TV Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Episode 2

I hope you enjoyed my review of Episode 1 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! I’m so excited to continue talking about the series with you all.

Just like the first post, there will be spoilers for the TV show and the entire book series. If you haven’t read all the books in the AGGGTM series, you will get spoiled throughout these posts, so keep that in mind before reading!

Now let’s chat AGGGTM Episode 2!

Episode 2
Length: 44:27
Content Warnings: Language, sexual violence, smoking, substances, death, murder, mentions of suicide, blood, grief
Episode Description: Andie’s best friends give Pip a clearer understanding of who the victim was – but it takes rearranging some old photos for her to see the full picture

I had assumed some big changes would be happening in the show, since as I mentioned in my review of the first episode, some things that work in a book don’t work on screen and vice versa, but truly the change that shocked me the most was making Andie and Nat Da Silva friends. That well and truly shocked me, but I didn’t completely hate it. I thought it was interesting, especially with the fact that Andie is the one who leaked Nat’s nudes and how that affected them — though I do wish we went into that more. 

One of my favorite things about the book is how throughout the investigation, Pip dismantles the idea of Andie being the “perfect victim” and shows that Andie was not the perfect person everyone thought she was; that she had flaws and faults and was real. They started to do that with this reveal, and the reveal of Andie dealing drugs, but I do think they could’ve gone into it a bit more had they had a few more episodes.

Pip and Ravi’s scenes in this episode are really great. The development of their relationship is moving at the perfect pace for me. I loved their scene along the water when Pip asks Ravi if he likes talking about Sal. That moment is so touching, and the way Ravi talks about how Andie went missing but people talk about her all the time and she’s everywhere, but Sal is nowhere. Oh man, that absolutely broke my heart, I wanted to give Ravi the biggest hug. This episode also gives us the first “Sarge” of the show, and that scene was ADORABLE. I adore them so much.

I loved the camping scene; it was so fun to see them laughing and playing in the water and just being teenagers. That scene also felt very true to the book and when they heard the noise in the woods and saw the flashlight and Pip started running after what she saw, watching it for the first time totally gave me the same kind of tension that the scene in the book did, and the moment when she found the note give me chills. I also loved the name drop of the Duct Tape Killer; we all know that As Good As Dead is my favorite book in the series, so that little nugget of information makes me super hopeful that we are going to get more seasons and we can really delve into that storyline and the rest of the Bell family.

The tensions were very high during many parts of this episode, but none more so than when Pip snuck into Max’s room. We already saw from the first episode that Max is a total creep (shoutout to Henry Ashton because I’m terrified of him whenever he’s on screen), then in this one we see Max and Naomi arguing in his car, and Nat has told Pip and Ravi what a creep he is — all of this made this scene all the more nerve wracking as the viewer. He’s unpredictable, and that makes him dangerous. I legitimately feel sick every single time I hear him say “You’re such a good girl, Pip” it makes me want to barf, he’s disgusting, and good for Pip for being able to stand her ground, I would’ve turned the other way running and screaming, especially after she found the photo of Andie in her underwear that Max was hiding. That whole scene makes me feel sick and that’s the point, that’s how that scene is supposed to make you feel and Emma and Henry did a fantastic job with it.

My little loves of the episode:

• Pip sending Ravi voice memos, and reintroducing herself…
• The safe driving song, Josh repeating it and Victor being like “not you too”
• Cara’s dead-pan reactions to practically everything
• The persons of interest list
• Pip being SO excited for Ravi and Cara to meet
• Pip’s murder board wall (yes, this will be on the list every episode, okay, I love that wall murder board)
• Ravi’s face when he sees Pip’s murder board wall for the first time
• Ravi rearranging the instagram photos in chronological order and saying to Pip “I’m just putting them in chronological order. I’m a little surprised you hadn’t done it already to be honest,”
• Pip and Ravi discussing the best stakeout food — marshmallows 🥺

Episode 2 does a great job of developing Andie as a person and not the caricature that she became after her death and sets up the rest of the season well. Of all 6 episodes, I do think this is the most “filler” of the 6, but there’s still a lot going on and it moves the plot forward. Another enjoyable episode, the series really started strong.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the second episode in the comments!

Until next time 💜