In recent years, “Only Murders in the Building” led to a resurgence of juicy murder mystery thrillers. Many shows began exploring the fascination around this genre. “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” on Netflix is a recent example that borrows more from shows like “Riverdale.” Set in a small English town, it shows a bright teenager investigating the death of a girl who died years ago. Although the town accused someone as a victim, the teenager doesn’t believe them and decides to find the real killer.
Spoilers Ahead
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Recap:
“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder,” a BBC Series on Netflix, follows Pippa, a bright teenager, who decides to investigate the murder of a girl who died years ago. She hopes to find the actual killer and to seek justice for the person she believes was wrongfully accused.
Episode 1
Pippa ‘Pip’ Fitz-Amobi (Emma Myers) is a teenager who lives in a sleepy English town with her mother, Leanne (Anna Maxwell Martin), her father, Victor (Gary Beadle), and her brother, Josh (Kamari Loyd). Pip often hangs out with her close friends, Cara (Asha Banks), Lauren (Yali Topol Margalith), Zach (Raiko Gohara), and Connor (Jude Morgan-Collie). As she walks back home, she notices a wall dedicated to Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies), who died when she was 17 years old. The townspeople accused Salil Singh (Rahul Pattni) of the death since he was her boyfriend at the time.
After the scandal, Salil lost his life. The cops declared it was a suicide. But Pip believes everyone wrongfully accused Salil. So, she decides to find the actual truth and use this investigation for her EPQ for her college admission. To do that, she meets his younger brother, Ravi (Zain Iqbal). He refuses to help since he has already moved on from his painful past after Salil’s death. So, Pip questions Cara’s sister, Naomi (Yasmin Al-Khudhairi), who was Salil’s close friend, about the night of Andie’s death. Naomi gets emotional recounting the events of the party.
The Hastings’ Celebration
Naomi says Salil left the party at 10:30 PM. But he reached his home more than two hours later. She goes through their old photos and finds Max Hastings (Henry Ashton) in their group. So, she texts him to ask about the night. He doesn’t respond. Pippa shows up at a lavish event at Max’s lavish family villa to work as a waitress. Upon questioning him, she receives almost identical answers to those she received from Naomi. But he claims that Salil made them lie about his alibi. Knowing Naomi’s trauma related to these memories, Cara stops Pip from questioning Naomi.
Since Pip firmly believes Sal is innocent, she requests Ravi to help her in the investigation. He shows her Salil’s phone. She goes through his text messages to find his confession. However, unlike other texts, it was not riddled with grammatical errors. So, she believes someone else wrote that.
Episode 2
Pip interviews Andie’s close friend, Emma, to learn more about Andy. Leanne tells Pip not to let her investigation hinder her studies and her college prospects. Ravi believes Andie’s father hated Ravi because he was not white. He feels sorry for his brother, who doesn’t receive any sympathy like Andie does. Later, Pip interviews Andie’s other close friend, Nat, who accidentally reveals that Andie was sleeping with someone who wasn’t Salil. But she doesn’t explain anything more. So, Pip & Salil make a fake profile to contact Nat. They earn her trust and set up a meeting with her.
While texting her, they learn about a ‘secret older guy’ Andie is seeing. Later, Pip goes on a camp trip with her friends. Once she returns, she notices Naomi and Max in a heated argument. Pip suspects Nat’s brother, Officer Dan Da Silva (Jackson Bews), is somehow connected to Andie’s case. Eventually, Pip and Ravi meet Nat, who recalls that Andie often meets Max even though he is terrible. But Max claims he never spoke to Andie. Later, Pip discretely shows up at Max’s house to confront him. He admits Andie used to sell him drugs even though Salil hated drugs. Their exchange happened at the Calamity party, notorious for its sleaziness.
Episode 3
Pip learns about a secret older guy that Andie was dating besides Salil. She and Ravi believe Andie was selling drugs to this man. With her friends, she goes to a secret Calamity party to learn where Andie used to get the drugs. There, Pip learns that Andie used to keep her stash of drugs hidden in her toy bunny. Later, she receives text messages from an unknown number warning her to stop her investigation. Andie’s sister, Becca (Carla Woodcock), asks her why she is continuing this investigation. Becca believes Pip is investigating not out of her concern for those who died but for her own satisfaction. So, she feels guilty and decides to abandon her investigation.
Back home, Leanne learns about Pip’s new project and tells her not to unearth the old wounds and get herself in trouble. She wants Pip to use another subject for her EPQ. Somehow, it makes Pip pursue the case even more. So, with Ravi, she shows up at the Bells’ residence. When no one’s inside, she sneaks in to find Andie’s hidden stash. But before she can find it, Becca returns home. Luckily, she gets distracted as Officer Dan shows up at her house. Pip and Ravi escape, but Dan notices their car before they drive away.
Episode 4
Before driving away, Pip & Ravi find Andie’s toy bunny with the secret stash of drugs. They also notice a list of buyers and their payments. Pip suspects one of them might be Andie’s killer. During her practice interview for admission to Cambridge University, Pip chooses another topic for EPQ. Regardless, she follows a lead in the case. She and Ravi show up at a nearby hotel to find details of the secret older guy Andie booked a room with. But they realize Andie and her partner used fake names. But they find a contact number potentially connected to this mystery guy.
Dan tells Pip that he saw her escaping Andie’s house. He tells her to stop her investigation. He talks about his and Nat’s troubled childhood but doesn’t say anything about Andie. Then, he shows a video of Salil’s interrogation after Andie’s death, where he gets furious. In the past, Pip had met Salil before Andie’s death. At the time, Salil asked Pip where Andie was. Just moments before, Andie walked inside a classroom after telling Pip to stay silent. So, now, Pip wonders whether Andie is scared of Salil. Soon after, she finds a photo Salil clicked at the party at 12:05 PM on the night of Andie’s death.
Episode 5
Pip realizes Naomi lied to her as she claimed Salil left the party much earlier. So, Naomi reveals the truth. That night, while driving back home drunk with Max, he hit a car. Max called someone to take care of the matter. He told her not to tell anyone about the accident and left a man to die there. Back home, Pip worries about another issue. In the hotel directory, she found an entry under her father’s name and worried whether her father was the older guy Andie dated.Meanwhile, she keeps getting threatening messages from an unknown stranger who tells her to stop her investigation.
Instead, Pip uploads a video online claiming she knows the actual killer behind Andie’s death. So, the stranger threatens to kill someone dear to her. During Josh’s birthday party, the stranger kills her dog. She realised Dan found the victim of the hit-and-run case. So, she suspects he threatened Naomi and Max to lie about Salil. Dan reveals he had a sexual relationship with Andie when she was underage. He didn’t want this scandal to create any issues with his job. Max knew about it. So, he threatened Dan to disclose their affair if he didn’t help with the hit-and-run case.
Who was the secret older guy Andie dated?
Leanne reveals Victor and she had a rough patch in their marriage. He didn’t cheat on Leanne but was only looking for a break. That’s why he stayed away from the family, at the hotel. It clears Pip’s doubts about him. After the exam, she receives a call from the number connected to the secret older guy. She picks it up to hear Naomi speak from the other side. Turns out, it’s an old phone that belongs to her & Cara’s father and her teacher, Elliot (Matthew Baynton). So, Pip realises Elliot is the secret older guy. She leaves her phone in his car to track his movement.
Later, Pip finds Elliot next to Cara’s old house. Pip worries Elliot has kept Andie locked inside. So, she drives there and confronts him. He admits to his affair with Andie. When they went to the hotel, she got furious at him. So, he pushed her away. But he claims he didn’t kill her.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Ending Explained:
Pip shows up at Elliot’s old house and learns about his perverted affair. Then, she hears some noises from the house and reaches out. Elliot locks them both up in the same room. Turns out, years ago, after Andie’s death, Elliot met this girl and offered her shelter. She thought he was a good man. But he took that as an insult as he had made a terrible mistake. He killed Salil and implicated him in Andie’s murder. Elliot thought that was the only way to protect his family. Soon after Pip learns about it, the cops show up at the house, rescue her and the victim, and arrest Elliot. So, it finally absolves Salil from the accusations.
Elliot’s arrest puts a strain on Pip’s friendship with Cara. Pip recalls Elliot claiming he didn’t kill Andie. So, she asks Elliot for other possible suspects. He tells her about Andie’s controlling father, Jason and his blue van that was seen driving around the time Andie went missing. However, she hears a trustworthy alibi to prove Jason didn’t do it. She also learns that Andie was likely drugged on the night of the party when Max took advantage of her. But Max claims he and Andie had consensual sex. Eventually, the investigation leads her to Becca.
Who killed Andie Bell?
Pip shows up at the Bells’ residence and confronts Becca. So, Becca reveals the truth. On the night of the party, Pip was desperate to get enough money to leave the town. Becca hated that because it would leave her alone as Max continued to torture her. So, she got furious and in the heat of the moment, pushed Andie away. Andie hit her head and got injured butBecca didn’t save her. In the present, Becca drives Pip to a remote place in the woods to show where she threw Andie’s dead body. She threatens to do the same with Pip. Earlier, she drugged Pip, which makes Pip feel queasy.
Pip makes a run for escape. But Becca soon finds her and starts dragging her back to the hole. Luckily, moments later, Ravi and Cara arrive there to save her. Finally, since the truth is out, Pip diverts her attention back to her personal life. She says she doesn’t want to go to Cambridge University just because her dad did. Leanne allows her to do whatever she wants. On the other hand, Ravi plans to finally leave the town as, until then, he felt responsible for the well-being of his parents. The proof of Salil’s innocence changes things for him. However, Ravi eventually returns to his hometown to reunite with Pip. The season ends with Pip and Ravi kissing each other.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Season 1) ‘Netflix’ Review
‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ begins on a good note. Its first four episodes maintain the unpredictability of its murder mystery as it also develops adorable friendships and relationships between its characters. It keeps us invested in Pip & Ravi’s investigative journey as they explore multiple possibilities based on motives and evidence. Besides, it utilises teenage drama tropes rather well without letting the focus shift from the central narrative of an investigation.
Unfortunately, it veers into being a campy melodrama, especially in its last two episodes. The actors overperform the scenes and make it seem like a cheap Lifetime thriller that is solely interested in its juiciness while sacrificing everything else. So, it turns into a tonally inconsistent melodrama with wild, implausible narrative shifts. It feels especially terrible considering some of the acting talent on display here. However, that all goes in vain when the narration abandons its coherence altogether.
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