Andie Bell was a good girl, a good student, a good daughter, and a good girlfriend. Then, one day she mysteriously disappeared after spending an evening with her boyfriend- Sal Singh. Salil “Sal” Singh was a good boy, a good son, and a good boyfriend, till he took the life of his girlfriend and then decided to exit the world to shield away from its blame. But was this narrative true?
Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi is trying to answer that lingering question that has been haunting her for the last five years since she saw Andie and Sal in school, in what would eventually become their last time together.
Pip is also a good girl, a good student, a good daughter, and a good friend. So, is she ready to extend beyond these societal, emotional, and even physical boundaries to uncover the ugly secret hiding behind Andie’s disappearance and Sal’s untimely demise? To know answers to these questions, you must watch this gripping crime thriller called ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’, which is currently available on Netflix. It’s based on the book of the same name by the phenomenal author Holly Jackson.
This mystery thriller remains true to its source material in terms of content and characters. The talented team of Poppy Cogan and Dolly Wells has managed to maintain the essence of the original novel with character building and a well-balanced plotline. But the major credit goes to Emma Myers, on whose able shoulders this series rests for the entirety of its length.
She has managed to show the character arc of Pip in such a brilliant fashion. She grows up from a timid schoolgirl to a force bringing justice and light where it matters. In this journey, she makes unpleasant discoveries about her friends and family, faces her own share of grief, still her understated dramatization of Pip’s determination to uncover the truth is worth watching on the screen. Even though she became a household name because of the worldwide success of Wednesday, I think this series seals the deal for her acting prowess. I was rather surprised to see her nuance and even reckless portrayal of a novice detective in this series because I was familiar with her sweet, girly-pop persona from the Wednesday series. I really look forward to the next seasons of both of these series to see more of Emma’s amazing talent.
Rest of the cast also pulls in enough weight to take this series to a definitive ending. Unless you’ve already read the original book then it’s difficult to identify the actual culprits till the end. Although we all can make guesses about Andie’s love life and what led her to the woods on that fateful day.
It goes without saying that I surely recommend this as a perfect weekend binge-watch with its limited run-time and tightly packed episodes. It’s time to go on an adventure with Pip.