What I’m Watching: Good Girls (Season Premiere)

Good Girls: Season 4, Episode 1 “One Night in Bangkok” (C)

When this show ended up signing off a few installments early last May, I declared that I shouldn’t be watching it upon its return but that I probably would since I’m moderately intrigued by the story and characters. While this shouldn’t be technically considered a premiere since it’s merely continuing storylines that were supposed to be explored throughout season three, there’s no reason that it should have continued dragging on like this without any truly enticing new content. The incompetency of every character is irritating, particularly with the FBI, who wanted to ignore Phoebe’s very in-depth undercover operation as a boot camp instructor and pin the entire thing on Dean, who we know isn’t bright at all even if he’s demonstrating previously unseen work ethic. The health inspector prided herself on shutting down the hot tub store but was then so easily bribed with boatloads of cash placed in front of her, which didn’t exactly track. Ruby and Stan have to contend with a potential misdiagnosis of their son’s condition and what his needs will be, which will of course require extra money to be able to put him in the best place. Annie is distraught about not connecting with Ben and having no idea what he’s doing in his life, and she already has enough trouble focusing. While Beth managed to deal with her own distractions much better than the other two, solving this particular moment’s Rio problem and cooking up an impossible amount of baked goods, she is apparently the one getting in the way of James completing his assigned job. It would be nice if that plotline could just be wrapped up and these women could have someone other than Rio to work for, but I’m sure that won’t be the case. Will I come back next week to watch? I hope not, but probably.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls (Season Finale)

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 11 “Synergy” (C-)

This episode wasn’t necessarily any worse than the ones before it, but its unintended role as makeshift season finale just underscores the circular nature of this show. So little was accomplished, and Phoebe showing up in the park to ask them what they were celebrating shouldn’t have taken an entire episode after she spent most of it wondering why three friends would spend so much time together. The slow burn is not necessary or welcome at this point in the show since it’s dragging so much, and given how much Turner was operating off-book and on his own, it’s a good bet that we’ll see the same thing happen once Phoebe finally confronts them, probably without the proper authorization. I was not pleased at all by Stan’s apparent turn evil, since him being nice has always been one of the things that kept Ruby grounded. His return to normal was quick, negating anything that happened in this episode, and having him on board could make future crime there much more feasible. Annie didn’t get a subplot in this episode, and instead we had to endure Dean describing what was physical things he liked about Gail. Though I seriously question how Beth was able to execute her shop-emptying job so easily and what she offered Mick aside from the items he stole, it was admittedly a clever ploy that both brought down the purchase price of the store and enabled her to get revenge on Gail for taking pity on her. As this show signs off for now, I’m completely unsatisfied, which almost makes me want to keep watching just to know what happens when it eventually returns, though I really shouldn’t.

Season grade: C+
Season MVP: Christina Hendricks as Beth

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 10 “Opportunity” (D+)

This show just keeps getting worse, and I really need to commit to never watching again after the final episode airs this coming Sunday if it does indeed continue. The decisions these women make are so agonizingly bad, and it’s a shame since they’re often so clever in the solutions they come up with for some of their problems. Celebrating Rio’s assassination was foolish since they received absolutely no confirmation, and there’s no assurance that whoever replaced him if he did get killed wouldn’t create a less favorable arrangement, including a minimized affinity for Beth that could get them all killed immediately. James billing them for absurd costs and saying that he terminated the contract because it was a lover’s quarrel seemed unsustainable as a business practice, but I guess horrifying pictures of dismembered bodies ensure debts can be paid. Having Beth make the call to go through with it with a dummy target felt risky and unrealistic, though I don’t think there’s much in the way of that left on this show. Phoebe and Henry now know that Ruby is a person of interest, and them setting her sights on her is going to come at the worst possible time. It was uncomfortable to see just how sincere the parents of Sadie’s donor were when they showed up with their Christian sensibilities and humble attitudes, but it crossed a line when Jenny essentially demanded that they buy her a car. Annie arranging to pay her friend to have someone take the GED test for her was a poor plan, but studying hard and then trying to break up a relationship is hardly a smarter idea. Let’s hope for a shred of intelligence and logic in what now counts as the finale.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 9 “Incentive” (C)

This episode wasn’t any better than the ones that came before it, and I’m only sticking around since the shortened season will now be ending after just two more episodes, which I should be able to slug through even if they’re truly terrible. I am glad that Lauren Lapkus Agent Donnegan is taking on a more prominent role, though I’m not sure why the character has to be some comical in nature, unconcerned about personal hygiene but smart enough to cut off the nail polish color supply to force Beth and company to get creative. The solution Ruby came up with didn’t manage to fool Rio, which was hardly a surprise, and it’s baffling that he accepted yet another failure to be honest and adhere to directions without providing any consequences. The writing on this show is just not good, as evidenced by the entirety of the conversation with the cousin with fewer arms than expected, and everything about Andrew McCarthy’s assassin was hard to watch and take seriously. Focusing on Dean and his big work prize was of absolutely no interest, and I just wish that Dean would cheat on Beth without telling her instead of declaring his love for her after asking her to wear the dress she wore for Rio only to have her cancel at the last minute because something came up for her work. I don’t know what’s going to come from Sara wanting to help the family of her kidney donor, but it just seems like a distraction she doesn’t need. Lila was not smart to reveal so much about her relationship to Annie, and she put that information to excellent use to get Josh quite hot and bothered in a way he’s not soon likely to forget.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 8 “Nana” (C)

This was an agonizing episode in many ways, but most of the reason it was annoying won’t be a problem in the future. That’s not to suggest that these characters won’t continue to make mind-bogglingly horrible decisions on a regular basis, but that the character who unfortunately returned in this hour won’t be seen again (at least I’d hope not). I actually thought that Boomer, who beats Dean for the usually non-competitive title of worst character on this show, was dead, but apparently he was just in prison with a bunch of nonsensical tattoos on his face to make it look like he was tough. He was far too casual and irritating when he emerged and saw familiar faces there to spirit him to what he thought was Canada, and it was absurd that they indulged him, mainly because any prison escapee who would likely go immediately to see family members. And he even identified himself by name when he checked in at the front desk, but naturally the police aren’t interested in such matters since they barely exist on this show (with one exception, to be addressed momentarily). It’s not all that logical that Beth is now squared with Rio and even managed to get herself a decent cut, but I’ll accept it if it means that we never have to see Boomer again. The big twist that means this show gets another chance from me featuring a federal agent played by Lauren Lapkus from “Orange is the New Black” who knows that a woman is the one making this counterfeit money. I’m curious where that will lead and I hope it won’t be a disappointment. Annie pouring ashes all over herself was hardly the comfort she needed after Josh introduced her to his girlfriend (wife?) played by Madeline Zima from “Californication” and “The Nanny,” and I wonder if she’ll continue to see either of them even if she knows it’s not good for her.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 7 “Vegas, Baby” (C-)

Okay, now things have gone too far, and I’m giving this show one more episode before I just give up. The botched robbery was the first sign of how these three women, for how clever they are to be able to stay alive so long, continue to make absolutely poor decisions that lead to very expected and poor consequences for them and those around them. Annie is clearly the least responsible of the three, and technically this wasn’t her fault, but she would probably have been a better fit to have created a diversion outside than to be in charge of defusing a situation where someone ended up getting shot. Stan getting into illicit business because he decided he wasn’t righteous enough to become a cop again hardly seems like the most logical option, and he’s definitely going to get into trouble as he sees the potential for financial gain. I don’t even want to touch on Dean making a power play when Gayle tried to fire him since it’s both stupid and uninteresting. Beth introducing Max to Rio was in no way a good or plausible idea, mainly because there’s no reason that Rio wouldn’t have done some research and known what the problematic boyfriend he wanted to kill looked like. Most absurdly, Rio spent an extraordinary amount of effort to neatly move every single thing in Beth’s home, a symbolic message that will have Beth’s children making too much noise and will accomplish so little. It’s just too unbelievable, and I can’t imagine this show will go somewhere positive after that.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 6 “Frere Jacques” (B-)

It’s difficult to watch this show without thinking over and over again that all of the decisions these three keep making are the absolutely wrong one. Their decision to send the phone for recycling in Arizona so that Max would believe she had really left town was smart, but there was no reason they couldn’t have started with that, realizing that it would almost definitely be possible for Max to track the location of his girlfriend’s phone. Rio offered the quick solution of just getting rid of him, and instead Beth is now fabricating yet another lie that’s going to come back to haunt her in order to be able to pay Mick what she owes him and…keep some for herself? The bigger issue, once again, is the number one liability on this show, and that’s Dean. His obsession with keeping the bird alive made it so that he came into direct contact with a heartbroken Max, who might have understood if Beth had mentioned that Lucy left the bird with her for safekeeping but will now suggest foul play since Dean will undoubtedly screw it all up. Ruby’s performance felt very much unlike her, though she did drive home the point that Stan is the most honest do-gooder there is. That unfortunately made him question whether he is indeed fit to enforce the law now that he’s broken it, which is going to make him sad, with the advantage of not putting him in a compromised position like he got himself into in the past. Annie’s two new therapists were absurd (I enjoyed the one played by Robert Clendenin who was convinced she was wearing perfume), and now she’s going to be taken down a peg by the children’s therapist who just can’t get her to quit him.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 5 “Au Jus” (B-)

This is one of the shows that I watch weekly with my wife, and we both agreed before we started this episode that we were going to give up on it if it didn’t present something new or intriguing by the end of the hour. It may still be cyclical, but at least now something has happened to demonstrate to our main characters that they have to take this seriously. It was sad to see Lucy, a goodhearted person who just wanted a friend, killed by Rio to make sure they understood the gravity of the situation, and also didn’t entirely track since she might be needed again whereas Annie and Ruby don’t offer the same skill crucial to the operation. She’ll also be missed, and her disappearance might attract too much attention. Dean continues to be the worst character on this show, stupidly breaking the frame because he somehow thought that gave him power over Beth and Rio, unaware that it got someone killed. I’m not sure what comes next, especially with Rio now fully in charge of the moneymaking scheme, and Mick not providing too much help as a more sympathetic ally in trying times. Ruby wasn’t about to let Sara get away with her providing cover in front of Stan, and it’s a good thing that, unlike the obnoxious Dean and the useless Greg, Stan is actually capable of being a real, productive partner for his wife, better working as an ally than being kept in the dark.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 4 “The Eye in Survivor” (C+)

This show is becoming irritating for a number of reasons. There’s an undeniably cyclical nature to the relationship between Rio and Beth, and that final scene with him watching her make the money had an obvious resolution, which puts her forever in his debt but also makes her his most valuable employee. What I’m finding more obnoxious at the moment is how all of the supporting characters are being given lackluster plotlines that do nothing to add to the overall story. I’ve never liked Dean or found him useful – I would have been happy to see him die as a result of Rio making a point to Beth – and now he’s going in to buy guns so that he can endanger his family and have absolutely no plan ready to use them if need be should harm actually be imminent. Annie always manages to get herself into trouble, and trying hard to seduce her therapist went predictably poorly. Ruby talking about how she had to dig the jersey out of the toilet holding the plunger end was a waste of time, and this show would do better to put more of an emphasis on her having to hide her daughter emulating her criminal behavior from her husband so that he could focus his aggression on his wife instead of ruining his impression of their daughter. That’s reminiscent of Ruby’s complete panic when she imagined herself behind bars, one of the few times that this show actually contemplates true consequences for any of its characters.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 3 “Egg Roll” (B-)

It’s continually confounding that Rio doesn’t just kill the woman who shot him and left him for dead when she had the chance. Part of it is that Beth really is resilient and clever, and also that Rio likes her and wants to keep her around. He also recognizes her value and that he can use her, though he’d be smarter to get rid of one of her less productive companions, namely her troublesome sister, but that wouldn’t happen on a show like this with three co-leads. I did appreciate how Annie’s mostly one-sided therapy sessions motivated her to question the command structure of this operation, even if the conversation didn’t get far when Beth came clean about Rio being alive. Beth trying so hard to get pregnant and then having Rhea talk to the doctor so that she could lie and say that she was certainly was a bold move, and it’s one that’s worked thus far but isn’t likely to be quite as convincing when she doesn’t actually produce a baby in whatever number of months the doctor claims it will be. What was far less sophisticated was the latest attempt to give Dean depth by allowing him to speak in a series of metaphors as he let down his extremely flirtatious boss. I bet that Beth would be totally fine with him having an affair so that he could earn more money if he just asked, and now he’s going to blame her for her extralegal antics without taking any responsibility for letting his illicit romance build up. Stan and Ruby’s “egg roll” strategy to not have to ask each other questions is entertaining, and it’s probably the smart thing today from a legal perspective as well.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 2 “Not Just Cards” (B-)

This episode didn’t really get us too far, introducing a new semi-villain in the form of Dean’s mother, played by Jessica Walter, with her not really permitted to do too much damage before Beth made sure she wasn’t actually a threat. The news of Agent Turner’s demise created a very brief period of mourning that then made them realize that they could operate more freely and without fear. I thought I recognized Ethan Suplee, who starred in such projects as “My Name is Earl” and “American History X,” as the mover who tried to rip Beth off, but I wasn’t sure it was him since he barely had any lines and because he’s lost so much weight since both of those roles (it was). Beth was bold to go down to the moving company and threaten to report him to his parole officer, and the gamble appears to have worked. What she couldn’t she coming, however, was Rio’s return, and it’s hard to know just what he’s going to want from her after she shot him and left him for dead. Annie trying to support her newly transitioned son is going fine but she’s getting crap from her ex and his new partner, and talking to a children’s therapist, played by Rob Heaps from “Dare Me” and “Imposters,” is almost certainly going to lead to a new sexual relationship. Annie could use a potential role model after her last few disastrous romantic choices, so even though it won’t be appropriate in origin, this pairing might just be a good thing.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls (Season Premiere)

Good Girls: Season 3, Episode 1 “Find Your Beach” (B)

Looking back on my review of the second season finale, which was all the way back in May, I really wasn’t too impressed with the direction of this show and its continued existence. Hopefully, this new premiere has changed that, though this opening episode felt very long. I’m sure it wasn’t, but I was surprised every time there was another commercial and still more material to come. All three main characters were working jobs that seemed menial and a waste of their talents, and Stan was relegated to the night shift as security at a strip club, which made Ruby very uncomfortable with topless women surrounding him and then showing up at her home to teach her daughter how her gag reflex worked. But, of course, they were only in those carefully-calculated positions to be able to have access to a lab, one-dollar bills, and the chemicals they needed to turn small change into a whole lot of fake money. Enlisting Beth’s perfectionist colleague to copy the money for them under the guise of printing it on colored paper was a smart idea, but it’s likely to come back to haunt them if she ever decides to tell anyone. Beth accepting money from Rhea, played by Jackie Cruz, best known as Flaca on “Orange is the New Black,” is also probably a bad idea, though there’s no reason right now to suspect that Rhea is communicating with the very much not-dead Rio. Escaping his hotel confinement and taking out Agent Turner means that the law isn’t coming for Beth and crew anymore, but it’s probably much more worrisome that he’s now out with a target for the woman who believes she killed him.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls (Season Finale)

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 13 “King” (C+)

I’m not sure what I expected from this finale, but it was far from satisfactory. Beth confessing to Boomer’s murder so that everything she was accused of would be cast into doubt when Boomer showed up to turn himself in, very much still alive, was a likely ending for all of this, but one that left far too many threads unresolved. Of those, I wouldn’t have thought that Agent Turner’s determination to put Beth behind bars would be the most severe, but apparently it was enough to inspire Rio to finally take action, which is just puzzling. Giving Beth the gun to kill him was foolish, but the worst part of this is that it’s not over. Turner always insisted he wanted to work his way up the food chain, so keeping Rio alive after he kidnapped and beat him so that he can turn on Beth makes no sense at all. It’s almost as illogical as Noah somehow thinking that he and Annie have a future, with casual revelations like the fact that he has a child and he’s just up and moving to Phoenix. What’s much more compelling is the notion that Beth is obsessed with continuing in this line of work, baking counterfeit money that will look like the real thing, prompting contradictory looks from her two partners-in-crime. Knowing that Turner is watching them and they’re committing crimes all on their own might be interesting, but I’m going to be tuning in to the season premiere whenever this show returns considerably less excited. This season has been consistently disappointing, a serious downturn from the first, and I’m not sure I’ll continue to watch if it’s really headed nowhere.

Season grade: B-
Season MVP: Christina Hendricks as Beth

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 12 “Jeff” (C+)

I find it very hard to believe that Mary Pat was not only able to cover up the sudden death of her husband but also to drag away Boomer’s body without her kids noticing and somehow not hear anything from him for months when he’s actually been alive the whole time. I’m glad to see that Allison Tolman is taking a role in a new TV pilot this fall, not that “Emergence” looks great, but hopefully it will be a better showcase for her talents than this truly lackluster part. It makes more sense that Marion always believed in her grandson despite what Annie told her about him, and that she’s been hiding him in her attic since his disappearance. Somehow, I imagine they’ll be able to convince him to turn himself in or help them cover up their actions so that they avoid prison time, since that’s looking all but likely for Stan at the moment and the others soon down the road. Agent Turner coming to church to taunt Ruby and Stan felt inappropriate even by his standards, and Noah telling Annie he loves her isn’t going to help matters at all since there’s no way she’s testifying against Beth. Dean’s inability to understand that his new role was contingent only on following the simple rule of not upselling customers was typically frustrating, and he should be able to find some fulfillment in doing his job without swindling buyers. Dumping his dinner on his shirt was infantile, but he made up for it with his first-ever good idea – a shared apartment that could help make the divorce not so bad. That breakup is going better than Rio telling Beth he doesn’t work on vacation. I can’t imagine the finale will be satisfying, but I’m hopeful it will make me interested to tune in for season three.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 11 “Hunting Season” (B-)

I’m not sure what the significance of getting a thumb in the mail was supposed to be, and it’s hardly a stretch that they would find a body in a freezer, bury it in Beth’s yard, and then discover that it actually belongs to someone else. These three can’t catch a break, but that’s mainly because they keep making bad choices which take them in the wrong direction. Ruby is doing everything she can to come up with money to help Stan, and something tells me that the defense is still going to suggest that he earn some time, even after the exorbitant fees they’re charging when they should be even moderately sensitive to the family’s situation. Beth and Dean are at least being honest with each other now, as he claims he has to get out because Beth can’t and she freely admits that she enjoys sleeping with Rio. Their game of twenty questions when he found her snooping in his apartment was a bit strange, but I guess there’s a certain kind of intimacy that has developed even as he continues to force her to pay off debts for the rest of her life. I’m glad that Annie found a smart way to tail Noah and discover his true identity, and hopefully they’ll be able to score a win for once by using the information he doesn’t know she knows to combat Turner’s efforts to take Beth down in a way that gets her more than just Martha Stewart time. Using Sadie to get to Annie was a low blow, and he’s going to have to pay for that once all the cards are on the table.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 10 “This Land is Your Land” (C+)

I’m getting tired of the way things are playing out on this show, and the sudden introduction of Beth confessing her sins to a support group of addicts makes me wonder how it can possibly go anywhere worthwhile. Beth being out was never going to last, but that’s not entirely her fault, since her fellow moms should never have decided just to purchase prepared goods from the supermarket after she spent hours baking everything. Describing the feeling of nearly being arrested as fun, however, is very much cause for concern, and she won’t be quite as excited about it when she realizes that Turner was able to locate the damning documents that she thought she cleverly hid. It’s true that Annie never thinks anything out as well as Beth does, and she’s just about as reckless. That said, Ruby deciding to just dump everything in the garbage because she got nervous doesn’t consider any of the consequences of that action and on not delivering, something this show seems to willfully forget at every possible turn. Noah showing up at the dealership in a suit to look through everything with Turner seems foolish since Beth could easily recognize him, though Annie for once earns some credit for realizing before someone expressly told her that her new boyfriend has been playing her all along. Let’s hope she finds a way to use that information to her advantage since he should feel very bad about everything he’s done given the quick intimacy of their relationship and the fact that his betrayal is going to hurt Sadie more than anyone.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 9 “One Last Time” (B-)

The notion that Beth is going to get out is hard to truly believe, especially since this show was recently renewed for another season. Stan being arrested is a huge development, one that makes this seem like an open-and-shut case for Turner, who is talking in a way that doesn’t conform much with his character, suggesting that he would utilize corrupt methods to get Stan to cooperate. Ruby choosing to rob the place that she had visited and left an impression was a questionable choice, and their captive turned out to be an irritating handful. His decision not to report her to the police and to instead use her address so that his nephew could go to a good school seemed like a fair trade which once again worked out much better for these three than it should have. Greg telling Annie that Noah was bad news was a bad move destined to make her more inclined to get serious with him, and though she tried to slow it down, he played her perfectly by confessing his alleged illegal actions that made her far more interested in sharing a whole lot more than she should. Dean telling his mother that it was his fault that things in his marriage got bad because he cheated was a sign of his growth, and, though it was inaccurate, seemed like enough to get him and the kids back home. Annie getting brought in by Noah and Turner should be the next step, but I feel like this is going to be dragged out a lot more with other problems coming up first.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 8 “Thelma and Louise” (B-)

Dean’s stupidity makes me so angry, and I really wish that Rio had just killed him at the start of the season. Everything he does always manages to cause Beth more headaches, and in this case she didn’t even manage to get all of the stolen money back because Ruby’s lie about her being the mother of one of the thieves didn’t hold up when his girlfriend found one of the pictures. The fact that Dean now took the kids gives him a power that he shouldn’t have, and if he thinks he’s doing it so that they’ll be safer, he’ll soon discover both how completely incompetent he really is as a parent and how far she’ll go to get her children back. Sadie coming out as transgender to Annie went incredibly smoothly, much more so than anything else Annie has ever experienced as a parent. Stan failing his lie detector test was unfortunate, and Ruby’s decision to choose Beth and give Agent Turner a different address will surely backfire, even if we understand the closeness of their relationship thanks to the flashbacks to their early days of friendship. After Annie hopped into the pool and sat in Nancy’s juices to help her express some rage at her and give birth, she found the new boyfriend she had told to stay still waiting there for her, which suggested that maybe the relationship would last. I’m impressed that this show at least had a solid surprise waiting with the revelation that Noah is actually Agent Turner’s partner, working Annie in a way that she’s never going to suspect.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 7 “The Dubby” (B-)

I had never thought about the fact that we see the three women on this show together all the time yet we haven’t, as far as I can recall, seen their significant others together in the past. I’m no fan of Dean’s, and his suggestion that they had to do something to get rid of Rio is only going to serve to corrupt Stan, who I do like considerably more. Agent Turner asking Ruby for her in-laws’ names so that he could drop that cruel grandparents line on her was unnecessarily theatrical, and while she wasn’t exactly helping before this, her very explicit photography of in-progress criminal activity shouldn’t take too long to be noticed and identified by her co-conspirators. Beth bringing her kids with her on a car drop was a bad idea to start, and then showing up at the house to ask for the stuffed animal back was a further misstep. Reframing the situation to make it seem like she was in control was hardly her best power play, but at least no one had to go down to the basement to help anyone else look, and she managed to get the animal mailed back to her in the end. I couldn’t figure out where I knew the lead drug dealer from, and it turns out he was Blake Shields, who used to star in “Sleeper Cell.” Annie’s new boss seems absurdly accommodating in a totally unbelievable way, and it could have been fine if she hadn’t gone and slept with him right away, making everything far more complicated and potentially problematic than it needed to be.

What I’m Watching: Good Girls

Good Girls: Season 2, Episode 6 “Take Off Your Pants” (B-)

I’m still finding it hard to understand why it is that our three friends aren’t yet behind bars since Agent Turner seems to know very well what they’ve done, and they don’t do a great job of hiding it whenever he confronts them. He wasted little time in ingratiating himself into Stan’s life, declaring his intention to be invited over for dinner and then forcing it on him when Ruby tried to get out of it by sending him food. The notion that he just wants Beth is somewhat interesting, and she does often feel like the only one with truly criminal intent, but it really should all be about Rio since he’s actual a serious criminal. Beth feeling jealous when she saw him with another woman hardly seemed merited, and she went to some pretty drastic lengths to try to force him into cutting them into the deal, which was extremely risky. I was pleased to recognize Nicholas Alexander, the breakout star of “Adam,” which I saw at Sundance, as Annie’s drug dealer and analyzer Darren. He’s appeared before but I didn’t know who he was then. It should come as no surprise that Dean was terrible at being a parent, and he managed to even ruin Beth’s passion when she came home to find the house clean with his reaction. Annie is rarely an emblem of positive parenthood, and it was refreshing to see her stand her ground and act like a mother rather than a jilted friend to her daughter for once. In a strange development, this show has already been renewed for a third season, something I both wouldn’t have expected or necessarily championed. Let’s see if it feels deserved by the end of this season.