Good Girls - Interesting Relationship Story?

analysis
#1

Well, since I’m too distracted by everything that’s going on in the world to write, I thought I’d post a couple of conversation starters about stories I’ve wanted to analyze. :slight_smile:

Has anyone seen Good Girls? I’m not so interested in trying to puzzle out a complete storyform—I’m not even sure there is one yet as they’re still on the third season and there hasn’t been any clear wrap up. (I’m enjoying it, but predicting frustration as there’s often an impulse to drag series like this on too long instead of completing the story).

That said, here’s what I can say. OS is Psychology (couldn’t be more clear about that). I strongly suspect the Concern is Being – you could probably guess that Concern from the title.

Beth (Christina Hendricks) is the MC. The IC is the gangbanger Dio. Also pretty clear. They also have a twisted relationship that revolves around crime.

The heart of the story though is the the relationship between the two sisters (Beth and Annie) and their lifelong friend Ruby. As I was thinking about the story, I realized that this makes complete sense, as their relationship grows through their “partners in crime” activities (Physics/Doing).

If I’m right about this, it’s an interesting example of you can use a more expansive view of the RS (as @jhull has been writing about recently) to really fill out a story and add drama, by not limiting your RS to the relationship between the MC and and IC. This is particularly useful I think for “ensemble” shows where you need a bunch of different characters and don’t want everything to be OS.

Has anyone else seen the show? Any thoughts? Am I right about the story?

#2

Hey @Lakis, my wife and I have been watching Good Girls, partly inspired by your post actually. We were watching Ozark – absolutely loved the first season – but Season 2 just seemed to be dark and depressing for no reason, so we gave it up.

Anyway, was wondering which season of GG your comments apply to? I loved the first season but found the more the show goes on, the more it seems repetitive. I almost feel like maybe the first season was a complete story, but then in the second season the writers didn’t quite realize that so they kept some of the same contexts going. (?)

And again from season 2 to 3 – I feel like Beth keeps changing from Be-er to Do-er, but then just goes back to Be-er. Does this strike a chord with you?

I agree on the Relationship Story, although the relationship between the 3 “good girls” feels more like a slow burn over the whole series, while the Beth-Rio and various wife-husband relationships were more specifically dealt with in shorter arcs.

Still, even with a few problems, it’s a great show. I appreciate the humor and lighter tone evil while they keep up the intensity.

#3

Ha! I forgot I wrote that post.

It’s been a long time since I watched it, so I’d have to review some summaries on line if we were going to try for a storyform.

This is exactly how I felt. I did enjoy the second and third seasons, but I kept wondering though if there was going to be a big wrap-up/change (by someone–presumably Beth). But then maybe she changed, and changed back (as I think you suggested). I’m not sure if there’s going to be another season (?). It would be great if there would be a final wrap up.

I thought the way the RS was done was very interesting from a writing perspective – it seems like a great example of how you can get a lot storytelling mileage out of RS Physics in an OS Psychology story by having the RS be “partners in crime” (though the other relationships are definitely there).

Do you think I’m right that it’s an OS Concern of Being? It seems like there so much in there about the roles people choose, are forced into, etc.

We loved Ozark. It is dark (and stays dark) but we felt like there continued to be a lot of interesting development. I thought the third season was great. It would be interesting to see if there’s any complete storyforms there (probably there is in season 1?). These series always like to end their seasons on cliffhangers so I’m never sure where a story might cut off.

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#4

Yeah, not sure if I feel like devoting the time/energy into a storyform for Good Girls, but definitely this:

… is spot on. I mean, the conflict that comes from being a mom vs. the conflict that comes from being arguably the polar opposite, a criminal. And then questioning how well you play each role… Great stuff.

And then you look at the other throughlines and they’re super clear. Doing for the RS – like you said, partners in crime, they’re doing bad things together and relating to each other through those activities. This works great for the wife-husband relationship where the husband is a cop, too.

Beth’s preconscious impulses are absolutely at the center of her personal conflict, too. She just can’t stay away.

Progress is also an awesome fit for Rio. He’s always hanging over Beth’s head as she wonders how things are going with him.

Geez you could almost get to a storyform in no time, though I wouldn’t know what season it’s for … and maybe that’s the problem, that they just used the same storyform at least for 1 & 2? (I’m only halfway through 3.) But I was gonna say, I could definitely see Trust/Test in the RS and Accurate/Non-Accurate in the OS. OS Issue of Ability would make sense in terms of not being able to provide for their families / make ends meet. And then when they get some cash, not being able to do all the criminal stuff.

If the OS & MC Problem is Non-Accurate, that would make an MC Issue of Worry and an IC Issue of Threat which seem pretty spot on.

But I might have skipped some steps there… :slight_smile:

#5

Oh, interesting – I assumed she was a Universe character – stuck in a bad marriage in the suburbs – and that Rio was the “bad attitude”/influence on her. But that could be confusing if she flips from do-er to be-er as you suggest (or maybe you’re right and they used the same storyform for multiple seasons).

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#6

Yeah I just assumed she had to be a Be-er because I kept getting so annoyed at her for Be-ing instead of Do-ing!

But it’s possible I’m more fixated on Season 2 than Season 1. (The end of Season 2 I definitely saw her go from Be-er to Do-er when she shot Rio.)

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