TV Reviews
Good Girls Review – Beth is Feeling Incentivized to Hire a Sniper (3×09)
Good Girls started the episode by doing something that was extremely enjoyable to watch — they juxtaposed Beth’s prim and proper morning routine with the messy, chaotic routine of the FBI agent we saw at the end of “Nana.”
The agent has a picture in her mind of the type of woman she’s trying to “draw out of a cave,” and I can guarantee it isn’t a suburban, chipper, charming mom hiding in plain sight. This has always been Beth’s greatest weapon, but it can’t protect her forever.
While Beth got herself ready to take on the day without a care in the world (though, we know that isn’t true), the agent was clearly not a morning person.
Why does the series constantly make it seem like following the law leads to a miserable, bottom-of-the-barrel life? Is there a reason why every law-abiding citizen’s life looks like it’s a rinse, wash, repeat?
Seeing it from this angle, you can almost understand why Beth’s gotten so deeply involved in the criminal lifestyle, but the series quickly reminds you that the grass ain’t always greener on the other side.
Beth’s motivation and confidence didn’t stem from the fact that that she was rolling in the fake cash that she was washing, no, she was thrilled that they finally had enough money to hire a professional to take out Rio.
Yup, the suburban mom is engaging in murder-for-hire plots and acting like it’s just another Tuesday. This is what her life is now.
You can’t blame her for it either as Rio isn’t just a pain in her side, he’s a man who is destroying her life piece by piece. She’s still sleeping without furniture, they’re still broke, and Rio “incentivized” Beth by getting her fingerprints all over a gun he claims they used to kill Boomer.
Rio is good. He’s really good. And if Beth wants to take the throne and eliminate him, she has to be equally as good.
Rio admitted her was running out of ways to incentivize Beth, but by getting her prints on the gun, he has the leverage to destroy her if she ever missteps again.
Rio thinks he understands Beth, and for the most part, he’s pretty on point, but his drastic move didn’t incentivize Beth in the way he wanted.
Instead of falling in line, Beth decided to act on part three of her plan.
But as I said previously, Beth has to be really good to pull one over on him.
And while double the price gets her a sniper with arms — don’t get me started on the fact that Max told them his cousin with no arms would snipe Rio for $30k — it’s not like she can check out a Yelp review or see a Google rating for this man. She’s going in blind, and she has to trust that the man who says he can take care of Rio will actually take care of Rio. Hopefully, the guy isn’t a cop or something, though, I can’t be the only one who saw the paintball mark on Rio’s car in the teaser episode!
Beth needs to be careful because hiring a hitman and giving the “okay to shoot” order adds on a charge that’s much more dangerous than printing counterfeit money.
But back to the cousin with no arms, Good Girls loves to lean on dark comedy to get through the tough times, and it works. I was out of breath from laughing at this whole scene.
When he said he likes to dabble in explosives, and Ruby said “really,” it was genuinely one of the best moments this season.
Beth sacrificed a lot to set up a meeting with the hitman including attending Dean’s award ceremony, so obviously, getting Rio out of her life is of the utmost importance.
It becomes more evident with each week that she needs to free herself, the ladies, and their families from his grasp.
Beth may think that taking out Rio is the answer to all of her problems, but in life, once you solve one issue, another one tends to pop right back up.
And in this case, that issue is the FBI agent I mentioned in the beginning. The FBI is hot on her trail and she doesn’t know it because she’s so laser-focused on Rio being the biggest obstacle in her happiness.
When Beth suggested they don’t need any more of the recalled nail polish color to gloss the fake cash, I was hoping and crossing all my fingers and toes that it was because she knew something was off. Sadly, it wasn’t.
Recalling the nail polish was the female agent’s idea and it officially makes her more dangerous than Tanner ever was because she’s incredibly savvy. She wasted no time narrowing down the exact color.
She hoped that the recall would lure out the “woman” to get more of the color so that they could ID her.
However, the agent has no idea who she’s dealing with. Beth and the ladies are cheap, which seems to be their saving grace. They’re not just going to pay that insane mark-up. Nope, that’s what normal people do when they’re in need of a product that’s high in demand.
These ladies, well, they take it to the next level.
As Beth is to suburban mom, Ruby is to a good Christian woman. She used that to her advantage by offering all the underprivileged women at her church a day at the spa where they could get their nails — both hands and toes — done. It was her treat!
It was also the perfect cover to pull off a robbery. Since the salon where the nail polish color was stolen from was filled with women who all had motive and needed money, there was no way the FBI could pinpoint the woman down.
Beth, Ruby, and Annie saved themselves without even knowing, and it’s that sheer luck that has kept them out of any real trouble over the years.
Ruby also made Sara an accomplice when she stole the nail polish by having her fake getting a period for the first time.
The situation didn’t sit well with me at first because Ruby is exposing her daughter to her criminal doings and as we’ve seen before, Sara has also had a few brush ins with the law as she emulated the behavior of her parents that she thought was okay.
However, the moment led Ruby to tell Sara about how she had to do whatever it took, even something illegal, to steal her a second chance.
The realization scared Sara to the point where I don’t think she’ll ever cross a line ever again. It gave her a new appreciation for her parents that she may not have had before. It’s easy to judge someone for the action without knowing the decision behind it, but Sara learned that if her mother didn’t put her neck on the line, she wouldn’t have survived.
When she revealed who she wanted to help with the money from the jar, it broke me — she wants to help the family of the girl whose lung she got.
Sara may have made a few bad decisions, but she’s a good kid. Stan and Ruby raised her right.
I’ve seen many fans comment that they don’t want another FBI storyline, but realistically, how long could the ladies have gone with producing fake cash before someone caught onto them?
My biggest gripe with this storyline is that the FBI doesn’t seem to have any connection to Turner’s findings.
Since they narrowed the money down to Detroit, couldn’t they pull up the branch and see if anyone locally has stumbled upon a similar case? It seems like the most obvious thing to do especially since Turner dealt with fake cash and had a whole case built around them before he got killed. The very fact that an FBI investigating gangs and fake cash was killed should sound some kind of alarm.
I’m assuming the FBI agent will become Beth’s adversary, but what if the series wanted to show us her monotonous lifestyle because she would be the kind of person to join Beth’s operation and got sucked in by the allure of street life?
It’s more likely that she’ll go undercover to get in with the ladies instead, but I can’t say I’d be opposed to a twist the would find her becoming a “good girl.”
Annie was or of the best parts of the episode.
She has the type of personality that connects with anyone, even Lyla, whom she wanted to grill about her relationship with Josh.
After a few glasses of wine, she learned that they don’t get nasty because they attend “Egyptology” class for fun, and used that to her advantage when she forced Josh to face the reality of his feelings.
The one thing you can never take away from Annie is that she’s honest, unapologetically herself, and enjoys life for what it is not what she thinks it should be.
Josh isn’t enjoying his life; he’s living a life that makes sense on paper, which is no way to live.
There’s no spark in it, which s why he’s so attracted to Annie and her wild, spontaneous, and carefree attitude.
There’s a chemistry between them that’s undeniable that he clearly doesn’t have with Lyla. With Lyla, everything is by the book, but with Annie, it’s almost an animalistic attraction that he’s trying to fight but failing, especially when she called him out and watched him squirm.
I think Annie is equally as interested in getting him to admit his feelings as she is proving a point. And once again, Josh has become an unattainable conquest for her, which is how he summarized her behavior when she first walked into his practice.
Where this goes from here, we’ll see, but it was enjoyable to watch the tables get turned. Annie is smart when she wants to and needs to be.
Of course, kissing Greg wasn’t smart, but she’s the queen of bad decisions and her and Greg have a history of falling back into bad patterns.
What really bothered me is that Greg has no respect for Annie, Nancy, or their children. Heck, he doesn’t have respect for himself. He pulled away from Annie not because she was drunk or because it was the right thing to do since he has a wife but because he “does the night feeding” with the baby.
Seriously, Greg. Shut up. There was a time I rooted for him, but it’s evident that he tries to absolve himself of any wrongdoing and always blames Annie for any slip-up.
Her life is a mess, but again, at least she owns it instead of hiding behind some facade.
Wait till Annie and Josh start getting it on and he realizes she’s dating the therapist he paid for!
Other Good Girls Musings
- The fact that Dean felt bad about himself because he thought Beth ditched him to run to Rio (when in reality she was trying to hire a hitman to save her family) shows just how low his self-esteem is, but also, how he doesn’t recognize how much Beth is doing to set them free from his grasp.
- Dean never asks where she goes or what she does for Rio, but he has so much to say and criticize her for. Beth isn’t without fault, but he should know what happens before jumping to conclusions.
- Dean is so hung up on “Brio” that he even made out with Gayle. He regretted it immediately, and it was nice to see him take responsibility and own up to his actions.
- I actually did feel bad for him when he said “I don’t want her,” and it’s likely why Beth allowed him to stay instead of kicking him out of the house. She realizes that Dean loves her despite everything the family has been through, but I truly hope the writers don’t bring them back together.
- Stan saying guess no one will watch when the iceberg hits was too telling in light of the FBI revelation. Something bad is coming.
This hasn’t been my favorite season. The season continues taking competent characters and dumbing them down for the sake of getting them into problematic situations to propel a storyline that has already been done.
It’s been painful watching the girls make terrible decisions to undercut Rio, plan assassinations plots that don’t have a very high success rate, and resort to robbing grocery stores like they did when they first got into the business.
They continue making mindless choices when they should be advancing and learning from experiences, even if the stakes keep getting higher.
It seems we’ve come to a standstill and need something to really shake things up in a new direction.
And even if they do succeed in getting rid of Rio, which won’t sit well with his fanbase (plus I don’t think Beth could go through with it because she low key loves him), there’s always the issue of the FBI that’s closing in on them.
They aren’t looking for the men who have been washing the cash, they’re looking for the Queen B(eth) that’s printing the money.
There’s potential here, but again, not if the writers don’t do anything new with it.
And the series should really tap into its strength and give the people what they want, which is Rio. The season has been sorely lacking when it comes to Rio’s arc. He’s become such a “hot” character, both in popularity and physically, but the show is doing him a disservice by reducing him to a few scenes throughout the episode that either take place in a bar or as he walks to pick up the money in their exchange.
We want more not only because we like him but also because we barely know anything about him.
Beth doesn’t need to know everything, but the audience is craving to find out how he got in the game, what his deal is with Rhea, who we haven’t seen in a while, and who that woman was that he met up with to play tennis way back in the first season.
There are so many layers to Rio, and we haven’t peeled any back this season, which almost seems like a waste.
Your turn, Cravers.
What do you want more of in Good Girls? Did you enjoy the episode?
The Santa Clauses concluded its season season with a rather satisfying conclusion, which is par for the course for a Disney show about the holidays.
While the battle between Scott Calvin and Magnus Antas was amping up to be big and ugly, the steam quickly fizzled out as Mad Santa realized that he’s been focusing so much on getting the North Pole back that he didn’t even stop to consider if it’s what he really wanted after 700 years. Turns out, it wasn’t—and the human world did a number on him as he actually enjoyed taking to the stage at Santopolis and engaging with the crowds of adoring fans. It was the perfect gig to stroke his ego, without all of the pressure that comes with the role of Santa Clause, while allowing the rightful Santa, Scott, to continue for years to come.
Kris, who appeared throughout the series as the owner of Santapolis who was just trying to make his dad proud, tagged along for the ride back to the North Pole with Scott and Carol, which was a dream come true as he’s dedicated his whole life to Christmas. The guy not only got to experience so much with Magnas Antas and Olga, but he was able to witness all the magic at the North Pole, which was made even more special when it was revealed that he was the little boy in the original movies when Scott, who was just getting a hang of things, was struggling to deliver a kayak. I love when movies do callbacks and bring things full circle, especially as it made Kris’ role more meaningful.
Other elements introduced this season came into play, as Sandra’s powerful magic, helped harness by La Befana (who Kris was also a huge fan of and couldn’t believe he was finally meeting), was the only thing that could help restore Cal from nutcracker to human form. La Befana also cracked me up when she dismissed the idea of being reinstated as a Legendary—she really doesn’t need all that corporate red tape as she’s content just being herself.
Mad Santa pointed out that despite knowing what every child in the world wants for Christmas, Scott didn’t have an inkling of what Cal truly wanted right now. And it was true–he was so focused on making Cal the next Santa that he completely dismissed everything else.
To make up for it, Scott threw a human-like prom for his son as an early Christmas, with Riley as his prom date. They really are meant for each other!
While there’s still a possibility that Cal will continue his Santa training (remember, Mad Santa’s amulet chose Cal, which means that he has potential as the next successor), for now, he needs to live a normal human life. It’s what everyone deserves.
Also getting to dig into the human experience? Noel and Betty during their Kribble Krabble honeymoon. Truthfully, I’m not surprised Betty didn’t have any fun on her own because traveling without your soulmate is not something anyone wants to do willingly. However, after dedicating themselves to the North Pole for thousands of years, they deserved a break, especially when Noel proved that he was deserving of Head Elf status by rallying the gnomes (aka gnomies) to have his back against Mad Santa’s retaliation. Noel did that!
An elf-gnome alliance is something no one expected, but it was a sweet turn of events, as was Bethina and Olgalockilus’ (official names) newfound appreciation for each other. After they went toe-to-toe trying to destroy one another, they realized that they were much more alike than they ever imagined. “It doesn’t make sense that we’re enemies,” Olga noted, as they pieced together that heir feud was simply egged on by their devotion to their “headstrong bosses,” or, as Olga noted, “doofuses.”
Olga even proved she’s a pro at making practical items like printer cartridges and such, and I’m betting that’s on someone’s Christmas list!
Together, the North Pole is stronger than ever. Also props to the quick mentions of Bernard and Charlie and his family… the OG fans appreciate it.
By the time the Christmas season rolled around, delivering presents to the good boy and girls became a family affair (Cal even got over his fear of flying), but not before Scott, Carol (a modern-day Mrs. Clause, not the one represented by a bonnet), Sandra, and Cal stopped by Santapolis to catch Magnus and Kris’ spectacular show.
It seems that all’s well that ends well (though maybe not the latest accusations against Tim Allen of being a complete nightmare on set) when it comes to the magic of Christmas. What did you think of the second season of The Santa Clauses? Did you enjoy it or did you think the series was reaching with the storyline?
It was far from a happy new year on The Buccaneers Season 1 Episode 7 as a party held by the Brightlingsea’s tested relationships, particularly in light of Nan’s big secret about being illegitimate became the topic of conversation for the U.K.’s elite.
Nan, who so boldly declared that she was unashamed of where she came from in the previous episode, was suddenly feeling the pressure of the “whispers” (because in the 1800s, that’s how the hot gossip was spread, in addition to telegrams), and those whispers did a number on her relationship with Theo, who stood by her from the moment he found out and tried to be supportive (, yet somehow made her feel like a burden.
The truth here is that Theo could’ve been the perfect gentleman, and Nan still would have found something wrong with his actions. Nan was subconsciously finding any string to pull to push him away, and it just so happened to occur when she felt inadequate and assumed Theo was treating her as a charity case rather than seeing his actions as a testament of his love for her.
Theo supported her wholeheartedly (he doesn’t punish Nan for something she had no control over, as the rest of society does by questioning how she managed to land a duke and wondering if “witchcraft” had anything to do with it), but she ran from him and hid on a rooftop with Guy, which should honestly tell you everything you need to know about what her heart wants.
My biggest issue with Nan is that she’s selfish, something that Theo even pointed out during their fight. She’s dragging his name and reputation through the mud, yet refuses to take the blame for it, all while playing these mind games and driving a wedge between two best friends who, despite having a lot of respect for each other, end up throwing food at each other and engaging in an 1800s version of WWE.
Nan’s incredibly courageous in many aspects of her life, but she’s not able to just declare what she wants, even when given the opportunity many times over, causing so much tension and turmoil, but never really owning up to her part in it.
Theo basically gave her a way out by asking her if she loves Guy, yet she dismissed the question and turned on him for knowing about her illegitimacy and saying nothing.
Theo’s perspective makes a lot of sense as it was never his secret to tell. He didn’t want to embarrass her or put her on the spot. Nan’s stance also has merit as she was wary about divulging this big thing in her life as she felt like when she told Guy, it pushed him away.
Nevertheless, the secret drove a wedge between them as she felt as though she had to hide a part of herself, making it impossible to confide in him the way she did with Guy as she thought she’d lose everything. And, in turn, it allowed her and Guy to become closer as he knew her better than anyone. It’s not exactly a recipe for success for a newly engaged couple.
But still, none of that addresses the situation at hand—her feelings for Guy that she’s been repressing.
Guy was forced to recite word for word what he wrote in the telegram (which he somehow remembered despite being drunk as a skunk), passionately professing his love for Nan in front of Theo, and I honestly have no idea how she kept her composure and didn’t just jump into his arms.
He was wearing his heart on his sleeve, telling her that his heart was eternally hers, even if they could never be together. I’m swooning because it was the most perfect and beautiful letter.
But instead of this massive moment forcing Nan to make a decision, they both skirted around their feelings once again.
Guy and Nan are just like two ships passing in the night—when one of them is ready to take action on their feelings, the other shoots it down, and vice-versa.
After Guy declared his love, Theo gave her a chance to own up to her feelings, but naturally, when she tried to ask Guy if he still meant all those things, he shot it all down telling her that they need to stop doing this dance and informing her of his engagement to Jean, which I don’t actually believe is real because if they were to be wed, wouldn’t she be with him at the party?
Guy likely believes that he’s doing the right thing for Nan as she has a more promising future with Theo, and he doesn’t want to hurt his best bud either.
You should never choose the man with the title over the man that you can confide in and comfortably lay on the roof with, as your fingers brush with desire and every touch is electric, however, when Guy said they need to “free each other,” he gave Nan no other choice, and thus, the episode ends with Nan and Theo driving away in their carriage, the engagement still on, as Guy apologizes to Theo for not being honest with him, asks him to take care of Nan, and will likely regret letting the girl of his dreams slip away for the millionth time before circumstance brings them back together again.
Credit: The Buccaneers/AppleTV
I know that this whole love triangle is necessary for drama-sake, but I just want to shake Guy and Nan. On the other hand, I pride the lot for being so open and honest about no more secrets as that’s incredibly rare when it comes to complicated romances on TV… however, for that reason, it’s also so frustrating as to why Nan and Guy allowed it to continue when they were given a chance to run off together and live happily ever after, no harm, no foul.
Nan doesn’t even care about becoming a duchess, so what’s keeping her with Theo? Though I imagine if she were to ever find out about her mother’s predicament, and the fact that she told Tracy she’s divorcing him once Nan is married and she gets the power of being a duchess’ mom, she would go through with the wedding for her sake.
Nan and Guy’s feelings might not be obvious to anyone else, but Patti picked up on the flirtation immediately, and I expect when it comes down to it, she’ll be the one to convince Nan to follow her heart so she doesn’t end up in a relationship with a man she resents, though in this case, Theo is nothing like Tracy and actually loves her daughter.
I’m firmly on Team Guy because Nan is one of the lucky people in this world who gets to choose her partner based on love. She complicates a matter where there should be no complication, and when looking at the problems of the other “Americans,” she has it easy.
Jinny’s relationship with Seadown is crumbling behind the scenes as she’s finding it harder to pretend, especially as she’s expecting. No one ever uttered the word “pregnant,” but she touched her belly enough times to indicate that she was with child—a child with a monster who continued to harass and embarrass Lizzy at every turn. Did no one notice him being a complete creep when they were playing the blindfold game? Someone needs to hold that man accountable.
Jinny attempts to run away at one point but comes right back out of fear of what he might do to her. I feel for her, but she also avoided all the red flags and warnings from her friends so while she’s a victim, she’s also dug herself into an impossible situation.
Mabel thought that her decision to get married would provide her with a cover so she could be herself and continue on a dalliance with Honoria, but she’s learning that isn’t the case. During their brief yet heavy conversation, Honoria delivers the most gutwrenching line to Mabel—“I hate you for making me feel like I could be loved.”
Honoria has truly made the most progress in these seven episodes, flourishing into a self-realized and brave person, who broaches the topic of Richard’s relationship with Testvalley. She informs him that she knows he was sexually abused by her and doesn’t think he should continue carrying the shame, which prompts him to come clean to his mother, who, in a shocking twist reveals that she always knew and pretty much did nothing about it other than send her away before he could bring “any shame” to the family.
When he tries to inform her of the damage the relationship caused him, she’s dismissive and tells him to stop acting like a baby and be a man. I’d be surprised by this cold display, but it’s in line with what Honoria and Dick said about their parents earlier in the episode, and it’s honestly no surprise that Seadown is who he is. They probably know all about that too and just turn a blind eye as poor Jinny suffers.
Honoria finally taps in Conchita when Dick is emotional on the roof. Though he doesn’t tell her about the extent of the hurt, he does apologize for bringing her into his suffocating family, as she consoles him and tells him that he’s stuck with her as family now. Conchita is his lifeline—and his way out, so I hope he takes it.
When seeing what everyone’s dealing with, Nan’s problems feel so small and inconsequential—whomever she chooses to be with (and it should be Guy), she’ll have a life filled with love, wonder, and experiences, the whisperings be damned because both men think she’s entirely perfect just the way she is.
What did you think of the penultimate episode? How do you think the season finale will pan out? Will Patty’s decision to divorce Tracy influence Nan’s decision? Will Guy attend the wedding? Will Nan get cold feet at the altar?
The Santa Clauses Season 2 Episode 5 finally gave fans insight into the Betty-led coup against Mad Santa thousands of years before his resurgence in Illinois, Scott Calvin’s old stomping grounds, with a vengeance.
Of course, we know that Magnus Antas was turned into a nutcracker—before coming back alive with a sprinkle of Santa magic at Santapolis—by the elves, but what we didn’t know is that Betty and La Befana teamed up to make sure he got what he deserved.
Betty, returning to the North Pole early from her Kribble Krabble, turned in her resignation upon telling Santa Scott the full story, but he didn’t care about any of the clauses/rules, adamantly calling her a “hero” for her sacrifice.
Nothing that Betty told Santa Scott was all that shocking to audiences, though he was definitely taken aback by the news, he didn’t have much time to sit with it because Cal ventured out of the North Pole to retrieve his vest from Magnus Antas, not fully understanding the level of danger he was putting himself in. Cal’s naivety is his best asset and his greatest flaw, all at the same time.
On the other hand, you have to pride him on his bravery because he walked in without a plan and tried to handle it himself without any fears… well aside from his fear of heights and flying the sleigh, which he somewhat conquered.
Mad Santa turned Cal into a puppet after he called his dad the greatest Santa of all time, and was surprised by how much Santa magic he possessed, which means that Scott may get his wish of keeping it in the family business after all.
After they locked all the vortexes and portals coming in and out of the North Pole, Scott and Carol had to find a more unique means of transportation back to the Windy City to save Cal from Mad Santa, while Sandra hung back with La Befana to keep the North Pole safe. Having a witch in the family came in hand!
As for Betty, I’m a bit bummed we didn’t get to see any of her adventures in the real world, and it feels like a missed opportunity to have her not come face-to-face with Mad Santa and Olga, however, I did genuinely like the moment where Noel stood up for his wife and made sure that Magnus Antas knew who she was—her name is B-E-T-T-Y, don’t forget it because she’s the one who managed to take you down and save Christmas for everyone! The North Pole was functioning without her, but it wasn’t thriving, so it’s a good thing she’s finally back.
As for the second season of The Santa Clauses, I feel like it would’ve benefitted from being a movie rather than a limited series because it does feel like the storyline is being dragged out unnecessarily at this point… and it’s starting to lose its magic.
Also, poor Kris, who just wanted to run his little Santa village and earn his father’s love, and now he’s stuck in the royal battle between Mad Santa and Santa Scott. But at least he’ll have one heck of a story to tell, if they don’t dust him when all of this is finally over.
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