# The Good Wife season 6

The sixth season of The Good Wife began airing on September 21, 2014, on CBS, and concluded on May 10, 2015. It consists of 22 episodes.

## Premise

The series focuses on Alicia Florrick (Margulies), whose husband Peter (Noth), the former Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney, has been jailed following a notorious political corruption and sex scandal. After having spent the previous thirteen years as a stay-at-home mother, Alicia returns to the workforce as a litigator to provide for her two children.

## Cast
### Main

* Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick
* Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos
* Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma
* Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick
* Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick
* Alan Cumming as Eli Gold
* Matthew Goode as Finn Polmar
* Zach Grenier as David Lee
* Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart

### Recurring

* Chris Noth as Peter Florrick
* Sarah Steele as Marissa Gold
* Steven Pasquale as Johnny Elfman
* Mike Colter as Lemond Bishop
* David Hyde Pierce as Frank Prady
* Michael Cerveris as James Castro
* Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning
* David Krumholtz as Josh Mariner
* Renée Elise Goldsberry as Geneva Pine
* Ben Rappaport as Carey Zepps
* Jerry Adler as Howard Lyman
* Connie Nielsen as Ramona Lytton
* Jill Flint as Lana Delaney
* Linda Lavin as Joy Grubick
* Taye Diggs as Dean Levine-Wilkins
* Oliver Platt as Reese Dipple
* Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick
* Jess Weixler as Robyn Burdine
* Dallas Roberts as Owen Cavanaugh
* Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni
* Kyle MacLachlan as Josh Perotti
* Chris Butler as Matan Brody
* Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh
* Edward Asner as Guy Redmayne
* J. D. Williams as Dexter Roja
* Tim Guinee as Andrew Wiley
* David Paymer as Judge Richard Cuesta

### Guest

* Michael Boatman as Julius Cain
* Christian Borle as Carter Schmidt
* Denis O'Hare as Judge Charles Abernathy
* Jill Flint as Lana Delaney
* Dylan Baker as Colin Sweeney
* Ana Gasteyer as Judge Patrice Lessner
* Kurt Fuller as Judge Peter Dunaway
* Rita Wilson as Viola Walsh
* John Benjamin Hickey as Neil Gross
* Miriam Shor as Mandy Post
* Stockard Channing as Veronica Loy
* Laura Benanti as Renata Ellard
* Ron Rifkin as Spencer Randolph
* Kelli Giddish as Sophia Russo

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
| 113 | 1 | "The Line" | Robert King | Robert King & Michelle King | September 21, 2014 (2014-09-21) | 11.06 |
| Cary is arrested, charged with helping trafficking $1.3 million worth of heroin. Florrick/Agos struggle to come up with the bail money. Kalinda investigates on her own and re-acquaints herself with an old contact connected with the case. Diane's offer to join Florrick/Agos stands on the condition she gets an equal vote with Alicia and Cary. David Lee and Louis Canning get suspicious of Diane when she declares her intention to retire. Cary is held in jail, with bail set at $1.3 million and Florrick/Agos struggles to come up with the funds, when they are provided by a drug dealer client of Alicia's. Against Alicia's wishes, Eli conducts polling on any potential campaign for the State's Attorney office for Alicia and discovers that Alicia has a very good chance of winning against the incumbent. He schemes to get Peter's approval. |||||||
| 114 | 2 | "Trust Issues" | Jim McKay | Ted Humphrey | September 28, 2014 (2014-09-28) | 11.09 |
| Alicia takes over one of Cary's cases, which involves Neil Gross's wife, who having been made General Counsel of Chum Hum becomes concerned over Cary's arrest. Alicia must also find a new source for Cary's bail money, which is withdrawn after she is unable to prevent Bishop getting subpoenaed over Finn's source of funds dispute. Kalinda's investigation into the wire recording that implicates Cary takes a bad turn as one witness is killed by Bishop, who mistook him for the confidential informant. Diane, on the verge of retiring from Lockhart/Gardner & Canning, attempts to get a partner, Dean, to come with her to Florrick/Agos. Eli, meanwhile, now having Peter's approval to pursue Alicia's State's Attorney campaign, again tries to convince Alicia to run. |||||||
| 115 | 3 | "Dear God" | Brooke Kennedy | Luke Schelhaas | October 5, 2014 (2014-10-05) | 10.83 |
| Cary's bail is in jeopardy when the State applies to revoke bail after a key witness, a confidential informant, disappears. A pre-trial service officer must determine whether he continues to remain free. Florrick/Agos handle a case whereby the defendant and the plaintiff, both neighbors, try to resolve a patent infringement case outside traditional court – instead seeking a resolution inside "Christian Arbitration", whereby Biblical teachings are used to guide a conclusion. Alicia, constantly annoyed by people who think she is running for State's Attorney, tries to squelch all the speculation when a chance encounter with Gloria Steinem and veiled threats from the State's Attorney give her pause to reconsider. |||||||
| 116 | 4 | "Oppo Research" | Matt Shakman | Robert King & Michelle King | October 12, 2014 (2014-10-12) | 10.39 |
| Eli meets with Alicia to discuss 'oppositional research' that he has conducted and arranges for her to meet her new campaign manager, Jonny Elfman, who advises her to drop Lemond Bishop as a client, which is something he refuses until he discovers from Kalinda that Alicia could be running for State's Attorney. The research uncovers that Neesa, her son Zach's then-girlfriend, had an abortion last year; her brother Owen is sleeping with a married gay porn actor, her mother Veronica spanked another parent's child in a department store and that Castro plans to use a photo of Finn Polmar exiting Alicia's apartment to suggest that they are lovers. Alicia tries to address them before any of these issues can affect her campaign. Eli also finally discovers Peter slept with Kalinda while he was State's Attorney. |||||||
| 117 | 5 | "Shiny Objects" | Frederick E.O. Toye | Keith Eisner | October 19, 2014 (2014-10-19) | 10.88 |
| Alicia is pitted against eccentric lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni who now represents a corporation against its former CEO, who alleges unfair dismissal due to gender discrimination. During the trial, all the files on Florrick/Agos computer systems are maliciously encrypted by ransomware, which demands $50,000 for the decryption key. After making the payment, Diane accidentally provides her old LG e-mail address for the decryption key, which forces her to return to David Lee to ask for it back; while there Diane also discovers that LG's building lease is still signed to her. Kalinda reconnects with FBI Agent Delaney, and they both help defeat the ransomware by tracking down the author. Alicia and Peter clash when Peter insists that Alicia disinvite Finn Polmar from introducing her at her first press conference for her campaign. |||||||
| 118 | 6 | "Old Spice" | James Whitmore Jr. | Leonard Dick | October 26, 2014 (2014-10-26) | 10.21 |
| Alicia is urged by her campaign manager Johnny to conduct an interview with Pastor Jeremiah to try to convince him that she is no longer an atheist or at least, someone who is "struggling". Alicia draws upon her daughter's faith in Christianity for help. Eli's daughter Marissa also becomes Alicia's "body woman" or personal assistant. Diane attempts to evict Lockhart/Gardner & Canning from their existing offices. Alicia and Elsbeth, putting aside their previous lawsuit, band together to fight AUSA Josh Perotti's charge of intellectual property theft against Alicia's client, which evolves into economic espionage. Cary is spot checked by his pre-trial service officer and is re-arrested after he inadvertently leaves the state of Illinois, violating his bail conditions. |||||||
| 119 | 7 | "Message Discipline" | Matt Shakman | Craig Turk | November 2, 2014 (2014-11-02) | 10.45 |
| While preparing for Cary's prosecution, Finn Polmar digs into Cary's history while working at the State's Attorney office under Peter. Finn uncovers while deputy State's Attorney, Cary personally checked-out two kilograms of cocaine, before it went missing. Kalinda urges Cary to subpoena Governor Florrick, as Cary was only acting under his orders when he was State's Attorney. While investigating, Kalinda finds Trey Wagner, the missing witness who was originally to testify against Cary. Finn accuses Castro of only wanting to discredit Alicia Florrick, and resigns as a prosecutor. Peter asks Eli to appoint him a new personal attorney, someone who turns out to be a family friend of the Florricks. Alicia is interviewed by a legal commentator, Frank Prady, who also wants to run for State's Attorney. |||||||
| 120 | 8 | "Red Zone" | Félix Alcalá | Nichelle Tramble Spellman | November 9, 2014 (2014-11-09) | 10.72 |
| Alicia's campaign for State's Attorney speeds up after Frank Prady's announcement. Eli and Elfman conduct a political focus group regarding her likeability. Meanwhile, Alicia takes on a rape case of one of Owen's students that moves a university hearing to civil court, where she faces Louis Canning. Through discovery, Cary and Diane finally hear the wiretap audio that implicates him in the drug trafficking charge; Cary and Diane practice cross-examination in an attempt to rebut it. Alicia annoys Eli after she volunteers at a soup kitchen and is photographed awkwardly. Incumbent State's Attorney Castro withdraws from the election and Finn begins his own private practice, leasing office space underneath Florrick/Agos & Lockhart. |||||||
| 121 | 9 | "Sticky Content" | Michael Zinberg | Robert King & Michelle King | November 16, 2014 (2014-11-16) | 10.55 |
| The State's Attorney race gets negative with Alicia facing a crisis of conscience regarding her campaign media strategy when Frank Prady proposes that neither goes dirty on each other. Frank also provides Alicia with campaign dirt that Castro gathered before leaving the race. Cary is approached by the FBI to collaborate with them in their own separate investigation of Lemond Bishop. Agent Delany presents Cary a wiretap of Bishop apparently discussing Cary's murder. Diane asks Kalinda to investigate to determine its authenticity and hires a bodyguard for Cary, something Bishop notices. Cary attempts to personally convince Bishop that he is no threat. Alicia confronts Peter over his apparent affair with his personal attorney, Ramona. |||||||
| 122 | 10 | "The Trial" | Frederick E.O. Toye | Robert King & Michelle King | November 23, 2014 (2014-11-23) | 10.26 |
| The date has come for Cary's day in court. The prosecution offers him a deal that makes him consider serving jail time. Alicia's campaign runs into trouble after she makes a joke on paper threatening to kill a teacher at her daughter's school. Eli and Johnny scramble to spin it into something positive, but pressure Alicia into offering patronage to subside the potential controversy, something she is unwilling to do. With Finn's help, Kalinda tries to assist Cary, but it ends up backfiring. |||||||
| 123 | 11 | "Hail Mary" | Rosemary Rodriguez | Erica Shelton Kodish | January 4, 2015 (2015-01-04) | 10.36 |
| Preparing for his imminent incarceration after pleading guilty to a lesser conspiracy charge, Cary hires a prison consultant in an attempt to ameliorate the first few weeks of his imprisonment. Trying to assist Cary, Kalinda finds a probable lead which indicates the State's Attorney may have buried exculpatory evidence in an apparent violation of Brady disclosure case law. Alicia prepares for her upcoming debate, and goes against an English University Professor, Finn Polmar and Governor Florrick in mock debate preparations. Alicia's campaign manager Johnny and Eli clash during the mock debate when Peter mock debates Alicia. |||||||
| 124 | 12 | "The Debate" | Brooke Kennedy | Robert King & Michelle King | January 11, 2015 (2015-01-11) | 9.58 |
| Alicia takes on Frank Prady in their first televised debate for the State's Attorney race, which gets interrupted by the jury verdict of two police officers charged with unlawfully killing a black man. During the interruption Alicia and Frank hold an impromptu debate. Governor Florrick visits the unfolding protest alongside Pastor Isaiah attempting to forestall any potential violence. Eli tries to distract the press away from a developing scandal regarding Ramona and Peter. Diane and Cary intervene to manage Neil Gross's divorce settlement talks with David Lee, but end up losing. Alicia confronts Diane and Cary after they make a major decision without her. |||||||
| 125 | 13 | "Dark Money" | Jim McKay | Keith Eisner | March 1, 2015 (2015-03-01) | 9.09 |
| Alicia's firm handles a defamation suit for Colin Sweeney who accuses a TV production company of defaming him with the depiction of a character very much like him murdering his wife. The defence argues it isn't defamation because it is true. Kalinda is asked by Lemond Bishop to pick up his son from school, and Kalinda witnesses first hand how he struggles with single parenthood. Alicia successfully lobbies for the campaign donations of a wealthy but crass and uncouth figure, much to Prady's annoyance and her own regret. |||||||
| 126 | 14 | "Mind's Eye" | Robert King | Robert King & Michelle King | March 8, 2015 (2015-03-08) | 9.09 |
| Recovering from laryngitis, Alicia tries to prepare herself mentally for an interview with the editorial board of a conservative but Democratic-supporting newspaper in an attempt to gain their endorsement in the State's Attorney campaign. Imagining the different topics and questions that may be broached, Alicia grapples with the knowledge that Lemond Bishop contributed to and set up her PAC, a fact that is potentially ruinous for her campaign. She must also simultaneously help her firm deal with a wrongful eviction lawsuit from Louis Canning's firm, who the day before depositions, is hospitalized. |||||||
| 127 | 15 | "Open Source" | Rosemary Rodriguez | Craig Turk | March 15, 2015 (2015-03-15) | 8.85 |
| Alicia is advised by her campaign advisers to go negative against Peter during his time as State's Attorney as a way of buffering herself against attacks on him by Prady. Eli finds out and warns Elfman to advise her not to criticise Peter. Finn teams up with Diane to represent a client in a civil suit who was injured by the misfiring of a 3D-printed plastic gun. Diane's husband Kurt McVeigh acts as an expert witness, but finds conflicting motivations with his wife. Louis Canning, who is still hospitalized, grants Alicia power of attorney to liquidate most of his assets and donate the money to the family of a deceased girl who donated her kidney to him. |||||||
| 128 | 16 | "Red Meat" | Michael Zinberg | Nichelle Tramble Spellman | March 22, 2015 (2015-03-22) | 8.43 |
| Diane goes on a hunting trip alongside her husband, which provides a unique opportunity for her to solicit a wealthy client. On the election day of the State's Attorney race, Peter evokes Alicia's displeasure after he delivers a speech which negatively affects voter turnout. Kalinda, continuing her role as driver to Lemond's Bishop son, Dylan, discovers she is being investigated by the State's Attorney office. |||||||
| 129 | 17 | "Undisclosed Recipients" | James Whitmore Jr. | Leonard Dick | March 29, 2015 (2015-03-29) | 8.88 |
| Having won the State's Attorney race, Alicia must negotiate her exit package with her partners. In addition, people who contributed to Alicia's campaign attempt to call in favors as quid pro quo for their campaign contributions; Eli educates Alicia on the proper way to handle them. Lemond Bishop pressures Alicia into quashing an ongoing SA investigation into him. Diane, Cary and Julius litigate a suit against the founder of a website, during which the firm's emails are hacked, exposing the unseemly opinions the firm's partners have of their clients and one another. |||||||
| 130 | 18 | "Loser Edit" | Brooke Kennedy | Luke Schelhaas | April 5, 2015 (2015-04-05) | 7.83 |
| Alicia agrees to engage in a TV interview, when hacked emails revealing Alicia's affair with Will are sent to the press. Eli contrives ways to pre-empt the public fallout, by "pre-spinning" the emails as merely a flirtatious dalliance. Peter also advises Alicia on the potential scandal and gives an interview to assist Alicia. An internal affairs investigation catches on to Kalinda's forgery of metadata that was inadvertently submitted as evidence that prompted Cary's earlier release from jail. Diane engages in a mock trial for a wealthy new conservative client indecisive as to whether he should fund an appeal for a wedding planner who was found guilty of discrimination against a gay couple. |||||||
| 131 | 19 | "Winning Ugly" | Rosemary Rodriguez | Erica Shelton Kodish | April 12, 2015 (2015-04-12) | 8.75 |
| Diane is shocked to discover that she submitted falsified evidence in Cary's trial. Along with Kalinda, she immediately admits her mistake to the Police Review Board, but is faced with charges of obstruction of justice if she does not agree to testify against Lemond Bishop. Alicia is shocked to learn that voting machines were implanted with hacking microchips that apparently attempted to divert votes from Frank Prady to Alicia. The Election Review Board is prompted to investigate and she is offered representation from a respected civil rights lawyer by the Democratic Party. |||||||
| 132 | 20 | "The Deconstruction" | Ted Humphrey | Ted Humphrey | April 26, 2015 (2015-04-26) | 8.74 |
| After being betrayed by her own lawyer before the Electoral Review Board, Alicia formally withdraws her name from the State's Attorney race and approaches Diane, Cary and David Lee to return as a partner to the firm, which has already been renamed Lockhart, Agos and Lee. Due to a misunderstanding, Alicia ends up believing they are being insincere and follows Peter and Finn's advice to consider starting her own firm. Kalinda attempts to deflect the State's Attorney away from Diane and herself by agreeing to turn over evidence on Bishop. Diane agrees to argue a test case for Reese Dipple against mandatory minimum sentencing. |||||||
| 133 | 21 | "Don't Fail" | Nelson McCormick | Robert King & Michelle King | May 3, 2015 (2015-05-03) | 8.35 |
| Alicia interviews a ghostwriter to possibly author her memoirs. In addition, Alicia tries coping with being unemployed and ends up inadvertently reconnecting with an old client who is now being charged with murder after Alicia successfully defended him six years ago from an attempted murder charge. Alicia agrees to defend him again, with Cary's and Finn's help. The case itself prompts Alicia to consider starting her own firm again. |||||||
| 134 | 22 | "Wanna Partner?" | Robert King | Robert King & Michelle King | May 10, 2015 (2015-05-10) | 9.35 |
| Peter reveals to Alicia his intent to run for vice president. Peter insists he will not run unless his entire family approves, something Alicia doubts. Alicia receives a voicemail from a client that indicates he was in the midst of being arrested; unable to find an official record of him being booked, she suspects he is being held at an unofficial black site. Alicia and Finn, who agree to be partners, try to get him out by filing a writ of habeas corpus. Charles Lester, Lemond Bishop's personal attorney, starts snooping around trying to find Kalinda after she disappears. Alicia expresses her disapproval to Eli after he tries to direct the depiction of Alicia in her memoirs as being more domesticated, much to her displeasure. Finn tells Alicia that he's reconciling with his estranged wife and then decides that a partnership with her will not work as there is too much sexual tension between them. David Lee discovers Louis Canning's wife, Simone, now works at the firm as a paralegal, and both he and Cary want to fire her, something Diane as senior partner does. This angers Canning, who vows to destroy the firm and in the last scene asks Alicia if she wants a legal partner. |||||||

## U.S. ratings

| Episode number | Title | Original airing | Household Rating/share | 18–49 Rating/share | DVR Viewers | Total Viewers (millions) | Viewers Rank |
| 113 (6-01) | The Line | September 21, 2014 | 7.3 / 13 | 1.4 / 4 | — | — | 9 |
| 114 (6-02) | Trust Issues | September 28, 2014 | 7.3 / 11 | 1.3 / 4 | 2.538 | 13.598 | 17 |
| 115 (6-03) | Dear God | October 5, 2014 | 7.0 / 11 | 1.4 / 4 | 3.097 | 14.018 | 16 |
| 116 (6-04) | Oppo Research | October 12, 2014 | 6.6 / 10 | 1.3 / 3 | 2.711 | 13.103 | 16 |
| 117 (6-05) | Shiny Objects | October 19, 2014 | 7.0 / 11 | 1.4 / 3 | 2.818 | 13.700 | 17 |
| 118 (6-06) | Old Spice | October 26, 2014 | 6.7 / 11 | 1.5 / 4 | 2.745 | 12.958 | 18 |
| 119 (6-07) | Message Discipline | November 2, 2014 | 6.9 / 12 | 1.4 / 3 | 2.979 | 13.429 | 15 |
| 120 (6-08) | Red Zone | November 9, 2014 | 7.0 / 11 | 1.4 / 4 | 2.516 | 13.234 | 12 |
| 121 (6-09) | Sticky Content | November 16, 2014 | 6.9 / 10 | 1.3 / 3 | 2.60 | 13.15 | 14 |
| 122 (6–10) | The Trial | November 23, 2014 | 6.7 / 11 | 1.4 / 4 | 2.789 | 13.050 | 15 |
| 123 (6–11) | Hail Mary | January 4, 2015 | 6.6 / 10 | 1.3 / 4 | 2.677 | 13.040 | 7 |
| 124 (6–12) | The Debate | January 11, 2015 | 6.1 / 11 | 1.4 / 4 | 3.098 | 12.674 | 19 |
| 125 (6–13) | Dark Money | March 1, 2015 | 5.7 / 9 | 1.1 / 3 | 2.949 | 12.035 | 18 |
| 126 (6–14) | Mind's Eye | March 8, 2015 | 5.8 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 2.03 | 11.12 | 20 |
| 127 (6–15) | Open Source | March 15, 2015 | 5.8 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 2.12 | 10.97 | 22 |
| 128 (6–16) | Red Meat | March 22, 2015 | 5.5 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 1.989 | 10.421 | 15 |
| 129 (6–17) | Undisclosed Recipients | March 29, 2015 | 5.9 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 1.29 | 10.17 | 13 |
| 130 (6–18) | Loser's Edit | April 5, 2015 | 5.2 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 1.58 | 9.41 | 21 |
| 131 (6–19) | Winning Ugly | April 12, 2015 | 5.7 / 9 | 1.1 / 4 | 2.196 | 10.941 | 16 |
| 132 (6-20) | The Deconstruction | April 26, 2015 | 5.8 / 9 | 1.0 / 3 | 2.170 | 10.906 | 19 |
| 133 (6-21) | Don't Fail | May 3, 2015 | 5.4 / 9 | 0.9 / 3 | 2.242 | 10.592 | 19 |
| 134 (6-22) | Wanna Partner? | May 10, 2015 | TBA | 1.2 / 4 | TBA | TBA | 8 |

## Reception

The sixth season of The Good Wife received critical acclaim. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 100% rating based on 30 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Though in its sixth season, The Good Wife remains one of network television's best shows with sharp writing, vibrant characters, and high production values." On Metacritic, the sixth season currently sits at an 89 out of 100, based on nine critics.