#Good Girls Season 4 Episode 5 Review: The Banker

Beth “The Banker” Boland has a nice ring to it.

If there’s one thing Beth will do no matter what, it’s excel under pressure. Good Girls Season 4 Episode 5 found her bouncing all over town collecting money and not even breaking a sweat. She was even enjoying throwing her weight around and making people bend to her will.

But while she’s playing the part of the dutiful little soldier on one side, she’s still working behind the scenes to cripple Rio’s entire organization.

Does Rio actually trust Beth?

That was the central question permeating throughout the hour, as he trusted her enough to literally be his stand-in and the face of the organization for a day. But he also knows that, at the very least, she’s spoken with the authorities.

And he knows that they’ve gone so far as to put a tracker on his car.

Beth: He knows.

Phoebe: He doesn’t.

Beth: Yeah, he does.

Dave: He might.

Beth: Seriously?

Yet, here he is, giving Beth even more information and almost expanding her role. If he had any reservations about her, one would think he’d be keeping things a little closer to the vest.

However, Rio is brilliant, and it’s hard to imagine a world in which he trusts the woman who tried to kill him explicitly. But Beth is a weakness for him, and he is a weakness for her, as well.

He’s not dumb enough to get played by her AGAIN, though.

Is he?

If Rio trusted her fully, you’d think he wouldn’t make her strip in front of him. But at the same time, if he suspected her, he wouldn’t have shown her the tracker.

It’s been said before, and it will be said again, but Rio and Beth’s relationship has always been one of the best aspects of the series. And while we still aren’t getting nearly enough Rio, it feels like that may be starting to change.

Beth: Look, I’m not some big, dirty thug. I can’t keep doing this.

Rio: Don’t have much of a choice.

Beth: Can’t we just sit tight?

Rio: Like I said, don’t have much of a choice.

Beth: Why?

Rio: Cause I also have people to answer to. Oh, and uh, they’re gonna wanna meet you.

We always knew Rio had to have a boss and someone else above him, so to speak. And bringing them into to mix could mean both good things and bad things for Beth.

It’s good because she’s working with Phoebe and Dave, who are looking for the biggest fish they can find. Capturing Rio is great and all, but getting his boss would be even greater. And it gets Beth pretty much off the hook entirely.

But on the flip side, the deeper Beth gets in things, the more danger she’s in. Who knows who Rio’s bosses are and whether or not they’re going to give Beth chance after chance as Rio has. She’s playing with fire, but she’s run out of options at this point.

She’s committed to doing what she needs to do to get Dean out of prison, and thus far, it’s worked. Dean is a semi-free man, and Phoebe and Dave are temporarily appeased, but what comes next?

If all this means we get more Rio and a greater understanding of his life, then I am all for it.

Things finally came to a head with Stan and Ruby, and it went a lot better than expected.

Deep down in her heart, Ruby had to know Stan wouldn’t cheat on her. That’s not who he is. He loves Ruby and his family too damn much to jeopardize that. But when you catch someone in a bald-faced lie, your brain can’t help but start conjuring up the worst-case scenarios.

Ruby can be mad and frustrated with Stan all she wants, but what he’s doing now is to placate Gene, and Ruby is part of the reason he’s in this spot, to begin with. And not to say Stan is a pushover, but he’s much more likely to put his head down and do what he has to do as opposed to Ruby, who’s going to, well, not.

Now that Ruby knows what Stan is up to, it’s hard to believe she’s going to sit idly and let Gene use him in any which way he pleases.

Rio and Gene are not the same. Gene is small potatoes, and hopefully, she and Stan can figure out how to get Stan out from under his thumb.

Annie routinely gets the weaker storylines of the three women, but if this is supposed to be the season where she gets it together and starts to “grow up,” why couldn’t she have actually watched Dakota and done it well?

For all the quips about her parenting, Annie did raise Ben (she had a lot of help, but she was still present). And Ben is a capable teenager with a beautiful heart, so why was a few hours with a baby something she couldn’t excel at?

Nancy went overboard as Nancy does and was entirely too harsh on Annie, so it wasn’t like she did terribly. But it feels like it’s time for Annie to start having some wins. If we’re tired of seeing her lose, she’s got to be exhausted.

Freeing herself from the shackles of Dr. Cohen kicked off Annie’s growth, but instead of building on that, we get another unreliable Annie plot played for laughs.

We get it. Part of Annie’s charm is the fact that she’s kind of all over the place. But she’s also put in the work not only to be a better mother but a better person. And it’s time to start seeing some of that payoff.

Annie deserves that much.

Odds and Ends

• In 2021, there is no better way to track someone’s car than a clunky black device? And they haven’t improved the whole wire situation, so it doesn’t have to be smack dab on the center of your chest?

• Someone out there is listening to me scream into the void about including Mick more. And it’s working! Now we know that Mick loves hot tubs, iced drinks and is a baby whisperer! What can’t this man do?

• Poor Eric. He genuinely thought his plan was going to work, and he was going to bust Dean out of prison. And all he got was stranded in an alley with a black eye and a fat lip. Someone find Eric some real friends, please!

This wasn’t exactly the world’s most exciting hour, but it’s setting up nicely for what’s to come next. Namely, the mystery of who Rio’s boss is!

We’re going to need all your comments down below because this could wind up being an enjoyable development depending on how things go!

Let us know what you think and how you feel about Dean’s semi-freedom, so we can talk this all out while we patiently wait for the next installment.

Remember, you can always watch Good Girls online via TV Fanatic anytime your heart desires!

Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.