Good Girls Review: Jeff (Season 2 Episode 12)
Mary Pat is back and she was keeping more secrets than we bargained for on Good Girls Season 2 Episode 12, “Jeff.” However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because this is also the penultimate episode of Season 2, and that means that more than one thread is coming into play.
Let me start off by saying that there is a theme in this episode, and it’s the fact that people have different sides to them.
I’ve said before that one of the things Good Girls does well is developing the complexity of its characters. It did this very well with Mary Pat in the first few episodes of the season when she and Boomer were planning their wedding. It even turned the tables on the payday loan clerk.
It continues to do that in “Jeff,” with several of the supporting roles including Mary Pat, Marion, and Agent Turner, giving each of these characters motivations that sharpen their edges and make them more interesting to watch.
The beauty of it is that none of this–well, maybe save Noah’s revelation that he loves Annie–feels like it was done for shock value alone.
Let’s dive into some of the shifting dynamics of this episode, shall we?
“Jeff” has two big revelations, and I can’t figure out if I should be more surprised that Mary Pat is an opportunist or the revelation that Boomer isn’t dead and that his grandmother knew the whole time.
In some ways, the revelation about Mary Pat feels like less of a shock. We knew that Mary Pat lost her husband in Good Girls Season 1, but now that we have the truth behind his disappearance it feels much grimmer. I want to see Mary Pat as a soft and innocent person.
She plays that role really well but seeing how she conspired to keep her husband’s social security coming by chopping him up and putting him the freezer does create a different picture–the same one we’ve been following all along.
As much as I want to be mad at Mary Pat for what she’s done, her motives were just like Annie, Beth, and Ruby’s. She was protecting her family and she did what she had to do.
Sure, she started out with dismemberment, but I keep coming back to the end of Good Girls Season 2 Episode 9, “One Last Time.” When Ruby talks to the payday loan clerk and he says that his nephew needs a leg up, and Ruby replies, “We all do.” I think we can say the same for Mary Pat.
It doesn’t excuse the fact that she lied and committed fraud, and I fully expect her to have to pay for this by the end of the series, but she saw a window and she took it.
I will say the confrontation in the church parking lot between Mary Pat and the girls, and Annie tackling her is one of the funniest scenes of the season.
While the revelation that Mary Pat lied about the identity of the body in the freezer is shocking, it’s nothing compared to what happened to Boomer. The revelation that Boomer is alive and has been living in his grandmother’s attic is shocking.
Boomer has never been a likable character, but saying goodbye to him in Good Girls Season 2 Episode 3, “You Have Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson,” felt a little too convenient. While the subsequent guilt-ridden trips Annie makes to see Marion were a nice touch and feel genuine, we should have figured that it was laying track for something else.
I’m not entirely sure what Boomer’s return could mean for the girls. Obviously, if it comes out that he’s alive they can’t go away for the murder, but at the same time is he going to continue trying to put Annie, Beth, and Ruby away? And how will this tie into where he left things with Mary Pat?
These are all questions for next week’s finale, but they aren’t the only significant development that comes up.
Agent Turner and Noah are hot on the girls’ trail and it’s starting to get ugly. It’s no secret that Agent Turner wants Beth, and he’s using Ruby to get to her. It is starting to feel like he might be crossing a few lines with his tactics though.
Following to church and making a scene in front of the kids is intimidating, but we’re starting to see just how ruthless he is. Actually, in some ways, he is starting to remind me of Boomer at the end of Season 1, and during Good Girls Season 2 Episode 1, “I’d Rather Be Crafting.”
While Turner’s determination is worrisome, Stan and Ruby are in hot water, and it’s only going to get worse because Ruby paid the lawyer with counterfeit bills.
Stan and Ruby have had a stable relationship since Season 1, and although it was rocky during the first half of the season, they seemed to be back on track. Seeing Stan be so at peace with going to jail for five years is unsettling, but he’s also looking at the bigger picture–kind of like Mary Pat.
He knows that this is an unpleasant idea, but he knows that if he falls on his sword it will be better in the long run. He’ll get to see his daughter graduate. He’ll get to teach his son how to drive. And remember, he also knows what Ruby is facing if Turner comes for her.
There’s also Noah and Annie. We see how much of a strain Beth’s suggestion from the end of Good Girls Season 2 Episode 11, “Hunting Season,” is taking on her, and it’s relatable.
The crimes that Annie was committing with Beth and Ruby are easily isolated, but having to keep up appearances like this is harder. It’s precarious, there are so many ways this can backfire–and here’s also Sadie to think about.
The scene in the bathroom where Annie confronts Noah and he confesses that he loves her feels ill-timed and forced. While I would love to get behind this ship, there’s no happy ending I can see for them. How is Noah going to explain this and keep his job? How is Annie going to be able to trust him again?
Really, the only way this ends well if Annie and Ruby race to deal and sell out Beth.
Speaking of Beth, she and Dean are divorced but still living together. Dean is being very mature about the situation and trying to find solutions. It’s really showing another side to him, and I am starting to like him a little more. Matthew Lillard plays each of his scenes really well.
So much has changed for Dean this season, and the loss of the family business broke him. That scene with Dean shoving the plate of pasta on his shirt feels like an entire mood. His face is stoic the entire time and the silence and awkwardness can just be felt throughout the room.
On the flipside of Beth’s storyline is Rio. I said in my review of “Hunting Season,” that Rio is rubbing me the wrong way, and that continues on “Jeff.” I’ve enjoyed Mandy Montana’s portrayal, and I never thought that Brio would have it easy once they hooked up, but many of his actions in the last several episodes feel vindictive.
I want to root for them as a couple, but the more I look at this episode, the more this feels like it’s setting up for Beth to make her next move: striking out on her own.
The scene between Beth and Dean where they admit that neither of them wants to work for anyone strikes a cord. The indepence that each of them has feels like that might have been the reason they worked as a couple, years ago. And perhaps they are more suited for business partners than they are romantic partners.
Dean hasn’t quite won my trust and confidence back, but I am starting to see how they worked. Maybe if we get another flashback like Good Girls Season 2 Episode 8, “Thelma & Louise,” we will see some of what those early days looked like.
“Jeff” does its job. It makes me excited to watch the finale next week, but it also starts to feel like the characters are in a rock and a hard place. This is good, it makes for great drama and television. However, it does nothing for my nerves.
Stray Thoughts
- Is anyone else worried about how much of the dismemberment Mary Pat’s son saw? He says that Mary Pat took out the ice cream when she put “Daddy” in the freezer at the end of Good Girls Season 2 Episode 4, “Pick Your Poison.” Does that mean he saw something?
- We should all take a page out of Rio’s book and make sure we don’t work on vacation. If Rio does it, everyone should be able to.
- Beth and Dean announce that they’re divorced and the kids immediately worry about presents. That feels like the most child-like reaction to the news.
What did you think of this episode of Good Girls? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Critic Rating:
User Rating:
Good Girls airs Sundays at 10/9c on NBC.
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.
5 comments
MP stated her husband was dead, not missing, right? But she had the body in the freezer. How was this not a missing persons case/investigation the whole time.
I honestly couldn’t remember, but all your thoughts about there not being an investigation did run across my mind too. From the conversation she had with her son in this episode, it sounds like she might have been telling different people different versions of the story.
I loved the episode and its reveals, but I have one big question though: WHAT ABOUT BOOMER’S PHONE? Remember the girls throwing his body in the trash, after which his phone went off? One of the girls (or all of them? I don’t remember) went in and got it and they threw it in the lake after. How can they’ve missed that:
1. This body wasn’t actually Boomer?
2. This wasn’t actually Boomer’s phone?
– or was it? The police tracked Boomer’s phone to the lake, so it must’ve been his phone.
I think there’s only one explanation: Mary Pat put Boomer’s phone in the body-package. It’s still very strange though that there’s nothing mentioned about it and it also still doesn’t answer the first question (although maybe, they went in for the phone and only took that without looking – but I’m stretching it here haha).
Just a thought that I had to get off my chest. And now: one to the season finale!
The beginning of the episode felt like I had already seen it? Was it the same as a previous episode? I feel like I already saw that exact same scene, from the phone call, to the divorce, to the body in the garden.
Just finished season two and I have so many questions. How was boomers phone with the other dead body and how did they not notice when they opened up bag to take the phone out. Also I thought Mary Pat got arrested when Turner when do you get the dead body from the Landfield and it wasn’t there he told her that’s it you’re going to jail for lying. Rio cut up body parts fingers toes an EAR, how did he not notice it wasn’t boomers body either. And it’s so confusing I don’t even know what crave is being investigated towards the end was it from the first robbery at the grocery store is that where the pink cap came from or is it because evidence was missing from the cop husband or was it because the counterfeit money or was it because of murder And it’s so confusing I don’t even know what Craig was being investigated towards the end was it from the first robbery of the grocery store is that where the pin cap came from or is it because evidence was missing from the cop husband or was it because the counterfeit money or was it because of murder?? So many unanswered questions.
Comments are closed.