Good Behavior: Season 2/ Episode 8 “Stay Beautiful” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
As Letty undoes all the work she and Javier put into her sobriety, Javier finds himself hitting what is his own kind of rock bottom. Previous Recap: Episode 7 “Don’t Thank God, Thank Me” Network TNT Director(s) Mikkel Norgaard Writer(s) Lenore Zion Characters Introduced Dave Thomas Blake Jr. The Wife Joanna Going The Husband Tom…
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As Letty undoes all the work she and Javier put into her sobriety, Javier finds himself hitting what is his own kind of rock bottom.
Previous Recap: Episode 7 “Don’t Thank God, Thank Me”
| Network | |
| TNT | |
| Director(s) | Mikkel Norgaard |
| Writer(s) | Lenore Zion |
| Characters Introduced | |
| Dave | Thomas Blake Jr. |
| The Wife | Joanna Going |
| The Husband | Tom Amandes |
You Can’t Fix The Unfixable: Javier, Letty, Estelle
As we saw in the last episode, Letty is going on a real bender. Seemingly between what her grandmother said and Jacob almost being shot, she is completely done trying. Heck, even when it comes to her being a drifter, she is getting sloppy with that too. Which is a problem since now she is dead broke, her high is coming down, and she can’t even talk to Jacob.
Why? Well, after going silent on him for a week, Jacob seems to be acting out. Something which is surprising to Letty, as it was to Estelle, but seemingly further leads to Letty believing she screwed the boy’s life up. After all, what else besides him being with her for the weeks or months he was could have led to this?
Lest we forget, Jacob was beginning to pick up many of Letty’s habits. Especially in terms of lying. So maybe, in her mind, Letty was feeling guilty for undoing all of Estelle’s hard work. That alongside getting a painful reminder of how bad of a mom she was.
Which, of course, leads to her needing more alcohol and drugs to forget. Thus leading her to hit up her old friend Dave. Someone who has a bit of a crush on Letty, but even on the bender she is, things don’t get taken that far. For all she really wants is to party, do drugs, and forget. But, when she ends up lost in the woods, it seems things got a little too out of hand even for her. Thus leaving her quite frightened for on top of being lost, her phone is dead and Dave? Well, neither he nor his friends are anywhere to be found.
Idiota: Javier
Despite Javier not checking on Letty in the last episode, don’t think for a moment he has stopped caring. Prime example: He buys a million dollar mansion for him, Jacob, and Letty to live in and even after she tells him off, and clearly is intoxicated, he doesn’t wash his hands of her. If anything, that makes him wanna press harder but not necessarily out of love.
Though it is clear Letty gets more out of the relationship than Javier, it is not without benefits to him. For what he gets out of her is something beyond excitement, sex, and companionship – he is given a purpose. Not only that, he gets someone who validates the way Ava sees him. You know, someone seeing the good despite the bad or accidents Javier has been a part of. Something is rather hard to let go for while Javier deserves a whole lot of credit for Letty’s sobriety, Letty deserves credit for Javier not giving into his guilt.
I mean, think of how many times she prevented him from killing someone or going to jail. Something that likely would send Javier over his own personal cliff. While it would be hard to say whether or not that makes them even, it does help push that the relationship isn’t as one-sided as it often seems. Can you still argue it doesn’t benefit Javier as much? Absolutely! But then I’d play the family card.
Now, it is well established Javier is the black sheep of his family. Outside of Ava, and Carlos to a certain degree, Javier isn’t really close to any blood relation. However, as seen through his interactions with Estelle and Rob, as well as Jacob, there is this desire to be a family man. To be relied on and loved in the way only a family can. Which, albeit will be difficult when it comes to Estelle, since she turned him in, but considering how messed up Javier’s relationship is with his dad, yet he still tried to reconcile, what is being snitched on?
And I say all this because with Javier killing a woman by having her choke on mercury, he gets reminded that when it comes to being an assassin, even if he kills bad people, he may not have a rock bottom. Through killing the wife of a husband who was being poisoned, he reverts back to the cold and calculated figure that Letty pulled him away from being. So as much as he may seem like Letty’s purse who buys her affection and time, these few episodes of separation really drives home how much they are actually dependent on each other to be the best person they can be.
Other Noteworthy Facts & Moments
- Teo kills Carlos and is on the run.
Highlights
Reinforcing That Letty and Javier Need Each Other
Not to repeat myself, but there at times is this belief that Javier could do without Letty and run the show with her as a co-star. Yet, with these episodes having them not share a scene, even though Javier remains a stronger character, you see Letty still plays a central part in his narrative. The kind in which her absence is noticeable and has a direct effect on who he is as a person. For there is a certain part of him that Ava doesn’t have the ability to change. A shame he lives with and feels the need to be punished for. But, Letty dispels that. Because she is, for a lack of a better term, tainted, as well, they truly see one another.
It’s as Letty said earlier in the season, they started their relationship in reverse. They saw the absolute worse aspects yet stuck around. That isn’t something Javier can say about Ava. Once she learned the truth, she turned her back on Javier. Letty on the other hand, she may not have been happy about it, prevented him from working when she could, but even when she had multiple opportunities to let Javier fall, she didn’t. She kept him repeatedly from being arrested by Agent Lashever and when Estelle got him trapped, she made sure to get arrested with him. Heck, she finagled a way to get him out when, again, she could have just saved herself!
That kind of love and loyalty I don’t think, outside of maybe Silk, Javier has known and that is why he needs and wants Letty in his life. Even if it means getting down in the dirt again and forcing her to her feet. Maybe even watching her like a hawk and dealing with the difficulties which come from being in love with a recovering addict.
The blue liquid was GHB, they called it G in the episode a couple of times. People dye it blue sometimes.
Armari:
Nicholas here: great review and great comment from Danman: I’ll try to keep up!
First of all, it is always a mistake to have previews of the next episode of dramas after the end of a “cliffhanger” scene. Letty is lost in the woods with a dying cell phone and first calls Christian of all people then tries to text him her location: so that is the final scene of Letty in “Stay Beautiful”. But then in the preview we see her at Javier’s new home saying something cute to him: so she obviously made it out of the woods. Previews are spoilers in many ways and unnecessary if viewers are going to watch the next episode anyway to SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
Personally, I really did not like any aspect of this episode but overall it was a good, not great episode. Letty and the three creeps just gave me the creeps: they reminded me of all the reasons I happily left being a Flowers in Hair Hippie in the 70’s for Faux Long Hair Redneck (from Grateful Dead to New Riders of the Purple Sage). If Letty was a hippie back in the 60’s & 70’s, unfortunately, she would have wound up being one of “Charlie’s girls” given the horrible habit she has befriending bad people and even though she would have been the one person trying to stop the killings ordered by Manson, she still would have been arrested (can’t you just see Letty asking the California parole board for her release from prison at age 80 with gray hair and being denied). Letty is no hippie: that she befriended three guys who seemed to be latter day hippies belies her love of money and “all the nice things”. And these three guys would have fit right in with the Charlie Manson gang: at any time I expected violence from them toward Letty and it’s possible that Letty was raped by them and left to die in the woods. And then Javier would have to kill all three.
So I was not impressed with the Letty binge: not certain what the blue substance was they were drinking (MDA, Ecstasy, maybe, but not LSD given the size of the dropper doses) but they certainly were not seeking enlightenment if they we basing either crack, smack or ice and would have been better off just smoking cigs, drinking beer and maybe a joint or two. There was nothing beautiful about any of them and the episode might have better been entitled “Stay Ugly”.
As for Javier: he was totally predictable and he made no progress in this episode. If anything, it was a step backward for the character: now he is responsible for the death of another sibling and possibly his sister and nieces once Teo is on his inevitable rampage that will also lead back to who else, Javier, Letty and possibly Jacob. And it was all a cheap set up by the writers of this episode: there is no way that Javier (the real Javier) would have allowed his brother to remain at his house in harms way from Teo. He knew his brother was not a match for Teo’s wits or brawn and it made no sense to allow him to stay: the real Javier would have incapacitated his brother, left him tied up in his car and dealt with his hit assignment. And about that hit: there was not enough depth or information about either the husband or wife for them to matter to the viewer. I don’t think Javier believed either of them, which is out of character because he usually BELIEVES there is good reason for a revenge death by him (although we never did know what the wife in the first episode had done to warrant her death by Javier). And it was also hard to believe that the husband did not have the guts to kill his own wife but he did to commit suicide (I do believe we heard a single gunshot as Javier was leaving). If he was planning on killing himself all along, why not just kill her himself as a classic murder-suicide, why involve Javier?
So two steps forward, two steps backward for “Stay Beautiful”. If, as some have predicted due to ratings or whatever, there are only two more episodes left for the entire series and the writers know that, then I really hope that they involve true redemption, forgiving, and happiness of the main characters, even Christian. Letty, Javier, Jacob and all their remaining families could wind up being decent, loving people who have forsaken crime and meanness, for harmony and happiness. I actually want Letty, Javier & Jacob to succeed.
Now that would be a episode worthy of the title, “Stay Beautiful”.
Thanks – Great comment too 🙂
I agree the Letty/stoner part of the episode was rather unsettling and come to think of it, even though Carlos didn’t have a lot of character development (I think we only saw him once before) Javier probably should have seen it coming that Teo could outsmart and potentially kill his brother.
Still enjoyed the episode, much better than the first half of this season had to offer. Especially the Lashever stuff – Hope this is over, even in the probably unlikely case they’ll renew (hope I’m proven wrong here, maybe they keep the show due to Dockery/out of prestige reasons, the ratings certainly have gotten weaker from an already not so high level) – But that’s probably a pipe dream.
Armani & Danman:
Please speculate whether Good Behavior concludes after the next two episodes and if so, do you agree with my hopes how it ends.
I don’t know. I’ve never been much of a happy ending guy. But with Letty ending up on Javier’s doorstep, someway, somehow, there will likely be a happy ending. Plus, this show doesn’t seem to want to deal with real conflict. It keeps putting itself into a corner and rather than fight its way out, they make up a trap door.
Which, as Danman said, has been killing this season. The Lashever thing, Teo escaping, it all just makes you wonder if the writing for this season was incredibly rushed because nothing seems thought out to the very end. It is like, as soon as the writers hit a road block, they, as you said Nicholas, took two steps back and sought out a different route to take. Thus putting us this adventure which slowly and surely is becoming less fun to join the characters on.
I dunno why but there’s no reply link under your comment below. So I’ll reply here despite this regarding your “season 3 storyline” post.
Anyway, just wanna say that the Argentina idea sounds pretty intriguing. Even think there’s a good chance of this coming into fruition (after all, what’s holding them in the US? There is – or theoratically/realistically should be – some heat from the authorities, the Jacob Family thing didn’t work, so nothing’s holding Letty.
And even though I don’t think Ava would send her nieces with Javier alone (knowing his true profession now) it’s possible they all go together. Would certainly make for some new interesting dynamics.
I think I’ll start a petition to the GB team hiring you as a writer 😉
P. S.: Forgot to add that in a post before. Also agree that Teo spilled his guts much too fast, especially made no sense that he was (partially) honest to Ava about him killing Silk and trying to get Javier killed.
It was totally out of character and another lazy device by the writers to move the plot forward and mend fences between Javier and his sister in a quick fashion.
As I said – Hire Amira, GB staff!
Hi guys, this is turning into an interesting discussion ?
First things first, a sliver of hope: tvseriesfinale, which is by far the best site about TV show ratings and renewal infos says, and I quote, “The show is doing okay but is not a great performer in the ratings. Because TNT doesn’t have a lot of original programming right now, I suspect that a third season renewal is forthcoming.”
As I speculated before maybe they’re gonna keep the show around again, after all season 1 not very good ratings weren’t that much higher than the second’s and last year the first season got renewed despite the show having (had) ratings which led to other TNT shows getting cancelled. So maybe a mix out of Dockery and the apparent lack of a lot of other original TNT shows could lead to a renewal after all.
Ok, with that out of the way, I’m also not the biggest fan of Happy Endings (putting aside that I don’t think those characters really deserve it). The way the main characters are portayed, we’re certainly supposed to like them – Despite the flaws they have which are actually quite big and often outright terrible:
Letty is a thief, a liar, a scammer who probably destroyed quite a few lives so far, for sure much more than we know about.
She is shown as being a decent person deep inside but most of her good deeds come after she had screwed up or somebody over: a) Trying to be a good mother – but even despite her not succeeding in the end – that is after she abandonded her son for years b) keeping her deal with the drag guy that helped her, but that is after she apparently already had screwed him over more than once before c) helping Caren after she got arrested (side note: another one of those unrealistic “Letty silver tongue moments”) but this was also not entirely unselfish – Caren could’ve ratted on her any moment if she wouldn’t have come to her rescue. After all Caren was afraid custody for her daughter was at stake and if she’d pointed in Letty’s direction I think she wouldn’t have been able to run that fast with her high heels ? etc.
Javier is a serial killer – Don’t think one has to add much here.
So yes, he is shown as a man who can be loving and caring, for his little brother, his nieces, his sister and Letty of course. Both love each other hot and heavy, despite knowing about their worst sides and darkest secrets. And it’s probably also the fact, that they can both be themselves around each other – Of course they’re often not entirely honest when Letty has a drink or goes on a stealing binge or Javier killing somebody once in a while. But all in all they lie to nearly everybody about who they are and what they do except to each other. So I think this also plays into their love.
What I want to get to with this: Imo, they haven’t deserved a happy ending. They also haven’t deserved a happy life with a little Javier/Letty/Jacob family and the first half of the season already went out of its way to show that this isn’t in the cards anyway. Not as long as they won’t change nearly everything about them, something that is highely unlikely.
My prediction is a rather bittersweet ending. Yes, Amari has a point with all the unrealistic lucky breaks the characters got but I still don’t think this is a cause to think that the writers/showrunners have a real happy family, happy ending in mind.
I also agree with Amari that Good Behavior probably should’ve become a mini-series. We’re already to begin running in circles. Javier and Letty being on and off again, Letty falling on and off the wagon, they already tried being family, they already have been arrested. So there isn’t much to look forward to in terms of new storylines without new casting additions or ideas I’m not seeing atm (I too think they should get rid of some of the writing staff for a chance of this to happen though)
And even then, we’re always left with the same core relationship where they can’t live with but also not without each other.
For season 2, next episode, “thanks” to previews we know Letty will return to Javier once again after her forest horror trip. The only major story thread left then this season would be the Teo thing. I guess we’ll see him return once again either unsuccessfully trying to kill Javier or being a threat to Letty somehow.
I also don’t think that the writers expected (or knew about) if season 2 would be the last (I think it would have been announced months ago if they would have filmed the final episodes of the show and they’d also announce the last episode in two weeks as the big show’s finale) so there’ll probably be some cliffhanger-ish ending again.
As I said, if there really is a third season, I don’t see a lot of ways for new storylines despite same old, same old. But even if they’re really able to pull some kind of unlikely reboot, I hope they dial back all the unrealistic, silver tongue, Deus Ex Machina trap-doors because I really don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep suspending disbelief with all of this anymore – Despite my love for the main character’s chemistry and the still interesting premise.
Post got a bit longer than expected – Sorry, but it’s just … This show. On one hand I really love it (even with suspending disbelief and all, guess that speaks for the actor’s talent) but on the other hand I do have a hard time to see interesting ways where it can go from here on out if there’s a renewal. But either way, I’m pretty much certain we don’t get a conclusion to Javier’s and Letty’s story in the season 2 finale.
Well, there is one thing they can do: Take the show out of the US. They could go back to where Javier is from to track down the person who ordered his dad and brother’s killing. Maybe even bring Ava and the girls along. Meanwhile, Jacob can kind of give us insight into how Estelle dealt with raising Letty.
Though, even with that maybe covering a 3rd season, I can’t fathom a 4th.
I really enjoy your reviews. There aren’t so many around for Good Behavior but even if there were more, yours would still be on top. One can really read that you think about the story and try to gain insight about the characters – So, Kudos 😉
Anyway, another episode I enjoyed after imo rather weak first 6 episodes. As I said last week, I just can’t stand the unrealistic BS.
There’s still some to find here – This Javier Hitman business is just so unbelievable if one just takes a few seconds to think about it. At the end of season 1 FBI agent Lashever needed Letty to catch Javier by her telling Lashever the Darknet “username” of Javier:
Not only does he seemingly still have the same username – And even if he wouldn’t it is VERY HARD to believe for me, that the FBI could be so incompetent not to catch a guy who advertizes his hitman services like an eBay vendor.
Apparently everybody can hire Javier, obviously it’s extremely easy. So why in all heavens does the FBI seem to incompetent for it? It makes no sense that they need his handle. If he’s so easy to find, why not fake hire and arrest him? Besides, in reality most people who see a dude offering to kill people would openly condemn it, if not call the police right away. Even on the “hidden” internet.
That aside, it was another good episode. I even thought for a time that Carlos (Javier’s brother (or brother in law?)) was in cahoots with Teo. First time in a longer while a Good Behavior episode kept me guessing and on my toes. Imo it was even better than last week’s. As I said then, I’m afraid there won’t be any renewal for a third season. But seeing the potential this show has especially with this episode again, I hope I’m proven wrong.
(P. S.: And Letty calling 911 for Boner – Hilarious nick btw – shows she still has a lot of good in her. After all she even kept her word 2 weeks ago giving the drag guy his 10 percent.)
I agree. The show is reaching a point where you have to suspend overthinking things or else you may not enjoy certain aspects of it. However, I think with how they are presenting these characters, while the nonsense may be eye roll worthy at times, the heart of what made Letty and Javier so appealing is there. It is just, for whatever reason, there is this vibe that perhaps the writers don’t know what to do with these two long term.
Having them go legit and be happy, even for a finale, just seems off. Yet, at the same time, we’ve invested so much time in Letty’s recovery, and it has been hinted the various ways her life could go since the drag queen episode, that to see her end up OD’ing just seems wrong. You want that redemption but not in a tidy and neat bow.
But I think them taking her all the way back to the beginning, to a serious rock bottom where she can’t even steal because she is so messed up, was dialing it back too far. Her going back to drifting, following her grandmother’s footsteps, that would have been fine. Maybe even slipping and getting messed up with the wrong people, but that’s just me.
I ultimately just hope after the convenient routes used with Lashever and Teo, because him revealing everything to me just happened to quickly and easily, this ends on a good note. One all fans can agree stuck the landing.