'Good Girls' Season 3 Episode 8 Review: Are Beth's days numbered? Annie might be the hero of the story anyway
Spoilers for 'Good Girls' Season 3 Episode 8 'NANA'
With great power comes great responsibilities and that includes carrying your little sister's former acquaintance in the trunk of your car because that's the only way to get back on your old squeeze's good books. Sounds complicated? Well, such is life for Beth Boland (Christina Hendricks) who is getting increasingly close to losing it all now that she still hasn't registered the gravity of the mess she has stirred up for herself.
With Beth's a** on the line, we see her try to put up her best appearance and attempt to get into Rio's (Manny Monatna) good books. But while we can finally relax, that it's just good books and not his pants as a means to earn back his trust, it is the very end of the episode, titled 'NANA', which has us worried that what's gone around from Beth's press, is definitely coming back around to haunt her. The respite? Annie's (Mae Whitman) personal growth as a character, which shows promises of being on its own, without a male counterpart's influence.
Beth's dive into seeking Rio's trust begins with her dressing up like its a date night and seduction is her suit of armor. Earlier in the episode, she can be seen telling Annie and Ruby (Retta) the need to earn back Rio's trust and start getting their share of the pay again. And as she gets ready to step out of the house with a face full of makeup, a gorgeous dress, and smelling divine, she tries to explain to Dean that this is all just an attempt to get their lives back. While Dean is barely convinced that Beth's little dress-up is just to get Rio off their backs, Rio is far from convinced that Beth is sincere in her requests.
Hendricks brings in her A-game as the seductive Beth ready to hop into bed with Rio that fans have always craved and Montana doesn't disappoint with his suave disposition of Rio either. In fact, it is these little moments between the two that makes us want more of that crazy power couple on the show. But right now we shall contend ourselves with just intense stare-downs and tension-filled dynamics as Beth she says she will do anything to win back Rio's trust, and he tasks her with delivering a package, which turns out to be an escaped inmate.
The inmate is also a close acquaintance from Annie's past, which is why Beth's li'l sis feels more compelled to help him out. And things worsen when he insists he has to go see his grandmother at a retirement home nearby and thus Beth transports the man in the trunk of her car to a nursing home, crossing police check-posts and flirting her way through them, only to find out that his grandmother passed away in her sleep a week ago. Beth's respite in this turns out to be Rio's generosity as he decides to put them back on payroll with 12 percent of the profits as their commission, but fate might not be as kind to her in the long run.
The episode ends with a police department investigating the fake bills Beth has been printing at her press and one of the detectives come to the conclusion that nail polish is an active agent in whatever goes into the ink's composition, thus zeroing in on a woman as the leader of the business. Considering Ruby's husband Stan is also giving up a life of integrity as he complains why should he be the only good one all the time when earning by being amoral is so easy, our eyes fall back to Annie as the only hope for some redemption amongst the three. And Whitman floors us all with her performance as Annie breaks down at the banks of the nearby lake, right after immersing her friend's grandmother's ashes.
This comes after Annie tries to continue playing her cards at her latest crush and therapist, Josh Cohen, being suggestive by saying things like him eating her slice of pizza means technically they kissed and other fifth-grader pick up lines. This goes drastically wrong as her son Ben decides to give Josh a piece of his mind, wherein he basically threatens him with terrible Yelp reviews if he doesn't give Annie a reality check of their dynamics. So the next day at therapy Annie finds out Josh has a girlfriend and pretty much loses it all, and as heartbreaking, soul-crushing as Whitman is in those moments where Annie is breaking down into violent sobs realizing this too didn't work, there's also hope. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and in this case, it definitely makes Annie the underdog worth rooting for.
'Good Girls' Season 3 airs on Sundays at 9 pm only on NBC.