TV Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Episode 3

Hi friends! It’s been a little while! I was out of town for a week, but I’m now back with my review of episode 3 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder!

If you missed them, check out my review of episode 1 and episode 2 before diving into this one. As always, 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 3!

Episode 3
Length: 43:23
Content Warnings: Language, sexual violence, smoking, substances, death, murder, mentions of suicide, blood, grief, drugs, attempted sexual assault
Episode Description: Good girl Pip gets her first taste of the dark side at an illicit rave — and her next clue leads her into even more dangerous territory

I think that this episode leans into a pretty big tone shift. The end of episode 2 gives us the big reveal that Andie was selling drugs, so, naturally, this episode picks up that trail. I loved the opening montage — you know you’re about to have a pretty great montage when Sail by AWOLNATION starts playing. 

When I read the book, I imagined calamity parties as like…regular house parties. I did not imagine them as underground raves, so let me tell you, the calamity montage was definitely a shocker! The montage was so well done, and gave you a really good sense of what those parties are like and having Sail playing in the background and Max’s dialogue from the episode before was very chilling, and a really great way to start the episode.

Something that I think this episode demonstrates so well is Pip’s complete lack of self-preservation. We see from the first episode that Pip is driven and single-minded, but this is really the first time that we see her put herself in danger. Yes, sneaking into Max’s room in the previous episode is risky, but this episode really presents a new level of danger. The calamity party being underground added something more sinister to the scene than I expected, but I thought it was great. In the book, I wasn’t really on edge during the calamity party scenes, but I was really on edge throughout the episode. 

The scene with Howie especially made me incredibly nervous — even with other people there (and knowing how things turned out) I wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t hurt Pip in some way, and that made it extra nerve wracking. I think that was the first time that Pip realized that she was maybe in a bit over her head, and then the scene afterward with Dylan was also really scary — I’ve watched this episode twice now, and both times this part has really set me on edge which I think is a testament to everyone involved for how well done that scene was.

I was so excited when I realized that this would be the episode where Pip and Ravi snuck into the Bell house. That’s one of my favorite scenes in the book, so I was looking forward to seeing it translated to screen. Reading that scene always gave me a lot of anxiety, and that was no different on screen! Especially since Pip didn’t keep her phone on her — rule number one of breaking into someone’s house and having a lookout, Pip, always keep your phone on you! 

Something that really hit me the second watch was seeing Andie’s room completely as she left it — like she’d walk back in at any second. It was really heartbreaking; especially when you think about the contrast of Sal’s parents packing up all of his things, making it clear that he’s not coming back. The juxtaposition of these two things is such a good example of what these families are going through — the Bells are allowed to keep Andie’s memory alive. They’re allowed to openly grieve and preserve her as the young woman she was and no one questions it. Whereas because it’s believed that Sal killed Andie, the Singh’s can’t grieve openly, and that has translated into them not being able to grieve even privately. 

My little loves of the episode:

• “They say try everything once” “I believe the acronym is YOLO”
• Everything about Pip and Ravi discussing who between them is Sherlock and who is Watson
• “I’ve got that sexy Cumberbatch energy, and you are clearly Martin Freeman”
• Pip being Cara’s hype woman by complimenting her teeth
• “Can’t I just be trying to YOLO?” “That doesn’t even make sense”
• Pip going into Josh’s room when she got home from the calamity party and staying in there with him
• Ravi making Pip a “Pipsmopoliton” — boy was down bad already
• Ravi giving Pip marshmallows and that being their code word + “I was marshmallowing you”

Episode 3 establishes a darker tone for the series as Pip learns more about Andie and the events that led to her death. This episode also does a good job of developing the growing relationship between Pip and Ravi. Another really strong episode for the series!

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

Until next time