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TV Media Weekly | March 2 - 8, 2019 By Joy Doonan TV Media S howrunner Jenna Bans has been praised for her forthright portrayal of fed up, angry women in "Good Girls." Bans came up with the idea for the NBC dram- edy during the 2016 U.S. elec- tion, and she wanted to capture the pervasive sense of injustice that many people seemed to be feeling. The producer and writer, whose previous credits include "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal" and "The Family," recalls in an interview with The Lily that she told her mother she "wanted to write something that was fun and entertaining, but also em - powering, and speak to those women out there who feel like they've been backed into a cor- ner." With three lead actresses who deliver both a tight-knit on- screen relationship and the steely determination necessary for their characters, Bans has ac - complished just that. An unapol- ogetic comedy about three downtrodden mothers who take their fates into their own hands, the show has been declared timely and authentic by many critics. A year after "Good Girls" first premiered, its anxiously an- ticipated second arrives this week, picking up where season 1 left us hanging. The first epi- sode of season 2 airs Sunday, March 3, on NBC. The titular "good girls" are three earnest working moms who are at the ends of their ropes, struggling with financial strain and a host of personal troubles. Beth Boland (Christina Hendricks, "Mad Men") has mentally checked out of her marriage to cheating husband Dean (Matthew Lillard, "Scream," 1996). Dean, mean- while, has led their family into debt that leaves them on the verge of losing their house. Beth's sister, Annie (Mae Whit- man, "Parenthood"), is a single mom struggling to make ends meet for her 11-year-old daugh- ter, while being sued for custody by her ex. Their close friend, Ruby (Retta, "Parks and Recre- ation"), is a chronically mis- treated waitress desperate for the funds to treat her young daughter's kidney disease. At their wits' end, the women decide that being law-abiding suburban moms is not working out for them, and realize that no one can dig them out of their re- spective holes but themselves. They plot to rob the supermarket where Annie works, but when they end up with far more mon- ey than they anticipated, they find themselves in the middle of a money-laundering operation run by local gangsters. Though the raucous intrigue of the plot is enough to suck you into a TV binge fest, "Good Girls" is more than just a heist comedy. The characters make conscious decisions to break away from their old lives, and they let everyone in their paths know that they will no longer be taken advantage of. When An- nie's boss figures out that she was one of the robbers and at- tempts to blackmail her into sexual favors, for instance, he ends up hogtied in the tree- house in Beth's yard. When an entitled teenage boy injures himself at Ruby's work and tries to coerce a degrading apology from her, she instead gives him a piece of her mind and prompt- ly quits. These are three thoroughly ordinary women who, faced with mounting abuse, decide they would rather join the crimi- nal underbelly of their suburban world than remain on its surface with the odds eternally stacked against them. In an interview with Variety, Hendricks said that it's important to her that the show resonates with the cultur- al mood surrounding the #MeToo movement. "It's not preachy," she noted, "it's under- standing and accepting, and still ... in complete support of how people are feeling right now." The humor of the show walks the line between being cynical when the situation calls for it, but also making light of disas- trous hijinx. Hendricks also told Variety that the cast is relieved by the moments of laughter on set, because most of the time, everyone is tense from the stress of their characters' high- stakes predicaments. "Good Girls" has a sharp wit that breathes life and authentic- ity into its characters: Annie cracks sarcastic comments as the women blunder their way through a plan to pay $500,000 back to a street gang, and Beth pours a dram of whiskey into a sippy cup. These are moments that make their unrealistic cir- cumstances just a little bit relat- able. Bans says that the upcoming season will pick up fluidly from where the first one left off, which is cause for excitement for the show's fans, who are still reeling from the dramatic sea- son finale cliffhanger. Beth was last seen entering her house to find that disgruntled crime boss, Rio (Manny Montana, "Grace- land"), has beaten her husband. He gives Beth a gun and tells her that if she wants to be the hard- ened criminal that she's been pretending to be lately, she has to shoot either Rio himself, or Dean. "Good Girls" has consistently delivered fierce wit, bingeable intrigue and righteous female fury. Don't miss the premiere of season 2 when it airs Sunday, March 3, on NBC. Mae Whitman as seen in "Good Girls" Calling the shots: Criminal suburban moms are back in season 2 of 'Good Girls' 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2"

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