And here we are, my review of the final episode of season 1 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder!
If you missed them, check out my review of episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4 and episode 5 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 about the AGGGTM finale!
Episode 6
Length: 51:11
Content Warnings: Language, sexual violence (discussions of rape), smoking, substances, death, murder, mentions of suicide, blood, grief, drugs and spiking drinks, vomit, kidnapping
Episode Description: The police make an arrest — but Pip isn’t convinced the case is quite closed yet, so she goes to visit the one person who might have the answers.
I have to say, thank goodness this series dropped all at once because if I had to wait a week between the end of episode 5 and this one I would’ve lost my mind! As I mentioned in my episode 5 review, they made a slight change from the book and Isla, the girl that Elliott Ward had kidnapped, knew that she wasn’t Andie Bell. In the book, Isla is a runaway, like she was in the show, but unlike the show, she has a learning disability and the mental age of a child, which led her to believe that she was Andie Bell because Elliott so badly wanted to believe that she was, and acting like Andie made Elliott happy. In the show, Isla knows that she’s not Andie and has been living in fear for the last five years.
This change is huge. In the book, Elliott is so distraught over thinking that he killed Andie and then saw this girl who looked just enough like her to possibly be her and because of her mental state, she also believed that she was Andie. Elliott really convinced himself that it was Andie; deep down he knew it wasn’t, but he was able to pretend she was Andie because she believed she was Andie. With the change the show made, to Isla knowing that she’s not Andie, it really makes everything that Elliott did even more sinister than before.
The flashback to the night that Isla tried to leave, and Elliott tells her about how he killed Sal is so heartbreaking. This girl thought that a nice dad saw her in a desperate moment, gave her a place to stay and clean up for the night and then she could go on her way. Then, he reveals that he killed a young boy to cover up another murder that he thought he committed and suddenly, this poor girl is in fear of her safety and tries to keep him calm and the second she has the chance to escape she tries and fails and he locks her in the attic for five years. I can’t imagine how scared she was, and I thought that Georgia Lock who played Isla, portrayed that wonderfully.
And my heart broke for Pip having to hear the details of how Elliott killed Sal. She wanted answers, she needed answers, but this was never what she expected to learn and it really is devastating to learn that someone you’ve trusted for essentially your entire life could do something so awful. The way she looked at Elliott in the back of the police car was chilling, and it was so sad to watch her completely break down in her dad’s arms. Again, another beautifully acted scene by Emma.
Honestly, I was just on edge the entire episode. Even with knowing what reveals still needed to happen, I was so anxious. First, let’s talk about the scene at the police station with Pip and Elliott. Of course, you know that once Pip realizes that it wasn’t Elliott who killed Barney that he was going to the police station to see him, but the trajectory of that conversation was definitely nerve wrecking. I loved the progression of the scene, and how you once again see Elliott trying to rationalize what it is that he did. Do I think he intentionally hurt Andie the night that she died? No, but that doesn’t change that he did and it doesn’t change the fact that he had a relationship with his student. When it comes to Sal, that was completely premeditated, and listening to him explaining it and justifying it…it made me feel ill. He knew Sal; Sal trusted him and confided in him and looked up to him and to save his own ass he killed a teenager with his whole life ahead of him. I loved what Pip said to him, “You had a choice, and you chose to murder Sal”, that was so important because he really was trying to make it seem like he had no choice, when he absolutely had one and he picked the wrong choice.
Once again, here I am hammering on about how we need a season 2 and season 3, because if you’ve read the books, then there’s a moment in that scene with Elliott and Pip that foreshadows the entire plot of As Good As Dead. After Pip calls him evil, Elliott says to her, “Or maybe it’s that dark little seed that’s evil. You know, now I wonder if we don’t all have one somewhere in there. Even you, Pip. Even you! It just needs the right conditions to grow”. Ugh, it gave me chills every time because I need a season focusing on As Good As Dead with a montage of Pip reliving setting Max up for Jason’s murder with that voice over playing. It would be SO GOOD. BBC, you know what you need to do!
If you’ve read the book, then the thing that you were waiting for was the reveal that Becca was the last person to see Andie alive, and their fight is what (pardon the expression) was the final nail in Andie’s coffin. I was really curious as to how this scene was going to go, and I was glad that they kept it mostly true to the book. It’s hard to feel completely angry with Becca for what happened that night; she tells her sister that she was raped and asks her to go to the police with her, and Andie tells her that she can’t because she’s the one who sold Max the rohypnol that he used to drug Becca. I can’t imagine what that betrayal feels like, and then to find out that Andie was planning on leaving the next day. That’s a lot of things to process all at once, so I don’t blame her for lashing out, but it’s her actions afterward that are hard to come to terms with, and I think that’s what Pip goes through, especially because at that point it’s easy to piece together what happened next.
There’s a moment when Pip tells Becca that what happened wasn’t her fault; that Andie already had a head wound and was bleeding out, and there’s a clear change in Becca’s expression that gives me chills. The next thing Becca does is ask Pip if she wants to see where she buried Andie and then tells her to drink her tea (that she had drugged). At that point, you know that Becca is planning something, and my question is, how premeditated was this on Becca’s end? While it’s clearly implied that Becca was the second person blackmailing Pip and was the one to kill Barney, it’s not explicitly stated like it is in the book. In the book, Becca confirms that she had been texting and threatening Pip and that she did take Barney, but I don’t think she had planned on actually hurting Pip until she knew the truth was going to come out, especially since once she actually has the chance to kill Pip she says she can’t do it.
But in the show, Becca is fully going to go through it and I really think she would’ve had Cara and Ravi not shown up. My question is, had she been planning this from the beginning if the truth came out? She told Pip, both in the threats and in person, to leave the case alone and she says that she “got to Andie’s stash before you [Pip] did” or something along those lines. Was she always planning to do something to Pip if she discovered the truth? Did she know Pip and Ravi broke into her house and found Andie’s stash? Or did she only make that choice when Pip showed up at her door? It’s one of those moments where I would’ve loved to have been in Becca’s head to know what she was thinking.
Now, I don’t know if it’s the same woods (I’m assuming it is and it’s just like a different place in the woods), but the implication of Becca burying Andie in the woods that (again, presumably) Becca was raped is so twisted. A part of Becca died that night in the woods, and then she buries her sister there…I mean, even if it’s not the same woods, she still buries Andie in the woods somewhere, and that adds another level of sinister to what she did. That didn’t really hit me until the second watch, but now that it has I can’t stop thinking about it.
While the show wraps up Andie’s case in the same way that the book does, they did a great job of keeping it open to another season, especially with the scene between Max and Pip where she says to him “And I’m not going to stop until every single person you’ve ever hurt gets justice”. I think that for the people who have read the books, they did drop a lot of hints for the events of Good Girl, Bad Blood and As Good As Dead, and I really hope we get to see these things come to fruition in future seasons.
My little loves of the episode:
- The way Pip was SO NERVOUS to tell Ravi that she had feelings for him. The way she was all shifty eyed and a little giggly — it’s the first time we really get to see her act like a teenager (outside of some moments with Cara) and it was very adorable (we’re not talking about what happens directly after that with Ravi telling her that he’s leaving, it makes me too sad)
- The scene with Leanne and Pip in the kitchen, and Leanne saying “You are the bees knees” that was so sweet
- Finding out that the flashbacks from the calamity parties was from Becca’s point of view (honestly blew my mind the first time I watched the episode)
- Ravi finding the single marshmallow in his backpack and that being the thing that makes him return to Little Kilton
- Cara tracking Pip’s phone. Very smart with a best friend like Pip
There were a few little things that I missed. Mainly, they removed my favorite scene in the book which is the scene where Pip and Ravi reenact the possible murder timeline and realize that there’s no way that Sal could’ve killed Andie. I would’ve loved to see that scene and I think that if the season was extended to 8 episodes instead of 6 (I truly cannot believe I’m hoping for an 8 episode season, what has TV become…that’s a different conversation for a different time) that scene probably could’ve been included.
I wished they dropped more hints about Jason throughout the season and not just in this last episode, especially since in the book he is suspect number one. However, if the series gets renewed (please let it get renewed) it was a good thing to not include Pip looking deeper into the Bell family and holding onto that for the following seasons — I was glad that they already brought up the DT Killer though; again, I need the show to get renewed because I need to see this storyline play out on screen!
Something that I also thought was interesting was that they definitely made Andie nicer then we discover her to be in the first book. In the book we do learn some pretty terrible things about Andie. That she threatened Dan, released Nat’s nudes (which we do get in the show, though it is never actually confirmed the way it was in the book), the way she was also blackmailing Elliott and the callous way she replies to Becca telling her about being raped by Max. I wonder if the writers chose to soften her a bit to make the audience more sympathetic to her? When I read the book, even with all of these reveals of who Andie was beyond her perfect victim everyone had decided she was, I of course felt sympathy for her. I think you can’t help but feel sympathetic to a young person who is killed before they even really get to live. The fact that Andie did bad things as a teenager (even if some of these things were truly horrible) doesn’t mean that she deserved to die. Plus, throughout the series as the full scope of this case is revealed we learn a lot more about Andie and learn that she was more complex than anyone could’ve anticipated.
I also missed the podcast element, and Pip’s project logs but I get why that wasn’t included in the show, so that’s not a big deal for me. We got an epic murder board, so I’m pleased with that!
Some general things about the series that I loved:
- They absolutely nailed the importance of Pip and Cara’s friendship. I loved every scene between the two of them and truly was so invested in their friendship. It was beautiful to watch on screen
- The chemistry between Pip and Ravi. They did exactly what I hoped they would and followed the book when it came to the progression of Pip and Ravi’s relationship. They built a partnership and friendship before anything else and slowly developed feelings for each other. They were so easy to root for and having the season end with them getting together after the case had been solved, just like the book, was exactly what I hoped for
- The casting. I really think they cast everyone perfectly. They all fit their characters so well.
- The score and the cinematography. Both of those things can really make or break a show, and I thought both were done so well. The music was always perfect for whatever scene was going on, and the cinematography, especially in scenes such as the calamity parties, Pip’s search for Josh and the scene where Becca attempts to kill Pip really added to the necessary intensity and mood
Overall I thought that this was a great adaptation. There were quite a few things that were changed or not included, but the heart of the book really was there in the series and that’s the most important thing to me. You can tell that Holly Jackson was involved with the show and I’m so glad because while the show does stand on its own as a separate piece of media, it reflects the book very well and this AGGGTM superfan was very happy with the results. I also think that they did a really good job of setting up for a second season, and I really hope that the show gets renewed so we can see that!
Wow, I can’t believe we did it. We made it to the end of all the episodes. I had so much fun writing these reviews, and I hope that you all enjoyed them! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the final episode in the comments.
I’d also love to know if there are any other adaptations that you’d like to see me review in the future. I am planning on reviewing the 3rd season of Heartstopper once it’s out in October, but if there are any other shows/films that you’d like to hear my thoughts on, let me know.
Until next time 💜
