In honor of Good Girls season 4 premiering earlier this month, I’m going to break down all the reasons why this show is so ingeniously female-centered! Despite it being completely different from what I typically watch, it has held on to me as a viewer for over three seasons, and this is why:
Good Girls is about three suburban mothers, who are at their wits end trying to make ends meet and decide to rob a grocery store. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but when they realize they’ve stolen from a local gang, they get sucked into a life of crime.
Pablo Escobar? More like Griselda Blanco.
- Subtle Social Commentary – The Housewife Enigma
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The first couple seasons of the show were as subtly deep as they were blatantly humorous. Through Beth, we get to see how stay-at-home moms often feel devalued and belittled even when they’re doing the brunt of the work. Beth certainly feels that way.
She’s burnt out and underappreciated. On top of that, her husband has bungled their finances, and it’s up to her to save the house and provide for her kids. Maybe a life of crime was overshooting, but it helps her realize how much of a badass she is, and now her husband has to come to terms with it too.
I think it’s great that the show talks about how hard housework and mothering is, especially when others don’t appreciate it for what it is. In Season 2, you also get a glimpse of the impossibility of a “work-life balance” and how neoliberalism affects women in real life.
- It’s a Girl Story
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To explain why Good Girls struck such a chord with me, I’ve got to take a detour for a moment and describe the show I was watching previously.
In Netflix’s “50M2”, the main character is a criminal taking refuge in a small neighborhood. He gets involved in the neighborhood’s politics and decides to help people from being evicted unfairly. In the process, he falls in love with the head of the neighborhood’s daughter, who has been living there all her life. She’s a very central character, but strangely, she’s not included in the politics of her own neighborhood. It was so obvious that her character was only written to provide emotional support to the hero when he was overwhelmed or sad. She was literally “the woman behind the man”.
Good Girls is, thankfully, the exact opposite, and it’s hilarious. Most of the male characters in this show have shallow personalities, like Beth’s husband, Annie’s ex-fiance, and Ruby’s husband. Even Rio, the leader of the gang Beth and her friends are working for, doesn’t have a fleshed out background. They are all very clearly supporting characters. Instead, Beth, Annie, and Ruby get all of the attention and development in the story. It’s quite refreshing to watch!
- It’s Not Focused on the Love Interest
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Here’s a hot take– I find that in many female-centered shows, the major conflicts are about her relationships. Is she Team Edward or Team Jacob? So, even when a woman is the main character, often the attention revolves quite a bit on male characters anyway.
While many Good Girls’ fans are angry that Beth’s romantic plotline in the show is so slow, I think it’s a fantastic choice by the creators. Personally, I’m not pining after either of these men. Rio is toxic and manipulative (not to mention, a murderer), and Dean has a fragile masculinity. Since both men are trash, I’m left to enjoy the complicated character that is Beth and her amazing relationship with her friends. Beth, Annie, and Ruby are all there is to it!