One of the more intriguing series
in 2018 was NBC’s Good Girls, a show
that started with three strong female leads, not anti-heroines, but closer to
the definition than we’ve seen anywhere, especially on network TV. The series
focused around three of my favorite actresses: Christina Hendricks, Mae
Whitman, and Retta, who, in a desperate need for money rob a supermarket that
they find out too late is a front for a major drug kingpin. They spent much of
Season 1 trying to toe the line between making money, and turning into outright
criminals, while dodging the FBI, the Mexican drug lord, and their own spouses.
It basically came to a head, when Beth (Hendricks) came home to find her
husband tied up and the drug dealer who she’d just double crossed with a gun in
his hand. He practically dared her to kill him, but she couldn’t pull the
trigger. So he shot her husband instead – but didn’t kill him.
Things are not going much better
for her reluctant partners in crime. Ruby’s husband Stan found out about what
his wife and her friends were doing, and because he’s a cop, he basically told
her to turn her friends in, and cut a deal. Annie is now dealing with the fact
that her ex-husband has gotten his current wife pregnant. And all of them have
to deal with the fact that Boomer, the truly repugnant manager of the shopping
mart they robbed wants to get even with them, and is prepare to do anything to
do so. In the last episode, Rio ordered them
to kill him before he became a witness against them. The three of them
confronted him but again, Beth couldn’t pull the trigger. They tried to buy him
off and make him disappear. Boomer responded by using the money to put a
deposit on his wedding (with a woman he’s basically blackmailed into marrying
him) and using his own bad behavior to get someone to beat him up so that he
could get put into federal custody. I’m actually rooting for him to get shot.
What separates these woman from
Walter White or even Nancy Botwin is that they basically don’t seem to be
taking any pleasure from their own illegal activities. Don’t get me wrong, Ruby
basically told her husband in the last episode that she did what she had to in
order to save their daughter, and Annie enjoys ripping off his husband’s
current wife’s friends. But they still have a moral center that none of the
other antiheroes ever had. In the season opener, Stan made it clear there was
evidence in a locker that would implicate them in the robbery they committed.
The three woman made an elaborate scheme to rob the evidence depot and blame it
on the company, with Ruby proving as distraction. But just as they were about
to get away with, they saw very clearly that there were rape kits in there.
Walter White didn’t hesitate to destroy anything that might hurt hi. These
woman were willing to go to prison themselves rather than let this happen. The
fact that Stan eventually committed a crime to help his wife evade justice
didn’t make what they did any less noble.
And in a world where so many series
are fronted by either antiheroes or unpleasant characters, it is refreshing to
have a series where three soccer moms who are actually closer to what Walter
White thought he was than what he actually. And the three leads are among the
best actresses working in television today, and their work is among the best
they’ve ever done. (I should also give a shout out to Alison Tolman, another
recent discovery who has a smaller role as a single mom who got roped in, and
is now over her head in a different way.) These woman are appealing and who
could be our neighbors. They may no longer be the Good Girls of the title, but they’re still trying to be, even if
they may never get there again.
My score: 4.25 stars.
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