Good Girls - Mo Money Mo Problems - Review: 'Dead Ends'

Welcome back to more craziness! Good Girls episode two had some very interesting moments, let's dive in!!

The Morning After

We pick up with the ladies reeling from the events of the previous day. Beth is in a daze watching her children go about their day, but also has a streak of blood on her face to remind us that she is straddling two very different realities. She snaps out of it when her kids want the TV switched over and one of her sons wants help with math from his father. Dean shows up and the kids are overjoyed to see him but Beth isn't. She is not here for the perfect husband routine that Dean is trying to pull and assures him she can take care of the lawn work and switching the television on for the kids. I hate saying this after the pilot but this episode made me feel for Dean, he really does seem like he regrets what he did with Amber. I am happy that Beth is stoic and not having any of it, but he seems like a really good father.

Annie shows up for work and sees the police outside. She tries to act casual when asking the security guard why they are there. I do like Annie but c'mon, you know why they are there... Don't make yourself too obvious girl! The security officer also informs her that Boomer has not been to work yet and isn't answering his phone.

Ah yes, the sleaze Boomer, what did happen to him? Now if you're like me and assumed that Annie and Beth added murder to their new crime resume that is not the case. Boomer is now tucked away in the Boland family treehouse bound and gagged. Beth and Annie are discussing what to do with him when Ruby shows up with around three hundred dollars toward the debt from tips and selling Stan's cufflinks none the wiser that she is about to be involved in another crime. That is when Beth and Annie let her in on the newest problem named Boomer.

Ruby gets the details on how the Boomer issue came to be and makes a good point that hogtying a man and dragging him to a family treehouse does not fall under self-defense. This is true, but they need to focus on one problem at a time and the priority is getting out of Rio's crosshairs. They still have no good options or ideas until something dawns on Beth and Ruby that Annie hates.

Desperation Mode

The idea that Beth and Ruby had made me feel for Annie on many levels because it involves asking an unlikely source for money that could damage Annie's custody chances, Sadie's father Greg. In the next frame Annie is driving Sadie down a dreamy street that is filled with huge houses and manicured lawns. When they arrive at their destination, Greg's wife Nancy (Sally Pressman) is waving and I can't help feeling instantly annoyed by her. Nancy is an esthetician and does not like shoes on the carpet and enjoys themed dinner nights. I also couldn't tell if she was trying to take a dig at Annie with this or she really is trying to bond with Sadie. Time will tell but I think it's the former. Once inside, we see Greg preparing Pico De Gallo to which Annie teases him about but Greg is more interested in what she has been doing when it comes to their custody case. She somewhat avoids this and cuts right to the chase and tells him she needs money. This has obviously happened before and Greg starts to take out his wallet and assumes she needs sixty dollars, but Annie shocks him and asks for 60k. Greg is taken aback and thinks that she is trying to get him to pay for her lawyer (if only it was that simple). I may be alone, but I loved this exchange because Mae Whitman and Zach Gilford have some awesome chemistry and is it wrong that I am kind of rooting for these two? Greg doesn't give her a dime and we are back at square one.

The ladies reconvene at Ruby's diner to discuss things when Ruby notices Rio sitting in a booth. She slowly walks over to him and they have an exchange about the money they owe. I know Rio is technically the bad guy here, but Manny Montana brings a charm that I like, he is funny but still very intimidating. Ruby convinces him to give them more time and he agrees on giving them one more day. This is not going well.

With no clear options, things are getting intense. Beth tries pawning some things including Dean's Great Grandmother's wedding ring but let's be honest here no matter how many trips they make to the pawn shop, there is no way they get that sixty grand by legal means.

Ransom? Okay Then

After watching a healthy Sara at her soccer game, Ruby decides she is not going to be pushed around. She goes to Beth's and suggest that they ransom Boomer. When they interrogate him, he tries to intimidate them but Annie and Beth awesomely turned the tables and made him fear being left in the treehouse for the long haul. This threat finally makes Boomer reveal that he has a rich grandmother that adores him and doesn't believe in banks. Now I was shocked anyone could adore this guy, but once we meet her it becomes evident why. Annie tries to call his grandmother Marion using a voice distorter but she won't answer the phone. So what does the trio do? Why go over there because they assume she's not home! Have these three ever screened their calls and maybe should have thought that is what Grams was doing?

They go over to her apartment building in nothing but hoodies. So I have to ask at this point, if the building had a security door, wouldn't it stand to reason it also has security cameras? I was shocked that they didn't cover their faces but once we see what happens next, it doesn't matter. It seems Grandma is home and Beth quickly feeds her a story about being from a Medicare service that helps seniors around the house. After some hesitation Marion lets them in and they clean up whilst looking for the cash. She tells them about her marriage and grandkids her favorite being the one that remains in town, Nelson. That is right, the slime ball who tried to rape Annie is not named Boomer and lies to his grandmother about being engaged to Jessica Alba because he gave her a pic of the actress passing it off as a snap of him and his fiancé. Oh and Marion seems sweet, but when she comments that her grandson's 'fiancé' is 'only half' and makes Ruby do all the housework while she chats up Annie, it is clear that she's a bit racist. At this moment I wanted them to find the money and take it because this family is something else. Beth is looking for just that when she looks herself in the mirror and isn't liking what she's seeing, but in this moment of self-reflection she spots a bag full of cash. She grabs it and is about to run when she gets a phone call from her babysitter about how to turn on the TV. During this annoying exchange, she hears a lawnmower in the background. Apparently Dean's way of getting back in her good graces is to defy her request for distance and mow the lawn to the tune of Rains Down in Africa. So Dean is now in the back blasting music and mowing the lawn while Boo... er Nelson is trying get his attention.

Beth Grabs Ruby and Annie and leaves the money. She needs to get home but also does not want to rob an old woman even if she kind of sucks. The other two are mad and also scared, but Beth leaves anyways. She comes home to Dean loading up and tells him he needs to stay away and accept what he's done. In this exchange he notices her naked ring finger and is destroyed by this. He agrees to leave and give her the space.

Rio is Done

Annie, Ruby and Beth are now at the point where they think it might be good to say some 'in case' goodbyes. Beth has a sweet conversation with her daughter about mommies always coming back. Ruby makes several pans of lasagna and tells Stan how to make it. By the way, how awesome is Stan? I love how supportive and caring he is. Finally, Annie goes to Greg's and tells him some things she knows about Sadie and not to make her take her shoes off in her own house; Greg is confused but Annie tells him that she isn't going to fight custody.

Back at Annie's place, she and Ruby toy with ideas of where to run to, while Beth wants to stay and face it. Just as the three are on different planets when it comes to ideas, a solution may have presented itself. Annie lifted some figurines from Marion's house and put them on eBay on the the off chance it make net some cash. These statues are very rare and appear to be exactly the out that they have searched for.

They excitedly present this to Rio thinking all their problems are solved! Rio is not amused and smashes one of the figurines and tells them their time is up. He has his men ransack Beth's place to make it look like a home invasion/murder.

One of his guys has a gun to Beth's head when she delivers another amazing monologue basically telling Rio that this isn't like his other kills, people will talk about these deaths and look for answers because they are moms and wives and those things don't go away in the news. Rio calls off his man and they leave.

Now it is time to take out the trash when it comes to Boomer. He managed to escape but the women track him down and Annie gets her revenge. She removes his pants and takes a picture of him naked from the waist down. She tells him that she sent it to her eleven-year-old daughter and if he goes to the cops, so will she. To my relief, she actually sent the picture to Ruby and their Boomer issue seems solved for now. Annie goes home to Sadie and looks up 'Bad Ass' custody lawyers, Ruby finds her lasagna eaten and sweet note from Stan saying they ate it all so now she can't leave and Beth FINALLY turns on the television for her kiddos.

The ladies think they've won, but c'mon, a guy like Rio is not going away. Beth discovers this in the most creepy of ways when she finds Kenny, her oldest son being helped with his math by none other than Rio. She ushers her son inside and asks Rio what the hell he's doing when he says he agrees with her previous point about killing them, and he's come up with something else. We end with him asking her if they have passports.

Whew! A lot happens in this show over the course of an hour. At times, I feel it's too much, but I think the writing handles it well. What do you think? What does Rio want them to do? Let me know in the comments.