Why do we continue to see Beth and Rio pitted against each other? Do you think this is how the rest of the season will go?

I think the writers just really like it as a source of conflict, anon, haha.

But even beyond that, Rio’s frequently the controller of the ‘ticking clock’ in Good Girls, which makes him pretty pivotal to creating constraints that build narrative tension and create a sense of story urgency.

Ticking clocks are pivotal to every story, and they can manifest in different ways. They can be literal – Cinderella has to be home from the ball before midnight! – or they can be more broad and metaphorical – Lady Bird is trying to figure out who she is and if she can resolve her relationship with her mother before she goes to college in Lady Bird, a move that, to her, marks the transition from childhood to adulthood – or more about external pressures creating a sense of urgency without a set timeline – in Captain America, the threat and pressure is in the war but also in the escalating battles between Red Skull and Steve Rogers, the latter of which give the sense of an inevitable ‘final battle’ which creates a clock with no numbers.

Ticking clocks are essentially why something in the story has to happen now, which is, as I said above, pivotal to creating narrative tension.

In Good Girls, Rio (especially in season 3) is frequently the one operating this – he tends to be the one who sets the deadline (although not always), implements those deadlines, and creates an overall sense of narrative pressure that forces Beth, Ruby and Annie to act. Him and Beth being pitted against each other is what gives that ticking clock further narrative heft, and the push-pull dynamic between them means that Beth’s not just having interpersonal conflict with Rio, but that she’s swimming upstream with the constraints of the story itself.

Which is an effective narrative device on the whole! It’s a part of the reason why episodes feel so stressful for people watching!

It’s also though why the conflict is starting to feel a little repetitive. Rio being so in control of the narrative clock has sort of run it’s course now, I think, and interestingly, I do also think the show is trying to transition out of that by handing some of that story responsibility over to Nick. We’ve seen that now through the show emphasising that Rio answers to Nick, and how Nick is starting to appeal to Beth and make more textual demands of Rio, something I’m sure we’ll see play out further in today’s episode.

Moving some of that narrative responsibility over to Nick actually does free Rio up as a character a lot more, because the writers – if they want, haha – can rely on him less as a source of that tension. It’s sort of like how in s2 they were able to explore different facets of Rio because a lot of the ticking clock work was on Turner and Boomer, less on him, whereas in s3, it was entirely on Rio.

Giving that story responsibility over to Nick gives Beth and Rio a lot more opportunities to potentially work together, and I do think we’re getting some signposting that that’s where the story’s going. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see though! :-)

yeah, there's no way brio's endgame. I don't want it at this point. I'm sorry... a couple this toxic ain't healthy. one of them has to end up dead for the circle of manipulation/abuse to be complete. otherwise we're all just kidding ourselves.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

once again am assuming this is for the opinion thing bc of what its sandwiched between so my b if not.

partial agree/partial disagree! i don’t think brio is endgame in a like, traditional HEA in a relationship crime king/queening it up sense of the word which is what i get the sense a lot of people are picturing? i think whatever endgame the show has in store is going to be structured around where and how beth, ruby and annie end up (bc, for as much as i know a lot of people want it to be different, they’re the main characters, rio is not) and my hope is for some kind of nebulous working arrangement / ambiguous personal relationship between beth and rio that leaves things open ended for whatever the audience wants to project for their future.

that’s entirely possibly wishful thinking and who knows what they’ll but I def don’t think the only potential endgame for beth and rio is one of them dead. if for no other reason bc it would be rio (bc again, of the two of them beth is the main, he is not, and maybe if this show were walter white-ing beth it could end with her dying but literally nothing about it makes me think that is remotely the direction jenna and bill are ever going to take it) and i don’t think the show would actually kill rio off at this point, even in a finale, unless manny wanted to leave. while he isn’t a main, at this point they’ve invested so much into making him a well rounded, sympathetic supporting character I think he’s p safe. if 408 did one thing successfully it was deepening his backstory to show him as a good kid dealt a shit hand, which is the opposite of a flat antagonist, you know? beyond that this isn’t an oMG aNyOne cAn diE kind of show, at this point killing him off would be like killing off dean or stan, i don’t see them doing it but standard disclaimer, what tf do I know?

send me an opinion

Rio’s feelings toward Beth are stronger than Beth feelings towards him

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

agree in the sense that i think rio is aware of his feelings on a level that beth won’t let herself be but also disagree bc i think she is every bit as obsessively into him as he is into her. they love each other, they hate each other and most of all they cannot let each other go. even when beth thought he was gone she still kept him extremely on her mind as evidenced by the sheer number of times she referenced him, rambled about losing him to total strangers and zoned out thinking about him whenever we saw her alone. 301 was a testament to beth’s grief and you don’t feel like that if you don’t care deeply about someone. it’s just, you know, complicated.

send me opinions

Unpopular Opinion: Rio does not listen to classical music!!!!!!

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Alright kicking this off strong lol - but oh super strongly agree. You can't convince me that Rio likes to listen to jazz or classical music. This is a man who likes stuff with strong beats and hooks - rap, hip-hop, even some hard rock. The things he can throw on when he's boxing or going for a run or just needs background noise.

And yes I know, I know, he had a record player, but (1) that could have just been decoration (he is a geriatric millenial lol) and (2) I'd actually argue that if he uses it he would listen to r&b.

Fanon busted!

Send me unpopular opinions and I'll tell you if I agree or not!