'Good Girls': Why Manny Montana Is a Fan of the 'Huge Cat-and-Mouse Game' Between Rio and Beth

Good Girls Season 4 star Manny Montana has been with the NBC show since 2018. His character, Rio, is a mysterious crime lord who invades Beth (Christina Hendricks), Annie (Mae Whitman), and Ruby’s (Retta) lives. Although they despise each other, the tension between Rio and Beth is something that the show’s fans frequently discuss. In 2020, Montana discussed why he wants Rio and Beth to keep fans guessing about their relationship. 

Manny Montana joined the ‘Good Girls’ cast in season 1

Good Girls first premiered on NBC on Feb. 26, 2018. The show follows Beth, Ruby, and Annie as they become overnight criminals due to financial issues. In the pilot episode, viewers meet Rio, who runs a money-laundering scheme through the grocery store the moms robbed. Now that they’re indebted to him, the women work with Rio on his jobs. However, the pair find themselves in trouble along the way. During season 3, Rio ordered a crew member to kill Beth’s co-worker, Lucy, once he found out that she knew about the operation.

In the season 2 finale of Good Girls, Beth orchestrated a plan to have Rio killed. However, the hitman didn’t murder the criminal, and Rio confronted Beth about the ordeal in season 3. 

Before season 3 premiered, Montana said he didn’t think Rio and Beth should trust each other. The 37-year-old actor told Nightmarish Conjurings that he was glad that his character survived and didn’t fully trust the girls again.

“Obviously, I’m alive, thank goodness,” Montana said of Rio. “I was telling everybody that I didn’t want Rio to come back in and just start working with the girls again because I just felt that was going to be cheesy. I’m glad the writers came up with something brilliant.”

Manny Montana says Rio and Beth ‘dislike’ and ‘love each other at the same time’ 

In 2020, Montana continued to discuss Beth and Rio’s relationship on The Neil Haley podcast. During the interview, he explained why there’s tension between the characters. The actor shared that while they couldn’t be any more different, Rio and Beth have a common understanding of one another. 

“[There’s] a huge cat-and-mouse game between Rio and Beth, and I feel it makes really good TV because they are both one-upping each other,” Montana said. “It’s weird because opposites attract. So they both dislike each other but love each other at the same time, so it just makes for a really complex relationship.”

Fans will see more of Beth’s ‘roller coaster of a relationship’ in ‘Good Girls’ Season 4 

Good Girls returned for season 3 in Feb. 2020. The show ended the season early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout its hiatus, some fans discovered Good Girls on Netflix. While watching the past three seasons, viewers couldn’t help but root for “Brio.” 

Good Girls showrunner Jenna Bans shared with EW in March 2021 that fans will see more of Beth and Rio together in season 4. She also hinted that their partnership could forge a love triangle between them and Beth’s husband, Dean (Matthew Lillard). 

“They’ve really been through a roller coaster of a relationship, those two,” Bans said. “What’s fun about this season in terms of Beth and Rio is that Beth, I think, has sort of realized that there’s no running from him. As long as they’re in the same city and he wants her to help him with his criminal enterprise, she’s in.”

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