This article includes discussions of rape, kidnapping, and murder that some readers might find disturbing. It also includes MAJOR SPOILERS for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2. Proceed with caution!
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2 makes many changes in bringing the story from the page to the screen, and these fifteen are the biggest. Because of the unique format of Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide series, it’s pretty much impossible to do a one-to-one adaptation. Almost all the story is told through podcast interviews, emails, and news articles. There aren’t many traditional scenes. As such, the writers have the challenge of not only changing this into a narrative format but also making it fit with the TV screen.
The first season of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder had a mixed reception from fans of the book. It received a 68% Popcornmeter Rotten Tomatoes score with an average rating of 3.6 stars out of 5. However, one big shift happened between seasons 1 and 2 that made the second season more promising. Holly Jackson was an executive producer and consultant on season 1, but the author joined the writing team for season 2.
While the second season of the Netflix show makes big changes to the story, most of them feel beneficial to the story, unlike the changes to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 1. These are the changes that readers can expect from Good Girl Bad Blood.
15
Jamie Has A Connection To The Max Hastings Trial
In Good Girl Bad Blood, two storylines run concurrently. Max Hastings is on trial for the kidnapping of Becca Bel and Nat da Silva. At the same time, Connor’s brother Jamie goes missing. The two have no direct connections. However, the investigation of Jamie’s disappearance is much more pressing in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2.
In the second season, Jamie is a key witness for the Max Hastings trial. He saw Max come out of the room after raping Nat. As such, his disappearance has a ticking clock for two reasons. Firstly, Pip is 100% correct in saying that the first 72 hours of a disappearance are the most important. Secondly, he can’t testify in the trial if he’s gone.
14
Pip & Ravi Are More Serious As A Couple In The Show
Ravi and Pip’s relationship progresses slowly in Holly Jackson’s books. The two aren’t actually in a relationship until the start of Good Girl Bad Blood. In the TV adaptation, Pip and Ravi get together when they kiss at the end of A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder season 1. In the book, they don’t spend much time together.
By the time the second season starts, they’re pretty serious in their relationship. Ravi says he loves Pip in the first episode, which doesn’t happen until late in the book. They have sex in the show, which isn’t in the book. Ultimately, the seriousness of their relationship makes it more heartbreaking when Pip pushes him and everyone else away.
13
Max Is Actually Charged With Rape Instead Of Kidnapping
The US and UK versions of Good Girl Bad Blood differ in the charges that Max Hastings faces. In the US version, the statute of limitations has passed for rape and sexual assault. As such, he is charged with the kidnapping of both Becca and Nat. However, the TV show aligns with the UK version, in which he is charged with rape instead of kidnapping.
Because there are US and UK versions of the book series A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson, some of the changes only apply to the US version of Good Girl Bad Blood.
The decision to charge him with rape in Netflix’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2 is extremely important. The kidnapping charges minimize the severity of what Max did, and they don’t fit with modern Connecticut laws about sexual assault of a minor (via RAINN) or the show’s UK setting. Ultimately, it’s more powerful for Max to face rape charges because that’s exactly what he did.
12
The Murder Mystery Party Happens In The Novella Kill Joy
Holly Jackson’s Good Girl Bad Blood doesn’t include a murder mystery party. Instead, the party that Pip, Ravi, and Cara go to in the TV show happens in the prequel novella Kill Joy. In the story, which takes place very shortly before the first book, Pip and Cara go to Connor’s murder mystery birthday party. Pip uses her detective skills to solve the case; however, she ultimately identifies the wrong killer, which upsets her.
Netflix’s season 2 condenses the events of the novella and substitutes a few A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder characters. The event’s inclusion feels natural since the party was Connor’s birthday, and Jamie did take part. Plus, it gave Pip and Jamie a little bit of interaction before his disappearance.
11
Cara Starts Doing Drugs & Blames Pip For Ruining Her Life
Cara and Pip remain pretty good friends throughout Good Girl Bad Blood, even though Cara is facing judgment from the community about her father murdering Sal Singh. Her coping mechanism for the whole thing is making one-liner jokes that make everyone uncomfortable and watching Netflix together. However, she occasionally drinks as a maladaptive coping mechanism, but for the most part, they lean on each other.
However, Cara is struggling more in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2, and she starts doing MDMA. While high and drunk, she rails on Pip for ruining her life. Later, when Pip comes to check on her, she once again tells Pip she’s terrible. Pip distances herself from Cara, internalizing the statements. However, by the end of the show, they’ve completely made up, with Cara saying they’re ride or die.
10
Becca Bell & Nat Da Silva’s Testimony Is Included In The Show
Max Hastings is a despicable human being, which makes it absolutely infuriating that he received a “not guilty” verdict. There was zero way that A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2 could change that outcome, though, without completely altering the events of the third book, As Good As Dead. However, the Netflix show at least gave Max’s victims a voice.
Much of what we know about his crimes in the book is secondhand. The show’s omniscient point of view allows us to see things beyond Pip’s experiences, though. Becca and Nat telling their own stories is heartbreaking to watch. But it’s also extremely powerful to watch them reclaim their own stories. What’s more, it makes the “not guilty” verdict feel more palpable.
9
Woman A’s Identity Isn’t Known To Pip At The Start Of Season 2
In A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, Pip learns through an email exchange with a former student named Laura Hands that Nat da Silva went to a Calamity party in early 2014. Nat believed her drink was spiked, as she had only one drink and blacked out. When Max is arrested, Pip knows it’s related to Becca and Nat. She’s also directly listed as a victim in Good Girl Bad Blood.
However, Pip spends quite some time trying to find out the identity of Woman A and how Jamie is a witness for her. The choice to keep Woman A’s identity a secret from Pip adds more mystery from the start. It also adds more reason to suspect that Max did something to Jamie.
8
Child Brunswick Didn’t Help Dispose Of The Victims’ Bodies
In both the book and show, Child Brunswick is a victim. He was a nine-then-ten-year-old boy forced to lure children away, knowing his father would murder them. He was in an abusive home with a single father, where he feared for his life. He hated his father. He willingly testified against his father. After serving time as a juvenile, he came out rehabilitated and wanting to be better.
However, there is one detail in the book’s account of the case that’s a little tougher to stomach. Child Brunswick helped dispose of the children’s bodies after their murders. I want to be clear: this doesn’t make him any less of a victim. Ultimately, it might be easier for many folks to empathize with him in the show without this detail, though.
7
Ravi Starts His Law Job In Season 2 Instead Of Season 3
Ravi Singh wants to be a lawyer. In the second book, he discusses that he wants to become a lawyer. He even has a plan to start at a community college, transfer to a university, and then attend law school. However, he does not actually start an internship with a legal firm until As Good As Dead. The TV show moves up this timeline.
At the start of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder season 2, he is starting his internship. Max threatens to get him fired if Pip doesn’t pull out of the trial. Unfortunately, he follows through on this. This shows just how easily rich and powerful men like Max Hastings can try to silence people who want to speak out.
6
Stanley Works At The Golf Club, Not The Paper
Stanley Forbes is a part of the first book, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and he works for a newspaper. This means he has much more access to information and an excuse to be nosy without it seeming out of place. He can be virtually anywhere, and it’s not really strange. He can also control whether Jamie’s disappearance is published.
However, Stanley is missing from season 1 and finally gets introduced until the second season of the Netflix original show. He works at the golf club instead of the paper. He isn’t in quite as many scenes. As such, every scene in which he appears provides further hints about his true identity. What’s more, his appearance in places like the graveyard and the old Calamity building is suspicious.
