'Good Girls' Season 1, Episode 1 'Pilot' Recap: 'Not So Smooth Criminals' [SPOILERS]

NBC’s “Good Girls” series premiere brought in a mixture of black comedy, drama, and some action (in a hilarious way) for its pilot episode. The show follows the story of three suburban girls going through family and financial problems which is the start of a more significant problem for them. How far can these women go to ‘make ends meet’ for their family and children? The answer is far more than what they’ve expected.

Not So Smooth Criminals

The episode cuts right to the chase. Three women, Annie (Mae Whitman), her sister Beth (Christina Hendricks), and their friend Ruby (Retta) have decided to rob a grocery store with their hoodies, cap, handkerchief, ‘deadpool-inspired’ bonnet and fake guns.

They go in thinking they will only get $30,000. But little do they know that it’s actually about half a million dollars. Things become complicated when the store manager sees one of them. The grocery store they robbed isn’t an ordinary grocery store. It’s owned by a scary man with neck tattoos and gun named Rio (Manny Montana) who runs a drug cartel business.
The episode rewinds three weeks forward to show the dire circumstances that these three women are facing which led them to become outlaws and got them to a more severe and life-threatening situation.

The Last Straw

Annie is a single mom facing a custody battle with her ex  (Zach Gilford) over their gender non-conforming daughter Sadie (Izzy Stannard). Beth is a mom of four who learns her husband (Matthew Lillard) is cheating on her with a blonde floozy; her husband buys his mistress lingerie using their credit cards and resources. But her husband only told her that he made terrible decisions at work. Meanwhile, Ruby is a waitress who has a severely ill daughter who’s into an expensive care treatment.
With a visit to the hospital, Ruby was told by Sarah’s (Lidya Jewett) doctor that he is concerned about the child’s kidney function and that she will have to be on the list of kidney transplant recipients as soon as possible. She told the doctor that Sarah could barely make it through the school day. The doctor suggests going home and getting a tutor for Sarah. She continued talking, telling the doctor how she and her husband work hard all day. She asked about the transplant and mentioned about a new drug that just got approved.

While she was talking, the doctor appears somewhat busy giving instructions to a nurse, Carla. Out of frustration, she yells, “oh my god, can you just listen to me for a damn one minute? Shame on you. Shame on all of you.” Successful at getting the doctor’s attention, things got a bit more serious. The doctor explained to her that the drug she was talking about is called the ‘Eculizumab,’ a drug which improves renal function dramatically. But it will also cost Ruby $10,000 a month. The scene ended with Ruby telling the doctor that she will talk to her husband and they might be able to swing it.
At the end of the episode, the supermarket’s gross manager attempts to rape Annie but is knocked unconscious (maybe killed) by her older sister Beth.
“Good Girls” continues Monday, March 5th with “Mo Money, Mo Problems” at 10/9c on NBC.