#gg 2.13

[michelleelizabethtanner]

I love your takes sm!! I feel like so many brio fans are just rio fans in disguise because the hate that Beth receives is insane to me.

Do people not see that (despite him being hot and just the right amount of flirty and very occasionally tender) Rio holds the power in the relationship for about two seasons and a half?And I’m not hating on Rio either! His actions make sense from his pov but so do Beth’s. A lot of the time Rio uses her feelings and insecurities against her in the first few seasons, sure he encourages her and believes in a side of herself that no one else does- he didn’t get a lick of fucking hate for that- but when Beth makes a decision for her family (Ruby and Annie included) she gets hate for not “choosing Rio”, but I know for a fact she would get hate if she didn’t as well and would be called some iteration of the “boy crazy” insult. And I’m not one to defend the shooting storyline, but Rio really fucking pushed her, when there’s even a little bit of tenderness in their relationship, he can’t help but ruin it. Like after the bathroom scene he went and destroyed deans car just to tip the power scales. It’s like she gets punished for him not wanting to deal with his feelings on their partnership.

Season 4 is one of my favourites because, despite all their history, he’s the one to put his faith in her, much like she did in season 1 and 2, but instead of doing the same thing he did to her- generally manipulating and using this against him- she’s a bit kinder and does choose him. Includes him in the people she’s protecting and vice Versa. Sure she teases him- which I love their dynamic in s4 just being her teasing him and him having to just take it because nick has posed a threat to the security of their already fragile relationship.

I’m not sure where I was going with this- I just love them and need a season 5

Hey! Thank you for all the likes and for the follow! I’m so glad my takes work for you. 🥰 I adore Beth Boland. I’m a fan of imperfect female characters all-around, but something about Beth is just so relatable to me. The ways in which she takes back her power are so human and so understandable, despite the preposterous situation. I love Rio, too. They’re so similar to me. They don’t see their own social power and power over each other. I think Rio does realize it more than Beth does, as you mentioned. He knows he’s in control with her, and he continuously reminds her of it. Until she upended all that and equalized their playing field.

And you’re right, Beth got a ton of hate for standing up. I can see how objectively it’s “unfair” and blah blah blah. But as you mentioned, what choice did she have? I had a long ramble about their shifting power dynamics in this post, where I awkwardly tried to explain that men often kill women over hurt feelings. And Beth knew she’d hurt more than his feelings. So of course she had to shoot him! It was either him or her, in her mind.

I mourned a s5 that could have been for a long time. So much so, that I spent a year and a half writing my own. Lol! I did finally let it go and moved past that empty feeling about the conclusion. If nothing else, I have this suspicion that a s5 would have been frustrating and not as fulfilling as we all hoped. So maybe it’s better to leave it in our imaginations.

[pynkhues]

Ruby saying: "If we do this, we are straight up hoodlums" like they haven't already robbed a grocery store, held a man hostage, washed cash for a gang, plotted a man's murder and disposed of a body, cracks me up.

[gabrielllas]

rio + calling beth darlin’

[bnayy]

I still hate what happened to Rio in 2.13 but I am absolutely feral for Manny’s acting in the scene.

[cagefreeromanroy]

[bourbon-ontherocks]

So as it turns out, catching up on Tumblr without having actually seen last episode is, um... very fun 😂😂

[gild-and-fire]

Favorite Season - Requested by @briosgina

[theaddressis221bbakerst]

[stansruby]

[michelleelizabethtanner]

why do you think beth shot rio at the end of season 2 when she couldnt do it at the end of season 1? very similar situations: intense, someone that rio beat up, rio taunting beth, him giving her a gun. but in one she could shoot rio and in the other she couldnt

the only difference that i could see making the difference was rio coming at beth. in season 1 he advanced slowly and was obviously more gently while in season 2 he was more aggressive and came towards her suddenly. she almost shocked herself with the first shot so maybe it was reactionary? idk would that panic be the thing that actually made her pull the trigger?

Aw, the shooting. 😢 That was such a traumatic episode. I agree with all your observations, Anon. It was exactly those differences between 2.01 and 2.13 that caused Rio’s downfall. He overshot it. He acted emotionally and he was out of control. 2.01 he was methodical. He challenged her, but with a smile. He advanced slowly. He touched her gently. His voice was stern but comforting. It was a lesson. It was a negotiation. 2.13, he was visibly angry. He challenged her outside her own home, he intentionally scared and disoriented her. He intended to hurt her, not teach her. He wanted her to feel the way she made him feel. And it backfired because she sensed his lack of personal control and it scared her.

There was also another factor. And idk if I can properly formulate my thoughts here. But one of the themes of the show are shifting power dynamics. In season 1 Rio held almost all the cards. Beth had very little power to hurt him. Her little arrest attempt was cute, but ultimately was barely a blip on his radar. Season 2 had a major shift in who held power over whom and in what circumstances. That shift didn’t start with the sex. It started when Rio spared her (and Dean) and offered to teach her. It gave Beth power over him. However dubious, she still felt that shift between them. That cautious belief that he won’t hurt her. It was one of the reasons she knew she would hold enough power over him to initiate a fairly risky sexual scenario between them. And when he gave in to that, it was all the more cemented to her that he wasn’t impervious to a loss of control. It’s almost like a child growing up and beginning to see that the parent they believed was all-knowing, all-capable, is actually flawed.

Throughout season 2 Beth watched Rio make all sorts of unhinged decisions because he was emotional. He showed her in every way he could that he was easily wounded, wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her back to ease his own ego, and wouldn’t help her if she asked after she (in her mind, reasonably) rejected him. To her, her rejection was nothing. Because she herself has been rejected so many times (parents, Dean, society never seeing her as a whole human, Rio…) she didn’t view the hurts she imposed onto Rio as warranting of his tantrums. That’s why she was so upset when he called her “just work” and wouldn’t help her with Turner. She wasn’t able to empathize with him because she herself is so desensitized to rejection.

So taking all that, taking into account Beth’s changed perception of Rio from 2.01 to 2.13, I can see how much scarier the 2.13 moment was for her. She knew she had power over him and that she’d hurt him. She knew he didn’t take rejection well. She knew he was wounded and would punish her. She didn’t know how. And then he brought out the gun. Let’s be honest here. It isn’t outside the realm of possibility for any man to kill any woman over a rejection. Over his hurt ego. And so there Beth was – this man whom she rejected, whose ego was hurt, a man who she knows has killed people, he’s pulling out his gun and he’s smiling at her with his unhinged smile and he’s playing a scary game. This is the very persona he’s intentionally cultivated to try and have power over her (and others.) Gangster Rio. The scary killer. Someone to not recon with. And now the power she’s gained over him is much more serious. It’s now a reason. A reason to not spare her. A reason to not be gentle with her. A reason for her to fight for her life.

[pynkhues]

Beth sinking herself into counterfeiting to simultaneously distract herself from what she did and never forget it, keeping close to the only thing of him she really has, is my favourite sort of toxic romance, okay.

[gabrielllas]

Mom of Four crime boss Member of PTA drug dealer Three Time Winner of the State Fair Mini Muffin Competition money launder Member of Chamber of Commerce counterfeiter Organizer of Neighbourhood Watch smuggler Den Mother robber

DAY ONE of Good Girls Appreciation Week ⤵︎

Favourite Good Girl | Beth Boland

[ramwina]

Well, it happened- and i think most of us felt it coming. Deep down, i felt it for weeks but kept holding out this sliver of hope. Despite seeing so much writing on so many damn walls.

I found this show in April 2020, when the world was going to shit. It allowed me to escape into the GG world and just forget the messed up reality that was happening outside our houses. Then, I found this fandom and realized that I wasn’t crazy for being obsessed with this show.

As a 42-year old mom, i saw myself in each of the girls and it was empowering. I am a business owner and thankfully don’t have the economic hardships the girls experienced, but i found a kinship with them unlike anything else i have experienced before. I have been able to relate to Beth’s desire to be something “more” and her struggle of balance .

And , of course, i was sucked into the Brio chemistry and have been able to appreciate Rio’s …..everything.

The cancellation is not a shock, as many shows end and this is part of tv. An ending had to happen at one point.

I think what makes me the saddest, and even frustrated, is the lack of balance between what the writers wanted and what had worked in earlier seasons and what made the show popular (albeit with a small minority, i know it was never a super big hit). But it seemed like after 2.13, the writers felt obligated to continue the shithole they created with that ending and then fell down that path and absolutely refused to backtrack.

Pride definitely seemed to take over and they were insistent on proving that their plan and vision for the show (after 2.13) was brilliant. How much better (for us fans, haha, but probably for their damn ratings as well) would it have been to : acknowledge the shooting, have them discuss it, deal with it and then move the storyline along to other things. It didn’t even necessarily need to be hot-sex Brio, but just something different than the last year and a half of this cat and mouse of “i want to kill him”, etc. Diversifying that storyline would have allowed for richer and deeper developments of the other characters and propelled the show forward in another way.

But it wasn’t our show to write, haha, and so we have what we have. And i will go down loving this show because of what i has meant to me in this specific period of my life. I am thankful for it, for this fandom, for this little corner of the universe that exists in this bubble of Good Girls and Rio and Brio and all of its craziness. So lets see what the next few episodes bring, i will enjoy every minute and be thankful for them. Its not perfect, but its our show and therefore it is perfect for us! ❤️✌️😍

[jade-marie]

Jesus fucking christ, man. Remind me to never look at the comment section of a gg instagram page again. Literally half the commenters saying they don't mind the missing scars because it makes sense that Rio just 'healed really well'. Ummmm are they on crack? Scars don't just disappear! Having a scar means a wound has healed but the scar tissue is there forever, it's really not rocket science. We aren't talking about a small injury here. It's 3 fucking bullets and then probably surgery. Again - this is why I say s3 should've started immediately after 2.13 because most of the audience really aren't connecting the dots with how severe of an injury that was. But also, that's the point. Krebs and Bans know who their casual viewers (aka the majority of the audience) are, and they don't really care about any of that stuff. They just want Rio to look sexy and fuck Beth.

[bethsuglywigs]

Hey! Do you have any unpopular opinions about GG? (Other than Beth being a blonde which she’s totally not haha)

you come into my askbox and say Beth’s not blonde

you better watch yourself 

anyway ive got nothing BUT unpopular opinions about nbc good girls lmao

s1 is my least favorite season

i wish beth and rio had MORE conflict (i.e. a better hitman plot)

i dont care about rio’s screen time, in fact, i think the shift in focus for beth’s storyline to center rio undermined the girls as the central relationship   

i dont like annie 

i love to hate dean and never wanted ML written off 

dont care about death divorce, in fact, i quite enjoyed watching him suffer through Beth’s indifference to him and their marriage 

i dont find rio’s motivations inconsistent or confusing at all and i would argue he was one of the most consistently written characters on the show which is why when he was written out of character (i.e. 2.13) it was so jarring 

i liked the Beth - Stan conflict though i think it was misplaced in s4 and should have been addressed in s2

i liked the cold opens even when they centered on minor characters (i.e. baby tyler) 

i find beth easy to relate to and understand

dont care about the timeline at all

not bothered by the retconning after s1 and i actually think some of the discrepancies in  beth and annies backstories can be reconciled (i.e. Beth snitching on Annie for smoking week to their mom and dad doesnt necessarily conflict with their unstable childhood if their mom had periods of stability and their dad was in and out of their lives)

im sure there’s more but that’s what i got rn

[blainesebastian]

I’m super confused. Do you ship Brio still after 2.13 or nah?

I confuse myself on a daily basis do not worry. I don’t think I have a clear response to this.

Yes- because, mostly in my head, I ignore the basis of what happened last season and carry on brio in a strictly fic based practice (as my 56 fics will tell you). So the idea of brio I very much still ship. It’s also really difficult for me to not ship Rio with basically any person in his immediate vicinity–so I really enjoy his scenes with Rhea, Beth, it really doesn’t matter. The character (and Manny’s acting) is magnetic, so while it feels weird for me to tag my ship in posts, I do this mostly because that’s who’s in the scene for tagging purposes and because Rio is very shippable.

No - because I don’t forgive Beth for shooting Rio and I don’t think, as the show progresses, they will ever get to the partnership they were before. One, because of Beth’s betrayal, and two, because of the terrible storyline where Rio kidnaps her and tries to force her hand with Turner in the first place. I think the relationship is kinda toxic, mostly because now Rio is angry (rightfully so) and I don’t think what Beth did is forgivable.

Meh? - because I really enjoy their scenes together, I love UST (which, they still have) and because I love the concept of them working together (even though I feel like Rio shouldn’t need Beth to run a criminal enterprise, but I addressed this in another ask where it’s the most beneficial for him, so it makes sense) and I love the tropes of enemies to frenemies or lovers (in general) though I’m not sure if GG is even headed in that direction.

The show has been kinda wild so far, but I’m pleased with general characterization of Rio specifically and Beth (even though that pregnancy drama and drop was bad imo).

Hope this (sort of?) answers your question anon lol