What Is the Story About?
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder follows Pippa, a teenage girl adamant on resolving a 5 year old missing/murder case of Andie Bell to absolve herself of the guilt of not helping her back then when she was a kid. Joining her is Ravi Singh, brother of Salil Singh who confessed to Andie’s murder before committing suicide. The duo takes on themselves to prove Salil not guilty of Andie’s murder and find the true culprit.
Will Pip and Ravi be able to prove Salil not guilty? Will they find the true killer? Why did Salil kill himself after confessing Andie’s murder?
Performances?
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has good performances from its cast making up to its flaws. Emma Myers plays the lead protagonist Pip Fitz Amobi very effectively. She portrays the insecurities, guilt, stubbornness, haphazardness, intelligence and presence of mind of a teenage girl with great panache.
Zain Iqbal is quite decent as Ravi Singh, a brown boy guilt-tripped by his incapability of absolving the murderer tag on his dead brother and family. His chemistry with Emma is very endearing. Asha Banks plays Cara, Pip’s best friend. Her combination scenes with Pip are tender and has a very charming screen presence to her name. Henry Ashton gets very little material to work with, but leaves a mark with his performance.
Analysis
Based on the best-selling murder mystery trilogy by Holly Jackson, Netflix’s ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Mystery’ follows the events and happenings of the trilogy’s first book that goes by the same name. Created by Poppy Cogan, written by Poppy Cogan, Ruby Thomas, Zia Ahmed and Ajoke Ibironke, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is directed by Dolly Wells and Tom Vaughan.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder opens to a blonde teenage girl with an injured head walking on an empty road. 5 years later, Pip Fitz Amobi wants to take up the case of Andie Bell – who’s been missing since last 5 years and presumed dead for her EPQ. For the world, Salil Singh – her then boyfriend is the murderer. But, he killed himself after making the confession.
As an attempt to absolve the guilt of seeing Andie and Salil before her disappearance and owing to an inner stubborn belief that Salil is innocent, Pip gets behind investigating the murder mystery. Although her friends discourage her attempts to dig up a solved case initially, she finds support in her best friend Cara, whose elder sister Naomi was close-friends with Salil Singh. Pip finds a partner in Ravi Singh, Salil Singh’s younger brother who also believes in his brother’s innocence. Pip and Ravi start digging up the events of April 18, 2019 making people involved in the case uneasy. And this includes Max Hastings – Salil and Naomi’s friend, Andie Bell’s friends and Pip’s own family.
However, things get convoluted as Pip lands in further troubles. This include threatening calls and messages from unknown numbers as she persistently investigates the case with Ravi’s help. Without further spoiling the show, let’s get to the best part and the worst.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has an interesting mystery and some conscious politics in it. But the screenplay is annoyingly incohesive. It’s also bothered by pacing issues that mug the entertainment quotient of the show big time. The show doesn’t have a lot of characters, but most of them lack any depth or nuance. One of the biggest necessities of a well written murder mystery is heavy weight characters. The more layered the characters are, the more engaging the show/movie gets.
While pivotal scenes appear disjointed, characters’ probable motives hold barely any emotional gravity despite the need for it. Even if the events of the show do due justice to the written source material, the engagement factor is quite not the same. Which is why probably the fans of the trilogy are not very satisfied with the series adaptation.
To conclude, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a partly engaging and nicely performed small-town murder mystery. While it’s not a one-of-a-kind murder mystery with immensely rewarding shock values, it still is a one-time watchable binge-worthy show which might get even better if its shortcomings are undone in the upcoming seasons.
Music and Other Departments?
Heather Christian’s music and score for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is quite adequate. While it’s not exceptional by any means, it does a fair job in enunciating certain sequences effectively. Michael Filocamo’s and Seppe Van Grieken’s camera-work captures the beauty of Axbridge (as Little Kilton in the show) and sets the right colour tone for a small town murder mystery.
Highlights?
Performances
Mystery
Politics
Drawbacks?
Flatly written characters
Pacing
Inconsistent screenplay
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, but in parts.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, but with few reservations.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Series Review by Binged Bureau