What happened?

Two of the main actors on The Good Wife were in a feud. There is no disputing that, whether you want to dodge the issue and be super condescending about it like the show’s creators (Robert and Michelle King) have, or straight up lie about it (and get subsequently exposed) like the show’s lead actress has, you have to accept the fact that something went down between Archie Panjabi and Julianna Margulies. The characters they played haven’t shared a scene with one another in over two seasons, and when Panjabi left the show, her last scene with Margulies (which is absolutely pivotal to her character arc) was done with green-screen trickery. I’ve covered it before, and I’ll say it again, the Kings have allowed their show to be dictated by a dispute between their actors, which is pretty pathetic on their part, but also leaves one to wonder what kind of catastrophic event caused such a mess in the first place. Just for fun, here are some of my speculations.

1. Archie Panjabi gets the first Emmy – What many consider to be the obvious reason for this feud. Panjabi received an Emmy for her role on the show a year before Margulies did, and some have said this was the source of all the tension between the two. I have my doubts about this theory since whatever happened between them must have come to a head at around 2012-13, long after Margulies received her first Emmy for her performance on the show. As something to explain the beginnings of resentment, I buy it, but I can’t see it as the world shaking event that tore them apart due to the timing.
2. Julianna Margulies is a diva – Most basic and most boring theory, but it seems believable. This may just be an ego thing in the end.
3. Archie Panjabi decided to be a method actor, and to prepare for the role as someone who slept with her best friend’s husband, she went out and slept with Julianna Margulies’ husband for real – Dumb theory, but you know it’d be super amusing if it were true.
4. Julianna Margulies takes the series super seriously and hates Kalinda’s character to the point where she can’t stand her actress – This isn’t completely farfetche’d if you consider the go-to response to questions regarding the feud is that in reality, friends who bone other friend’s husbands don’t stay friends.
5. Archie Panjabi called Julianna Margulies a bourgeois bitch – It could happen.
6. The Kings and Margulies invited Panjabi to an Eyes Wide Shut style sex party, but she refused and they got super annoyed and passive aggressive about it – I really want this one to be the case.
7. Margulies denies having ever borrowed a book Panjabi really wants back – This is probably the number one friendship breaker in real life.
8. Panjabi let slip that she prefers Naruto to One Piece – This is probably the number one friendship breaker in real life… for manga nerds.
9. Margulies refuses to accept responsibility for a fart she released in an elevator and Panjabi won’t let it go – This one almost shattered my relationship with my brother.
10. Panjabi wrote erotic fanfiction about their characters and posted it online, Margulies found out about it and is fuming about how badly Alicia was characterized in Panjabi’s stories – This one almost seems like a fanfiction in and itself.

OK, that’s all I have for now, but I have a feeling Archie Panjabi is inching closer and closer to revealing the truth to the world one day. Something tells me the real explanation to all this madness will either be super mundane or more insane than anything I wrote as a theory. There will be no in-between, only one extreme or the other.

Quote of the Day:

– The Good Wife.