The Good Wife Season 3 Review: From Strength To Strength

The first season of The Good Wife surprised me with its realism and tenacious leading woman. I had my doubts about season 2 but in the end it turned out to be just as exciting, if not more exciting, than the first season. After two amazing seasons, I was convinced that this series would start to slow down and lose itself – but it did not. Season 3 of The Good Wife is just as punchy as the first two and brings new and fresh content with it. 

For those of you who have never seen this show before, The Good Wife follows the story of Alicia Florrick, wife of the State Attorney, Peter Florrick. At the beginning of the show, Peter is caught in a political and sex scandal, sending him to prison. Alicia returns to work after 13 years as a junior associate at Lockhart & Gardner, building up her professional reputation without the help of her husband.

// Click to check out my reviews of season 1 and season two of The Good Wife before continuing. There may be *spoilers* for those who have not yet seen the first two seasons. //

At the end of Season 2, Alicia left her husband, Peter, and it looked like she was about to finally get with her Georgetown sweetheart and boss, Will Gardner. In Season 3, Alicia has left her husband following the revelation of yet another sex scandal, this time featuring her coworker and best friend, Kalinda Sharma. She starts up an illicit affair with Will Gardner, her boss, something that fans have been waiting on for the past two seasons.

At work, Alicia is well on track to making partner but Will runs into difficult with the DA’s office. Wendy Scott Car is determined to bring his legal career to an end by bringing up some misdemeanours from the past and it is unclear whether Will be able to talk his way out of this one. Meanwhile Cary continues to make his mark at the State Attorney’s office, proving to be tough competition for the lawyers at Lockhart & Gardner.

Season 3 seems to have learnt from the mistakes of season 2 and this time round all the subplots are highly exciting and full of suspense from the beginning to the end of the series. Will became a much more important character and the story concerning his disbarment was surprisingly gripping. Will never seems to show much feeling and that doesn’t change hugely in season 3 but you do get to learn a little more about this workaholic. With Lockhart & Gardner under significant financial strain through the series, we see the dynamic between Will and his partner Dianne go through some serious ups and downs and there are numerous plot twists and turns here too.

Things heat up at the State Attorney’s office as Peter Florrick is determined to run a clean office this time round. No dodgy deals and no leniency. This makes things a heck of a lot harder for everyone at Lockhart & Gardner and it’s not all win win win anymore. Whilst the cases seem to have become more complex and require greater concentration, this only makes the show better as I probably would’ve gotten bored of the repetitive cases after a while.

The most exciting subplot (again) has to be Kalinda’s. The sidekick to the hero, she’s always in the background but never takes the spotlight. The story of her hidden past is still ongoing but it climaxes at the end of the season, much in the same way it did in season 2. This time the surprise is even bigger and will no doubt keep the drama going in season 4. Kalinda is the character to watch as she’s always got new tricks up her sleeves and nobody’s really sure who she is or where she came from.

As predicted, Alicia is colder, harder and bitchier, but who can blame her after she finds out her husband had even more skeletons in his closet. The affair with Will brings a new side to Alicia, the flirty side, which has been suppressed so far. Alicia, the ‘good wife’, always toes the line and follows the rules, but now she’s committing a cardinal sin and who knows what she’s capable of now.

Season 3 proved to be the most exciting and dramatic season of The Good Wife yet and it really is going from strength to strength. There are still four seasons left but I am seriously impressed with this show so far as it has proved to be consistently emotional, thrilling and climactic.

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Have you watched The Good Wife? Are the next four seasons even better than the first three?

If you liked this post, check out these:
The Good Wife Season 1 Review
The Good Wife Season 2 Review 
The Good Wife Season 5 Review
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Laura

Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.