The Good Wife began with a slap and ended with a slap, both of them rude awakenings in the life of Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies). That was an ending series creators Robert and Michelle King have had planned since the show lasted past its initial 13-episode order. The series ended without things wrapped up in a nice little package. Alicia realized what she had done, how far she had come from the beginning, and marched toward the future. There was no happy, neat, romantic ending and you can bet that was intentional.

"It's not a show that has been urging audiences that there would be a happy ending at the end," Robert told E! News, with a laugh, about the perception that fans are owed a happy ending the morning after the series finale aired. "We like comedy—in many ways the show is are a bit of a carnival of emotions. There's always been this sense of honesty, an honesty that goes back—whether happy or sad—it kind of goes towards, 'OK, this is what this character has been about.' The only thing I'd add for the happiness on top is, I view Alicia as someone who learns from her mistakes. I do think Julianna Margulies did an amazing job in her walk away from that last encounter to suggest that this is a woman who at least knows where she stands with what happened."

"The aim, if it wasn't to be happy, it was to be both true and complicated," Michelle said.