‘Good Girls’

Motherhood gets criminal in ‘Good Girls’ (2018). The latest Netflix original to place women centre stage in the wake of ‘Glow'(2017). A little ‘Weeds’, a splash of ‘Ozark’ and a tad ‘Breaking Bad,’ the series introduces a trio of desperate moms more than willing to break the law to provide for their families.

Starring Christina Hendricks (‘Mad Men’), Mae Whitman (‘Parenthood’) and Retta (‘Parks and Recreation’), ‘Good Girls’ has the talent but is a little sketchy when it comes to storyline.

Timely in its theme of women fed up with cheating husbands, lecherous employers and dismissive male doctors, ‘Good Girls’ ticks plenty of progressive boxes and boasts an offbeat ensemble one can happily binge-watch courtesy of charisma.

With Hendriks playing Beth, a housewife, mastermind and weirdly good liar opposite Whitman’s young and sarcastic Annie and Retta’s stressed, sassy though underdeveloped Ruby, the show follows three storylines radiating from the women’s unlikely friendship and shared financial troubles.

Though the solutions to the latter could be myriad, in this story, the mamas rob a grocery store.

Masking up and busting in to pay a mortgage, fight a custody suit and settle sky-high medical fees, naturally, the trio stumbles into a money laundering scheme that sends a handsome, threatening and cliché young Mexican into their midst.

If ‘Good Girls’ sounds a little like ‘Weeds’, that’s because it is. Particularly when the story alights on Beth who soon gets a taste for the suburban underbelly.

An age-old tale of getting way more than you bargained for with a dose of crime doesn’t pay even when it kind of does, ‘Good Girls’ is 10 episodes of some daft decisions, a little tear-jerking and a few heartfelt yells of ‘Yes, girl!’

‘Good Girls’ is now streaming on Netflix.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.