‘The Good Wife’ Preview: Cary And Kalinda Don’t Get A Proper Goodbye

Fans of The Good Wife have been preparing for Kalinda Sharma’s final scenes all season. It’s been long revealed that Archie Panjabi is leaving the show, but few expected her character’s brief goodbye last week. Kalinda is not done with the show yet. Show runners revealed she will make an appearance in the finale.

What she won’t do is share screen time with her friend and lover, Cary Agos. Matt Czuchry told The Hollywood Reporter that Cary will feel the effects of Kalinda’s exit for some time, especially with the unfinished business.

“You know so many things in life work that way where you want a proper goodbye and you don’t get it and that adds to the trauma that you have to work through…. That’s going to stick with him for quite a long time because Kalinda’s been an amazing friend to him, especially in this season, when he is in some of his darkest hours.”

Although there will be distance between Cary and Kalinda, Alicia and Kalinda have some interaction. Producers Robert and Michelle King told Vulture the once-close friends will share screen time in the finale, set for May 10. That’s also when viewers will learn what was in that note that sent Alicia into a crying fit last week.

As for why Kalinda’s first departure wasn’t more fitting with her character’s dramatics, the Kings said they did not want to repeat the shocking death of Will Gardner last season. In the words of Robert King, “[W]e didn’t want to keep bumping people off. It seems almost rude.”

Sunday night, fans can expect a retread of The Good Wife‘s past, as Alicia is tapped by a former client in a case she handled in 2009. The episode contains flashbacks to the time when Alicia and Cary were competing for a spot at the law firm. Czuchry told E! that it gives viewers a sense of how his character has developed over the past several years.

“[Y]ou’re going to get a different sense of Cary and how he was in season one, fresh out of law school and competitive with Alicia as opposed to how he his now.”

The flashbacks will not be mere clips from previous episodes. In preparation to film the new scenes that took place in an earlier era, Czuchry said he studied his early performances as Cary in season one.

Long time fans of The Good Wife will also get a treat on Sunday night, as Alicia and Peter’s son Zach appears in the episode. Although the couple’s daughter Grace has been in many episodes this season, including as the recipient of Kalinda’s sudden goodbye, Zach has only been in sporadic episodes. A quick look at his actor biography on IMDB reveals Graham Phillips, who plays Zach, is also set to appear in the season finale.

The Good Wife airs 9 p.m. on CBS. Sunday’s episode is the last before the season finale that airs next week.

[Images: The Good Wife / CBS]