Rio’s cousin/brother is going to be a problem.

Dealing with Rio is one thing, but bringing Nick into the fold will change things entirely. He has a different kind of influence and a different brand that Beth hasn’t dealt with before.

But she gets a taste during Good Girls Season 4 Episode 8, and she better realize that the game is changing yet again.

Just when she thought she was out, they pull her back in.

That’s literally this hour in a nutshell.

Beth actually looks happy and a little at peace at one point, realizing that her life may be slowly pieced back together with Rio behind bars and the Secret Service off her back. But that was wishful thinking indeed.

There’s been a lot of talk about choices this season and how your choice and free will can often be taken away from you. Beth often remarks about not having a choice when it comes to Rio because she’s put into a position where she has to pick between herself and him.

And a hundred times out of a hundred times, she’s going to choose herself.

But where does that leave Rio? It leaves him handcuffed and behind bars, and if not for his cousin/brother, he’d probably still be there.

I’ve been shouting from the rooftops for a long time about diving into Rio’s background more. He’s an essential piece of this whole puzzle, but he’s the biggest mystery out there. We know he’s a father, but that’s all we know about his personal life.

The flashback during this installment, while fleeting, did a lot to shade in some things and gave us a much better perspective of the dynamic between Rio and Nick, which is fraught at best. It just stinks it took us until Good Girls Season 4 to learn more about the series' biggest antagonist.

Rio and Nick both have a particular set of skills, with Rio being a bit more hardened and prone to violence, while Nick is the smooth talker and the one using his words more often than not. They’re both brilliant, and they’re a one-two punch that no one should want to mess with.

But it seems pretty obvious there’s a disconnect there. The whole cousin/brother thing a dead giveaway that these two don’t always see eye to eye. And all signs point toward Beth being the thing that could really break these two apart.

Nick’s sudden interest in Beth comes across as a bit surprising, but it probably shouldn’t. Though it’s unclear what the goal here is. He’s warning her away from Rio, but why?

Does he genuinely care about her well-being? He could, but he barely knows her, so that doesn’t seem like a very plausible scenario. It’s more likely that he doesn’t trust her, and he has good reason not to trust her.

You've got your head in the wrong game.

Nick [to Rio]

• Permalink: You've got your head in the wrong game.

However, he doesn’t seem to trust Rio either.

It feels like things are about to get extremely messy regarding this triangle. You can refer to it as both a professional triangle and a romantic triangle if the lingering looks between Beth and Nick were a predictor of things to come.

It’s three people with three different agendas trying to co-exist, and there’s just no way that doesn’t end up badly for someone.

A major question that will come out of this episode is the talk between Rio and Nick after Rio was released. It sounded like Rio was willing to kill Beth, and Nick was the one wanting to use her to their advantage, much like he’d done when they were younger, and he used Rio to get a leg up.

Nick: You owe me.
Rio: Add it to the list. So what do we do about her?
Nick: Well not what you want to do.
Rio: Don't see any other way.
Nick: That's why you got me, brother.
Rio: Cousin.

• Permalink: Cousin.

The conversation is vague, and Rio doesn’t explicitly say he wants her dead, but if true, that can’t be a shock at this point. Though, you could also argue that if Rio truly wanted Beth dead, he would have done it a long time ago.

He’s given her chance after chance, and it goes far beyond him “needing” her for the business. He existed for a long time doing his thing before he met Beth Boland, and he could figure out how to do it without her.

We know, and practically everyone knows, that the bond is deeper between Rio and Beth than either wants to recognize. But if he’s now being put into a position where he has to makes choices between Beth and his family, that’s going to be incredibly entertaining to watch.

Elsewhere, Gene was finally dealt with, and that’s been a long time coming. Beth’s description of turd was the best way to describe the man, and the plan to set him up was flawed, but it ended up working in the end.

They didn’t touch upon Stan’s animosity toward Beth, but perhaps that comes back later once Stan finds out that it was Beth’s idea to set up Gene in the first place. It’s not as if she will be expecting a gift basket or something, but it’s not above Beth to expect a little gratitude.

But Stan has every reason to be wary and tired of Beth. They all do. And even when she does something “good,” there’s always something in it for her as well.

Setting up Gene was less about Stan and more about getting the secret service off her back. She was killing two birds with one stone more than she was doing it to help Stan.

Well, now that the Rio case is officially dead, what does this mean for Phoebe and Dave? If the DA isn’t going to prosecute, they don’t have another play here, right? They should be shipping off to Washington and leaving the ladies behind.

Or not. The ladies didn't really follow through with their end of the deal, but it wasn't totally their fault. 

That’s what should happen, but it’s hard to see Phoebe giving up.

She’s been hell-bent on bringing Beth down, though it’s morphed into some odd mini-fascination over time, it still feels like she would turn Beth in if she had to.

And Beth is still going to be working. Rio’s message to her was pretty loud and clear.

The business isn’t going anywhere, but they’d be foolish to think that all the pressure is off now.

Odds and Ends

• Dean joining a Ponzi scheme is the most Dean thing in the world. This will somehow end up biting them in the butt, but it’s hard to care because it’s so boring.

• Hey, Breckin Meyer! Welcome to Good Girls!

• The entire strip club sequence was perfect. It’s probably a top ten funniest moment for this show, and that’s saying something.

• They nailed the younger Rio and Nick castings. Rio, especially as he grew up, had the same speech and demeanor as adult Rio. Bravo, casting!

This may be a turning point for the season, now that we’ve got Nick entirely in the fold. He’s not going anywhere, and seeing how Nick, Rio, and Beth work together is going to be nerve-racking but oh so fun!

Are you looking forward to seeing more Nick?

Will Stan’s anger toward Beth come back up again?

Will Annie get a worthwhile storyline this season?

Drop a note down below and watch Good Girls online right now so you can join the conversation!

Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.