Good Girls Has True Women Empowerment To Captivate Its Audience

Our society has really changed perspectives when it comes to treating women. We now have learned to give them the respect they deserve. Undoubtedly, the media has played a significant role in doing so. It’s a two-way street. The culture and the media simultaneously influence each other and are influenced by each other. This lengthy process ultimately gave us a masterpiece that talks about true women’s empowerment in a layered way that does it justice. We’re talking about Good Girls.

Related: ‘Good Girls’ is Back Filming Season 3!

Women Facing Real Problems

The story revolves around three women facing financial problems, and they want to do something to support their families. Each character on Good Girls faces unique problems of their own, and what connects them is their friendship and care for each other. Two of them are sisters, but the bond between the three is vital. All three of them are also mothers who are willing to do everything for their children.

Layered Characters on Good Girls

It would be an injustice not to comment on each of them individually. Beth Boland, played by Christina Hendricks, is the housewife we usually see daily. The caring and organized mother and wife who does everything to maintain her house. But she is trapped in a loveless marriage. She finds out her husband is cheating on her with his young secretary. Her sister Annie Marks, played by the witty Mae Whitman, is a single mother working as a cashier and who has an 11-year-daughter whose father is trying to get full custody of her.

Their friend Ruby Hill, played by the sassy Retta, works as a waitress and is in a loving relationship with two kids; one of whom has a kidney problem. All three of them need financial help to support their families and themselves because their husbands, those who have them, aren’t capable of giving them the money they need. Basically, they are Good Girls to the core.

So the three of them decide to rob their grocery store. But after doing so, they realized they got more money than anticipated. Shortly after, it’s revealed that the store is a front for a gang to carry out their shady business. The gang leader Rio, played by the amazing Manny M, comes to ask for their money back and threatens to kill them when it’s not given.

How the Good Girls Turn the Cards in Their Favor

But Beth cleverly gets out of that situation, and ultimately, the three women are involved in the gang’s money laundering business. It starts as a way to escape the problem of not having money to give them but slowly dissolves into a housewife-themed Breaking Bad.

What we see portrayed on Good Girls is how true feminism really works. Throughout the whole show, the focus is always on them, knowing the problems each one has and doing whatever they can to help out. They even embark on a dangerous mission to get money through illegal means, knowing they’re going in it together. It’s not about competition, not whose problems are more significant or not; it’s about being there for each other in the truest of senses.

Not only for feminism, but it’s also a good message to have in any friendship. One touching scene in the series is when Annie’s about to be raped by another character, Boomer (who’s her boss), but Beth comes just in time to protect Annie. They both end up tying the criminal in Beth’s tree house. That scene cements the bond we see on the screens of Good Girls.

Money Laundering Done House Wife Style

So, the three of them have to flip fake cash for real ones, and they do so by shopping in major malls and shopping outlets and then returning those items later on. To cover a lot more money, they enlist the help of their fellow mother friends, primarily housewives. The lead characters on the Good Girls don’t tell them the real reason why they’re doing it. But this plot point is such a strong premise for the show. It gives these housewives something meaningful to do. It’s for them to contribute to the home in their own ways. More so than that, it gives them a fun thing to do.

One really interesting character they put on Good Girls is Mary Pat. Allison Tolman does wonders for this character. She is a single mother of four children after her husband dies. She’s also part of the group working for the trio. They find out that she hasn’t been flipping money, and upon confrontation, Mary Pat realizes the trio is doing something shady and blackmails them. The interesting point to note here is that the three mothers can relate to Mary’s struggles and don’t hate her for doing this. They’re annoyed, yes. But ultimately, they realize she has no other choice, just like they don’t. All of them need money. Even when Rio offers to “handle the situation,” Beth refuses.

Male Entitlement Realistically Portrayed

Boomer’s character in Good Girls perfectly portrays male entitlement and privilege. He is just angry at the fact that Annie doesn’t date him. So much so that he almost rapes her and then, in the entire series, tries to make the cops investigate the three women. He also ends up dating Mary Pat to find evidence that could incriminate them. When Mary finds out, Beth tells Mary everything about him. So her character confronts him, and Boomer says things every rapist has ever said to defend themselves. Mary’s interrogation skills are commendable as she asks simple questions any woman would to figure out why any guy attempted to rape another woman.

On Good Girls, Mary also feels violated when Boomer puts a webcam in her house to collect incriminating evidence. So, at that moment, Mary Pat sympathizes with Annie, and it’s suddenly not about blackmail anymore. It’s about understanding what your fellow women have to go through daily with varying degrees of harassment by self-entitled men. It no denies that male entitlement is the real villain of Good Girls.

All in all, Good Girls is layered to such a degree that you can’t precisely hate any of these characters except for Boomer. Even the gang leader is just doing his job and playing a fair game. The focal point is the three women who went to great lengths for their families. They’re all terrified of getting caught, and the criminal lifestyle is something very new for them. But they all come through and stay connected to each other. Good Girls is a show for women’s empowerment.