The second season of '' The Good Wife'' began airing on September 28, 2010, and concluded on May 17, 2011.

Premise

The series focuses on Alicia Florrick, whose husband Peter, the former

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

, 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. The second season follows Alicia, now a full-time employee at Lockhart & Gardner, while still juggling her private life and her professional life. Most of the plot focuses on the arrival of Derrick Bond, who becomes a partner at the firm, changing the lives of the characters forever. As Alicia continues her career and her tame flirtations with Will Gardner, her husband Peter Florrick tries to regain his post as district attorney. At the end of the season, most of the storylines come to a head as Alicia's relationship with private investigator Kalinda Sharma is put to the test.

Cast

Main

* Julianna Margulies as

Alicia Florrick Alicia Florrick ( née Cavanaugh) is the lead character of CBS television series ''The Good Wife'' and is portrayed by Julianna Margulies, who has received widespread acclaim for her performance, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstandin ...

* Matt Czuchry as Cary Agos * Archie Panjabi as Kalinda Sharma * Makenzie Vega as Grace Florrick * Graham Phillips as Zach Florrick *

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

as Eli Gold *

Josh Charles Joshua Aaron Charles (born September 15, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for the roles of Dan Rydell on '' Sports Night; '' Will Gardner on ''The Good Wife'', which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations; and his early wo ...

Will Gardner Will Gardner is a character of CBS television series ''The Good Wife'' and was portrayed by Josh Charles for the first five seasons of the show's run. For his performance, Charles received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations as well as a Golden ...

Christine Baranski Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952) is an American actress. She is a 15-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee, winning once in 1995 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom ''Cybill'' ...

Diane Lockhart Diane Lockhart is a character of CBS television series ''The Good Wife'' and is portrayed by Christine Baranski, who has received acclaim for her performance, such as being nominated for six consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supp ...

Recurring

Chris Noth Christopher David Noth ( ; born November 13, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on ''Law & Order'' (1990–95), Big on ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on ''The ...

as Peter Florrick *

Scott Porter Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saska ...

as Blake Calamar *

Michael Ealy Michael Brown (born August 3, 1973), professionally known as Michael Ealy, is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Barbershop'' (2002), '' 2 Fast 2 Furious'' (2003), ''Takers'' (2010), ''Think Like a Man'' (2012), ''About Last Ni ...

as Derrick Bond * Mary Beth Peil as Jackie Florrick * Titus Welliver as Glenn Childs * Anika Noni Rose as Wendy Scott-Carr *

Elizabeth Reaser Elizabeth Ann Reaser (born July 2, 1975) is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films ''Stay'', ''The Family Stone'', ''Sweet Land'', '' Against the Current'', '' The Twilight Saga'', ''Young Adult'', and '' Oui ...

as Tammy Linnata *

Zach Grenier Zach Grenier is an American character actor of film, television and stage. He is best known for his roles in films such as '' Fight Club'', ''Tommy Boy'', and '' Twister'' and for his roles in television such as David Lee in '' The Good Wife'' a ...

as David Lee *

Mike Pniewski Michael Pniewski (born April 20, 1961) is an American actor and public speaker. Life and career Pniewski was born in Los Angeles, California. His education began at UCLA, where he graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theater and al ...

as Frank Landau * Tim Guinee as Andrew Wiley *

Dreama Walker Dreama Elyse Walker (born June 20, 1986) is an American actress. She is known for her supporting role in the series ''Gossip Girl'', her lead role in the film ''Compliance'' (2012), and her lead roles in two short-lived television series, the co ...

as Becca *

Michael Boatman Michael Patrick Boatman (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as New York City mayoral aide Carter Heywood in the ABC sitcom ''Spin City'', as U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett in the ABC drama ser ...

as Julius Cain * Chris Butler as Matan Brody * Renee Elise Goldsberry as Geneva Pine *

Dallas Roberts Dallas Mark Roberts (born May 10, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Milton Mamet in the third season of AMC's '' The Walking Dead'' (2012-2013), Eliot Delson on ''Unforgettable'', and Owen Cavanaugh on ''The Good Wife' ...

as Owen Cavanaugh *

Felix Solis Felix Angel Solis (born September 17, 1971) is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix co ...

as Kevin Rodriguez *

Skipp Sudduth Robert Lee "Skipp" Sudduth IV (born August 23, 1956) is an American theater, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his role in the 1998 film '' Ronin'' and his lead in the TV drama ''Third Watch''. Early life and education Bor ...

as Jim Moody * America Ferrera as Natalie Flores *

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ''Family Ties'' (1 ...

as Louis Canning * Mike Colter as Lemond Bishop *

Sonequa Martin-Green Sonequa Chaunté Martin-Green (; Martin; born March 21, 1985) is an American actress. She is best known for her television roles as Michael Burnham, the main character in the streaming television series '' Star Trek: Discovery'', and as Sasha W ...

as Courtney Wells * Mamie Gummer as Nancy Crozier * Denis O'Hare as Charles Abernathy * Ana Gasteyer as Patrice Lessner * Rita Wilson as Viola Walsh

Guest

* Gary Cole as Kurt McVeigh *

Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in '' Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film ''The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...

as Patti Nyholm *

Jill Flint Jill Flint is an American television and film actress, best known for her role of Jill Casey in the USA Network TV series ''Royal Pains'', and as the popular character Lana Delaney on CBS' award-winning series ''The Good Wife''. She also plays o ...

as Lana Delaney * Kevin Conway as Jonas Stern * Jerry Adler as Howard Lyman * John Benjamin Hickey as Neil Gross *

Miranda Cosgrove Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She was the highest-paid child actor in 2012 and was included on ''Forbes'' magazine's " 30 Under 30" list in 2022. She is known for her career on television, parti ...

as Sloan Burchfield * Emily Kinney as Milla Burchfield * David Paymer as Richard Cuesta * Kelli Giddish as Sophia Russo * Rachel Brosnahan as Caitlin Fenton *

Norbert Leo Butz Norbert Leo Butz (born January 30, 1967) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway theatre. He is a two-time winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the ...

as Mr. Medina *

Susan Misner Susan Misner (; born February 8, 1971) is an American actress and dancer. She has appeared in a number of TV series as a guest star, as well as several recurring roles. Career Misner portrayed Grace Davidson on the ABC soap opera ''One Life to ...

as Simone Canning * Christian Pedersen as Scott Bauer

Episodes

Reception

The second season of ''The Good Wife'' received critical acclaim. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 100% certified fresh rating based on 21 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "''The Good Wife'' sophomore season explores exciting new layers of the show's meticulous mythology." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the second season of the show currently sits at an 89 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s *Nominated for Outstanding Drama Series *Won for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series ( Julianna Margulies) (for the episode "In Sickness") *Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (

) (for the episode "Closing Arguments") *Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (

) (for the episode "Silver Bullet") *Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (

) (for the episode "Silver Bullet") *Nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ( Archie Panjabi) (for the episode "Getting Off") *Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (

) (for the episode "Real Deal") *Nomination for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series (Mark Saks) *Nomination for

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour) is an annual award presented as part of the Primetime Emmy Awards. From 1971 until 2008, all single-camera series competed together in a combined categor ...

(Fred Murphy for "Double Jeopardy")

Ratings

DVR Ratings (season 2)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Wife (season 2) 2 2010 American television seasons 2011 American television seasons