loose ends while leaving room for future installments.

That’s a wrap on season one!  “Chaos” – The Good Fight’s first season finale – wraps up most of the show’s most pressing storylines. While some questions are best left unanswered, the writers provided closure on most of the topics they had decided to tackle.

When The Good Fight started out, we had no idea what to expect. With most spin-offs of this kind, things tend to go sideways rather quickly. In this case, the series’ creators Robert & Michelle King delivered on their promise to do right by their characters.

When the show returns next year with its sophomore season, there are a few things the showrunners could improve upon. While Barbara (Erica Tazel) could become a dynamic character, she has not been given much to work with. We hope that her relationship with Adrian (Delroy Lindo) and Lucca (Cush Jumbo) is fleshed out some more over the course of another season.

Furthermore, we’d love to see Alan Cumming return as Marissa’s (Sarah Steele) father. It’d be interesting to see what he’s up to in this current political climate. Could he possibly butt heads with Felix Staples? If someone could knock some sense into him, it’s Eli Gold.

See you next year!