This is the second show to use an episode title from Lost in the past couple of months, and so I look forward to seeing which show does "Ab Aeterno" soon (and, of course, look forward to seeing the conversation on Donna's coverage of this final season).
For as many balls that are thrown up in the air with this episode, I think a consistent theme is embedded in the title: Everyone has drifted off mission. Ri'Chard arrives talking about how he and Liz have common goals, but can anyone say what those goals are? This is an ostensibly Black firm that's run by white corporate suits. Clients like ChumHum and Carmen's lowlifes have the lawyers on the wrong side of every issue. Diane's progressivism has yielded regression, if anything. Perhaps this is the starting point of a season-long redemption story, but boy are they low right now. (Great episode, though. I'm feeling like it's fully back in the groove after some missteps and false starts last season.)
Well .... I just kinda rolled with it. The firm disruption was a lot but not unexpected. I don’t know Carmen. And oh, so when did Marissa get her law degree? At least there was the stability of ChumHum! The main reason I decided to skip ahead (something I never do) is this show is so timely. When I was watching earlier seasons I was always behind so it was disorienting. I definitely plan to go back, but it just was important to me to at least watch one season in real time. Even if I have a few moments of having to catch up on what’s happening. OMG Andre Braugher, what a treat!
So excited this show is back and will be so sad to see it go and to leave this world behind. My fave part of the opening credits is when the vocal "whoop!"s start up it gets me so excited very time.
“... how it feels to try to do our jobs and live our lives during the early stages of apocalypse.”
I think you’ve put a pin on why this show gives me life. It’s weirdly comforting, the Kings just throwing up their hands like “I know, right??? The world is a dumpster fire! It’s bonkers!”
It's interesting how the world of The Good Fight has grown to feel more apocalyptic than the world of Evil. The empty streets and the sounds of off-screen violent protest were really effective at creating the sense that all our characters (and by extension us) just live in an endless horror story now. Anyways, really strong premiere. "Deja Vu" is an interesting idea to structure a final season around, especially for The Good Wife/Fight, which loves to return to the same conflicts and absurdities over and over. Strong starts for both Braugher and Slattery and I'm very excited to see what they bring to the table as the final "seasonal guest stars."
i am simply choosing to believe that Roger Sterling has been reincarnated as Diane's new trip doctor. all that groovy LSD experimentation must've transported him to like, a whole new era, man.
Am still all in on this universe which I have adored since S1 of TGW but I do feel like the show hasn’t sufficiently replaced the powerhouses of Adrian and Luca but I have hope for Ri’chard.
Wackner outlived his welcome last season, but I strangely found myself missing him in this ep.
Need reasons to care about Carmen asap - interesting story but forgot she existed until she appeared.
While I know that the fourth season ended abruptly, I kind of hope we get a little more about Memo 618 at some point.
Also, what are the chances for any past TGW or TGF cast members making a cameo at some point this season? I'd vote to see what Michael Sheen and Rose Leslie are up to.
I watched the episode with my boyfriend, and the moment it ended my first comment was "I'm not sure what just happened?".
(Bless him, he took the lead after that and went with me through the different plotlines, one by one, and allowed me to sort out my feelings for the episode in an orderly manner).
The show has become extremely disorienting but in a purposeful way. Diane is lost among all the things happening around her, around everything changing, with barely a sense of agency and feeling stuck in that hamster wheel, and we've been taken in a ride along with her. At least for me, that makes Diane's current plight easier to parse and it makes it easier to follow her along her walking-by-as-the-apocalypse-happens-around-her and her hallucinogenic treatments.
Andre Braugher is amazing. I'm sad to say I only really know him as Raymond Holt (I've seen him in a bunch other stuff but he never really registered as a distinct actor for me until Brooklyn 99), but he commanded all of my attention this week, with his theatrics and his praying. I'm very curious to see where his plotline goes.
We know we're getting Eli and Elsbeth. I'm sure we're not getting Alicia, Kalinda or Peter. I've been WISHING for years that we see Grace or Zach (I know a lot of people hated them back in the day, but I found them delightful throughout TGW and they should now be of an age that allows them to cross paths professionally with Diane, which should be fun. I'm also hoping that we get Judge Abernathy one last time, hopefully in the last episode. It's tradition, right?
Thanks for the review(s), Donna! A weird and unsettling series as always, and one my brain struggles to remember is set in the same reality as The Good Wife despite all the shared touchstones. This season has been advertised as the final one, so I'm wondering what sort of elements from the past of either show we can hope to recur for some sort of closure. Eli Gold is a huge one, obviously, and I don't think our remaining big names from TGW like Alicia or Kalinda are likely at this point. But TGF has had such a revolving cast over the years that I don't know who beyond Maia I'd want them to revisit before the end.
Any thoughts/hopes/worries about how this final run will function as a conclusion to the program/franchise?
This is the second show to use an episode title from Lost in the past couple of months, and so I look forward to seeing which show does "Ab Aeterno" soon (and, of course, look forward to seeing the conversation on Donna's coverage of this final season).
For as many balls that are thrown up in the air with this episode, I think a consistent theme is embedded in the title: Everyone has drifted off mission. Ri'Chard arrives talking about how he and Liz have common goals, but can anyone say what those goals are? This is an ostensibly Black firm that's run by white corporate suits. Clients like ChumHum and Carmen's lowlifes have the lawyers on the wrong side of every issue. Diane's progressivism has yielded regression, if anything. Perhaps this is the starting point of a season-long redemption story, but boy are they low right now. (Great episode, though. I'm feeling like it's fully back in the groove after some missteps and false starts last season.)
Well .... I just kinda rolled with it. The firm disruption was a lot but not unexpected. I don’t know Carmen. And oh, so when did Marissa get her law degree? At least there was the stability of ChumHum! The main reason I decided to skip ahead (something I never do) is this show is so timely. When I was watching earlier seasons I was always behind so it was disorienting. I definitely plan to go back, but it just was important to me to at least watch one season in real time. Even if I have a few moments of having to catch up on what’s happening. OMG Andre Braugher, what a treat!
So excited this show is back and will be so sad to see it go and to leave this world behind. My fave part of the opening credits is when the vocal "whoop!"s start up it gets me so excited very time.
“... how it feels to try to do our jobs and live our lives during the early stages of apocalypse.”
I think you’ve put a pin on why this show gives me life. It’s weirdly comforting, the Kings just throwing up their hands like “I know, right??? The world is a dumpster fire! It’s bonkers!”
It's interesting how the world of The Good Fight has grown to feel more apocalyptic than the world of Evil. The empty streets and the sounds of off-screen violent protest were really effective at creating the sense that all our characters (and by extension us) just live in an endless horror story now. Anyways, really strong premiere. "Deja Vu" is an interesting idea to structure a final season around, especially for The Good Wife/Fight, which loves to return to the same conflicts and absurdities over and over. Strong starts for both Braugher and Slattery and I'm very excited to see what they bring to the table as the final "seasonal guest stars."
i am simply choosing to believe that Roger Sterling has been reincarnated as Diane's new trip doctor. all that groovy LSD experimentation must've transported him to like, a whole new era, man.
Am still all in on this universe which I have adored since S1 of TGW but I do feel like the show hasn’t sufficiently replaced the powerhouses of Adrian and Luca but I have hope for Ri’chard.
Wackner outlived his welcome last season, but I strangely found myself missing him in this ep.
Need reasons to care about Carmen asap - interesting story but forgot she existed until she appeared.
While I know that the fourth season ended abruptly, I kind of hope we get a little more about Memo 618 at some point.
Also, what are the chances for any past TGW or TGF cast members making a cameo at some point this season? I'd vote to see what Michael Sheen and Rose Leslie are up to.
Lovely to have my favourite show back. I wanted to bring up how amazing the music was in this episode.
I'm still not sold on Carmen, but I'm willing to hang in there until more is revealed.
I watched the episode with my boyfriend, and the moment it ended my first comment was "I'm not sure what just happened?".
(Bless him, he took the lead after that and went with me through the different plotlines, one by one, and allowed me to sort out my feelings for the episode in an orderly manner).
The show has become extremely disorienting but in a purposeful way. Diane is lost among all the things happening around her, around everything changing, with barely a sense of agency and feeling stuck in that hamster wheel, and we've been taken in a ride along with her. At least for me, that makes Diane's current plight easier to parse and it makes it easier to follow her along her walking-by-as-the-apocalypse-happens-around-her and her hallucinogenic treatments.
Andre Braugher is amazing. I'm sad to say I only really know him as Raymond Holt (I've seen him in a bunch other stuff but he never really registered as a distinct actor for me until Brooklyn 99), but he commanded all of my attention this week, with his theatrics and his praying. I'm very curious to see where his plotline goes.
We know we're getting Eli and Elsbeth. I'm sure we're not getting Alicia, Kalinda or Peter. I've been WISHING for years that we see Grace or Zach (I know a lot of people hated them back in the day, but I found them delightful throughout TGW and they should now be of an age that allows them to cross paths professionally with Diane, which should be fun. I'm also hoping that we get Judge Abernathy one last time, hopefully in the last episode. It's tradition, right?
Thanks for the review(s), Donna! A weird and unsettling series as always, and one my brain struggles to remember is set in the same reality as The Good Wife despite all the shared touchstones. This season has been advertised as the final one, so I'm wondering what sort of elements from the past of either show we can hope to recur for some sort of closure. Eli Gold is a huge one, obviously, and I don't think our remaining big names from TGW like Alicia or Kalinda are likely at this point. But TGF has had such a revolving cast over the years that I don't know who beyond Maia I'd want them to revisit before the end.
Any thoughts/hopes/worries about how this final run will function as a conclusion to the program/franchise?