Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Wait, that’s it? Fans of The Good Wife are still reeling following the series finale of the CBS drama, which aired on Sunday, May 8. Many were left underwhelmed, disappointed and downright angry over how Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) and more of the beloved characters said goodbye.
“What a terrible finale. So disappointed. #TheGoodWife,” one commenter wrote via Twitter. A second added: “For a series finale, do writers get together and decide: ‘we’ll go with whatever ending will piss off the audience the most??’ #TheGoodWife.”
So, why all the fuss? As Us Weekly previously reported, viewers weren’t thrilled with how Alicia betrayed Diane in court (cue the slap!), how Cary Agos (Matt Czuchry) only made a brief appearance and that David Lee (Zach Grenier) was nowhere to be found. The only highlight was that Josh Charles‘ character Will Gardner, who died in season 5, came back in several daydream sequences.
Showrunners Robert and Michelle King explained why they ended The Good Wife on such a controversial note in an interview with CBS.
“To talk about the end of the series is probably to talk about the beginning of the series because 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 ability and also about power, so that slap at the end is very similar to the slap in the beginning,” Robert said. “We always had this idea of Alicia becoming more and more of something that she also was not liking in her husband [Chris Noth‘s Peter Florrick].”
Michelle added: “We had talked about that the victim becomes the victimizer, and that’s really the circle that we see of Alicia.”
Read more mixed finale reactions, below.
AND WE ALL JUST GOT SMACKED IN THE FACE WITH THAT EPISODE #TheGoodWife
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) May 9, 2016
Well, we’ve got ourselves a new entry in How Not to Write a Series Finale. #TheGoodWife
— Oriana Schwindt (@Schwindter) May 9, 2016
#thegoodwife ending…..really? That totally sucked. Don’t think I want to watch the new show #braindead. I’ll just dread the ending!
— Carol Phipps (@ceejay601) May 9, 2016
Ugh. Ghost Will. What a terrible creative choice. #thegoodwife
— Will Kostakis (@willkostakis) May 9, 2016
I just watched the season finale of #TheGoodWife and if you need me I’ll be in a corner collecting myself.
— AmyOztan (@AmyOztan) May 9, 2016
I’ve slept on it….and I’m still mad at #TheGoodWife
— Melodie Aikels (@melodieaikels) May 9, 2016
So long #TheGoodWife I will miss you.
Terrific show from start to finish.— Barbara Kozek (@bjk527) May 9, 2016
For a series finale, do writers get together and decide: “we’ll go with whatever ending will piss off the audience the most”?? #TheGoodWife
— Mariyah Izah (@Maarieyah) May 9, 2016
It’s nice to see nearly every entertainment reporter who’s been covering #TheGoodWife feels a bit of WTF-ness, too.
— Kristie Bihn (@kristiebihn) May 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/Monica_TTR/status/729649662198722560
Thank you to #TheGoodWife “FINALY WE ARE OFF THE HOOK AS HAVING THE WORST ENDING EVER!!!” #MatrixMovies
— Matthew (@A7X_TML_Fan) May 9, 2016
#TheGoodWife, you will be missed. (PS it will take me weeks to recover from that Will & Alicia moment ?)
— Jessica Fagan (@JessFagan) May 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/ShaniceAnaya/status/729647202252038144
WHAT NO HELL NO WHY I DIDN’T KNOW THAT IT’S #TheGoodWife SERIES FINALE LIKE WHY PEOPLE?! *sobs*
— Awya (@awya) May 9, 2016
Just because it didn’t do what viewers WANTED it doesn’t mean that the writers didn’t know where they wanted to take the show #TheGoodWife
— Connor (@ConnorBriggs) May 9, 2016
https://twitter.com/SK_Rodg/status/729655132741316608
So #TheGoodWife is over. Somehow, I feel both content and underwhelmed by the finale.
— sister maryam FAKE (@zahii) May 9, 2016
This series finale doesn’t feel like a series finale. #TheGoodWife
— Marcia (@Marcykins_) May 9, 2016
What a terrible finale. So disappointed. #TheGoodWife
— Bianca (@olicity_veritas) May 9, 2016
I too, just got slapped in the face, by possibly the worst series finale ever. Thank you to the writers of #GoodWife for wasting our time…
— Cordialement Bisou (@cordialementbiz) May 9, 2016
… Was that actually the end of The Good Wife? I just got MY face slapped.
— Bree Bridges (@mostlybree) May 9, 2016
