Sybil Bruncheon's “A Few of My Favorite Things”… The Good Wife and Archie Punjabi...

Apropos of my advice every week on being "present, mindful, and grateful", I'm starting a new series called Sybil Bruncheon's My Favorite Things! In this world of so much angst and anguish, and "calling out" all those things and people we DON'T approve of or value, I want to make a point of saying what DOES give me pleasure, lights up my world, and fills all my senses, my heart, and my head with joy. These are a few of my favorite things; people, objects, works of art, food, animals, wonders of Nature… you get the idea! Stay tuned...

I watched THE GOOD WIFE when it was aired originally from 2009 to 2016, and then, thanks to technology, I binge watched it again and again as the years passed. It remains one of my very favorite TV shows ever, and, more than being just another TV show, I think it may become an iconic piece of art over the next decades and an artifact representative of American urban life at the opening of the 21st century. Rarely do actors get cast in roles that "no one else could play" so to speak, but this show, season after season, used both its core cast and all of its guest and cameo actors brilliantly. Although we've seen all its stars in many other great projects (Julianna Margulies on ER, Christopher Noth in LAW & ORDER and SEX AND THE CITY, Christine Baranski, Nathan Lane, and Alan Cumming in theatre and films, etc.), their roles on THE GOOD WIFE have become their individual touchstones; something that they can be particularly proud of. And I admire and celebrate them all.

But for me, it’s Archie Punjabi as the enigmatic Kalinda Sharma who dazzles! Throughout the entire series, she never raises her voice, never erupts, never explodes or loses control. Indeed, even when she kicks, punches, or shoots, she does so almost placidly, as if breaking a thug's nose or kneeing him in the crotch is a matter of course. She has none of the fireworks or emotional pyrotechnics that every other character gets. As an actress, she has only her personal beauty (stunning!) and an equally stunning wardrobe a la a 21st century Emma Peel to embellish her character. But the writers capitalized on Punjabi's imploded method-acting style of mumbles, shrugs, and askance-glances to create something rare in all fiction; a soft-spoken, gentle-mannered, highly sophisticated but implacable force of Nature… as a woman! It's Kalinda who becomes the weekly fixer of everyone's dilemmas, tip-toeing her way into homes and psyches to find the weak point, the missed detail, the subtle clue, and often the ultimate solution.

After five seasons of close calls, narrow escapes, and happy hour cocktails with Cary, Alicia, and unwitting adversaries, including her violent and psychotic ex-husband Nick, Kalinda finally had to solve a life-and-death situation by turning in an infamous drug dealer to save her coworkers. And in an unrelated situation in that same episode, she had to dispose of Nick, once and for all. She arranges for the drug dealer and his cohorts to be caught by the Feds, and she confronts her ex in a scene that ends vaguely, leaving the resolution up to the audience's imagination. But when I see her reactions and interactions with Nick, and when I think of all that she's seen and gone through throughout the whole series, there's nothing vague about it to me. I'm convinced that she settled on the "final solution" to her violent and uncontrollable ex. It explains her rye farewell to Alicia. Somehow or other, she managed to kill Nick and dispose of him without a trace. She ends up being her own fixer, solving her own dilemma as she strolls out of the show that final time. Nick is "gone... permanently"! And it explains that wonderful enigmatic smile in the last shot. For me, she will always be one of the most beautiful, mysterious, and alluring characters in ALL fiction... and additionally one of the most perfectly written and inhabited by one of the most wonderful actors... ever. Thank you for being one of my favorite things, Archie Punjabi.

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