‘Good Girls’ Recap: “You Have Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson”

How are we holding up, Good Girls fans? Are we hanging on? Sunday’s episode was a lot to emotionally unpack and nobody would blame you if you needed a moment. Lord knows I did after my first viewing. Here’s the recap for Good Girls episode 203 “You Have Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson.”

Good Girls Recap: “You Have Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson”
Episode 203 | Airdate: March 17, 2019

No offense to all the other characters featured in “You Have Reached The Voicemail of Leslie Peterson,” but tonight’s episode goes to Mary Pat. Despite her manipulative behavior last season that made her rather annoying-since she was working against our girls-this season shows her forming a deeper bond to Beth, Annie, and Ruby, and as such, we care about her more. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

From beginning to end of this episode until the end, Mary Pat was the stand-out character. From telling Beth that she thinks she and the others should kill Leslie all the way to her final scene of telling the FBI Agent Jim Turner that she’s worried that Leslie has run away, she stole the show. Allison Tolman was able to portray the after math of a shock-ridden and deeply traumatized character beautifully and I look forward to seeing what else she can do in up-coming episodes. In particular, her sitting on the floor in just her shirt and underwear, knees drawn up to her chest, as she just stares in to space is haunting and hearts immediately break for her because of what obviously had just happened. Originally, it felt as if Annie should have been the one to kill Boomer because of his attempted rape of her but it’s fitting and justified that it was Mary Pat, a victim without family who could save her.

Leslie is not a good man. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This episode really drove home a message that I think a lot of people need to realize more often. Just because someone loves you doesn’t mean you’re a good person. Mirian loved Leslie with all of her heart, she thinks he’s a good boy and she just may be his one redeeming quality. However, that does not make him someone redeemable. He is a disgusting human being and he deserved what he got, being carved like a turkey and all. Just because someone loved him doesn’t make them not guilty, or not a bad person. Leslie Peterson was a drunk, a rapist, and a grade A asshole. If this world were the real world, it would be a better place without him. Frankly, I could think of no better ending for him than the exact one he got: in the dumpster with the rest of the trash.

As stated before, I was all for Annie being the one to kill Boomer. The scenes of the three girls in the hotel room waiting for him to return was a small slice of comedic relief in an otherwise heavy episode as they discussed the disgustingness of the room and how much it must cost. Annie feeling no remorse about Leslie being murdered and even making the quip, “He’ll be easier to move if we let him defrost.” was well within character. Upon retrieving his cell phone and realizing that Mirian was calling him over and over and that somebody in the world was actually going to miss him, Annie was thrown in to a world of guilt and remorse. Not for the evil man himself but for the family he was leaving behind, for the woman that she had grown to care about, and even for who she had become. The scene between Annie and Sadie where Annie insists that her daughter cap her wrong doing at plagiarizing a Miley Cyrus song for a poem assignment showed a reflection of the character to how far she thinks she’s fallen. There are a few scenes coming up where Annie gets to showcase her tactics at mothering and wanting what’s best for Sadie and wanting to make sure that she’s the best possible version of herself no matter what.

On another note, I got a spotting of my gal-mance in the amazing scene between Annie and Nancy that as another important message: should you divorce, you divorce spouses, not children (thanks, Clueless!).  Despite Nancy’s anger at Annie and Greg for their affair she would never hold it against Sadie and she loved her as if she’s her own.

“I love her. I don’t love you.”

These two may never actually mend fences despite my desperate need for them to but that one line alone cemented my love for Nancy. The fact that she was able to put aside her feelings of hurt and betrayal and instead focus on her love of Sadie was a fantastic thing to see.

Every week seems to bring Beth closer and closer to some edge that the as an audience member I keep saying, “This is it. This is where she cracks.” But she never fully does. She has her moments of lashing out but she never truly shatters. Instead, her limits keep getting tested, surpasses them and keeps creating new ones. There are new lines she won’t cross, new boundaries, and new lines in the sand. Beth Bowlan has a compartmentalization skill that nobody else even comes close to reaching. She’s the  woman who’s bringing her kids to pool practice and insisting there’s no phones at the dinner table but can also hold a man at gunpoint and dump a dead body in the dumpster. She’s the definition of “oh she’s cute but a psycho” and also, I want to be her.

Ruby and Stan are back and so strong! No more secrets, no more lies! Except that she helped get rid of a body. Ruby did confess to forging Stan’s signature on the PayDay loan and it’s a start but in the grand scheme, he might have a harder time swallowing the disposal of a body thing. Yes, she didn’t personally murder Leslie but she obviously harbors a lot of guilt and unease about it. I know I use this word a lot, but Ruby truly struggles with who she is and who’s she becoming in upcoming episodes and You’ve Reached the Voicemail of Leslie Peterson is the clear catalyst of her upcoming dilemmas. One thing remains true, she and Stan love each other like no other and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. 

Watch Good Girls Sunday 10/9c on NBC and stay tuned to TV Source Magazine for our spoiler light preview of 2×04: Pick Your Poison.