'Ginny & Georgia' Season 3's Alfred Hitchcock Reference Was So Ironic

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Season 3 of Ginny & Georgia was full of surprises, suspense, and startling revelations. On the whole, the “Master of Suspense” himself, Alfred Hitchcock, would have been pleased. One aspect of Ginny & Georgia’s third season, however, would have looked familiar to Hitchcock. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Ginny & Georgia offered high praise for Hitchcock as Georgia (Brianne Howey) played out her own version of Rear Window while on house arrest in Wellsbury, Massachusetts.

Ginny & Georgia isn’t the first television show or movie to pay homage to Hitchcock by incorporating Rear Window elements. Ginny & Georgia adds its own spin on the notion of a bored, housebound observer watching along as mysterious happenings unfold before their eyes.

Georgia Randolph Is Put on House Arrest

Georgia looking through binoculars in Ginny and Georgia — Netflix

At the end of Ginny & Georgia’s second season, Georgia Randolph (freshly married to Mayor Paul Randolph, played by Scott Porter) is arrested for the murder of Tom Fuller. Season 3 finds Georgia in jail for the offense and, by the end of the first episode, the accused killer is placed under house arrest by the judge. She’s given an ankle monitor, which immediately puts a damper on Georgia’s instinct to run from her problems.

The second episode of Season 3, “Beep Beep Freaking Beep,” is all about Georgia’s plight as a woman stuck at home with no ability to leave. To keep herself occupied during the day, Georgia drinks wine and watches her neighbors from her porch.

Similarly, in Rear Window, L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (Jimmy Stewart) is at home after having injured his leg on assignment as a photojournalist. His boredom sends him to his own window and, as he uses his camera to watch his neighbors, he believes he has witnessed Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) clean up after having killed his wife, Anna (Irene Winston).

Georgia Unmasks a Cheating Husband to His Wife

Georgia comforts Ginny in Season 3 of 'Ginny & Georgia' — Netflix

By observing the goings-on in her neighborhood, Georgia offers fashion advice to one neighbor, commenting on the animals that seem to appear on every shirt he wears. She orders the man a shirt and, when he doesn’t wear it, she sends Paul over to tell him to do so.

Georgia also spies Ginny (Antonia Gentry) kissing Marcus (Felix Mallard), but the biggest neighborhood scandal Georgia uncovers has to do with her cheating neighbor. After seeing the man kiss a woman who isn’t his wife several times, Georgia calls his wife and rats out the cheating spouse. These offenses are relatively minor, of course, compared to the crime of which Georgia is accused. Georgia is the criminal in it all, but she’s exacting her own sense of justice by “helping” where she sees it’s needed.

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Character development stands out this season, but the series continues to struggle with balancing its shifting tones and extra story arcs.

Every action Georgia takes is reminiscent of Jeff’s behavior in Rear Window. Jeff sends Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and Stella (Thelma Ritter) to Thorwald’s house to find out more about the fate of the suspicious man’s wife. When Jeff witnesses a different neighbor who he dubbed “Miss Lonely-Hearts” contemplate suicide, he calls the police.

‘Ginny & Georgia’s Play on ‘Rear Window’ Is Rife With Irony

Lisa and Jeff staring out a window in Rear Window. — Paramount Pictures

Ironic, yes, but it’s exactly what one would expect from Georgia and maybe even something Alfred Hitchcock would find pretty amusing. Instead of Georgia unmasking a murderer like Jeff, she is actually the only person guilty of such an offense. She sees herself as bettering the neighborhood, not something Jeff ever really indicates is at the core of his actions.

Brianne Howey and Antonia Gentry in Ginny & Georgia

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Georgia engaging in what’s happening outside her door does seem to play into what John Fawell identified as “the darkest aspect of voyeurism” in Hitchcock and Poe. Fawell continued, “[It] is our desire for awful things to happen to people … to make ourselves feel better, and to relieve ourselves of the burden of examining our own lives.”

If anyone is hoping to avoid the “burden of examining” her own life, it’s Georgia. Brianne Howey seemed to agree when speaking with The Hollywood Reporter:

“She’s manipulating, she’s controlling, she’s four steps ahead. Now Georgia’s on house arrest. She’s stuck to the confines of her home. So this whole season, we sort of see Georgia as this caged animal, we’ve never seen her like this. She’s hopeless, she’s helpless, she’s depressed, she’s drunk, she’s grasping for anything.

“She’s still trying to protect her family at all costs, even though she barely has a family left. And I actually think it helped inform her character because I think the devastation had to be this extreme for Georgia to start to change. I think Georgia being such an extreme person, the consequences had to be equally as extreme in order for it to rattle her enough to see outside of herself and see all of the pain and trauma she’s caused her family and the community.”