I put off watching this show for the longest time (even though I love the books) as I just didn’t care for the casting. After seeing Emma Myers in Wednesday (where she was perky and sweet), I just did not think that she suited the role of Pippa Fitz-Amobi – who is intense and serious.
However, my son has recently developed a bit of a crush on Emma Myers, and I am scrambling to find something in common with him now that his Star Wars obsession is starting to wear off, and it’s kind of cute to watch him crush on someone, even if Emma Myers‘ British accent is atrociously hard on the ears.
Season 1
The series has a lot to live up to, given how good the books are. The first book introduces all the characters (and there are many) and does an excellent job of setting the scene without getting bogged down in the details. It’s fast-paced while at the same time very character-driven.
When I review a show/movie based on a book, I try to think whether it would have made sense to me, or whether I would have enjoyed it if I hadn’t read the book first. This show (or at least the first season) definitely fails that test.
The show struggles a bit with the pacing. I watched it with my husband, and he found the series slow, but to me it felt so fast-paced. I think in episode one or two, they started talking about things that happened in chapters like 20-30. Pip also seems a lot more impulsive in this series, starting from episode one. I didn’t get that impression of her while reading the book. I also think that if I hadn’t read the books, I would have been quite lost trying to follow the plot and keep track of who’s who.
The characters in the show did not match the mental models I had formed while reading the book. It felt like I was watching a different series, not one based on the book. So, overall, a bit mid.
Season 2
Season 2, however, makes up for all the flaws in the first season. By now, I had gotten used to Emma Myers, and the chemistry with her boyfriend Ravi Singh is nicely developed.
This season is based on Good Girl, Bad Blood – the second book in the series, and does a better job of aligning with the book’s plot and mood. It also helps that the case this time is a live case, and there’s an ever-present sense of danger and of time running out. Here, all of the evidence was a lot fresher in everybody’s mind, and there was that genuine danger that someone could die if Pip didn’t act fast enough. As a result, season two felt a lot more fast-paced and exciting, and I really loved the build-up here and the slow reveal of the storyline, and how it all tied together. This was a really great mystery.
Like in the books, we get to see the toll all of this begins to take on Pip’s own mental health and how she really begins to struggle with doing the right thing when time and time again it leads to the people she loves getting hurt. And again, I think this is done better in the series, because the third book really does get very dark (and IMO, there’s not enough build-up for that in the earlier books).
And now, I can safely say that I am looking forward to season 3. I think the show has settled into a groove after a rather mid start, and 🤞it’s only going to get better from here. Can’t wait!
