Three suburban moms all facing money problems decide to rob the grocery store that one of them works in. Beth’s (Christina Hendricks) hapless husband, Dean (Matthew Lillard) has cheated on her a defaulted on the mortgage. Her sister, Annie (Mae Whitman) is facing an expensive custody battle. And Ruby’s (Retta) daughter needs a kidney transplant.
What the three besties didn’t count on was the fact that the store was being used as a money storage location by a gang or that the manager, Boomer (David Hornsby) would be able to identify and blackmail them. Soon they’re in deeper than they ever could have imagined and facing potential ruin from every angle.
Good Girls provides a great combination of humour, drama, action and intrigue. At the centre of this is the relationship between the three friends who are there for each other no matter what. They each have their own journey that they are going through and each performance is really strong. I particularly enjoyed watching Beth’s awakening to her dissatisfaction with her life and her realisation that there’s a bad ass bitch lurking under her sweet surface. I also liked watching her weird chemistry with gang leader, Rio (Manny Montana) who I will admit I find strangely attractive.
Overall I appreciated how balanced the series was. Most of the time crime does not end up paying for the trio and they keep ending up in worse situations than if they had just left well enough alone in the first place. The desperate situation they have found themselves in is also an indictment of modern America where healthcare is at a premium and there is no safety net for families in tricky situations.
The first season ends on a major cliffhanger that propelled me straight into the second season. Highly, highly recommended.
4/5