The Good Fight :: Great balls o’ lightning

Screengrab

I don’t know about you, but I kind of feel like the preview shown last week for this week’s The Good Fight season finale really oversold the episode. The preview was very ominous, pretty much alluding to this being the end of Reddick, Boseman & Lockhart at the hands of Roland Blum. I don’t know, perhaps there were multiple endings shot in case the series wasn’t renewed, but the whole resolution to the case against RB&L brought by Blum and Maia ended more with a whimper than a bang, even though it seemed like the whole episode was taking place during, as one character put it, ‘the end times’ with Chicago experiencing a bizarre weather phenomenon known as ball lightning (and remember last week, there were torrential storms complete with hail smashing into the windows). But even though Chicago was literally on fire by the conclusion, RB&L was still standing.

The whole trial between Blum and the firm was a little over-the-top. A new judge was assigned to the case (a recent presidential appointee, so the RB&L team already felt they were not going to get a fair trial) and the disbarred Blum frequently interjected although he was not allowed to argue his case. Then it became a ridiculous game of oneupsmanship between the two legal teams as the RB&L lawyers learned the judge had a fetish for something called ASMR which involves someone speaking softly and very closely to a microphone and then brushing against it, or brushing their hair, forcing the witness for the defense to partake in this ridiculous action to basically melt the judge’s brain (okay, I did laugh but it was still pure silliness). Then Blum hired a group of spectators to clap, cheer, mumble or boo at the appropriate times to disrupt the testimony. I don’t know, perhaps the writers this week had dropped some of Marissa’s acid when coming up with this stuff.

But after weeks of not speaking to Maia, Diane finally showed up at her new office to make her an offer — with Julius leaving for his judgeship (so does that mean Michael Boatman is leaving the show?), RB&L wants to give Maia a named partnership, with a five year contract which Diane says is a lifetime in lawyer years. Maia and Blum see this as a blatant attempt to buy her off the case … and Diane admits as much. But she also says the offer is genuine because she impressed Adrian in court while questioning him. What Diane didn’t mention was that the firm was also considering Lucca and another woman for the partnership but there was a lot of contention about that. Some of the partners apparently didn’t feel that Lucca was ‘black enough’ for the firm’s image. So offer the job to the white girl then. For what it’s worth Lucca and the other woman, Rosalyn, figured out that the partners were trying to play them against each other but by the end of the episode there was no resolution.

The case against RB&L seemed like it was going to end badly. There was a very tense scene where Roland told Adrian that they took his life away from him and no amount of money would make up for that. But seeing the firm crumble, seeing office furniture being auctioned off, seeing partners selling their expensive condos, that would help him unclench his teeth at night. But through some goofy circumstances — including another ridiculous bit of testimony that involved the witness (Daniel Davis, aka Niles from The Nanny) speaking as if reading from an elementary school book complete with illustrations by Jay, that was enough to sway the judge who ruled for RB&L. Which meant Maia lost her case, but the partnership offer still stood because she’d have no future with the disbarred Blum. But Maia reminded Diane that Blum was only disbarred in Illinois, not Washington DC, and off she and Blum went to wreak havoc in the nation’s capital … and putting to rest that joke Rose Leslie and Kit Harington made when he hosted SNL about the two of them being out of work. (Michael Sheen was only signed for one season so his future was never a question. He’s moved on to a new Fall series on Fox, Prodigal Son.)

There was some other key things that happened this week though. Adrian learned that his judge girlfriend had bribed the judge in his case for Blum … not knowing that it was a case against Adrian. That seemed to have put an end to that relationship, but in the end she must have said or done something else that was the actual cause of the judge’s decision in favor of RB&L (and she made sure to put in an appearance in the courtroom to make sure that happened).

Kurt had to give some opening remarks at a rally for the president, something complimentary but he wasn’t able to come up with anything. Diane actually helped him write his speech. As Diane watched the rally and Kurt standing behind the president, he noticeably did not clap or even react to anything the president said which prompted to staffers to come in and escort him away, much to Diane’s glee (even Marissa saw it and set Diane a link to a report seconds after the incident).

Screengrab

The episode’s real key moment though involved an encounter with Rachelle from Book Club. Diane and Liza asked Jay to make it known that they will not stand for Rachelle’s intimidation after the threat she made to Diane last week, saying if she crossed Rachelle or anyone else that she knew where Diane lived. Jay and Marissa both had a chat with Rachelle, who played coy at first until the pair revealed some damaging information they had on her that could go public if she didn’t leave Diane and Liz alone. Rachelle didn’t take kindly to that and told them to tell Diane that she’s be hearing from Rachelle. At the end of the episode, Diane was still celebrating Kurt’s removal from the rally when the two heard something from another room in their apartment. The last thing we saw was a SWAT team about to burst into their bedroom. Apparently Rachelle has SWATed Diane and now we’re left to wonder if Kurt will survive (’cause we know they’re not killing off Diane … right?). The last time we see them, they’re both in bed but there was a pretty obvious shot of a case of guns on the wall that Kurt may have quickly gotten to before the SWAT team entered the room which could ultimately lead to his death, setting up the storyline for next season.

Overall, the finale was a bit of a letdown because it was sold very differently in the preview, but that last moment will keep us guessing for the next year!

What did you think of the finalee? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.