Good Times follows the Evans family as they navigate their lives in a struggling neighborhood. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Beverly is worried about winning the housing project’s annual beautification contest. She is very particular about it, as she vows to restore the legacy of the Evans. They are the only Evans family that hasn’t won this contest.
Unfortunately, not everyone in the family is of much help to her. At a time like this, the family needs money to pay the heat bill, and Reggie, Beverly’s husband, is unwilling to seek their 2-year-old son Dalvin’s help.
Dalvin is a drug dealer, and Reggie intends to bring money to the family the right way. To top the problems, this year, the beautification contest will not just take into account the beauty of the apartment but also the family.
The Evans are far from perfect, especially if Dalvin is taken into consideration, but Beverly is willing to put effort into making them look perfect.
When Dalvin is kidnapped, the family comes together to rescue him. The experience makes Beverly realize that they don’t need a contest to tell them that they are as good as the old Evans.
Anyhow, Dalvin makes sure that his mother wins by holding the judge, Delphine, at gunpoint and forcing her to hand the prize to his mother.
Junior, the other son of Reggie and Beverly, struggles to focus at school. Reggie and Beverly are advised to treat Junior, who is put on pills.
Junior’s focus improves significantly because of the pills. He begins giving tough competition to his sister, Grey, who opts to get rid of Junior’s pills.
Junior doesn’t take his exam. The monster of focus that lives inside Junior escapes and grabs Grey.
Amidst all of this, Reggie had begun to pet a dog to calm himself down. That dog comes to the rescue, and both the dog and the monster fall from the roof, only to disappear.
In the third episode, Grey gets her first period and explores the world of womanhood with her mother in a dream sequence. Reggie, on the other hand, learns how much people are willing to pay for the work of a dead artist.
Hence, Reggie spreads the news that Junior is dead and uses his art to make money. Though the truth comes out eventually, Junior finds out that his father does care about his art, even though he doesn’t express it.
In the fourth episode, the Evans family’s apartment is flooded. Elon Musk invites Reggie to his house after learning about his family.
Elon Musk, partnering with Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, intends to send the Evans, who carry a rare struggle gene, to Mars to start a life. The Evans have the strength to persevere through anything, and they would survive there.
In a rare moment, Reggie and Dalvin team up, rescue their family, and stop the millionaires, who all meet their end, from sending them to Mars.
Beverly makes a bold decision to fix society by contesting against Delphine for the position of president of projects. Beverly loses, but Dalvin puts an end to the life of Delphine, who intended to evict the Evans, making Beverly the winner.
The heatwave results in an increase in violence in the neighborhood. However, Beverly is able to maintain peace at a time like this, but it hurts the jobs of others.
Beverly is visited by Allison Whitemen, who represents the system. Beverly realizes that it’s their dysfunctional system that results in actions such as young men joining gangs.
However, like a warrior, Beverly focuses on fighting and not giving up. On Black Love Day, after forgetting the special day again, Reggie makes up for it for Beverly, while Junior and Grey hit bad luck in love.
In the meantime, Beverly is successful as the president of projects, unaware that she is right where the system wants her.
Ending explained:
Allison Whitemen’s plans
Allison Whitemen has plans to convince the residents of the building where the Evans live to move out so that they can renovate the place and name it Bev Gardens.
Beverly Evans will be the scapegoat convincing them. The catch is that the residents won’t be moving back to these newly renovated buildings. The location may become a new white neighborhood.
All Beverly wants for her people is to get what they deserve. Allison is able to manipulate Beverly, who does her bidding, even when she hears rumors that people are not getting back to their homes where such projects are taking place.
The fall of the Evans
When Reggie abandons Dalvin after having a tender moment with him, Dalvin makes sure Reggie pays by stripping down Reggie’s car.
After losing his car, Reggie gets a job as a cop and keeps this a secret from his family. Junior, on the other hand, falls for the sister of a gangster.
Junior’s love for her makes her join the gang. He transforms himself into something he never was.
Lastly, Grey is planning to help the drug addicts who have made a children’s park their home, but Beverly, the president of projects, is so lost in her dream of Bev Gardens that she won’t listen to her family.
The fate of Evans
Grey takes it upon herself to save the addicts. In the near future, Junior becomes a full-blown gangster, working for the gang his lover is from.
Reggie continues to keep his job secret. Soon, he faces his son and tries his best to hide his face.
Grey feels bad when she learns that the addicts she helped fell off the wagon again because Allison won’t let them return to their neighborhood.
During Beverly’s speech for the Bev Gardens, Grey broadcasts a video that shows how Allison and her people are using Beverly and how they have gotten rid of the original residents, who were promised renovated homes.
Beverly is booed heavily. When she confronts Grey, she is made to realize how she has sold her soul for fame and her career. Beverly puts an end to Bev Gardens and promises her people that they aren’t going anywhere.
In the meantime, while Junior is attempting to kill a target, he is targeted by his gang, as well as Dalvin, whom Junior robbed earlier. His father and his girlfriend come to stop him.
Junior is shot in the ear, so he survives. Following this incident, the family comes together again.
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