Nick, you’re in danger, sir!
Rio’s poor brother/cousin may think he has the upper hand right now, but little does he know that the operation he helped shut down has now come back around full circle and has targeted him as the main man to bring down.
Life comes at you fast.
It wasn’t a surprise that Phoebe and Dave reappeared on Good Girls Season 4 Episode 13 but learning that they’ve decided to bypass Rio in pursuit of another target was a bit of a shock.
The problem with Nick is that he seems to think he’s much more intelligent than Rio.
While Rio relies on intimidation and bravado, Nick approaches things differently. He’s more mild-mannered and interested in working on something from the inside. And it’s suited him well for a long time. But just because he’s not out stuffing people in freezers doesn’t mean he’s not getting his hands dirty in other ways.
And now he’s going to be under fire from all angles.
It’s a pity we don’t get to see the conversation Phoebe and Dave have with the ladies because we missed seeing Beth’s reaction.
Beth tends to be a bit naïve at times. Maybe she didn’t want to see what was right in front of her face with Nick, but she should have had a clue that he wasn’t just helping her out of the kindness of his heart.
He wanted something from her, the same as Rio.
But for all his faults, Rio is a lot more upfront about things.
Opening the strip club back up was a no-brainer for Rio, and good on Ruby and Annie for setting their own terms. Now they have somewhere to print and wash, and they can finagle a way to get a cut of their own. It was a win/win for them.
This notion that Beth had that they were somehow out from under Rio’s thumb made no sense. Doesn’t she realize at this point that they will never be free?
And an even bigger question she needs to ask herself is whether or not that’s something she even wants.
The rivalry between the brothers/cousins will boil over, and all signs point to that happening sooner than later.
Rio’s little dejected look at the bar after Nick sent him that bottle of liquor to gloat was about as much emotion as you’re ever going to get out of the man. He holds his cards so close to the vest; it’s hard to know when he’s actually affected by something.
On the surface, Rio doesn’t like to lose. He doesn’t want to lose money first and foremost, and he doesn’t like to lose things that are valuable to him. Beth (and the ladies by proxy) are useful to him, and that’s why after everything they’ve been through, he still keeps them around.
But let’s not act as if Rio wasn’t also jealous of his brother/cousin moving in on his territory, both professionally and potentially personally. He plays it cool and talks a big game where Beth is concerned, but we have four seasons of receipts to show us that Beth is more to him than just a piece of the puzzle.
In many ways, she’s the whole damn thing.
Now, where they go from here remains to be seen.
Rio has to feel like he’s losing Beth, even though he doesn’t realize why that is exactly, and what he does about it will be critical. He’s not in the business of letting people steal from him, so these final two episodes should be interesting regarding the twisted threesome that’s been created.
While Beth was off opening strip clubs, fighting in front of the city council, and ultimately deciding to throw her hat in the ring for a seat of her own, Dean was licking his wounds and selling her down the river.
Now Dean has every right to feel hurt and betrayed, as he’s facing a lengthy prison sentence for crimes he didn’t commit. But the way he’s completely fed into the Brotherhood’s crazed women-hating nonsense is ridiculous, even for Dean.
And now he’s got Stan mixed up in their crap as well.
Stan’s problem is that he’s so fixated on Beth, he’s blind to everything else around him. This idea that Beth is a master manipulator who has wronged and violated Ruby in a hundred ways is beyond frustrating for several reasons.
Not to defend Beth because she’s far from innocent, but she’s not the anti-christ. And she certainly isn’t responsible for every single negative thing that has happened to Ruby.
For example, getting into the strip club was much more on Ruby and Annie than on Beth. But Stan will still find a way to blame Beth if he can because it’s easier to think Ruby is being played than to think Ruby is putting herself into some of these terrible situations.
Stan and Ruby are a great couple, but the Beth-sized crater in the middle of the relationship is becoming exhausting. His willingness to join Dean in bringing Beth down was poorly thought out, and now he’s going to try and take it back when it’s probably too late.
Side note, why is Vance so weird? Genuinely asking here because there’s something off about his blind loyalty to a man he barely knows and his hatred for women he knows nothing about.
If only Beth and the ladies had an inkling of a clue that something was up there.
Slowly but surely, Kevin has crept up as one of the best love interests Annie has ever gotten throughout this series. Sure, the bucket is disgusting, and he may or may not have boundary issues, but he’s a good person underneath it all.
It just took Annie a very long time to see it.
Though now that she’s aware and he’s come back to her. Hopefully, she treats him a lot better because they have chemistry in spades.
Might this be the first Annie relationship we can all comfortably root for?
Odds and Ends
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The thing I will miss about Good Girls the most is the spontaneous laughter. It’s a drama at its core, but there is so much laugh-out-loud comedy spread throughout the episodes that you don’t get on many dramedies.
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Turning the strip club into a viable business and making all the girl’s partners? Love that!
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Beth running for city council should be interesting. Also, do you think she ever even mentioned it to Dean?
There are only two episodes left, and I’m trying hard not to get too bummed out watching these installments, but it’s hard. This show is going to be sorely missed.
But before we sulk, drop all your thoughts in the comments about where you think the series will leave things.
Is Dean right to turn on Beth?
Are you over Stan’s anti-Beth crusade?
Will Annie and Kevin figure it out?
Let me know what you think, and remember to watch Good Girls online so you can join us for the final batch of episodes!
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Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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