Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) got slapped across the face in the final episode of "The Good Wife" and some fans felt the same way about the finale. However, others thought it was a fitting end to the seven-season saga, since the series started with a slap from Alicia to her husband Peter (Chris Noth), and ended with a slap from Diane (Christine Baranski) to Alicia. You could argue that both slaps were justified, or argue that Alicia deserved better in her own send-off. But this has never been a show for tidy endings or total justice.

Peter got a one-year probation plea deal, so he'll avoid jail, but we didn't see Alicia ride off into the sunset with Jason (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). That storyline was left hanging with a voicemail from Alicia asking him to call her back. (The phones on this show deserve their own Emmys.) Alicia reunited with her lost love Will (Josh Charles) in a fantasy sequence, confessing her love and getting his advice on what she should do next.

In a video interview, "The Good Wife" creators explained their intentions with the finale:

Robert King: "We started with this feeling that it should begin with a slap and end with a slap. This show is about a woman who becomes more and more confident and more and more cunning and excited about her abilities and also about power, so that slap at the end is very similar to the slap at the beginning. We always had this idea of Alicia becoming more and more of something that she was also not liking in her husband. [...] The story of Alicia is a bit of a tragedy."

Michelle King: "We talked about the victim becomes the victimizer. And that's really the circle that we see with Alicia."


Fans had mixed reactions to the finale; over at Entertainment Weekly, their poll "Did Alicia get a proper send-off?" currently has this breakdown, after 11,051 votes:

No: 66%
Yes: 20%
Undecided: 14%

Here are more reactions:

Here are more reactions, from Deadline and Entertainment Weekly comments:

RoadWarrior: "The finale was pitch perfect. A huge thank you to the Kings for 7 amazing seasons (14 in cable years!) Sincerely, A Huge Fan"

Carter: '"I was okay with this finale expect one thing. There was no reason to hurt Diane like she did, and then the slap was so Melrose Place. Why can't you keep the integrity of two strong women who have been through the trenches together? That was a false and bad note to me."

@dvond: "terrible, one of the worst series enders for a very good show"

@GoldCocktail: "I get that this ending will be unsatisfying for a lot of people, but i think it was pretty spot on. Alicia getting smacked in the facing, putting herself together, and moving on is what the show as always been about from the beginning. Great summation of this character (and of life in general.) I dug it."

@sherlock21b: "Best thing about the finale was the return of Will Gardner. Josh Charles made the ep watchable."

@meresger1: "I liked the ending. I can see people are upset she wasn't seen running off with Jason, but I liked it. Alicia started out hanging off the arm of her cheating husband, playing "the good wife". She ends up an independent woman, free to make her own choices, good or bad, without the political sham of her marriage always defining what she does. Plus, Diane slapping her was great! I don't think we were meant to love Alicia. We were meant to see her a flawed character who, while finally freeing herself, had to embrace some of the worst parts of herself along the way, changing into someone perhaps less likable, less ethical, than when she started out. It's not a fairy tale ending."

@Akizme: "It was the PERFECT ending. Alicia leaving a VM to Jason is a direct call back to the one Will once left her, which in turn tells me she won't end up with Jason either - the circle is now complete if you will.
And thus Alicia finally HAS to stand on her own, be her own woman and deal with the ramifications of her decisions: that of betraying Dianne; that of leaving Peter; that of waiting too long to commit to Jason. The way I interpreted Alicia wiping/suppressing her tears+ straightening her jacket is that she is now ready to face the world as herself: no one needs her, and she has no one to look after but herself. It's a bittersweet ending but ultimately a worthy one for a character who started out as "the Good Wife" and ends up as "Alicia", flaws and all."

@GoldScooter: "It sucks when when shows that are briliantly written throughout their run (The Sopranos, Seinfeld and now The Good Wife) end up with very disappoiinting endings."

What did you think of the series finale?

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