Minor spoilers for Season 1 and 2 of “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” ahead, as well as the book trilogy by the same name.
It’s always easy to tell when an author has more of a say in an adaptation of their work. Season 2 of Netflix’s “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” much to the pleasure of fans, was largely written by author Holly Jackson, who authored the source trilogy. Jackson admitted to making changes between the second book and the second season, though she said it became exactly what she wanted for the adaptation. The show is close enough to the books to please readers of the beloved series, but small changes allow it to shine in its new medium.
Season 2 kicks off a few weeks after the end of Season 1, with Pip (Emma Myers) finishing up a podcast about her investigation into the murder of Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies). Busy preparing for Max Hastings’s (Henry Ashton) trial and regretful of the way she treated her loved ones in Season 1, Pip is content to put all things mystery behind her. But when her friend Connor Reynolds’s (Jude Morgan-Collie) brother Jamie (Eden H. Davies) goes missing, she knows she has to find him. With the help of Ravi (Zain Iqbal), her boyfriend and investigative partner, she sets out to find Jamie. Throughout the season, Pip falls deeper into despair, knowing the longer she looks, the less likely she is to find Jamie alive. Pip will do whatever it takes to bring Jamie home — but is it worth the cost?
From the first scene, which hints at the show’s devastating ending, to the last, which sets the stage for Season 3, “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” leaves viewers on the edge of their seat. Pip’s descent down the rabbit hole is as painful as it is addictive to watch. Each episode has just enough clues to engage its audience, and the kind of questions that make the show especially bingeable.
The adaptation also offers a more omniscient point of view into the story than the novels, allowing for greater insight into the side characters. Viewers spend a lot of quality time with Max Hastings that solely readers don’t get, and it adds a deeper layer to his character when we see his relationship with his family and his home life. As one of the antagonists of both the first and second season, it’s easy to hate Max. However, by placing us into his home and even allowing us to see the way he tries to please his parents, we are forced to see Max as the main character of his own story instead of just a villain in Pip’s.
Some of the biggest changes between the books and the show lie in the very first episode. Jamie only disappears at the very end, leaving almost an hour of lead up that doesn’t exist in the books. Some of that screentime is taken up by a murder mystery party that Connor hosts — a party that actually takes place in Jackson’s “Killjoy,” a prequel novella to the “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” series. By having Pip spend time with Jamie and Connor in the beginning, I felt a stronger connection to both brothers and was more inclined to understand Pip’s motivation to take on the burden of searching for Jamie.
Beyond the first episode, Stanley’s (Misia Butler) character changed the most from the books. He was removed from the first season, which was inconsistent with the book, but the change was handled well and didn’t retract from the viewing experience.
There were certain parts of the show that retracted from the suspenseful, macabre tone because of how unrealistic they were. Pip spends some time investigating during school hours, going as far as to interrogate her teacher in an empty classroom when she is presumably supposed to be in class. She also hijacks the school auditorium to play a video on the projector screen. Obviously, Pip is willing to break rules in order to find the truth, but the way in which the school operated as a prop in the show was a bit too convenient. Generally, Pip tends to have plot armor whenever she does anything wrong, unless the consequences themselves are relevant to the mystery. She gets detention for being in the auditorium, but no one catches her questioning the teacher, and this inconsistency detracted from the watching experience.
Even with the slight inconsistencies, “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” Season 2 was well worth the watch. Perhaps the best part of having Jackson on the writing team was the easter eggs placed throughout the season for readers to find, and the foreshadowing for what is to come in the third season. Those who have read the third book in the series, “As Good As Dead,” know the horrors in Pip’s life are only beginning — and those who haven’t are in for a wild ride.
Daily Arts Writer Amany Sayed can be reached at amanysay@umich.edu.
