Good Trouble Season 5 Episode 9 Review: Tell Me Sweet Little Lies
Jasmine Blu
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Davia and Dennis need new friends.
Our gang faces some setbacks and hardships on Good Trouble Season 5 Episode 9 as Davia and Dennis realize they're not fond of each other's new friends (neither are we), Luca is at odds with his dance crush, and Malika may want out of politics.
And, for the angst lovers, we got some bittersweet developments with Mariana and Evan.
Does anyone else want to meet Jeet? He's godawful all around, and it's just such a monotonous waiting game for all of his actions and ick factor to botch something at the restaurant.
He's already doing a bang-up job of making Luca as uncomfortable as ever, nitpicking his every move and criticizing him. And Mable seems intuitive enough to know there's something off about the guy.
Jeet still acts like a frat boy. Davia wasn't wrong about that assessment of him, and it's hard to believe a grown man would sit there with someone's girlfriend and be so crass and tacky.
There was nothing cute about them reminiscing on their roommate, the "panty-raider," and frankly, it's a good thing we've gotten this version of Dennis rather than who he was back then.
Jeet is bad news, and Dennis can't quite see it yet, so the waiting game until he does is excruciating. I'd hate for his restaurant to fall through because of Jeet.
At this rate, the opening party will be a disaster because Jeet will have drugs rolling through there and a clientele different than what Dennis envisioned, and all hell will break loose.
While Davia's friends aren't as reprehensible, they're still pretty annoying and uninteresting. And Braeden is definitely on the verge of making a move on Davia.
The boy is plotting. Hard.
Evan: Why do I feel as if I can't say no to you?
Mariana: Because you know it's a good idea.
He was so passive-aggressive with Dennis, and it was annoying that Davia didn't see it or how they welcomed him into the fold, only to ostracize him while talking about theater gossip, Davia potentially moving to NYC, and other things.
And Braeden looked like he was ready to risk it all when Davia kissed him as part of their rehearsal. What are the odds that he'll get the wrong message from her uttering Dennis' name and make a move despite her assurances to Dennis? No amount of blowjobs will distract Dennis from Braeden overstepping.
Luca's situation is bouncing around a bit as we still don't know what Jeet has planned for him, but he's undoubtedly treating him horribly.
Luca is pulling double duty with his work at the restaurant and cleaning at the dance studio. And if juggling two jobs wasn't hard enough, he's also doing the same with two women at those jobs.
He hasn't made any commitments to anyone or anything like that, and he's obviously a very attractive and good guy. It was a bit offputting that he was essentially blowing off Mabel and shutting down on her for Riley.
Out of the two, Mable seems the most genuine. She likes him, enjoys spending time with him, and doesn't seem judgemental or the type to play games.
Riley seems curious about Luca, and she's harder to read. She also does this weird cat-and-mouse thing that's a bit juvenile.
Luca's pride, sense of privacy, and lack of trust in people have kept him from telling other people, like Riley, that he's working at the studio for free dance lessons and trying to keep up with the others around him.
Greetings, employees. I'm Evan Speck, and you need to exercise your stock options immediately, or there will be consequences.
Evan
But understandably, he got in his feelings when he realized Riley showed up, saw him working, and then backed out of their plans.
It's easy to read that situation the wrong way. If Riley was smart enough to pick up that Luca deliberately kept his job from her, then she could be trying to respect his privacy or doesn't want to make things awkward for him, not because she has an issue, but because he clearly does.
But it's hard to say.
Nevertheless, the dance instructor is so messy. She didn't waste any time pairing them up for that dance battle when she saw the tension between the two, and that prompt was ridiculous.
We missed out on the dancing, though. It probably would've been a good one.
We've spent so much time on Malika in politics and her measures to get this women's center opened. While it's very realistic that it didn't come to fruition due to politics, Malika's naivete at this stage of the game and her willingness to walk away is unfathomable.
She was so single-mindedly focused on this one project she wanted to accomplish, and there were very few other ventures she directed attention to. Interestingly, she didn't even consider all the facets of how her project could affect the same communities she was trying to protect.
I'm shocked that Malika hadn't considered that a women's center that provided housing for formerly imprisoned women would also bring more police oversight in a community that doesn't want or needs that.
As an activist, Malika would've thought of that out of the gate. Her pulling off the restriction on police last minute was a serious stretch, so it feels realistic that things didn't pan out.
But now that it's fallen through, she wants out.
I don't know how to feel about that, but I also think Malika was never cut out for politics in the first place. So now one has to wonder if she's back at the drawing board working there or if she will move on to something else.
She tried to stir up some good trouble and left a lasting impression, only to get thwarted by an ambitious, two-faced flip-flopper.
I'm curious to see what other avenues Malika will explore or if she'll try to stick this out when her emotions settle.
Malika: Who flipped?
Colleague: Jack Hoss.
Meanwhile, Mariana and Joaquin are sticking it out with this investigation into Madison, and they've made some progress.
They made that interesting connection between Madison, her phone, and the person who shot Evan, concluding that Madison may have never left the Farm at all.
Mariana and Joaquin continue to have an interesting bond because while we know it has the potential notes of romance based on their previous interactions, there's a stronger friendship and partnership that works in whatever little box falls in for them.
Joaquin is the only other character who continually checks in with Mariana to see if she's doing okay, knows when she needs distractions, and things like that.
He's become her confidant, closest ally, and friend when Mariana feels so isolated from everyone and everything.
And now, with this latest development with Evan, I don't know what that means for her, him, or Joaquin.
I love Evan to bits, and we've certainly gotten an excellent opportunity to follow his journey over the seasons, but the more time we spend with him, the more off he feels as a character.
His memory loss sometimes hovers on the line of being a full-blown personality transplant. It was particularly strong in this installment when Mariana told him why his employees love him so much. He was puzzled that he made good changes in the workplace or didn't exclusively focus on money.
Even when Evan was at his most introverted, among other things, he didn't come off as a shrewd, calculated businessman. If anything, we got the impression that the people around him were the ones who were more sociopathic in the way you envision from corporate bigwigs.
Evan: Mariana, why did I go to that Farm looking for you? The real reason.
Mariana: You went to the Farm because we used to be in a relationship.
Evan: A relationship.
Mariana: A romantic relationship.
Evan: And we aren't or weren't anymore.
Mariana: No.
Evan: What happened?
Mariana: It just... didn't work out.
Nevertheless, Cierra Ramirez and T. J. Linnard carry this storyline with their performances.
Mariana's impassioned, tearful speech and admission to her role in Evan's shooting when rallying the employees was a total Feels Fest.
She's right; the board has never given a shit about the employees, so why should they listen to what this man is saying when he's one of the people they've loathed all of this time and made for a hostile work environment?
Evan garnered enough good favor to get more than the necessary number of employees assisting him. Although, it still may not fare well with BB based on Evan's conversation with Mariana.
Since when has the board of directors ever given a shit about the workers? All they want to do is get rich off the backs of all of you. That's why they're trying to steal this company from Evan. While he is recovering from a terrible trauma. A trauma he sustained because he was trying to help me. I had gotten myself in a dangerous position trying to help someone else, and because I didn't show up for work, Evan came looking for me and was shot. He almost died. Evan is a good man. You've seen how much he's evolved this workplace how much he has evolved. He wants to do better and be better. He's the heart and soul of this company. There is no Speculate without Evan Speck. I have faith in him, and if you put your faith in him, you won't be sorry.
Mariana
But what was a bit of a win on that front cost Mariana a personal one when Evan confronted her about their relationship.
He can't make sense of all of his choices and how Mariana is at the center of them. Linney does some fantastic work during that final scene.
I flinched when he raised his voice, understanding his frustration and confusion and Mariana's devastation at that moment.
He's relying almost exclusively on Mariana, a woman he does not remember, for his company, healthcare, and well-being. It has to be so overwhelming, confusing, and scary.
He doesn't recognize this man he had supposedly become, this company he created, or anything else.
And now he's reeling from this new information about Mariana, their relationship, her motivations for things, and how he got shot.
He has holes where his memory should be over something that's traumatizing, but he's still dealing with the trauma; whether he remembers or not, his body does.
It makes you hurt for him. And it makes you ache for Mariana. She loves this man so much, and she's doing everything she can to save his company and fight for him to remember who he is, and he's angry at her still.
Mariana should've told him the truth and given him more context so that he could understand who she was and the nature of their relationship, even if he didn't remember it. One thing that is consistent about Evan, then and now, is that he likes to have all the information to make things click for him.
It makes sense that he's incredibly agitated that he's in the dark and the only person he has to lean on kept things from him.
His reaction to their relationship was interesting. It's like he didn't even realize a romantic relationship was possible with Mariana.
And it didn't help matters that he heard that they were no longer together, but he went to the Farm and got shot trying to save her anyway.
It doesn't make logical sense to him that he could love this woman so much that it's almost to his detriment, investigating a company that sued him, risking his life to save hers.
Evan's agitation and outburst were a long time coming, but I don't know if this bodes well for them. It doesn't feel like he has anywhere else to turn, but whatever goodwill Mariana earned with him is now fractured.
It will be interesting to see how he reacts and their conversation after he settles down and processes everything.
Sadly for Mariana, a part of her probably hoped that when she told him the truth, it would trigger something. But so far, it didn't. It's looking bleak for Eviana these days, and I don't know how much more we can take.
Evan: Why didn't you tell me this?
Mariana; The doctor said not to.
Evan: I don't care what the doctor said! I can't have people keeping things that I don't remember from me. It is hard enough being in the dark, I don't even remember how I got shot!
Over to you, Good Trouble Fanatics.
Evan finally knows the truth; what's your reaction to that? Did Malika give up too easily on politics? Is Luca a playboy?
Sound off in the SHOW COMMENTS section below!
You can watch Good Trouble online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You'll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
