Mostly thanks to a solid cast, Emmy-nominated ‘The Good Wife’ finds more good than bad as its second season unfolds.

Set in Chicago, the program follows the story of put-upon wife and lawyer Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), who deals with returning to the courtroom after years at home, while Peter (Chris Noth), her husband and disgraced politician, vies to get back into the state’s attorney office. Florrick shares a past (possibly romantic) relationship with her firm’s boss, Will Gardner (Josh Charles), too.

While the acting works well, the courtroom scenes in ‘The Good Wife’ feel contrived and artificial.

Margulies earned an Emmy nod for her role as Alicia, and it was a nomination that was well deserved. Margulies captures the viewer’s attention in all her screens, and her acting style looks effortless. She plays a stoic well, but it would be nice to see her playing happy for once.

Noth turns in a good performance, just as he always does. Noted for his turns in ‘Law and Order’ and ‘Sex in the City,’ Noth plays the same sort of character: a man with whom women constantly share a love-hate relationship. Noth knows how to bring out the best in his smarmy but debonair character. He’s done it before with success, so there’s no reason to assume he will ever fail at it in this show.

But so far, the most unheralded actor is the fantastic Alan Cumming. He plays Eli Gold, Peter’s campaign manager. To some extent, screenwriters modeled Eli on Ari Gold from ‘Entourage,’ who derived his own existence from real-life Chicago power brokers Ari and Rahm Emmanuel. But Cumming gives one of the show’s finest performances, with a deadpan and well-measured delivery.

Unfortunately, the writing sometimes fails to keep up with the high standards set by the acting. In last week’s episode, Alicia and her boss, Will, exculpate their alleged wife-murdering client, who served as an Army reservist. But in a sneaky move from the prosecution, Alicia and Will end up in military court, after an assistant state’s attorney gets a military prosecutor to file her own charges.

When they make it to military court, Alicia and Will run up against a hard-assed judge, who, very early on, lets them know who holds the higher rank in this situation. Alicia and Will try to use the same pretrial motions, but the judge overrules them and sides with the military prosecutor. In one particular scene, Will asks the judge for a continuance to shore up his case. The judge, a woman with a stern look permanently etched onto her face, denies his request.

‘Welcome to military court,’ she told Will.

That line highlights the problem ‘The Good Wife’ faces. Sometimes the writers favor the melodramatic. Yeah, no kidding: It takes place in military court. No need for the stereotypical military judge to declare it in such a blunt fashion.

‘The Good Wife’ should concentrate on enhancing its writing. Right now, the acting does all the heavy lifting. If the writing starts to work in tandem with that acting, the show could take off in popularity.

Stay Tuned…

‘Boardwalk Empire’

In HBO’s latest crime drama, antihero Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson (Steve Buscemi) reigns over Atlantic City in the 1920s. The show features a rich production design, clearly drawing from the success of other recent period pieces. So far, the storyline has progressed well, with enough action to keep even the most attention-deficient viewers happy. This needs to continue to make the show a popular hit (think ‘The Sopranos’) and not just a critical darling (think ‘The Wire’).

‘Undercovers’

It’s a bit early to tell if the show will work out in the long run, but both Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Boris Kodioc as married spies Samantha and Steven Bloom look right for the role. ‘Lost’ and ‘Alias’ creator J.J. Abrams runs the show, and he will hopefully keep the program from putting its characters into ludicrous situations, in ways only spy shows can.

 

 

Published on October 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm