Hi friends! You know what time it is, it’s time for my review of episode 4 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder!
If you missed them, check out my review of episode 1, episode 2 and episode 3 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 4!
Episode 4
Length: 44:27
Content Warnings: Language, sexual violence, smoking, substances, death, murder, mentions of suicide, blood, grief, drugs
Episode Description: Pip and Ravi follow a new lead that takes them out of Little Kilton. There, they uncover a useful clue — and Pip gets an unwelcome surprise.
While episode 3 is a whirlwind of tense moments and high stakes action, episode 4 takes a bit of a slower approach in my opinion. It’s not that important things don’t happen in this episode because they do — as there has to be with only 6 episodes — but for me, this is the slowest episode of the season. With all the drama of the last episode, I do like that this one starts at a slightly slower pace.
The slower pace of some of this episode gives us more time to sit with Pip and Ravi, which I really enjoy. Their scenes are still moving the plot forward, but there’s a bit less urgency than some of the other scenes which is nice. Especially their first scene when they’re going through the bunny and the drugs that they found in Andie’s room. There are a lot of subtle and sweet moments throughout that scene that show how Pip and Ravi’s relationship is developing. In general, I think this is a big episode for Pip and Ravi. As I mentioned, we see a lot of little moments between the two of them and we see them working as a team, but the tension is also building between them, leading up to their fight towards the end of the episode.
Pip and Ravi’s fight, while sad, is probably my favorite part of the episode. This episode is a big turning point for Pip; she’d been so sure that Sal was innocent (which he was and she was right about) but the video that Dan Da Silva shows her (we’ll get to that in a minute) really shakes her confidence as it shows her a side of Sal that she’d never seen before. Her confidence in people around her is shaken after seeing her dad’s name in the visitor log from the hotel (this is an addition that I thought was really odd and still don’t get why it’s there) and she’s completely lost. I get where she’s coming from, and of course, I get where Ravi is coming from. He thought that he finally found someone who knows what he knows; that Sal was a good person who never would’ve hurt a soul, let alone Andie. The fight is real and raw and it really hits every time.
During the fight, Ravi says to Pip, “You think you’re this good person. What if you’re not?” and I think that’s the thesis of the entire series. The season centers around Pip and Ravi debunking the perception that Sal was a murderer, and throughout the process, Pip’s belief in who she is as a person and her morals get shaken up during the investigation and she learns that these people she’s known for her entire life may not be as good as she thought they were. This statement from Ravi not only sums up the series, but it also really propels us into the later half of the season and the rest of Pip’s development as the books continue — which I really hope we get to see on screen #RenewAGGGTM
Certain aspects of this episode made my blood boil, and the biggest of all was the scene with Pip and Dan Da Silva. From the jump Dan gave me a very uncomfortable vibe, but I think this episode really shows his true colors. I was seeing red when he replied to Pip not believing that Sal “couldn’t take” finding out that Andie wasn’t the “good girl” he thought she was with the words “Of course you don’t. I’ve seen your family” — a clearly racist remark about her Black step-father and brother, ugh it made me absolutely sick and really shows that it didn’t matter if Sal did kill Andie or not; because he’s Indian, Dan was always going to believe that Sal was guilty, the police were always going to believe he was guilty.
The video of Sal in the interrogation room was incredibly hard to watch. Dan tries to paint it as proof that Sal had a temper and that he killed Andie; that’s what he sees because he doesn’t want to see Sal any other way. I saw a child being screamed at by a police officer in an interrogation room without a lawyer present. I see a white police officer purposefully antagonizing an Indian child and then acting as though Sal was out of line. The context of that video is everything; how long had Sal been in that interrogation room? We don’t get that information because Dan (and the rest of the police force) were painting a picture that fit with their perception of events, and every single time I watch this episode it makes me so upset.
I loved the way they had Naomi lead Pip to finding Max’s finsta account. Something I think the writers and Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, who plays Naomi, did so well was show Naomi’s fear of the truth coming out. Not just the fear of what Max would do, but the fear of how Cara would react, how it would change people’s perception of her; and how the truth coming out would make her really have to face what she and her friends did to Sal. As the audience, you know what they did was wrong, that it wasn’t okay for them to lie to the police and take away Sal’s alibi as that was one of the moments that lead to his death, but it’s hard not to sympathize with Naomi, especially when you can clearly see that she was a scared young woman who really had no choice at all.
The last scene with Pip and Naomi in the classroom is wonderfully acted; you see just how tortured Naomi has been over this, and you see Pip’s anger and hurt that Naomi was involved in taking away Sal’s alibi — which again, leans into the theme of questioning what makes a good person. Additionally, ending the episode with Naomi saying “Because they found out what we did” is an excellent cliffhanger, and really propels the momentum into the next episode.
While episode 4, at times is slower paced than the previous 3 episodes, this one leads to a lot of good character development for Pip, as well as some pretty big revelations for the last two episodes of the season.
My little loves of the episode:
- All the scenic shots. Love a good scenic view
- Cara’s bucket hat (I am the number one Cara Ward stan if you cannot tell)
- Holly’s cameo as the hotel guest in the bathrobe (I totally didn’t catch this on the first watch, and then I was watching this time and went “Wait…is that Holly?”)
- Ravi talking about the pancakes and how well the flavors blend together, then trying to get Pip to take a bite and she just shoves his hand away without even looking at him (#domestic)
- Naomi’s computer password being “wardsrus”
- Pip telling her mom “You’re not a bit much. You’re exactly the right amount” 🥹
- The scene between Pip and Cara at the Ward’s house when they’re talking about if you can truly know a person or not. I love their friendship so much
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the fourth episode in the comments!
Until next time 💜
