A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: A Rant Review

so the TV adaptation of a good girls gu to Murder By Holly Jackson recently came out and I have some thoughts because I didn't really enjoy it I'm in a complete State of Shock I forgot what I was going to say I didn't really enjoy it um let's chat about it so if you don't know the good girl go series is very important to me I love this series so much probably my favorite ya murder mystery series both the first and the lon series are some of my favorite mystery books ever well third's more of a thriller but just some of my favorite books ever written I absolutely adore this series and I was going to the show probably with fairly low expectations that were fairly easy to meet not like negative expectations but like you know I don't love adaptations a lot I feel like adaptations often struggle this one did I prefer really not to not to speak if I speak I am in in big trouble and so I was going into it not expecting much just wanting to be entertained wanting to enjoy my favorite story in a different medium yeah um that didn't happen really I didn't hate it I'd probably give it a two star I'd probably give it a two star if we're chatting ratings but I decided to do a bit of a rant review on it um I don't want to be mean so if you're involved in this show if you're one of the young actors if you're Holly Jackson if you're the writer director look away this video is not for you do not watch this video please cuz I will feel bad but I have split this video into a easily accessible list of bads versus Goods which we going to get into I do want to clarify I did not reread this before watching this I haven't read this since probably like 2020 2021 I did not reread this before watching the show because often I think that can negatively impact adaptations cuz you're so focused on the comparisons between them I do have a lot of comparisons still but I think you're overly concerned about changes they've made or whatever so I didn't reread it so I may you know there may be some issues with what I say about like what they change and what was in the book I might have forgotten some things but shall we just get into it I'm going to try and not be spoilery for the book or the show so you can watch this if you haven't consumed either of them but um yeah let's just get into it so if you don't know the vague plot of this book if you've not read it if you have not watched the show The Very plot this back is we've got a young girl called pip who is investigating The Disappearance and presumed murder of a school girl called Andy Bell which happened many years ago at her school and everyone believes that her boyfriend the boyfriend of the missing girl killed her because he confessed and then killed himself and pip does not believe that's a case so she's investigating it as part of her epq and yeah that's basically all you need to know and she's investigating it interviewing people trying to figure out what happened let's get into the Bad and the goods we have more bads and we're going to start with a bad number one I do not like Emma's portrayal of pip no I don't want to start with this one because it feels mean it feels mean you know Emma is a young and upand cominging actress you know I don't I want to do well but she is the center of this story and I did not like her interpretation of pip I did not like well I don't know if for hers the shows interpretation of pip I don't think it's a very strong portrayal firstly the accent is whack the accent is so bad Tottenham versus Arsenal Tottenham versus Arsenal arenum Arsenal Arsenal Arsenal what is she doing EMAs is American um she's most well known for being in Wednesday and uh yeah the accent is really bad the the accent is not good the English accent is off-putting and when she is your main character who is in pretty much every scene I'm not sure if there's a scene without pipping it yeah I I think the accent is bad and that's very distracting when you're trying to watch it he was head boy he was going to Cambridge and he was always really nice to me so I was a good guy it's particularly like in like one of the first scenes her American accent really comes out when she's yelling at these guys and I just think if you're struggling with an accent it's going to affect the rest of your performance because you're constantly just the main thing you're thinking about is how to keep up with the accent rather than some of the more nuanced stylistic acting choices that you could make and like this is mean I don't want to be mean but my two biggest problems with her was her accent and that she constantly looked like she was going to cry or throw up in scenes where like yes the the character of pip was uncomfortable but like as soon as she started talking she was like you know talking normally not talking if she going to cry but facially she just looked like she was going to cry all the time and it was distractive then more to nitpicky things but for the most part I'm not sure she got good direction I went and I was watching actually some clips I've never seen Wednesday but I was watching some clips of her on Wednesday and I was like Jesus Christ she can act she was good from what I the little clips that I saw in that show she was a compelling character she had great characterization and nuances of characterization pip is just boring in this she's boring she's boring I don't think I don't think she got good direction on how to play pip so I'm not like saddling her with all the blame but pip just feels a little bit confused and I think the role has become a bit difficult to play because they've made these changes as we'll get into in a sec there's a lot of changes from the book in this and the changes that they've made to pip don't feel entirely authentic to Pip's character or entirely authentic to her character at that point in her character AR pip goes on a very dramatic character Arc throughout the series but they feel like more things booked two or three pip would do rather than book one pip do you know what I'm saying I don't think her line delivery was great she was sometimes overacted my mom actually came in when I was watching the last episode into the room and she was like Megan what is this and she was like laughing at some of Emma's line delivery very very nice to meet you Kelly which I feel bad about this is again it's not me dunking on her but it's just feels at the same time undirected and then completely there's some line delivery that's complete overreaction and again this would not be a problem if the if the cast was more level but this is Pip's story pip is in every single scene and there just certain points where her line delivery makes go and again this isn't entirely her fault cuz we'll get into the writing a little bit later in the video but you know this is your big star this is the name they got for this show who they're probably paying the big bucks who is really the only super experienced uh character on The Young side of the class we have some older actors which I'll talk about in a sec but she is the only well-known experienced young actor in this show and is obviously the center of the whole thing and I just think it wasn't the best but she can like I've seen those clips of Wednesday and it was remarkably better than whatever this was so I just think some of the changes they've made like I've said it wasn't great I'm sorry Emma don't watch this I don't know why she would be but like please don't I just felt like it wasn't my pip it was not my P now let's get into a good a good my first good is that the more experienced actors in this show were great so I'd say you have three main older characters three main adult characters in this book we have Anna Maxwell Martin as mom and she is amazing I think some of the scenes particularly later on in the series the kind of broadening of their relationship versus the book I think is really great I think she was wonderful I don't remember I don't know what I've seen her in really but she's a well-known English actress and I just thought her patrola Pips was wonderful we also have Gary beel as Pip's stepdad and I thought he had some really strong moments there's a plot which I don't remember being in the book but it could have been added in I feel like it was added in I don't remember it being in the book but there's a there's a story line with him him that I feel like he really shines in and then we have Matthew Bon we have Matthew Bon who is the love of my life I grew up watching Horrible Histories if you're American we had this show on the CBBC called hor histories and Matthew benang was in it and it was my whole childhood and I love him I love him I love him I love him I thought he was good I don't think he was quite amazing I was expecting but I think he was still very good and like it was Matthew bangton so that was a that was a pro for me the next bad is probably one of the most painful ones where is the mixed media babe where is the mixed media where is it where if You' read this back you know one of the best things about this whole series is the mixed media this is so painful to me the show does an absolutely diabolical terrible job of handling the unique nature of this book I'm sorry I'm sorry the most hideous experience for me to go through how horrible and [ __ ] I had to start with the PIP thing because that's kind of on its own and now we're going to get into some some I mean this is bigger this is more this is more egregious but I just like I had to explain the B before we get into this the mixed media in the show extends to Instagram Instagram we look at Instagram we look at Instagram in every episode we look at Instagram in every episode and we find something new out from Instagram we found out where the Calamity paries are for Instagram we find out from again I'm not spoiling anything but we find out like this person was here because of Instagram we find out this person knew this person because of Instagram it's all Instagram which is the easiest option of any kind of mixed Medan cooporation for any ya show same thing happens in heartstopper they just [ __ ] text on Instagram look on Instagram M on Instagram comenting on Instagram Instagram the book series strength is its depth and breadth of mixed media we have interviews there's fitbits in the later series are Incorporated but in in this one we have transcripts journal entries diagrams police reports I just yes it is more difficult to show all of those in a TV show yes it is but it could been done with some imagination we could have had fun ways to incorporate the mixed media Graphics different like when there's an interview it's being told in a different way like with a recording format and like and then reimagine it could have been done it could have been done it could have been done it could have been done and it didn't the show didn't want to Veer off traditional storytelling and what makes this book so unique is its uniqueness doesn't quite work but what make the book so special is it's Unique it's got that unique storytelling right it doesn't follow the normal format of the I mean mostly does format follow the normal format of the book but the production logs and the interviews and the diagrams and all of that is what makes this so interesting to read in my opinion and it just doesn't have it the interviews is so egregious I can't even explain to you how egregious the interviews is it was blooding interviews is the easiest thing the easiest thing to incorporate the easiest thing to incorporate and he doesn't it doesn't the interviews play a huge part in the this book and they they can be quite long they can be like three four pages of of interviews and in the show she asks them like all of them are like you have three questions she has a couple questions and they tell her one important thing and then it's over and they walk away and like you need to stop meddling and this and it's just infuriating it's in the interviews are the most we're finding nothing out from the interviews the interviews in this you find out so much character information and so much little clues that help you piece things together and's like why are you doing this I'm investigating can you tell me where you were on this night I was here can you tell me something intriguing that moves the plot forward a little bit this bye that's that's it so for me the the the the the lack of the mixed media and the lack of the the care taken to incorporate the mix media in this is is diabolical it's diabolical it's absolutely infuriating it makes me so mad it makes me soad I shouldn't get this angry so um yeah this is probably the most egregious part it for me and it affects later bads that we have but it's just at the core of this book and they're just like oh better I check Instagram look what I found on Instagram look what I found on this person's Instagram look what I logged on to this other person's Instagram so I found a private Instagram look what I found on that one when will I when will I live a happy life because it's not right now the next good you can tell I'm starting to scrape the barrel already for the goods the location setting the locations they've chosen for the show the location s foring The Scouting of it brilliant brilliant I think it looks great I think it looks great I think Pip's house The Village everyone's different houses the school I think it all looks wonderful whoever did the location sourcing of this it makes me think of that meme were like after someone does something iconic they go someone tweets get your deal out and you've done well anyone ever seen those it's like a recurring joke anyways um get your adult out and youve done it all felt very cohesive like I can imagine that probably parts of this that are filmed here and parts of this are filmed here like all over the UK but most of it probably filmed in the same Village but I'm saying is it all felt very cohesive it all felt very realistic it all felt as one I felt like visually it was a very strong adaptation it was a very strong adaptation of the UK version that they weren't shying away from making it UK right which I was afraid they would do because it is set in America in the US version and it felt very quaint very English and I loved I loved all the settings of the houses everything everything about it I thought they did the setting locations were great that's a good the bad the relationships and the characters some of the some of the more Niche characters of this the show focuses a lot more on the interpersonal relationships than the mystery that is what the show's focus on the show is not really focused on the mystery it's just focused on Pip's friend group Pip's relationship with rabie which yes I said rabbi did I meant to say rabi but I'm talking too quickly yes these do play an important role in this but it is is the mystery is the mystery you get what I mean I didn't think the actors in the friend group were bad I think some of them had really strong moments particularly Cara and Lauren the girles they had some strong moments Pip's relationship with car is very interesting but they you can tell they inexperience none of them have been in a lot and it just feels a little bit like this is their first role and that's what I mean listen I I want new and up and cominging actors to you know be successful CU at the moment we're just having the same actors say the highest paid this is a this is an unated topic because none of these are going to become the highest paid actors ever but all of our highest paid actors like the same people they were 20 years ago like we haven't got enough upand cominging uh talent and I think it's important but I do think you know you can feel it you can feel it in this I thought the actress who played nap the Sila was really really strong like when she appeared it was another one of those moments I was like oh my God I'm I'm watching acting I'm watching acting I'm watching someone act my God like the line reading I believed it I believed I believed in the character I was like you want out to Sila which I didn't feel like that with the other characters and because the show is so plot driven you know the book is so plot driven the show has to be plot driven because of the mystery but the show is also trying to focus on the character relationships you end up with like these paper thin character development but a lot of screen time of them so often what happens is pit like an event will happen right and then pit will sit down with Cara and tell her about it and then sit down with ravy and tell them about it and maybe sit down with the parents and tell them about it like it's it's way too much just conversations between people and nothing moving the plot forward and I liked the Ravi actor I liked the actor who played Ravi but there was no Chemistry Between pip and Ravi which is absolutely diabolical if you know how the last Begins the fact that I could not care less about I was like mil spoilers I'm going to put suppored up on the screen I'm talking about this there's a there's a bit where Ravi looks like he's going to move away at the end right and he comes back I think he could have just gone like I think just go you know it's not working out not feeling the chemistry so yeah I think the relationships didn't feel super strong and I think the the minor Cass of characters the Young The Young class of characters you know they they were good but they weren't great and I didn't always believe in them as as characters my next good is the show is actually quite strong when it focuses on the murder mystery when I was taking notes all of the scenes I'm like okay this scene is pretty good this scene is pretty good it's the scenes where we're like we're tense we're in it it's like feels like the book and my heart is pounding pressure is on let's go that's when the the show actually went works right when the mystery is at the Forefront and it's not just two characters sitting talking about oh how do you feel about this how do you feel about this right that it works the show is good in those moments when it puts the mystery at the Forefront it is strong you know when we have when the scene has deep implications for the mystery and we're finding things out it works it works but those moments were not as not as uh frequent as I would have wanted them to let's just say that you can tell that my goods are much more brief than my bads my next bad the writing ain't great the w writing a great I've come to the conclusion it's really hard to write ya for TV shows it's much harder than for books books is pretty easy right because you're reading in your head you're like you're assigning the tone you're assigning the jok of stuff but when you're like seeing characters play that out on TV it feels cringe I'm so sorry it feels cringe sorry at least that like you mean it the the Friendship scenes in this feel a little bit cringe and feel a little bit forced same way I feel I can't kind of feel this way about heartstopper I know this is a bit of a problematic view But as time has gone on I felt like the writing in heart stop is a bit cringe I've only watched the first season of heartstopper I've not watch the rest it's my favorite graph novel series I don't really like adaptations and I feel like I just thought the writing in this was not good the writing was not how real people speak again my mom walked into a room and laughed she was like what are these people saying what is going on it just didn't feel like how real people talk and I felt like there were moments when you could see those younger actors trying to make it work like trying to be authentic and they almost got there particularly car and Lauren they were good right they were trying you could almost see them like trying to like how do I negotiate this how do I how do I say this line in a way that feels realistic and um yeah I just didn't feel like the writing was very strong at all and it's so did I talk about this later we can talk about it now but I made some notes I made like two pages of notes on this it's so drawn out let's talk about this now because this does actually come under writing it's six episodes doesn't need that long needs to be four needs to be four there is so much Guff we can cut out it is slow it is slowly paced my mom was like she sat there for maybe 20 minutes she was like Jesus God they're dragging on aren't they I was like yes finally so understand I've been gu watching six episodes of this boring shutties conversations take the time there pauses the rting is is not good it really could have been condensed into four episodes and then you have much but it feels like you have more of those moments that with the Mysteries at the center even though you don't but you just cut a lot of the Guff out it was just it was too long too long my next good this might actually be our last good this is our last good the soundtrack's great the soundtrack's great whoever again the location sourer and the soundtrack decider these are not their probably not their professional names but I don't know we're great we're great we had the last dinner party wetle Billy eyelish it will set this like edgy tense but also young and modern and naive and like it had the perfect perfect Vibe for the show honestly you guys I feel like I have the best tasted music like I think it's very hard to beat tasted music it set a great feeling to all the scenes a great Tempo to the book each each uh episode opened with a different song actually over the title sequence and I thought those worked really well it kind of set the T for the episode the soundtrack for this was amazing the soundtrack was great that's our last good my biggest bad my last bad really and this ties to the mix media one it is an Unfaithful adaptation it is an Unfaithful adaptation because they got rid of the mix media they had to change a lot of scenes because pip has to find things out in different ways and I just don't I don't think think it worked you know the entire the structure of this book is entirely different I mean I have not reread this in a long time but I there was not many scenes that I was like oh yeah I remember that sequence of events leading up to that like everything was a little bit changed and sometimes reasonings for things were changed when I don't think they needed to be they also felt like I was watching it I was like you are changing things to make things look more visually interesting because in the book we are really in Pip's head she is interviewing people she is writing stuff up in her production log she's sitting in her bedroom thinking about things whereas that's not necessarily interesting for a show I get it yet so they were like let's make a posh dinner party scene let's make a tennis scene it was like what can we make that's visually interesting but it just felt it felt so transparent it felt so seethrough as the motivation for doing that and you know there were too many episodes like I said and all the epes have the same the same structure where about they're 40 minutes long and at the 25 minute Mark something happens that makes pip think okay she needs to stop the investigation she needs to stop I'm going to stop hi Ravi I know your brother is like you know used of murdering his girlfriend and like a lot of hinges on this view but I'm going to tell you every episode I'm stopping I'm stopping investigating sorry I can't do it anymore I can't do it my heart is saying no she socks around for a bit like wish I could do it and then she decides to carry on and the the issue is they are adapting a book that has one Arc right yes books could have many arcs in them but for the most part you see that traditional Arc of a book right they are making six episodes and each episode needs to have an arc contained in it right and like like a book does but you're making six of those and it just gets really repetitive they needed to get more imaginative about this kind of thing and often it felt like okay this is something we can't change like it's a reveal it's a character's motivation for doing something so this happened in the book this happened in the book but it felt like so now we have to explain why and we have to do it versus it feeling like a natural progression of the story it was like this happened so I guess we got to do that guess that's called be the resolution you know and this is why guys ego you go I don't know it just felt like a very Unfaithful adaptation to the book and really my conclusion is at its core the feeling is different how many things can you change from a book and it still have the same feeling that is the most important thing I think in adaptation like I don't think show adaptations should be entirely faithful to the book because you need to change things for the screen like I get that they needed to make things more visually interesting I don't get the mixed media cuz you could have done it but you know that's a ation for another day you you have to change things but you have to keep the core feeling of the story and at the end of the day this show did not make me feel like how this book did it has a completely different vibe it has a completely different emotions brought up by it it didn't feel the same the show should still feel you can change as much as you want but if it still feels the same then it's okay this didn't feel the same I mentioned this earlier but the way things are revealed on the book is entirely different to the show because she's not finding things out in interviews or not finding things out out in journals or like in the stuff that she does in the book and that she has to do these like kind of big escapades almost for the show that help her find out things that don't necessarily feel like pip yet she does go on to do things like this in book two and three it's not entirely at the round possibility but it doesn't feel like her and it feels transparent in why that's happening shrink it to four episodes find a more exciting way to incorporate mixed media Bob's your uncle like you should be okay at that point I think it has a really slow start the start doesn't hook you if you are watching this having no idea what this story is I don't know if the opening is even very clear or engaging the first four episodes are a slow I think episode five is really strong episode five is the best episode and then episode six whimp goes out with a bit of a whimper because of the stuff they've changed with how the ending happens they've tried to make it a bigger more dramatic ending and I feel like it just feels a bit like oh it's a bit cringe so that's my feelings on this show there were you know positive moments there were moments where EML Myers was great there were moments where those that cast was great but the overwhelming feeling of it wasn't that and um yeah I'm sad I'm sad about it this is why I don't watch adaptations because they always let me down because all they going to do is disappoint me you know I also don't know how the budget for this worked because my mom's like Oh it's [ __ ] cuz it's BBC isn't it and they have no budget but it is internationally being distributed by Netflix so I just wonder you know how much was BBC budget how was Netflix budget I don't know but yeah I I don't know if I'll even watch a second series of this if it does get green it for a second series like I didn't like Shadow and Bone really when I watch Shadow and Bone heart stop is probably none of the nicer adaptations I've watched but I still haven't watched any more of a series I've never watched D of Jones in the six which I think I would enjoy but adaptations are not really for me adaptations not I find them cringe I found sh and Bone cringe hence why it's I'm not surprised it's been discontinued sorry for all the fans out there who s about that I don't know I don't I can't see this getting a second season I can't see it getting a second season I don't think it's good enough so there we have it everyone that is my thoughts on a good girl go to my adaptation um it's been out in the UK for quite a while but I know it comes out in the US today when this video is going out so some of you would have seen it some of you won't but let me know your thoughts if you come back to this video if you've watched it if you're in the US or International uh if you're in the UK let me know what you thought of it but I didn't love it I didn't love it and I'm sorry to have made this video but I I wanted to make this video excited I want it to be an exciting review I wanted to be happy I scheduled this cuz I was like oh my God it be so fun to talk about this adaptation it's not it's not the bin men are outside they're taking the trash out with us sorry sorry Holly Jackson and we're done so thank you for watching this video and I'll see you very soon in another one bye 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