Jessica Goldberg's portrait of the human condition in the USA is not a pretty one. In her short, taut, staccato-like drama, Good Thing, everybody is screwed-up and in pain. The two middle-aged folk, John and Nancy Roy (Francis Guinan and Shannon Holt, respectively), are school guidance counselors who can help everyone but themselves. Childless, damaged by an affair he had, they are on the verge of splitting up. The next generation, represented by Dean (Hamish Linklater), Bobby (John Cabrera) and Mary (Karina Logue), is lost, angry and (in Bobby and Mary's case) severely addicted to drugs. On top of that, Mary (Dean's wife) is pregnant. Only Dean can be said to be functioning, though he works at manual labor much beneath his capabilities.
Into this sorry but all-too-typical contemporary scene comes Liz (Megan Austin Oberle), once the best and brightest of them all, the girl who went east to become a doctor. Trouble is, she has dropped out and feels lost and confused too, settling for a job in a shoe store. Adding to her hurt is the knowledge that her pride and snobbishness cost her the love of her life, Dean, who married Mary on the rebound. Liz tries to make amends by sleeping with him again, but that only messes things up even more for the young folk. Liz's next "good thing" is to suggest that Dean and Mary give their unwanted baby to the Roys, in the hope that this will solve everyone's problems. The scheme backfires, but in a surprising and semi-positive way.
Goldberg brings all this off with her hard-driving, tough-minded writing, and she is much aided by her superb actors and director.
