‘Good Girls’: A soapy new spin on breaking bad
It feels oh-so-good to be bad. NBC’s new series Good Girls (Monday, 10 ET/PT, eeeE) is acutely aware of this. The dramedy, starring Christina Hendricks ( Mad Men), Mae Whitman ( Parenthood) and Retta ( Parks and Rec
reation) and created by Jenna Bans ( Scandal, Desperate Housewives), is a pulpy, soapy delight that finds a new story to tell about good girls gone bad.
The three women play mothers who rob a grocery store to help their struggling families. Ruby (Retta) needs money for an experimental drug for her ailing daughter; Annie (Whitman) is battling for custody of her daughter; and Beth (Hendricks) is trying to save her house after she discovers her cheating husband has lost their savings on bad investments.
Although their heist succeeds, the women soon discover the store was laundering money for a local gang, whose members come looking for their money on a quiet suburban street. Their problems are inflated by a skeevy witness to the crime who demands sexual favors for his silence. One criminal act escalates into others as their lives spiral out of control.
From its opening scene, Good Girls is just a lot of fun. The series doesn’t break new ground, yet it feels fresh, as if someone gave a good hard shake to the prevalent male antihero narrative and made it interesting again.
Girls’ novelty stems not just from its trio of women (still too rare on TV), but its comedy. The series injects the right amount of humor and incredulity as Ruby, Annie and Beth flail about in their new lives of crime. They’re not exactly professionals, and they show a human touch, comforting a scared little girl during their grocery store heist (they are moms, after all). The circumstances are absurd, and the reality heightened, so why not laugh at the absurdity?
The performances and chemistry among the actresses is a big part of Good
Girls’ appeal. All three are impeccably cast, and the characters feel fully formed. Hendricks lets loose as Beth, who until her husband’s betrayal was as buttoned-up as the actress’ Mad Men character, Joan Holloway. But she finds freedom in taking control of her life. Retta’s Ruby has fewer one-liners than her Parks character, with a quieter but no less effective performance. And Whitman excels, doing most of the comedic legwork as the youngest and most naïve of the group.
There are a few times in three episodes made available for review when
Girls doesn’t quite nail its tricky tone or when the plot moves too slowly.
But overall, Girls is the kind of show that makes you want to come back in spite of those flaws. It’s juicy, soapy and doesn’t take itself too seriously, reminding us just how easily you can make being bad look good.