Good Behavior season 2 episode 5 review: The mask is the real identity

Good Behavior season 2 episode 5 is probably one of the best episodes of the entire series — and for many different reasons.

For one, we want shows like this for a distinctive setting. “You Could Discover Me” brought that with the bulk of the hour set at a drag club that Letty found herself working at undercover. While Rhonda Lashever allowed her and Javier to go free last week, there were strings attached: They had to work a case for her. Specifically, this meant that she had to go undercover at this club in order to steal a rather enormous sum of money that was being secretly funneled through by the shop’s owner.

Letty as a drag queen proved to be very fun! While she didn’t go big and over-the-top in the way that you would probably expect, she made her alter ego work well enough that she was able to be a bartender at the club while some of the other drag queens performed. Her struggle was finding out where some of the money was stored — it wasn’t in the safe, and the longer the case went on the clearer it was to her that she was going to have to rely on Javier more than she wanted. He got close to the club owner, someone who actually just so happened to be the premiere drag queen in the club. The two actually had a rather-poignant conversation midway through the episode about the appeal of drag, of finding yourself through a second self and the feeling that you never quite achieve as your own. It’s something that Javier knew about very well as a hitman trying to find some sort of normalcy in the midst of it. The mask often feels like the more normal version of yourself.

Eventually, it was Javier who was able to steal the money, thanks in part to an epic distraction by Letty’s performance of the Betty Who version “I Love You Always Forever.” This sequence went on for minutes (long for a TV show), complete with Michelle Dockery dance moves and Javier emptying out mannequin heads (for wig storage, of course) in order to find wads of cash shoved in there. Letty was fired from the job — not that she intended to be a drag queen forever — and the two were able to make an escape with most of the money they needed. They were still a little short — she had to pay a makeup artist friend to get her prepared to go undercover — but this brings us to her next mission. This is one that starts with getting Jacob back.

CarterMatt Verdict

This episode was just wonderful entertainment. An undercover mission at a drag club to uncover money through an illegal arms trade was one of the strangest story-of-the-week plots we’ve seen on any crime show. Yet, it worked here thanks in part to Dockery’s performance, the authenticity that the Good Behavior producers put into the club, and the decision to make the club, (owner aside) a place of real love and support. You also learned a little bit about Javier and his self-perception in the process.

Episodes like this remind us more that it’s stunning Good Behavior doesn’t have more viewers. We don’t know what needs to be done in order to turn that around, but something needs to shift. This show is just too good to be going unnoticed for this long.

What do you think about Good Behavior season 2 episode 5? Share now in the comments below right away! Preview next week’s episode at the link here.

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