This episode of Good Girls primarily deals with the fallout of last week’s episode. The girls have to find a fall guy in order to evade the law once again, therefore helping Dean and resuming their illegal activities but in typical fashion for this show, it’s not that straight forward.
While the Secret Service is still compiling evidence by searching Boland Bubbles, Beth tries to remain upbeat as she visits Dean. He’s cold towards her which considering the circumstances is hardly surprising but it also makes for an interesting turn around when he later pleads guilty, a move that is a little unexpected. As much as Dean can be a bit of an idiot, he’s got to know that blurting out Rio’s involvement could leave consequences for him (especially considering he got shot the last time Rio was crossed) but pleading guilty is so far in the opposite direction that it’s honestly not a move that I was expecting. It’s also got me wondering how things might progress.
Before Dean makes that choice, the girls work to get him out. At first, Beth goes to Rio for a loan, something that he turns down and I don’t think any of us can really be shocked by that considering their track record. It was, however, great to see him entertain the idea for a while by challenging her to sink the 8-ball into a specific pocket. It really was a glimpse into how much fun they could have if things weren’t so sour between them. While it might be unfair that nothing ever seems to stick to him, he’s not wrong when it comes to them — Beth, Annie, Ruby — needing a fall guy and that Dean could get himself a deal and be a perfect choice.
Still, Beth doesn’t give in. Something that becomes understandable when we get the flashbacks of when she first (properly) met Dean. Which, I have to say, were wonderful to watch and such a nice touch to the episode! While we’ve all seen that their marriage has slowly come apart, those flashbacks serve to show us that things weren’t always so bad between them, however, it also showed (or perhaps, confirmed) that things weren’t so great for Beth’s home life. It makes sense that after feeling some support from him, Beth got with Dean and never left and therefore, it’s unsurprising that she feels she should be there for him now he’s in prison. Especially when you consider that Beth has shown multiple times that she’s reluctant to make bad things happen to people who haven’t done anything and in this case, for all his faults, Dean didn’t know about the counterfeit money.
This leads to Eric being chosen as the fall guy. Actually asking him to go to prison wasn’t exactly the route I expected them to go in but considering the aforementioned reluctance to punish people for things they haven’t done, it makes sense that Beth wouldn’t want to set him up. Although, maybe if she had, it wouldn’t have gone as horribly wrong. However, between Beth being ready to confess to Phoebe and the latter looking at the photo with the letter on the other side, it doesn’t seem like Beth, Annie, and Ruby (and technically Rio) are entirely out of the woods just yet. Phoebe has already proven that she isn’t going to give up and while she may come across deflated while at the park with Beth, it’s unlikely she’s going to sit back now.
During all of this, Ruby finds the one-dollar bills they need to help get Eric arrested by enlisting Stan’s help. It’s a move that doesn’t entirely work out and has Stan getting into some troubling territory at work. It was interesting to see who his boss is but mostly I’m concerned for how much of a dark road Stan is going to end up going down especially considering he seems to be keeping it secret from Ruby. The two of them have got a lot going on in their lives already and every time the pressure is piled on, it’s hard not to be concerned for them. A plus that is different from much earlier circumstances is that they do seem to generally be in a better place so fingers crossed, no matter where this goes, they’ll continue to have each other’s back and will pull out the other side.
I also have a lot of curiosity in regards to his feelings towards Beth. Despite the many years of friendship between her and Ruby, it seems that she and Stan weren’t that well acquainted. Likely, what appears to be distaste from him is primarily down to Ruby’s descent into crime and not any prior interactions. While they have shared scenes before, it would be great to have more, especially as the girls (and Stan) get in deeper with crime and the risks continue to get more dangerous.
Outside of that, there are only really two major things to happen.
While Annie does help with the fall guy plan, she also goes through another change in regards to her relationship with Ben. Even though there’s been a steady decline in how close they are, it doesn’t make it any less hurtful to see unfold. It was certainly nice to know that Ben doesn’t hate Annie but this move to have him spend more time with Greg and Nancy is most likely only going to contribute to that divide. Which, considering she offered to put her prints on the gun that killed Lucy, it feels more and more like Annie is going to end up in some pretty serious trouble. Add on her ever-growing recognition of her bad qualities and attempts to improve herself, the increased absence of Ben from her everyday life gives her less to consider if the opportunity comes to make a selfish act (like take the fall for Lucy’s murder if that heat comes their way).
Then we have the most recent step in the hitman plotline. For a man whose job it is to be observant, Fitzpatrick is shown to be pretty oblivious in regards to Beth. While being a little taken aback and struck by Beth’s outburst, so far he doesn’t seem to have reacted that badly and has even agreed to get on with the hit he was paid to do. However, Good Girls has shown us how he reacted with violence to something as simple as Beth’s salmon not being prepared to her liking so there’s a high chance that this won’t be the end of it.
A sentiment that doesn’t just stop with the hitman. Things have certainly changed for all the main characters and despite them already being in some pretty hot water, it seems the show isn’t slowing down as it no doubt builds to some big fallouts.
wonderoes 