No Good Nick: Everything That Made Nick A Better Person Than The One She Ever Thought She Could Be – An AU Continuation To Her Story

So just as long as we’re on the subject of kids and teen shows, particularly good ones that we’ve seen in recent years, I think it’s only right to talk about 2019’s No Good Nick, another Netflix series, which starred Sean Astin, Melissa Joan Hart, as well as Siena Agudong in the title role. It followed Nicole Franzelli, known to others as Nick, a 13-year-old girl whose father, Tony, ran Franzelli’s restaurant, a popular spot in Oregon. After Liz Thompson opened her rival Crescendo Restaurant across the street, the Thompson family used dirty tactics to drive Franzelli’s out of business. Tony borrowed money from the mob in a desperate effort to keep his restaurant afloat and then went to prison for robbing a convenience store to meet his repayments to the mob. Taken into state care, Nick was placed with corrupt foster parents, Sam and Dorothy Harbaugh, who trained her as a con artist. Nick was then placed in the Thompson home under false premises, with the intent of using them to Nick’s advantage in getting revenge for what they did to her father. Over time, however, as Nick had gotten to know her new family and warmed up to them, she grew to genuinely love and care for them. And with that, began to question everything she was raised to think.

The show’s central theme was family, and it was explored through the lens of a con artist infiltrating a seemingly perfect family. The show delved into the complexities of familial bonds, both biological and chosen, highlighting the characters’ struggles with loyalty, betrayal, and the search for belonging. Nick, the titular character, initially views the Thompson family as targets, but her feelings became conflicted as she got closer to them, experiencing the warmth and support of a family she never had in her life. To break things down more thoroughly:

• Nick’s Motives: Nick’s primary motivation was to con the Thompsons as revenge for her father’s ruined life, which she believed was caused by the Thompsons. 
  
• The Thompson Family: The Thompsons were presented as an upper-middle-class family who welcomed Nick, initially believing her to be a distant relative. They were portrayed as loving and supportive, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere that Nick finds herself drawn to. 
  
• Conflicting Loyalties: As Nick spent more time with the Thompsons, she grappled with her loyalty to her father and her growing affection for her foster family. She experienced guilt and internal conflict as she navigated her dual role as a con artist and a member of the family. 
  
• The Idea of Family: The show explored the different facets of family, including biological ties, foster relationships, and the bonds formed through shared experiences. It questioned whether family was solely defined by blood or if it could be found in unexpected places. 
  
• Themes of Love and Betrayal: No Good Nick used the con artist plot to highlight the themes of love and betrayal within a family context. Nick’s actions, driven by revenge and loyalty to her father, created a sense of betrayal for the Thompsons, while her growing affection for them revealed a different kind of love. 
  
• The Search for Belonging: Ultimately, the series explored Nick’s journey of self-discovery as she searched for a place to belong. She grappled with her identity and the conflicting desires to both hurt and protect the Thompsons, reflecting the complexities of finding one’s place within a family. 

I watched the show, and I have to admit, I was intrigued. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did, but I couldn’t get enough of the show’s 20-episode arc. I was only disappointed Netflix didn’t renew it for more episodes. I was initially hesitant about watching the show. I figured I was already l too old to watch something that was as silly as a show that followed the story of a 13-year-old girl; and not only to watch it, but to like it as well. And yet, I did watch it; mostly because I was a fan of Melissa Joan Hart and her work on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch.

I deeply resonated with Nick. Not because I went through anything she went through; or even anything remotely similar to what she went through. I resonated with her because my husband went through something similar to her. My husband wasn’t a con artist; and his father wasn’t in the mob or had anything to with it; at least I don’t think he did. But my husband, like Nick, never had a sense of family in his life. His parents divorced when he was 15. His mother moved to Israel, and he was left to live with his father alone.

My father-in-law is a great businessman, but he’s not a good father. He never was a good father. Personally, I think he always liked the idea of having a partner and a family, but when he’d actually have that, he’d take it all for granted and act as if they owed him something for existing. He gave my husband a roof over his head. He gave him an opportunity to learn about the business environment when my husband was employed by him. But my father-in-law always acted as though my husband owed him something. Nothing he ever did for my husband was out of a father’s love; or just for the goodness of the heart. There was always an agenda in place.

That being said, my husband never felt a sense of belonging. He never felt the love and support of a family. He didn’t even know it could exist until he became part of my family. Since he divorced my husband’s mother, my father-in-law had two more children from his second marriage, and I can’t say that his fatherly skills had improved. But I’m only speaking from what I’d witnessed. He never went to prenatal appointments; he never took care of his younger children in their younger years; he never met their emotional needs as they’d gotten older. My husband did all that, and he did that because he knew his fatherly skills wouldn’t. He failed university because he he’d leave class everyday to help his stepmother take care of the kids.

There was no support or community that my husband could go to for guidance since his mother left when he was 15. It was a childhood lost; adolescence lost; adulthood lost. And let it be known that my mother-in-law didn’t leave her son with her ex by choice. Circumstances that were out of her control were the root cause for it. My husband is very close with her, she and I are very close, she and my parents are very close, and, of course, she and our son are close. But going back to the same place we were before, my father-in-law’s definition of support was financial, and that always came at a price. There was no emotional connection between the father-and-son. My husband was left to take care of and, in many ways, raise himself since he was a 15-year-old teenager. I met him when we were both in our early 20’s, and in many ways, he was still that 15-year-old lost boy, even so many years had passed since then.

In no way am I saying anything new. My father-in-law is in complete denial of the hurt he’d caused my husband, which is exactly why my husband has since cut off all contact with him in recent years. He’s a lost cause. He’ll never admit to his faults; only give himself too much credit; credit which shouldn’t even be given to him to begin with. Nevertheless, my husband hopes his father can be a better father to his sisters than he was to him. It’s too late with him, but he still has a chance with his younger kids. They’re young, still in their teenage years. They still could potentially look at their father as someone who loves them unconditionally, without expecting anything in return, constant bullying, or agenda. It’s something my husband never experienced, but genuinely hopes that his sisters get to experience the version of his father that he wanted to experience but never did.

Initially, when and I were discussing our plans for the future, he’d told me he didn’t want children. He didn’t feel he had it in him to be a good father. He was afraid he’d become just another version of his own. To bring another person to the world just to be abandoned the way my husband was abandoned would be unfair. Of course, I agreed it’d be unfair, but I knew it in my heart that he COULD be the father he never had. And I was right. He did become the father that he never had. His motto now with our son is to do everything the opposite of what he’d witnessed his own father to be. The bond that he and our son share is uncanny. I just love witnessing it. I know that no matter what happens between us, my son will always have his father; the one he deserves.

Watching Nick’s journey scamming the Thompson family was extraordinary. It portrayed the true nature of a young child’s naive loyalty to her biological father while learning that it’s not actual love that she’d even had in her life to begin with as she grew to experience that with the family that took her in as their own. In many ways, I saw a lot of my husband in Nick, and as I watched Nick’s story arc unfold, I couldn’t help but empathize with her. All I wanted to do was hug her through my screen because I knew exactly what could happen to her if she didn’t realize that she wasn’t trusting the right person; that the person she trusted the most in her life was actually the person who was causing her the most pain.

She did eventually realize exactly that about her father, and at that very moment, I couldn’t be happier for her. I was rooting for her the entire time; ever since she got to the Thompson house. I was waiting for her to get the place she so deserved to get to. This was a young teenage girl who deserved the world. She deserved the Thompson family. She deserved everything they had to offer her, which was love, care, and nurturing. But she constantly had people – bad people – whispering in her ear. The happy-ending here was her finally realizing what the viewers knew all along.

The scene where Nick tearfully said her goodbyes to her father and told him to his face was heartbreaking; almost unbearable to watch. Here was a girl who just wanted to be loved; to feel like she belonged; to feel like she was worthy. She realized that what she thought was all of that was actually just a lie and a means to manipulate her into believing that everyone who might actually give a sh*t about her were bad people when they weren’t. Nick saying goodbye to her father was a pivotal moment for her. She was letting go of the past and looking ahead for the future; a better future. One that didn’t involve all that she’d ever known and made to believe.

Tony’s face as he listened to Nick saying goodbye to him was more of someone who was shocked than saddened. He was shocked that his own daughter, flesh and blood, would disown him in a such a senseless way. But she did, and rightfully so. Her father’s choices affected not only her, but others who didn’t deserve bad things to happen to them. She couldn’t be a part of it anymore. Tony was depicted as having lost everything – his restaurant, freedom, and daughter – due to his choices and the actions of the Thompson family. But he didn’t. He lost everything solely because of his own choices. He was just looking for others to blame and take the fault for his own doings. He refused to take responsibility and admit to his faults. This, and only this, was the exact reason why he’d lost everything.

And yet, despite everything and all the hurt her father had caused her, Nick still expressed her love for her father and promised to continue providing financial support, but also states that their relationship was over. She left, not looking back at her father as he attempted to call out for her in remorse. He couldn’t bear the mere thought that he’d caused his own daughter so much pain. He desperately wanted to do right by her, but it was already too late. Too much damage had already been done.

I have to give Tony credit where credit is due. At least he realized that he’d done wrong by her. It’s more than could ever be said about my father-in-law. It’s more than could be said about my husband’s stepmother too. They’re the kind of people that won’t ever own up to their mistakes or wrongdoings. In their minds, people around them just have to deal with their actions and accept them as they are. That’s just not the case. Nothing is ever unconditional. Kids, whether adult kids or underage, deserve respect, and if that respect isn’t given, the parents will eventually see consequences to their actions, or lack of.

Nick was an admirable young girl. Everything she was strong enough to do at 13 was everything my husband wished he was strong enough to do so much earlier in his life, which was stand his ground and say, ‘Enough is enough!’ He finally got the courage to do so in his 30’s, and I couldn’t be prouder of him for that. He’s not usually one to ever live with regret, but one thing he does regret is not completely cutting his father out of his life sooner. He says he would’ve accomplished so much more in his life if he did; that he would’ve been a much different person if he did; that he would’ve been in a much different, better place, if he did.

While it’s true he should’ve completely cut his father out of his life much sooner than he did, not doing it sooner also taught him some of the greatest lessons that he wouldn’t have taken with him if he did. It made him stronger, wiser. It made him a better husband and father. It made him kinder, more empathetic, more patient, more caring – almost to a fault. His life motto has been to always do the opposite of everything his father did and what he stood for. Not only did he understand what his father’s actions did to him, but he’d also witnessed what it did to others around him. He never wants to make anyone feel the way his father makes everyone around him feel.

Having witnessed what my father-in-law’s treatment of my husband and failure as a parent did to him made me think of my own life and my relationships with my own parents. I’ve had my own complexities with my parents. They’re no perfect creatures by any means. They made their own share of mistakes in my life. But the difference between my parents and my husband’s parents is that my parents have always owned up to their mistakes, and they’ve always apologized. My husband’s parents, his father and stepmother in particular, never did, never have, and never will. They act as though they’re owed something by us. This is exactly why they’re not involved in our life anymore, especially now that we have a young child. We won’t allow anyone to treat us with such disrespect anymore, and we certainly won’t allow this type of behaviour around our son. He deserves better; more than anything they have to offer.

Faced with so much pressure, Nick was forced to choose between her loyalty and devotion to her father and her growing feelings for the Thompson family, leading to internal conflict and difficult choices. The more time passed, the more difficult it became. She carried out elaborate scams, deal with the consequences of her father’s actions, and confront her foster parents’ corrupt nature. But no matter how hard it was for her, she made a choice that was right for her in the end. To her, the Thompson family became more than just targets. They were the family she wished she had. She developed genuine care for them.

When Nick decided to cut ties with her father, she didn’t have the Thompson family’s support. She didn’t have anyone’s support. She caused too much damage to them for her to believe they’d ever want to have anything to do with her. She didn’t return home to the Thompsons following her cutting her father out of the house. She left town to start her life completely anew. Before she left, however, she made sure to do right by the Thompson family. Everything she’d wronged, she made right. She also made sure to leave a goodbye letter to the Thompson family, apologizing for deceiving them, as well as for all the hurt she’d caused them.

But as much as Nick hurt them, the Thompson family wasn’t going to give up on her. It’s not what real families do. Real families forgive each other no matter what, and that’s exactly what they did. They forgave her, and they weren’t going to give up on her that easily. Once they were all done reading her goodbye letter, they chased her to the bus stop before the bus left with her for good. Nick was surprised, but so happy to see them. She didn’t think they could ever look at her the same way that used to – or trust her – after what she’d done to them. She left because she acknowledged that they could never go back to being how they were before she arrived to their home, but they showed her that they could.

To add to it, I absolutely loved Ed, played by Sean Astin, during that particular point in the show. While initially hurt and angry by Nick’s deceptive background, Ed eventually forgave Nick and went as far as to consider adopting her. I absolutely adored his reaction to Nick’s letter. When he said, ‘Let’s go get our girl,’ I felt it. It wasn’t WHAT he said, but HOW he said. Maybe it was that the actor himself was a father that made the line that much more meaningful; who knows. But nevertheless, no matter the reason for it, it was powerful.

The very last scene of the last episode of No Good Nick saw the title character having one final “trick” up her sleeve, but the details are not fully explained in the synopsis. Things were left on a cliffhanger with the hopes that there’d be a season 2. But it never came to be. The series ended after a two-part single season, with a total of 20 episodes. The reason for the cancellation was fairly simple: not enough people watched it. It’s really too bad. It was a great show, and I would’ve loved to see more. I would’ve loved to see Nick’s journey of living with the Thompson family continue. The season finale, which ended up being the series finale, was disappointing. It left many plot threads unresolved, leaving viewers and fans, the few that it had, wanting more.

At the time, the show’s creator and executive producer David Steinberg made a statement that read, ‘It’s our sad duty to announce that No Good Nick will not be moving forward with part 3. Making this show has been a life changing experience for us and we couldn’t have asked for a better response from the audience. We feel that we made the show we wanted to make and we are proud of the story we told. We want to thank our amazing cast, our incredible crew and our talented writers for coming together in this collaborative medium to make something new and surprising.’ But the thing is…

Just from having witnessed my husband’s story of adjusting to living with a family that ACTUALLY loves and cares for each other without expecting anything in return, I know full well that Nick’s story could’ve continued had the show was given a chance. That’s why I don’t agree with Steinberg’s statement. I think it was just a professional way of announcing the end of a project that he proudly created. According to Newsweek and other sources, Netflix heavily relies on factors like viewership numbers, completion rates, and efficiency to determine a show’s future. Netflix’s official website itself states the following on why exactly movies and TV shows leave the platform. It states: ‘Netflix licenses TV shows and movies from studios around the world. Though we strive to keep the titles you want to watch, some titles do leave Netflix because of licensing agreements. Whenever a TV show or movie license is expiring, we consider things such as:

• If the rights to the title are still available
• How popular it is in a region, and how much it costs to license

If a TV show or movie is renewed, it remains on Netflix for you to enjoy. If a title isn’t renewed, we’ll give you a heads up when it’s about to leave.’

No Good Nick didn’t meet these factors to allow the show to continue. However, one could also argue that Netflix itself was the one to blame for the show’s cancellation. The show might’ve seen a low viewership because there was very little promotion for it, especially compared to the streaming platforms other shows and movies such as Ginny & Georgia, XO Kitty, and more. It didn’t even get the chance to obtain the popularity it deserved. There was no chance the show could’ve gotten much viewership to begin with because how can people watch something they don’t even know is available to stream? The streaming service may have lost the rights to stream the show due to licensing agreements, and after seeing the numbers with the release of the first and only season, decided that the cost of licensing and producing a second season wasn’t worthwhile. Those few that DID watch the show had expressed their disappointment, and rightfully so. With the cancellation of the show, fans were only left to wonder what Nick’s journey would’ve looked like had she gotten the chance for her story to continue.

I’m in no way a fictional writer. I think it takes a whole other level of creativity to be one; a successful one. But the mere fact that a great show that had so much potential got canceled before its time got me thinking so much about what could’ve been. So I thought I’d give it a try. But before we get started, I just wanted to tell you about something interesting that I found. I recently came across a post by a fellow boy mom that read,

‘if my son ever chooses me over his wife, i failed.

i’m not raising a little boy to stay mine forever.
i’m raising a man who will one day lead, protect,
and pour love into his own family.

i want his wife to feel safe.
chosen. prioritized.
even if that means he tells me “no.”
even if that means i take a step back.

and yes, i hope i’m part of their holidays
and everyday memories.
but i never want to be the reason
there’s tension in their home.

my success as a mom?
knowing i raised a man
who leads with love, not guilt.

that’s how i’ll know i did it right.

🩵✨’

This was so good. And yes, I know that Nick is a girl, but it made me think a lot about my husband, as well as my own parenting when it comes down to the future of my son. I’ve related so much of my husband’s own life to Nick’s. The words of the woman’s post made me think a lot of him as a man. He took MY side over his entire family. This particularly had everything to do with his father’s parenting. Not because he was a good parent, but because he showed my husband exactly what NOT to be – as a father, a husband, but most of all, a man. My family, on the other hand, showed him the true definition of what it means to be a family.

I’d never much like to think that Nick’s journey would be something similar to my husband following the end of the series finale. She’d have to adjust to her new, real life with the Thompson family; one that doesn’t include her father’s scheme. She’d have to adjust to being just a regular 13-year-old teenage girl. This includes having a different type of authoritative figures in her life, school, friendships, body image, social media, and of course, puberty and an emotional sensitivity.

Like she promised him at the end of the show’s original run, Nick will financially support her father, though she never visits him in prison. He aims to call her to mend their relationship, but she never answers them. On one of those calls, Ed answers. The two men talk. Tony asks Ed to leave Nick a message; to tell her he loves her, and that he’s sorry for everything, and to tell her that this would be his last attempt as he’s finally letting her go. Not knowing what that means, Ed promises he’ll tell her everything. He does when Nick gets home from her extra curricular activities in the evening. She feels relieved to hear that.

Ed hugs Nick and leaves to the kitchen to give her time to sit and reflect. The phone rings. Nick answers. It’s from prison. The police called to inform Nick that her father had committed suicide earlier in the day. Nick is also told that Tony left a suicide note, specifically addressed to her. In it, Tony wrote everything that was on his mind; things he couldn’t tell Nick in person. He wrote that he loved her. He wrote that he was sorry. He wrote that he understood why she didn’t want him in her life. He wrote that he was leaving her alone, but that was the only way he knew how.

As she reads the letter in prison, Nick breaks down crying. She asks the guard if she can stay in Tony’s cell for a while. He allows her to. She stays there; lying in his bed where his blood is still so fresh. With tears in her eyes, she looks up at the ceiling, and softly says, ‘I’m sorry daddy.’ Fade to black. Nick pulls herself up from her father’s cell bed hours later. She (finally) leaves the jailhouse, and outside she sees the entire Thompson family waiting for her. She runs to them, and they all embrace her with arms wide open; just as they did when she was about to leave town when she thought they wouldn’t be able to forgive her for trying to con them.

Nick is faced with the reality of yet another one of her father’s choices following his death. She learned that Tony was still working for the mob while in prison, and he had unfinished business at the time of his death. The mob then went after her to finish what Tony never did. They kidnap her from the Thompson home and tell her that if she doesn’t agree to do as they tell her, she will witness the entire Thompson family executed; one by one; in a very slow, painful, violent manner.

Forced to leave her life behind, Nick leaves the Thompson family home. She doesn’t say goodbye to them. She packs her bags and leaves the premises when no one’s home. She knows it’d be too hard for her to face them. She leaves the family a note with the hopes that they’d understand the key words that she’d included in there; that she wasn’t leaving them by choice. She made sure to make an emphasis that she loved them, and she thanked them for everything they’d done for her.

All Nick could do at that moment was hope; hope that her family would get it. The key words that Nick used gave clues as to where she was. They were written in bold letters and highlighted. And they did. They did get it. They were then set out to make a plan for Nick’s safe return from the mob. They didn’t know exactly how they’d do it, but they knew that no matter what, they couldn’t just give up on her. They started their plan from complete scratch. They found people to connect with through Nick’s old life; ones that brought her in to them. It took time, but eventually they got her. They got their girl back. Everyone in the mob was killed or jailed for life. And Nick… was finally working through her trauma. She was happy. She was healthy. And she was (finally) healing.

Okay… so maybe this was a little too dark, especially considering No Good Nick was meant to be a kids show. But the subject matter was anything BUT kid-friendly. I wish more adults got to see the show. I wish my husband got to see the show. Nick was a good person, but involved with bad people who made bad decisions on her behalf. She wanted to be good. She wanted to do good. But she didn’t have people believe in her – until the Thompson family came along. Perhaps the path of having been forced to con them was the best thing that had ever happened to her… just like my husband becoming a part of my family became the best thing for him.