For five seasons, it's hard to deny the powerhouse series that the Emmy-award winning Breaking Bad truly was. Vince Gilligan masterminded one of pop culture's most iconic crime dramas for AMC with Heisenberg (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) becoming America's favorite meth-dealers. However, as interesting as their journey was, it's time to put that show in the rearview for good because NBC has something just as exciting in the shape of the feminist crime-comedy, Good Girls.
The show focuses on three mothers turning to a life of crime similarly to Gilligan's story, but in a way that doesn't cause viewers to get bogged down in unnecessary characters or drawn-out storylines.
Now, while the premise is the same -- as Heisenberg and Jesse just wanted to make money for a better future -- Good Girls does it a bit differently. Beth (Christina Hendricks), Annie (Mae Whitman) and Ruby (Retta) turn to money laundering, petty crime such as robberies and counterfeiting, as opposed to cooking meth in RV's in deserts. Basically, they want to earn a living so their kids can be taken care of, alleviating the pressure on their husbands as a statement of how hard it is to even strive to be middle-class in this day and age.
They don't have cancer like Heisenberg, but one can see the parallels. However, while Breaking Bad was a slow burn, Good Girls has a much more intense and relentless pace. Each episode finds them evading the FBI, running afoul of rival gangs or double-crossing their boss, Rio. They're either trying to skim off his profits as he loves shorting them, usurp his business or find a way to run secret projects. Either way, it has many more dimensions than the one-tracked Breaking Bad.
The fact Good Girls is dark comedy as well makes it a bit more digestible and interesting, and it's also more relatable than cooking meth in the suburbs. After all, the ladies use everything from convenience stores to printing shops to run their rackets, hiring local thugs instead of dealing with cartels and goons in narcos wars. And make no mistake, it gets just as violent and scary, especially in Season 3 as Rio's not afraid to kill key characters. Just like Hank got killed in Breaking Bad, Good Girls loses Agent Turner, making Rio an even more devious villain.
And that's something Breaking Bad lacked at times -- one consistent villain. Gus didn't get enough screen time, while Lydia and Todd's white supremacist group came in way too late, so there wasn't a shadow lurching over Heisenberg and Jesse as much. The show always played to the notion their biggest enemies were themselves, and while that's also found in Good Girls, having a tyrant pulling the women back in when they try to get out the game feels more engaging. The fact Rio's good-looking, suave, and even slept with Beth adds a lot more tension and drama as he wrecks her home. How this all affects the ladies' relationships is pretty powerful because Ruby's husband, Stan, loses his job as a cop after helping her out, while Annie struggles to find love and has to be parented by her own kid -- all because they're wrapped in a selfish vicious cycle. It's like Heisenberg and Skyler to the next level, and while Skyler became a boss late in Breaking Bad, in Good Girls, fans get to see how she'd have been if she embraced the criminal life from the start.
What makes Good Girls tick is while Breaking Bad deconstructed Heisenberg from the chemistry teacher Walter White, the NBC show offers up the women as monsters off the bat. It's not about a man becoming a villain, these women, while charming, cute and bubbly, are criminals off the cuff and quickly move to become dons. Walter wanted to stay below the radar before power consumed him to become Heisenberg but on Good Girls, the ladies want to own an empire from day one so that breakneck speed and ambition really gives the show an edge. It's just a series of unfortunate events that happen way quicker than the tale of Walter and Jesse.
Good Girls stars Christina Hendricks, Mae Whitman, Retta, Matthew Lillard, Reno Wilson and Manny Montana. Season 3 airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.