Elsbeth is all set for a Season 2 finale in the 2025 TV schedule that will go full Chicago with a musical number, but the leading lady had to go through the wringer to wind up behind bars before the fun of any kind of cell block tango with guest stars galore. And she certainly did go through the wringer in the penultimate episode, which ended with Elsbeth looking positively… well, un-Elsbethian. On the verge of tears and dressed in a drab prison jumpsuit without any bright accessories or tote bags, rarely has Elsbeth Tascioni looked more out of her usual character.
When I spoke with Carrie Preston, she weighed in on her character’s state of mind when last we saw her ahead of the finale on May 8. According to the Good Wife alum, her muted appearance and demeanor at the end of the “I’ve Got A Little List” episode last week had everything to do with Judge Milton Crawford’s bloody end. (That episode is streaming with a Paramount+ subscription now.) She shared:
Elsbeth witnesses this assassination, and, like most people, experiences a bit of shock. And so at the beginning of that episode, Kaya asks her, ‘How are you doing?’ And it’s ‘I’m fine.’ She puts on this mask and just delves into this crime. This criminal happens to be someone somewhat similar to the judge, someone who is very highly placed, has a lot of power and a lot of money and will seemingly be able to get away with murder. She becomes possessed and obsessed with it, so much so that when her best friend tells her that she’s leaving to go work somewhere else, Elsbeth just can’t quite process that until the end, until she’s been stripped down of all of her things.
Elsbeth pushing a little too hard in the investigation didn’t come out of nowhere, although in her defense, she likely wouldn’t have ended up behind bars if there weren’t powerful people determined to throw the rule book at her. Everything just didn’t catch up to her until the very end, including Kaya deciding to leave the job that allowed them to see each other almost all day, every day.
Coming to a realization at the end of the episode doesn’t mean that she gets out of her fairly dire circumstances, however. Carrie Preston elaborated on where her character’s mind was leading up to the finale:
Like you said, she’s been put into this jumpsuit, this drab jumpsuit, and she’s sitting in a prison where she can’t touch anybody, she can’t hug anybody. She doesn’t know how she’s going to get out. It’s that at that point that everything sort of lands, and she has to face that her best friend is leaving, that justice isn’t always going to be served. How am I going to continue knowing these things? Luckily, she has these two friends who bolster her up and give her some beautiful words of encouragement at the end as well.
Who would have guessed at this time last season that Captain Wagner would be such a good friend to Elsbeth that he’s one of two people who could raise her spirits from the lowest we’ve ever seen her? Last spring, Wendell Pierce was talking about Elsbeth’s “betrayal,” and as Carrie Preston told me at the time, Elsbeth herself was “off of her game.” Look at them now!
And if you were discouraged by how sad Elsbeth looked in her drab jumpsuit, just look at the finale promo to see just how much she’ll be back to her normal colorful self before the credits roll on Season 2:
The Season 2 finale of Elsbeth airs on Thursday, May 8 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS, and returning guest stars include André De Shields, Gina Gershon, Elizabeth Lail, Alyssa Milano, Arian Moayed, Stephen Moyer, Mary-Louise Parker, Retta, and Ethan Slater. I’d wondered how the show could bring back so many stars when most of them were outed as murderers at the ends of their episodes, but Elsbeth behind bars explains it!
CBS has also released its 2025-2026 primetime TV schedule to confirm that Elsbeth will return to Thursday nights in the fall, paired once more with Kathy Bates‘ breakout hit Matlock. Over the course of hiatus, you can also revisit past episodes streaming via Paramount+.
