Julianna Margulies’ character on ‘The Good Wife’ transformed along with series

NEW YORK, N.Y. – “The Good Wife” just got good and nasty.

Last Sunday’s episode, aptly titled, “Hitting the Fan,” basically blew up the series (which airs Sunday nights on Global and CBS). If you haven’t seen it yet and it is sitting in your PVR deck, skip the next paragraph.

Will (Josh Charles) learns of the plan by Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and Cary (Matt Czuchry) to leave Lockhart Gardner and take half the clients with them. Hurt by this betrayal by his old friend and former lover, Will acts swiftly to have Alicia, Cary and several associates thrown out of the law office and a vicious tug-of-war over clients ensues. Lawyers fight lawyers in court and even Alicia’s reconciled husband, newly elected Illinois governor Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), gets into the act, killing plans to make senior law partner Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) a Supreme Court judge.

“It feels like it can never go back,” said Noth, one of several main cast members who met with reporters earlier this week at a press conference near the series’ Brooklyn, N.Y., sound stages.

“It’s brave of them to do it,” he continued, referring to the series’ husband-and-wife co-creators Robert King and Michelle King.

Margulies said her character is now in full “warrior mode.” It’s a complete transformation from how Alicia began on the series, rocked by her husband’s infidelities and stumbling back into the workforce.

“She’s always been a dedicated lawyer and an incredibly smart, well-thought-out human being,” said Margulies, who looked in warrior mode as she sat before press in a floor-length crimson overcoat fanning out to reveal a jet-black dress. New Alicia now mirrors ruthless and ambitious Will, “and that’s going to be incredibly fun to watch on the show.”

The fallout continues this Sunday on the next episode, “The Next Day.” Now that Alicia and Will are on opposite teams, “they both realize they are made of the same cloth and she learned from the best,” said Margulies. She said this new competition “strangely has taken on a sexier feel than a love scene. Each can read the other’s mind and they’re always one step ahead of each other.”

Alan Cumming, who plays Peter Florrick’s cunning chief of staff, Eli Gold, said he was shocked when he read the “Hitting the Fan” script. He’s excited by the energy and “upward incline” the series is taking as it moves toward the 100-episode mark in its fifth season.

Unlike Margulies, Cumming did not dress up for his press appearance, sporting an orange hoodie, wrinkled T-shirt and mussed-up hair. It’s quite a departure from the button-down business attire he sports on the show.

The 48-year-old Scottish-born actor, who recently did a one-man Broadway show playing every character in “Macbeth,” said he’s surprised to be playing “a middle-aged man in a suit” at this stage of his career. “Because he’s so far away from me it’s actually a good thing when I get into ‘Eli drag’ — it feels like another person.”

He had high praise for his co-stars, singling out Margulies’ “calm, great spirit” and calling her “easy to work with.”

Noth, he said with affection, “is crazy. He’s a bonkers teenage jock trapped in a middle-aged man’s body.”

The former Mr. Big from “Sex and the City” did little to erase that notion as he playfully swatted back questions during his fun and frisky press session.

Asked by one reporter how he could “get women not to hate you” after playing a couple of high-profile rogues and cheaters, Noth seemed keen to set the record straight.

“There’s a misconception about all my characters,” he said. “They’re imperfect people and they’re conflicted and they’re complicated like everybody else. I find the generalization that they’re bad to be a little ridiculous.”

Noth’s character was in part suggested by former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, himself caught in a sex scandal or two. Noth’s not one to point fingers, asking reporters, “Is anybody really good? I’m sure there are shadows in your life.”

He suggested the term “good wife” can’t be taken too literally, especially this season. “It’s a great title, but I think we shouldn’t take anything too literally, in life or TV.”

Margulies conceded that her character risks turning off fans this season with her warrior stance. Up until now Alicia the single mom has been generally admired for her judgement and character.

She’s lost count of all the women who approach her on the street and just start talking. “I had a stewardess talk to me on a flight all the way to L.A.,” said Margulies.

She figures fans feel ready to open up to Alicia because she’s “good at keeping secrets,” and “not a big talker. She’s just accessible.”

How long she stays at her husband’s side is anybody’s guess. Noth wondered aloud if “anybody really gets over that kind of infidelity.” They seemed well past it in one scene on Sunday’s episode where Alicia and Peter — in the midst of all that mayhem — sneak in a “quickie.” As Noth noted, however, the scene was “CBS sex — that’s kind of like holding hands.”

Things were much more explicit on HBO’s “Sex and the City.” Noth feels, however, that Mr. Big gets a bad rap, suggesting Carrie got far more action on that series than his character. “Can you count on one hand how many relationships Carrie had in between?” he asked. “Lots!”

Noth shared a drop-dead funny anecdote from his “Sex and the City” days: seems the producers sent him to a Brazilian “fat farm” to lose weight before shooting commenced on the second movie. “He’s called Mr. Big,” he was told, “not because you’re playing soccer with your stomach.”

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Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.