‘Ginny & Georgia’ Season 1 Recap: 6 Things to Remember Before Season 2
Get ready to head back to Wellsbury. Ginny & Georgia Season 2 premieres on Netflix this week, finally giving fans the next chapter of the titular mother-daughter duo’s story. From the season 2 trailer alone, we can see that things are about to get seriously messy. It’s been over a year since Ginny & Georgia first premiered, so here’s a recap of season 1.
[Spoiler alert: The following story contains spoilers for Ginny & Georgia Season 1.]
Ginny, Georgia, and Austin move to Wellsbury, Massachusetts in season 1
The story begins with Georgia Miller (Brianne Howey), a mother in her early 30s with lots of southern charm, moving from Texas to the small, affluent town of Wellsbury, Massachusetts, after her husband’s sudden death. She has two kids, 15-year-old daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and 9-year-old Austin (Diesel La Torraca), with different fathers.
Ginny and Georgia have a tense relationship, as Ginny doesn’t always agree with her mom’s overly-carefree attitude. She’s also not a fan of the way that Georgia raises Austin, who experiences bullying in his new school. Georgia encourages him to fight back, but this lands Austin in trouble.
Ginny meets a friend group known collectively as MANG
Meanwhile, Ginny is surprised to find herself fitting in well in her new school. She befriends her neighbor, Maxine (Sara Waisglass), who welcomes Ginny into her clique. Max’s best friends, Abby (Katie Douglas) and Norah (Chelsea Clark), are hesitant to accept Ginny at first, but they eventually open up to her.
In addition to joining MANG, Ginny also befriends Max’s brother, Marcus (Felix Mallard), and develops feelings for him. At the same time, though, she starts dating sweet classmate Hunter (Mason Temple). Teenage love triangle alert.
Georgia gets engaged to the mayor, Paul, whom she works for
Georgia is also having a good time adjusting to Wellsbury. She quickly charms her way into a job at the local mayor’s office. While working there, she and mayor Paul (Scott Porter) fall in love. Their whirlwind romance quickly results in an engagement.
Elsewhere in Wellsbury, Georgia befriends local cafe owner Joe (Raymond Ablack), who develops a crush on Georgia. It takes a while for him to realize, but Joe actually met Georgia 15 years prior while they were teens and happened to be at the same rest stop.
There’s still one more love interest in Georgia’s life: Ginny’s dad, Zion (Nathan Mitchell). The two met while she was on the run from her abusive family. After having Ginny, Georgia feared that Zion’s family would take the child, so she ran off again. However, she and Zion kept in touch for years as he traveled the world. He visits Ginny in season 1 and has another fling with Georgia, but it only lasts one night.
Georgia has a complicated and dark past
Throughout Ginny & Georgia Season 1, viewers see flashbacks to younger Georgia (Nikki Roumel) and her shocking life. After running from her abusive home, Georgia ran an illegal poker ring out of a hotel in New Orleans while working as a maid. However, she got caught and risked losing Ginny. Georgia married the hotelier, Anthony Green (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll), but she poisoned him and ran off when he became too controlling.
Georgia continued with a life of secret crimes including theft, fraud, embezzlement, and more murders. She was even responsible for the death of her husband, Kenny — she poisoned him with wolfsbane because he was attempting to abuse Ginny.
Ginny cheats on Hunter with Max’s brother
Ginny’s happy new life begins to unravel when she cheats on Hunter with Marcus. Abby finds out about Ginny and Marcus sleeping together and wants to keep it from Max to protect her. However, this only makes Max angrier when she finds out about the affair at the end of the season. MANG breaks up, and so do Ginny and Hunter, after a huge argument in the school hallway.
Ginny uncovers Georgia’s past and runs away with Austin in ‘Ginny & Georgia’ Season 1
Ginny’s relationship with her mother becomes more and more strained throughout the season. She reaches a breaking point when a private investigator reveals the truth about Georgia killing Kenny. Ginny realizes that her mother is dangerous and not at all who she says she is.
So, while Georgia attends a celebration for Paul’s mayoral re-election, Ginny runs off with Austin. Her little brother is happy to tag along because he’s angry at Georgia for lying about his father, Gil, receiving letters from Austin while in prison. Georgia kept the letters and forged her own replies to Austin.
The season ends with Ginny and Austin riding a motorcycle out of Wellsbury. It seems they’re headed to Zion’s place in Boston, which fans will likely see in season 2.
Ginny & Georgia Season 2 premieres on Thursday, Jan. 5, only on Netflix.