#MY SECOND ANON ASK WITHOUT ME BRINGING IN MY BRIO SHIT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mrslackles · 4 years

Note

what do you think are gg's biggest flaws?

Ooh, Anon! It’s like you’re in my head.

I’m busy making a video (that will probably never see the light of day) about this -- my distance from the show has really helped with some super objective clarity -- so I’ll use my notes from that to help me answer.

I’ll preface this by saying what I was most shocked by after putting down all the points was that Rio isn’t even mentioned until really far down??

Anyway, let's get into it.

These are Good Girls' greatest flaws in my opinion (and relative to season 1 -- while I think it had its flaws too, the list is far smaller and I think that's a separate post)

1. It didn't stick to its guns

What set this show apart from others in the 'Everyday person does crime (poorly)' genre was its comedic lightness, strong friendship element, relatability and emphasis on girl power.

a) By season 2, the lightness was already slowly disappearing to make way for season 3's darkness. (Quite literally; this show said sunlight scenes for WHO.) It also stopped being as fun. Remember how it genuinely used to be fun? I mean let's not forget The Best Scene Ever where Ruby shoots Big Mike by accident and we all laughed our asses off. (Compare and contrast to a similar-in-tone-and-context scene -- or even the whole episode -- like Boomer popping up behind them as Rio's package in season 3.) I think season 3 had some great lines and laughs, but in general, the fun element was completely missing for me.

b) As was the friendship. We already know Annie and Ruby basically became Beth's backup dancers in season 2, but at least then they still seemed to have some type of agency. In season 3, they rarely question Beth's (truly questionable) decisions, don't talk to her about shit like why she's still with her horrible husband and have very few true friendship moments as they did in season 1.

c) Which made it less relatable, but what also contributed was the major plot holes (it's less easy to relate when you're constantly having to remind yourself to suspend your disbelief). And, to be honest, their stupid actions. Just the most common-sense things weren't followed, like not taking your children to a crack den or not putting a hit out on a gang leader. It's frustrating watching a TV show -- where characters are supposed to learn things, have arcs and improve over time -- and feeling like you have more logical sense than all the main characters in every scene. (WHO would think a hitman was going to use a sniper rifle on people in broad daylight on the side of the road???)

d) You don't have to look any further than the title or the stans who shout "THE SHOW IS ABOUT THE GIRLS" -- or, hell, the first 10 seconds of the show where Sara is literally talking about the glass ceiling -- to know that the main characters being women is very important to the show. If not formally feminist, it was at least supposed to be empowering or feel like "girl power" (a term I hate, but we won't get into that now).

And I think it did it pretty well in season 1 -- it actually played on my favourite theme of the show, which is the world's perception of these women being what ultimately allows them to get away with so much. (Rife with opportunities for commentary about white privilege, but also a genius way to upend patriarchal beliefs.) But more and more it seemed like the show was asking you to accept empowerment as simply "these things are being done by women, yay".

And, well.

2. Its marketing

I'll keep this one short because I think we all know how messed up this situation is. Basically they're selling a show (every week!) that they're not making while ignoring all feedback on every social media platform. Which brings us to...

3. The marriage of Death

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- Beth's character development starts with getting rid of Dean. Her growth is stunted by him on multiple fronts and it's frustrating to viewers since she's constantly put forth as the main character. Not to mention how the audience, separately from Beth, was originally conditioned to see Dean as the scum of the earth (think of scenes like him crashing his car because he was perving on a woman jogging) so keeping them together is really... a choice. To actively root for this marriage (which seems like what the show wants, at least for the protracted moment) means either thinking Dean is a great person (which, as I said, we've only seen the opposite of) or believing he's all Beth deserves. Which leads me to...

4. Beth's (socio)path(y)

Is sociopath a 'good' word? Probably not. Have I seen dozens upon dozens of posts talking about whether Beth is one? Yes. And I see it from a huge variety of people -- from viewers who just binged the show last weekend to those who've been watching for years, the question keeps coming up. And I entirely blame the writing of the show that, by the way, I don't believe is deliberately creating Beth to get this reaction. I think she's written (and, to an extent, acted) in a way that is much too aloof and I'm not convinced it's meant to come off as cold and unfeeling as it does. Everything else leads me to believe that the audience is supposed to root for Beth, but it's just so difficult.

Beth does a lot of messed up shit that requires dialogue to sympathise with her and the inner workings of her mind, but in the later seasons Beth rarely gets to express herself verbally. And every time she does get to speak about her emotions, the dialogue is a pick-your-own-adventure between "She's in so much denial", "This person feels no emotions" and "I'll go find an analysis/fic later to explain this" (scenes like "Nothing" or "I was just bored"). Compare and contrast with some of the great scenes in season 1 where she emotes, like her paralysing shock after they first rob the store or admitting she enjoys crime, or (one of my favourites!) the one in the park where she's mimicking the other mothers beside her.

5. Brio

I said in the beginning that I was shocked Rio doesn't get mentioned until this point and that's because I've always felt like he was an integral part of the show. When people say the show is about the girls, they're truncating -- the show is about the girls getting into crime. That crime is represented by Rio over and over again -- they never bring in another criminal at his level (which is another one of its flaws, but that's also a different post); Rio is it.

And though I stand by Rio's importance, the truth is that Brio isn't as essential to the show, by which I mean that if all of the above were done well, it wouldn't be as sorely missed. In lieu of riveting plot, a fun friendship, character development and empowerment, most viewers have glommed onto Brio like a lifeboat (or ship, heh).

Unfortunately it's also what the show has most stubbornly refused to develop significantly.

It's honestly a toss-up for why I feel Brio is a flaw: is the flaw that they got together? That they never got together well enough? That the writing keeps bringing in these 'chemistry-filled' scenes that are ultimately filled with air?

I don't know. Maybe all of them; maybe just one, depending on the day.

6. Its criticism falls flat without intersectionality

This is a big one because Good Girls is *trying* to do something very clever. As mentioned previously, my favourite theme of the show is how the women's apparent innocence/vulnerability in the eyes of society is their biggest strength. The show plays with this and other interesting themes with varying levels of success, but ultimately they all fall a little flat when they don't feel intersectional.

When Ruby gets sidelined. When Turner, who sees and all but calls out by name Beth's privilege, is portrayed as the villain. When Rio is told he's gonna "pop a cap" in his young child's "ass". When the racist grandma becomes a sympathetic character whom we must later grieve. (And she really didn't have to be racist, now that I think about it? It was just that one line for laughs and that was it.) When, despite the real-world implications, Dean can loudly announce in a store that he's buying a gun to kill someone with and the show just glides past it. When Ruby has to grovel for forgiveness from Beth for trying to protect her husband and family from the system, with no acknowledgement from Beth about how their realities are different. When Rhea gets booted off the show as soon as she's done serving Beth's plot. When Rio gets treated like a prostitute for absolutely no reason. (Oh, and is accused of raping Beth and is literally spoken of as an animal and starts only existing in zero dim lighting as a one-dimensional stereotype... the list goes on.)

7. PR/The actors

I'll risk my life here to sprinkle this in because I do think it's a massive problem. The Manny/Christina of it all is just the tip of the iceberg (although wtf Good Girls? There's nothing you could do to get these two into an interview together??). The main actors do the bare minimum to promote the show and it's weird. I also think it's the height of unprofessionalism to keep characters on the show against the wishes of the majority of the audience just because you enjoy their actors (Boomer confirmed; Dean highly suspected). While, on the flip side of the coin, limiting a character's screentime because you aren't best buddies with them. Having less and less Rio when he's such a fan favourite is dumb; as is not including him in any series marketing material. It feels personal and that isn't how a TV show should be run.

8. The entire hair and wardrobe department needs a stern talking-to

87 notes · View notes

asillydreamer-on-a-crazyworld · 5 years

Note

So I’m a little annoyed at some of the comments I’m seeing about “Rio better not be a cheater”, do people really think he made that baby by himself! We can’t forget that although she is really unhappy, Beth is marred and cheating on her husband (no matter how much he deserves it). Why would anyone think he wouldn’t have anyone in his life. What are your thoughts?

ok, anon, about that.

*sighs*

FIRST: I hope Adelfa won’t get hate for a comment she probably shouldn’t have written and that she erased later. We all know there are ppl out there that take things to an extreme and cross the line between real life and a tv show that it’s NOT real, no matter how much you love it. I posted here once about Alison Tolman, the actress who plays Mary Pat, getting hate on TT bc of her character. And I say that bc this kind of shit happens all the time, no matter the fandom you’re in. Believe me, I was on TT and I already saw a few mean and angry comments about her.

That being said:

SECOND: I’ve seen people talking about more than one interpretation of that comment. In some of her interactions with fans, she is usually playful and charismatic. So far, this is what I saw people saying:

1- she really is playing his wife on the show too.

2- she was answering a fan with her usually playful mood and only meant that on set ( as in the place her husband works) or offset she is his wife so, whatever…I don’t know if I made myself clear here so…

My opinion? Is that she probably meant she will be his wife in the show ( and Goddamn it, here goes my older posts saying that that hug looked more like a friends’ hug. In my defense, I didn’t get any romantic/sexy vibe from it. It rly looks like old friends hugging each other but like other people theorized here, she could also be his baby mama.). However, we all knew the guy has a life outside his criminal gangster persona and he had a life before Beth showed up, obviously, so sue him!

And I don’t think that Beth “forgot” he had a kid but she probably assumed something in the lines of what some ppl in the fandom also thought: baby mama was dead, was out of his life, or is actually his ex. Maybe she even thought about him having someone else but didn’t care bc she did not want to feel anything for the guy. I don’t think Beth is the kind of person to have sex with someone else without getting some feelings, however, so she will be surprised or angry with herself for feeling something more for him when she knows she shouldn’t.

Now, I’m not gonna lie, I got an entirely different view of Rio coz he didn’t seem the type to cheat with all that talk about loyalty and trust. Maybe he only applies it to his work but not personal life? Or there is more to the story than we know. Manny said once Rio’s motivation is “family”. I always thought that “family” involved a father, mother, sisters or brothers ( which he might have, at least one of his parents alive or both). I was surprised when I found out he also had a kid. And with a wife now in the picture? Hmm, I get why people are feeling kind of betrayed but, like I said, maybe there is more to the story than we know.

All this still feels odd to me to a point, bc, again, I never thought he’d be the type. And how this man finds time to do everything he does with a little family to care for? Holy shit, Rio, teach me how u do it, coz I need to learn that!

Rio is far from perfect and he was never a saint, to begin with. It was obvious to me since his kid appeared that Rio had a relationship with someone else at a moment in his life and it probably meant something special for him to have a kid with her, or don’t. The kid could be a result of a one night stand or a relationship without any prospects of lasting for long.

Now that there is the possibility of him being a cheater, I’d say that relationships are complicated and not all of them perfect, see Beth and Dean and how things are going down. Like you said, Beth is cheating too and even if Dean is a scumbag she could have chosen to not go down that road. She did it bc she wanted, and she doesn’t even know Rio or trust him enough but Beth is way aware of how things between them would get to that point.

Let’s be fair: Rio is a criminal, a killer, he almost killed Beth ( He thought about at least in that second episode), he breaks the law and does all kind of wrong things. Him being a cheater? It sucks but it would be just another thing to add to the list of all the reasons why Rio is the wrong guy to be involved with. Yeah, I know he has good points to his character too and that he is not a monster… We’ve talked about that already. No one in this show is a saint ( and I dare say not even Stan coz I know he means well but he is breaking the laws for Ruby already. He is getting hhis hands dirty too)

However, this thing he has with Beth is so strong and raw … It runs deeper, like, it’s instinctual and it’s getting out of control. No one can say that there is nothing going on between these two and I don’t think it’s sexual attraction only.

this brings me to another thought :

THIRD:

If there is a possibility of Adelfa deleting that comment bc she saw that ppl took it the wrong way, and option 2 of my second line of thought is correct, this is only a misunderstanding and she is not actually his wife, but maybe an ex or someone else? Coz, again, Brio sells this show. It is so strong and powerful that the writers couldn’t let go of it - hell, let’s be honest, this show is incredible and it doesn’t need Brio to be so great as it is, but it’s what makes ppl go crazy about it and watch the show for them. I won’t be a hypocrite about that-. We know they won’t have a happy ending, I don’t see how it can end happily for everyone involved but there is always the possibility of Beth and Rio having a strong, unbreakable connection between them that will keep them together until the end.

This is all I think of what happened after that comment written on IG and what it means or could mean.

Honestly, tho? We are all here trying to find an answer to all that and losing our minds and having our heart broken in the process, but I‘d ask u this:

have you ever felt betrayed or even disappointed with GG writers or Jenna Bans in all this time watching the show?

Because if so, I’d say that is not my case. I trust them to give us just the best of the best here and they worked hard for that, I’m sure and I won’t let this turn me down, not when I didn’t even watch the episode or the rest of the season to really know what this whole thing between Beth and Rio is about.

Let’s wait and see, exercise our patience and not let our minds drive us crazy.

#beth x rio #nbc good girls #anon asks

30 notes · View notes