What a weird season that was! They killed one of my three beloved characters (Eli, Diane and Will). In fact they killed my favorite character Will Gardner (Josh Charles) – the leading male character of the show in the middle of the season.
But even before Will died, things had gone a little awry:
– Most cases weren’t that interesting.
– I wasn’t crazy about Florick/Agos, especially since “Florick” got there because she wanted to stay with her husband even though she had feelings for Will- like that’s how you make healthy career moves!
– She chose Peter (Chris Noth) over Will (I’m not letting this one go!)
– They overplayed the music in most episodes where it started ruining the ambiance instead of complimenting or enhancing it.
– They used a guest star way too many times (talking about” Colin Sweeney”, not Michael J. Fox – I love him, and his weirdo character, so he can become a regular for all I care),
– The whole out-to-get-Alicia Will was starting to get old (even though it was understandable)
And then, just as I was thinking they had forgotten about Hunter Parish’s character Jeremy (the young guy they charged for murder), the storyline became a curious one. They also hired Finn Polmar (Matthew Goode) to oppose Will and voila…we suddenly had a court shooting, a new recurring character, grieving friends, an obnoxious Peter and a Will-less show.
But writers came out OK in the end. They brought on constantly scheming Louis Canning (Michael J. Fox), a friendship was born between Alicia and Finn, Alicia (Julianna Margulies) kicked out Peter because he was being an ass, she slowly got her groove back – along with the show.
In the finale we had the separated Peter and Alicia, state-attorney candidate Finn not backed up by Peter (because he taught Finn and Alicia were a thing), Canning and David Lee trying to out-vote Diane (Christine Baranski), Kalinda (Archie Panjabi) kind of dating Cary (Matt Czuchry), and poor Eli (Alan Cumming) trying to prevent Peter from sleeping with 20-something interns….
I was a bit bored, and somewhat annoyed by the season 4 finale. I didn’t care about Peter and his votes, Alicia changing her stance at the court, and her making out with Will – only to join Cary and stay with Peter.
SEASON 5 FINALE EVENTS
But this finale gave us fighter (but emotionally worn) Diane, a loyal Kalinda (to Diane), spying Florick/Agos, fighting Cary and Alicia on a possible merger with Lockhart and Gardner.
Cary took his point on not wanting to merge to the extreme, and fessed up the idea to Louis Canning, who in turn came up with a plan C – resolving the firm that means so much to Diane.
Eli needed a quick, already-vetted state’s attorney candidate since Peter backed up from endorsing Finn, and already hated his opposition. They decided to offer it to Diane – who now had another complicated move to consider.
But the spying FA learned about Cary’s betrayal, and Alicia was enraged.
Finn decided to withdraw from the race because they had something on a case they’d use against him, while Alicia supported his decision either way.
Zac was about to graduate so a pre-ceremony family dinner was in the works, but Jackie and Alicia’s mom (Stockard Channing) doing their own thing while being themselves and drinking made things funnier, and put Peter in the middle as Alicia was still caught up about the merger option.
Diane did however something unexpected, and ultimately very logical: she asked to join FA on her own, with her clients and turned down Peter’s offer, who had pulled quite a number on her about her judgeship.
Alicia got to her son’s ceremony at the last minute.
Goodbyes were said to Zac.
But my absolute favorite moment is the ending where Eli got the “no” call from Diane, and stared at Alicia in such an adoring way where we nearly, almost thought he was going to say he had feelings for her…or something like that. He had that pre-romantic confession look. But this is Eli, and it was a pure, unspoiled, awesome Eli moment as he said:
“Alicia, would you want to run for State’s Attorney?”
A shocked Alicia says “What?” and then it ends.
So I’m sticking for the sixth season, fingers crossed for seeing more Finn, more riveting cases and some Alicia action – whether she gets it from Finn or someone else. She did grieve for Will for months, add the summer, and we should be fine with her romantic storylines…
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How did you find the season finale? What were your favorite/least favorite moments of the season, or the finale?
Recommended Shows for Legal Drama/Comedy Lovers
Suits starring Gabriel Macht & Patrick J. Adams
Boston Legal starring James Spader and William Shatner (more comedy)
J. Fox is no longer the clean cut boy from next door. The movie is a realistic drama about how we deal (or can’t deal) with things that happen to us. It also features Kiefer Sutherland. If you think Michael only did comedy and/or is good at comedy, you should give these two a chance.