Series / Good Girls

Done playing nice.

Good Girls is a caper/crime comedy/drama series airing from February 2018 to July 2021 on NBC, starring Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman.

Three friends have problems.

Beth Boland wants to be independent of her philandering car dealer husband Dean. But she has four kids and a house with him. And due to his being, if anything, a worse businessman than he is a husband, she's buried under a mountain of debt with him.

Ruby Hill's daughter Sara suffers from a kidney ailment. With treatment she and her husband hope that Sara can recover. But the most effective treatment costs money, more money than the Hills have or can realistically gather together.

Annie Marks is Beth's younger sister and loving mother to the quirky Ben. Her ex-husband Gregg and his second wife are suing for full custody. To fight them she needs - you guessed it! - money, which is in short supply as she works a minimum wage grocery store cashier job.

The three hit upon the idea to rob the store where Annie works, which they expect to have about $30,000 on-hand. They empty the safe and return home to find themselves in possession of half a million. Bad news, since that haul comes from shady sources, namely the tattooed Rio and his gang. Initially Rio demands that they pay back the money with interest or face predictable consequences. When he seems about to make good on his threat, Beth calls him an idiot and points out that the three of them are normal, previously law-abiding people, and their deaths would make more of a splash than Rio is accustomed to. He spares their life but comes back with a business proposal. Also complicating matters is the fact that Annie's disgusting boss Boomer knows what they did.

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Good Girls provides examples of:

• Absent Animal Companion: The Bolands' are shown to have a dog in the pilot. However, as the series goes on, the dog makes fewer appearances and disappears from the plot line altogether.
• Admiring the Abomination: In "Snow Down, Children At Play", Annie can't help but give a low-key whistle at the gun Rio gave them.
• Affably Evil: Rio seems more than willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. That said, when he's in his counterfeit money distributorship he comes off more as an amiable manager type than anything else. And he shows a fascinated curiosity with the three protagonists, especially Beth.
• Antagonist in Mourning: After hearing of Agent Turner's death, the girls visit the place where he was gunned down to pay their respects. Annie decides to pour her cup of coffee on the ground to give tribute.
  Ruby: That's not how it works.
• Attempted Rape: Boomer on Annie in Season 1 as part of his blackmailing of her since he knows she (and Beth and Ruby) were involved in the store robbery. It's prevented by Beth, who points a toy gun at Boomer, then knocks him out with a booze bottle when he goes out to denounce them.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Rio catches Beth snooping around in his apartment he engages in a odd version of 21-Questions with her with both of them trying to ascertain each others motives. Eventually Rio gets down to the final the question with Rio moving close to Beth's face as if he's going to kiss he. Beth closes her eyes as she waits, only for Rio to stop mere inches from her face and then calmly asks Beth to leave his house.
• Batman Gambit: Pretty much all of season 3 is one for Beth and Rio, where each is trying find the best way to kill the other.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Seems to be Beth's specialty.
  • Beth picks up a Clipboard of Authority at an electronics store and psychs out an employee to get info on another employee, one who slept with Annie and took her receipt.
  • While attempting to rob Boomer's grandmother, she claims they're social workers to help the elderly, which gets them into the apartment.
• Beneath Notice: The reason Rio keeps the girls alive is the realization that three suburban mothers with no criminal records who live rather plain lives are the perfect agents for his various errands and scams.
  • The season 4 premiere proves how this works as Phoebe is shocked to realize her FBI superiors have been operating under the belief Dean is the true crook in all this and not even giving his wife, sister-in-law or their friend a second look.
• Big Heroic Run: Annie does a non-dramatized version of this when she chases after an escaping Mary Pat.
  Ruby: That girl moves like a gazelle.
• Big Sister Instinct: Beth to Annie, especially after Boomer attempts to rape the latter.
  • In "You Have Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson", Beth is extremely reluctant to let Annie be the one to smoke Boomer.
• Blackmail: Given the nature of the show this was bound to show up.
  • Annie's boss Boomer figures out that she was one of the robbers and tries to coerce her into having sex with him so he won't report her. She returns the favor by taking a picture of his junk and texting it to her daughter^note She actually sends it to Ruby and threatening to report him (for sending a sexually explicit image to a minor) if he bothers her anymore.
  • After Mary Pat figures out their "secret shopper" scam, she extorts the girls for an exorbitant amount of money to keep her mouth shut.
• Boyish Short Hair: Annie's son Ben, who was implied to be genderqueer and preferred masculine dress in season 1, and later comes out as trans in season 2. Unfortunately, this often results in bullying.
• Broken Pedestal: Annie becomes this to Ben and Nancy after she reveals she is the "dick" Greg cheated on Nancy with.
• Butt-Monkey: Dean in a nutshell.
• Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin': Per the girls' plan, spa salesman Eric tries to get arrested by opening a bank account with $100 thousand in counterfeit bills. The bank calls the police, but the dirty cops take the money for themselves without checking if it's real.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: A variation as Rio is totally ready to kill the trio off. However, Beth points out that killing three women known as good, law-abiding suburban mothers will just invite a major investigation that he's not ready for. He thus realizes that letting them live not only spares him some heat but also that the trio can be useful after all.
• Celebrity Lie: Boomer's grandmother shows the girls a photo of his girlfriend...who they recognize as Jessica Alba.
  • Called on later when Marion shows up at the store and Annie smirks at Boomer about him and Alba dating with her in L.A. Boomer manages to hide his anger as he remarks "we make it work."
  • Ends up subverted as Marion confronts Boomer on how she read some time ago about Alba married with children and knew he was lying but just played along with it. She's now confronting him on how he needs to get a real girlfriend.
• Celebrity Paradox: Two in regards to Christina Hendricks' previous role on Mad Men.
  • In season 1's "Mo Money, Mo Problems" and season 2's "Slow Down, Children at Play", Beth's kids and Mary Pat's kids (in the former and latter episodes respectively) want to watch Minions which featured Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm.
  • In "Take Off Your Pants" Annie name drops Julia Ormond, who played Marie Calvet, the mother of Don's second wife, Meghan.
• Clipboard of Authority: Beth pulls this off to trick an employee at the big "box store" to give up information on an employee, making her think she's part of the management. She lampshades to the others on "it's the clipboard."
• Cool Aunt: Annie to Beth's kids.
• Cosmic Deadline: Thanks to the show being Cut Short mid-season, the last couple episode(s) are dedicated to wrapping everything up at the speed of sound.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Frequently lampshaded by Annie in "Slow Down, Small Children at Play" that killing Boomer would have spared them the hassle they are currently going through.
• Counterfeit Cash: Rio's (presumably primary) business. He has the women go to Canada to bring back sheets of $100 bills rolled inside wrapping paper, which is processed at an abandoned warehouse in Michigan. Beth later suggests he let them launder it through big-box stores by exploiting the return policies, since, being ordinary housewives they would effectively be Beneath Suspicion (they also find out it is very well made counterfeits, easily fooling the machines).
• Custody Battle: Annie's ex-husband sues her for full custody of their son Ben, and she needs money to hire a good lawyer.
• Dating Catwoman: Beth and Rio develop a clear mutual attraction to each other, which complicates their relationship as their attraction deepens over the series.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Arguably Agent Turner's dogged and even obsessive pursuit of Beth, which goes far over and above the priority her level of criminal activity would realistically be at for a federal agent, but with no apparent special motivation behind it. Escalates to the level of absurdity when he comes to Ruby's house early in the morning and arrests Stan in front of their kids solely as punishment for her not turning on Beth.
  • He tells Noah near the end of season 2 that he has an axe to grind with Beth. He feels that she's a terrible person but thinks she can get away with it due to existing in an upper middle class, privileged suburban bubble. Whether this constitutes a believable explanation for his actions is up for debate.
• Didn't Think This Through: Beth states this to Rio when he tries to execute them, pointing out that while brutally murdering a rival gangbanger would go virtually unnoticed by the public and barely investigated by the police, three housewives being killed in an apparent home invasion would be over the news for weeks and there would be considerable pressure for the police to do something, leading to considerable unwanted attention for Rio's business.
  • Rio would later invoke this on Beth almost word-for-word after she tries and fails to get him and his gang arrested.
  • In season 2, the girls try the same "buy and return" tricks at superstores to launder their money...only to find that these stores do talk to one another and have checks to look for these patterns. Thus, they are able to quickly see through their scheme and openly ban them from any more shopping.
  • As Amber (Dean's former mistress) learned; a pretty face, a dream, and $5000 bucks will only get you so far in showbiz, especially when she refused to take on any other work on the side.
• Distaff Counterpart: A suburban parent in dire economic need recurs to crime to provide for their family. Quickly gets in over their head, but pushes through with a combination of savvy and bravado. They soon start showing signs of ambition and ruthlessness, and aim to become a crime boss on their own. Beth is in several ways a female Walter White.
• The Dog Bites Back: By the end of season 2 Beth has finally had enough working under Rio and his twisted games, so she decides shoot him instead of the captive Agent Turner.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first episode contains a lot more outwardly feminist dialogue than later episodes, an origin story about a dissatisfied housewife and even a Rape and Revenge cliffhanger. The show never loses a feminist perspective completely, but as various character arcs develop including Annie having an affair with her married ex-husband Gregg while pretending to be friends with his wife and Beth having an affair with Anti-Villain Rio (the literal patriarch of the gang the girls work for) and still trying to make it work with her previously unfaithful husband it's clear that the show is not purely a Feminist Fantasy.
• Easily Forgiven: Annie confesses to Marion that she and the ladies poised as welfare workers to steal from her. Marion merely asks if they had a good reason for it and then invites Annie in for drinks. Annie is genuinely taken back by the gesture.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • Through season 3, the girls are worried about getting in trouble with the Feds while FBI agent Phoebe is hot on their trail. But it turns out the ladies have nothing to worry about as, to Phoebe's shock, her bosses are under the impression Dean is the mastermind of all this.
  • To get some cash, the girls agree to do a favor for an armless crook. When they realize they're being sent to buy several pounds of fertilizer and other items, they jump to the conclusion they're helping the guy build a bomb. When he relates it's for his mother, they're appalled...and the guy informs them he's just building a garden to celebrate his mom being cancer-free and snaps at the girls on "you are sick" for thinking otherwise.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • For all his faults, Boomer genuinely loves his grandmother Marion. Unfortunately this did not prevent him from stealing from her.
  • Rio is a loving father to his little boy.
  • Corrupt Congressman Nick has no problem having things arranged to have his "brother-cousin" Rio take the fall for their criminal misdeeds. Their elderly grandmother on the other hand...
• Even Evil Has Standards: From a given value of "evil".
  • Hilariously, Rio considers middle-age women beauty products to be "poison". In a more serious tone, he also draws the line at harming or scaring children. The latter is most likely because he is a father himself to a son he loves very much.
  • In "I'd Rather Be Crafting" the ladies come up with a plan to steal evidence that would incriminate them for their 2nd robbery. Beth and Annie successfully break into the police van, but find themselves unable to go through with it as it would also destroy the rape kits inside.
• Evil Mentor: Rio is shaping up to become one to girls, especially Beth. At first Rio is rather reluctant to teach the girls anything about the criminal enterprise, but by season 2 he takes the time to personally instruct Beth how to use a gun.
• Finger in the Mail: In season 2, Rio hangs onto (what was presumed to be) Boomer's dead body as leverage over Beth and the ladies. Later in the season, when Beth attempts to walk away from her life of crime, Rio begins sending pieces of the dead body in the mail to her as a message. She attempts to ignore these gruesome mailings, but eventually caves when the constant packages won't stop. She is forced to meet up with Rio and work for him again, much to his amusement.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Annie is the foolish one, while Beth is the responsible one. Although Beth starts making reckless choices more and more often.
  • In "Everything Must Go" it is Annie's turn to be the responsible one by pointing out to Beth that having an intimate relationship with Rio is not going to end well.
• From Bad to Worse: Mary Pat's story explaining what she did with Boomer's body.
• Gaining the Will to Kill: Something Rio tries to teach the girls. It backfires on him. LITERALLY.
  • Beth in turn would later try to teach this to Lucy's boyfriend, who wants justice for Lucy's murder. Unfortunately for Beth, after teaching him how to use a gun and arranging the meeting with Rio, he is unable to pull the trigger.
• Gilligan Cut: In the third episode, Annie suggests that they "borrow" a car from Dean's lot while doing Rio's business in Canada. Beth firmly vetoes the idea, and the very next shot shows the three of them picking over various cars in the dead of night.
• Good Is Boring: Beth begins to feel like this as she adjusts to a criminal's life despite initially being scared of the danger. When Dean blackmails her into returning to her homemaker life for a brief time, she finds the life of a good PTA mother and homemaker boring and admits to missing her criminal life as the danger and excitement of it was "addicting" and "fun" compared to being a simple housewife. Of course, she is soon forced to return to a criminal life since walking away from a crime boss isn't that easy.
• Happily Married: Ruby and Stan have a happy and trusting marriage in contrast to the other two women. One expects that her secret life will complicate that, however.
• Hero Antagonist: FBI Agent James Turner is honorable, personable, smart, and on the right side of the law. It's the last of these that put him on the other side from the protagonists.
• Heroic BSoD: For a given value of "heroic" depending on the character.
  • Early in season 3, Beth briefly goes through this once Rio reveals he's still alive.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Before becoming a stripper, Krystal was preschool teacher.
• History Repeats: In the pilot, Dean comes home to find Beth waiting at a table in the dark to confront him on his affair. Five episodes later, Beth comes home to find Dean confronting her at the same table, having gotten an inkling of what she's doing. They even end up repeating the exact same lines the other used with Dean snapping "we have kids!" and Beth replying "I don't know how it happened."
• House Wife: Beth was a rare modern day example before a certain bank robbery. Annie outright called her a "Stanford mom".
• Hypocrisy Nod: Ruby gives a massive lecture when she discovers daughter Sara took a job among her school peers to "move" shoplifted merchandise in order to make a profit. Naturally, Annie and Beth point out how her lecture is more than a bit off given what Ruby herself is up to.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Sending Annie, of all three, to take the money with Boomer. He did recognize her by her tattoo, but since he sees her daily, even her voice could have given her away.
  • In "Slow Down, Children At Play" Beth choosing to bribe Boomer to skip town instead just shooting him when she had chance.
  • Ruby grabs it hard when decides to pay a LAW FIRM with counterfeit bills.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Lucy, Beth's new coworker at the printing shop. She did not want anything to do with illegal counterfeiting. Even when she figures out Beth had her beloved bird kidnapped, she seems more disappointed than angry.
• Inside Job: Annie works at a store, is The Strategist of the heist targeting said store and takes part to the robbery.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Annie with elderly Marion and teenage co-worker Darren.
• Kick the Dog: Rio shooting Dean while he was bound and helpless. Came within a hair-breath of killing him.
• Kill Him Already!: Annie all but begs Beth to just shoot Boomer when they have him dead to rights.
• Kudzu Plot: It's becoming increasingly apparent (particularly from season 2 onwards) that the story doesn't have a definitive direction. It has no obvious and coherent theme or story arc beyond the main characters continually trying to bail themselves out of their latest problem and ending up falling into a new one.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Mary Pat herself getting blackmailed by Boomer into marrying him to keep him from testifying against her.
  • Ruby believes this when she accidentally gets shot in "Vegas Baby" for time she accidentally shot a guy all the back in "Borderline".
• Laughing Mad: Beth giggles hysterically in the hospital waiting room when she thinks Dean is dying or dead. When the doctor tells her that he'll pull through, she gets a more subdued Oh, Crap! reaction.
  • Annie when the wind blows Marion's ashes back in her face after spreading them.
• Little "No": Pretty much Ruby's only reaction when she gets shot in the leg.
• Manchild: Dean and Annie are both parents, yet often act more childish than their own kids.
• Mock Millionaire: Downplayed but after finding out about Dean cheating on her, Beth starts going over their finances. She soon discovers they're behind on two mortgages, the accounts nearly drained and that she's been spending like they're doing well when they're not just bankrupt but deeply in debt.
• Moral Event Horizon: Both the girls and Rio cross this in "Au Jus". The girls? Kidnapping Lucy's pet bird to force her to make another money printing plate. Rio? Executing Lucy after getting said plate.
• Must Make Amends: Leslie (with a little coaxing from Marion) finally does right thing in the end by showing up at the police station and gets Beth off hook for his "murder".
• Never My Fault: Pretty much Dean's go-to mentality. In season 2, Annie and Beth run through how the man has blamed the bad business of his car dealership on everything from 9/11 to a bad economy to wildfires...in Detroit.
• Next Thing They Knew: Happens to Beth and Annie when they achieve pretty heated hook ups in season 2.
  • When Annie talks with her new store manager Noah, he says a few good things about her. She gives him a deeply touched look. It immediately cuts to the two hooking up in the back storage room.
  • When Beth and Rio (who have been experiencing some clear sexual tension at that point) see each other at a bar, the two exchange a knowing gaze with each other from across the room. Beth, who was on a date with Dean, excuses herself and walks off to the bathroom where Rio follows after her. After locking the door behind them, they give in to their sexual attraction for each other and have a very steamy hook up.
• No Sympathy: Agent Turner, who shows zero sympathy for the suffering and extreme financial troubles of the main characters and goes to borderline sadistic extremes in his pursuit of justice, but is still framed (and clearly sees himself) as a hardass but well-meaning law enforcement officer who's just trying to do his job.
• Not Quite Dead: It turns out that Boomer isn't dead after all and the remains Mary Pat gave the girls were... from her own late husband.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Mary Pat figures out what's going on and starts to blackmail the trio, they realize they can't be too upset as Mary Pat is just like them, a desperate mom taking a chance for a big payday.
  • Fitzpatrick believes this about him and Beth.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Remix" Dean was able to give Rio a good fight before being taken hostage by him.
• Oh, Crap!: The go-to reaction of the gals when things go badly.
  • First, when they realize who they actually ripped off.
  • They try to pay off their debt by suggesting selling off expensive figurines. Instead, Rio is ready to kill all of them and has his boys smash the place up to make it look like a home invasion.
  • Ruby goes to scare a guy with a gun, believing it's empty. She forgets there's one round in the chamber and accidentally shoots him in the foot as Beth and Annie scream in a panic in the car.
  • After a trip over the border to get a package for Rio, the girls are baffled when they find what looks like regular wrapping paper inside. Beth holds it up to allow Ruby and Annie to realize the other side is packed with counterfeit bills.
  • Annie realizes her one-night stand just took back a receipt with his phone number... which is on one of the receipts she needs for their laundering business.
  • After Mary Pat figures out their scam, she blackmails them for $10,000. After some hemming and hawing, the trio give her the money. Mary Pat accepts it...and then says "see you next month."
  • Beth strikes a deal with her husband's former mistress. It's going okay until the young woman says that she's surprised Beth forgave Dean after he cheated on her "all those times." Annie and Ruby instantly sink into their seats whispering "oh, no" as Beth coldly asks if the woman meant "all those times...with you? Or...all those times?" The woman realizes too late Beth had no idea Dean had been cheating on her with numerous women for years.
  • The girls realize Boomer isn't dead after all which means they're about to be busted for a murder that never happened.
• Only Friend:
  • Tyler seems to be the only person to actually like Boomer as a person. For his credit, Boomer does show some appreciation for Tyler's companionship.
  • Besides her boyfriend, Beth is the only real friend Lucy has. Downright shame the very friendship results in her untimely demise at Rico's hands.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": When Beth demands Dean hand over all their finances, he reveals all the passwords are 2 Fast 2 Furious.
• Playing Sick: Beth is rocked when Dean tells her he has cancer. She decides to let him back into the house and sees him on the computer looking at various brain scans and charts, telling him to stay as long as he needs. As soon as she's out of the room, Dean uses the computer to look up how to fake cancer symptoms, showing he's perfectly healthy and just using this to get back into the house.
• Racist Grandma: Boomer's grandmother, who the three plan to rob but don't have the heart to, makes a point out of saying that her grandson's fiancee is only half Mexican. Also, when she needs housework done, she only makes Ruby do it.
  • In episode 10, Boomer introduces Annie to a new worker, an older lady. Later, when Boomer mentions he's dating someone, the new worker immediately asks if she's Jewish.
• Real Stitches for Fake Snitches: Agent Turner threatens one of Rio's injured underlings by offering to take him to dinner out in public, at a place where lots of Rio's other employees will be and can draw their own conclusions.
• Recycled In Space: The concept of the series might be roughly put as Weeds where Nancy Botwin is replaced by three women.
• Robbing the Mob Bank: The kick-off of the series as the girls realize too late that the local town grocery store was the front for a drug cartel. On top of it, they've blown through most of the money they now owe.
• Running Gag: Annie ordering or taking offered food and drinks during very serious conversations.
• Saying Too Much: The girls figure out that "secret shopper" Mary Pat has been spreading counterfeit cash and go to fire her. She's ready to take it until she hears Annie mention how "you returned the same cash" and wonders how they could possibly know it was the same cash. This causes her to soon realize how odd it is three workers are firing her and not "corporate" and figures out this is something shady.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Played for laughs as, finding out daughter Sara has been selling stolen goods, Ruby gets a cop friend to scare her by having her in a jail cell. However, sharing the cell with her, it's Ruby who's terrified at realizing what jail can be like given her illegal activities.
• Shared Universe: The Cloud 9 store from Superstore appears in one episode, placing this show in the same universe as The Mindy Project, I Feel Bad and Kenan.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Mary Pat gives off this vibe while recounting the death AND dismemberment of Boomer.
• Shout-Out: The girls are frequently seen shopping, and running their laundering scheme, out of a Could 9.
• Smart Ball: Dean finally grabs it at the end of "Thelma and Louise" when he decides to leave Beth and take the kids with him to his mother's house.
• Smug Snake: Mary Pat gives off this vibe while blackmailing the girls.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • Boomer sees Annie's telltale lower back tattoo when she's masked and raiding the safe.
  • Annie is thrown when he ex wants to pull their child from his fancy private school, claiming it's best for him. She then hears the boy talking about how her ex's girlfriend, Nancy, has taken to doing her own nails at home. This, combined with hearing the woman hasn't been seen in Whole Foods for months and is picking up her own takeout makes Annie realize Nancy has totaled her business and is almost broke.
• Springtime for Hitler: As part of a scam, the girls try to lose a bunch of money at a casino. Naturally, Annie suddenly hits the winning streak of a lifetime.
  Ruby: How are you still winning?!
  Annie: I can't explain it, I'm never this lucky!
  • Ruby takes the dice herself...and hits a perfect win, the rest of the crowd cheering while the girls slump on how the one time they want to be unlucky, they can't lose.
• Straight Gay: Tyler to the complete surprise of Annie (and the audience).
  • Boomer also discovers that Agent Turner lives with a male partner.
• Stupid Crooks: While all three ladies take their turn with the Idiot Ball, Annie is probably the most irresponsible when it comes to making poor choices in their crimes. She fails to properly hide her elaborate back tattoo during their first grocery store robbery and when they steal a car, she syncs her phone and personal information with the on board computer so she can listen to her music. Both Beth and Ruby have had to yell at her for her careless attitude causing unnecessary trouble for everyone.
  • The girls attempt to "outsource" by getting a "secret shopper" program going which leads to one guy being robbed of $20,000 in merchandise and a woman "embezzling" for herself. Learning of this, Rio can't believe they're running a money-laundering operation inside a money-laundering operation.
  • One of Annie's absolute biggest mistakes begins when dates her new store manager, Noah. She willingly tells him all about her and the ladies drug business at Beth's dealership in an attempt to bond when he (falsely) claims to have committed a few crimes himself. Once telling him this information, a raid by Agent Turner takes place soon after and Beth barely avoids getting arrested. When Beth and Ruby recognize that Turner had personal knowledge of their business and must have found out from someone, Annie horrifically realizes Noah is an undercover FBI agent and she just gave him very incriminating information in his case against them. She is then left feeling utterly betrayed and guilt ridden over her foolishness getting them in a bad situation that could have very easily been avoided.
  • The girls keep committing what Rio says is the classic mistake of any crook: Whenever, they get a large windfall, they immediately use for everything from paying off debts to buying expensive clothes and cars. It doesn't occur to them how odd is is for three struggling mothers to suddenly be able to afford all this.
• Suddenly Shouting: When realizing Annie and Ruby's nicely spoken demands aren't getting them anywhere during their first robbery of Fine&Frugal, Beth suddenly begins shouting out their demands to get the ball rolling. Ruby and Annie literally jump and stare in clear shock as Beth loudly (and somewhat violently) makes their demands.
• Suspicious Ski Mask
  • Beth and Annie wear these (In varying colors) throughout the series whenever they commit a robbery. Ruby, the other member of the trio, typically wears a bandanna with a hood instead.
  • "Pilot": Beth wears a colorful version of a ski mask in dark blue and red, white, and light blue stripe pattern at the bottom while Annie wears a more typical black mouthless ski mask.
  • "Lightning Strikes Twice": Beth wears a much more traditional all black version of the mask during the second time she and Ruby rob the store.
  • "One Last Time": Beth and Annie wear red and blue ski masks as they rob a bank. Or try to at least until they discover that the safe is on a timer and even the clerk can't get it open. So they kidnap him and plan to wait until the timer runs out and then make him open the safe.
  • "Grandma Loves Grisham": During a jewellery store robbery, Beth wears a ski mask in dark purple and blue colors while Annie wears one in bright pink and green colors. Both heavily contrasting against the dark clothes they wear.
• Take Off Your Clothes: In the fifth episode of Season 4, Rio believes that Beth is The Mole for the Secret Service after discovering a tracker in her house and makes her strip off her clothes in order to check if she is wearing a wire. Overlaps with Defiant Strip since Beth, despite visibly being scared, becomes determined to prove her innocence.
• Tattooed Crook: Rio has an elaborate tattoo on his neck that makes him stand out and easy to remember by. His silent mooks are also covered in ink.
• Teen Pregnancy: Annie and her ex were 17 when their kid Ben was born.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Ruby can only mutter a subdued "oh no" when a paramedic states that Annie's quick patch job saved her leg.
• This Means War!: Annie gives a rather epic declaration to Boomer, while being dragged off by cops no less, after he frames her for illegal drug possession.
• Token Religious Teammate: Ruby in spades. Regular churchgoer, often praying during AND after their criminal acts, etc.*
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Rio during season 3 after getting shot by Beth. who is itching for the right moment where he can kill Beth and her gang. He lightens up a bit after "Vegas Baby".
• Unusual Euphemism: The protagonists refer to their criminal activity as "book club".
• Villain Protagonist: Beth, Annie, and Ruby aren't bad people and while their initial reasons for becoming criminals are quite sympathetic, they are still thieves and active money launderers.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: All of the ladies' kids to a degree. Ben and Sara really stand out.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: When she thinks she's blown the case, Phoebe is thrown when her bosses tell it's okay and "we just have to be tougher getting this guy." After they leave, Phoebe looks at the notes to realize they all think Dean is the mastermind of this scheme.

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