A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

If I hadn't read the books I probably would have loved this. But I did read the books - several times. Sadly, this series feels like the people who made it didn't read the books at all. More like they had the plot told to them and then they pieces it together from memory and got a vague resemblance to the books.

I'm so sad, because I was genuinely so excited. It sucks because I think the actors did a good job, even if they didn't look like what I pictured them. There was such a lack of depth, and where in the books the readers were along with Pip as she did the work, and dug into the dark corners of the case, this just felt like she accidentally stumbled into the answers without really asking any questions. And Ravi wasn't even really part of the solving the way he was in the books. And where was Stanley? Too many important factors missing, and it's so sad, because this could have been so good, and I think if the actors had been given something closer to the source material it could have been really satisfying for everyone.

I guess I'll try to see it as its own thing, if it gets renewed.

An interesting but uneven mystery drama that never quite manages to firmly find its feet. There's lots to enjoy in this series from the lovely shooting locations, the very good lead performances to the actual mystery itself and the almost cold case style investigation which follows. I haven't read the book so can't comment on how accurate it is. The series sometimes starts onto territory that feels familiar and a couple of bits feel slightly shoehorned in, including a I Know What You Did Last Summer style accident.

A certain tall blonde young woman will also appear exactly when our protagonist needs her to in order to help. The friends at times get some development at other times feel superfluous. You start to realise soon all the white men in the series are bad in some often vile and criminal way, ethnic men though are mostly kind hearted and caring, imagine if the BBC did the opposite. It's become almost weakness and trope now you actually start to roll your eyes at. The casting is mostly quite good though one actor playing a pressured 17 years looks not a day over 40. Smart phones get used a lot in the series but usually to advance the plot along. Our main character gets to give lots of self-righteous rants at different point meanwhile her Watson friend somehow seems to be entirely void of anything approaching a realistic life, often just appearing by a lake with his hands in his pockets in order for our protagonist to talk with him, how longs he been stood staring at that tree?

We get a fair bit of drugs in the series, a slightly unsettling list of professions you think you can trust like teachers and policemen who are very much not trustworthy to say the least. Plot holes are simply gigantic, a certain accident involving an animal makes no sense, nor the motives of people really. Some bits are also unclear but for the most part I could follow it. Its all very idealised at times the perfect cottage england homes, the traffic free streets, the dog that never barks or gets too excited, or causes any mess or problems. The parents who exchange witty banter, it's all a bit tv land. I do like a good mystery though, the thing moves along nicely, it's fairly well done technically and so I give it a 6 overall. Despite its slightly funny character overall its not a comedy touching on some interesting themes relevant to young people about racism, parenting, friendship, drugs, consent and intergrity.

The whole point of the book that made it so famous was that you solve this case alongside Pip, which the series decided not to do, losing the whole point of the story.

Important and interesting scenes from the book were lost and e.g. 5 scenes were merged into 1 with simple dialogue without any connection to the actors.

The information of the murder is thrown away pointlessly without any suspense, since the series starts essentialistically from the end of the book. Unfortunately it didn't come out the way the book deserved.

As for the actors, I don't think they did a bad job, they just had to deal with a bad script that didn't let the audience to get involved enough in actor's lives and get involved in the story.

Maybe it's a good work for those who haven't read the book, but I think for anyone who has read it the differences and missteps were annoying.

Having binge read the book and enjoyed its great pacing and delivery of evidence the series unfortunately falls flat to the high expectations created.

Let's start by the characters. The book itself doesn't dive very deep into the relationships and the development of the people involved. However the series is even more uninterested in highlighting the emotional depth and challenges of the characters. Even main ones like Ravi's and Pip's, their emotional moments feel forced and not very analysed. The others involved, friends family and suspects all feel like fillers for the episodes to reach the time limit, not actual people like in the books.

The acting is not bad but definitely not brilliant either. At times too Disney Channel-y which makes sense bc of the ya vibe of the book but still unable to connect with the viewers at high impactful moments.

Picture is interesting at times, convincing enough for a small town scenery, but the colouring seems a bit off. The saturation feels a little bit much like you're watching descendants on Disney+ and not a teenage murder mystery. All of this to say, we dont need another Riverdale or Winx Saga but at times it took from the broodiness and darkness of the story.

Now the plot, having read the book I was about to scream at whoever write the f script because so much important information (hints about the end) were not revealed until the very end. Six episodes were short for that amount of information and pacing was weird as it felt like we were stuck for about 2 episodes of nothing happening.

Characters were basically assassinated for the sake of the episode's length which created patchy and awkward pauses in the story.

All in all, I expected much more from the story. I think so much was lost because of the writing to be honest. Directorial choices were weird. I feel like a voice-over or even segments that showed the evidence a little bit like the book would help understand Pip's progress in the mystery and help engage with the viewers.

So sad bc this could have been an easy win. Next time consoder asking the readers and stick to the book more .

It was entertaining enough, but the main character was making a lot of questionable decisions, even for a teenager, so treat the show for what it is going in.

I find that shows that make the main characters very smart and the villains just as smart tend to be way better. They could have definitely figured out other ways to make some scenes suspenseful, without making her flat out simple ( I just know most girls her age would have never put themselves in some of the situations that she did) Also prepare for some silliness. There was absolutely nothing special about this girl when it came to investigation skills, it just so happens that adults just told her everything, things the police couldn't even get from them, she got without any effort.

If you treat this show for what it is ( not a great young adult drama) then you'll enjoy it.