agggtm s1 is pissing me off, yes for the main reasons but also for small things like:
• it being Ravi's idea to text pretending to be Andie's friend. sure ig it was a way to involve him more in the actual investigation part but in the book there's a detailed emotional entry about how she felt guilty about doing it and that's how she knew she was still good- which is a part of her arc over the 3 books - and a small but rooting clue for the characterization in AGAD
• The note in the tent said "STOP DIGGING PIPPA" - okay maybe I'm nitpicking but it should've been "STOP DIGGING, PIPPA" - another sort of unconscious clue about it being eliot the teacher who was good punctuation and grammar - fr it for me irrationally angry each time it was shown on screen
• continuing on that with "Sal's confession" text - only the punctuation is supposed to be different - the lower case was supposed to match - to show the attempt of ward to try to hide and for the police to dismiss it easier but okay I'm not that mad about this one
• i loved the DT killer easter egg but - the dialogue feels out of place and choppy. It could've been so much better and smoother with just a couple more lines, maybe with everyone pitching in with a story - and honestly the dialogue being smashed together feels like a recurring problem, though it's only ep 2. It seems to be a Catch-22, because i probably would've maybe enjoyed it more maybe if I hadn't read the books - but also it feels like they're relying on the atleast some knowledge of the books because the otherwise the pacing is abrupt and messy without enough context - visual or verbal
• i saw another post noticing this - pip doesn't have that clever detective instinct - idk how to describe it - but the books show her as a witty, smart person from before she even started solving the case - with tics that lean towards the neuroticism and conscientiousness end of the spectrum. it rather feels like she's just asking questions to witnesses - which anyone could do- and lucking into information by chance. she's supposed to be earnest and eager and passionate and relentless and snobby (especially when she gets nervous) and bossy. where was all this?? just POOF. where's all her actually sleuthing and going to like 5 different sources and portals where no one would think to look and piecing together context from 5 different conversations.
• WHY is the title in that blocky minimalistic font GIMME MY CALLIGRAPHY WITH RED THREAD FROM THE MURDERBOARD
• the smaller realities of ravi being Indian are kinda missing - they weren't that prominent in the book either but i did notice details like Ravi not wearing shoes inside his house, a common practice in Indian households. they could've easily shown this in the series. showing is just as important as telling (take a shot everytime ravi says he's brown) here. they tell us that things have been difficult for the singhs, but even just a couple scenes - like the grocery store one - would have done a lot for showing that properly.
on the same lines, what this whole investigation means for ravi seems to be a bit under explored to me - he's a secondary main character alongside pip, and that's his literal brother...yeah, the lake scene was there, but it should've been explored wayyy more than it has been yet. if they can't show it, then atleast get more emphatic dialogues that hit the audience. and the scene where they figure out evidence sal didn't do it? where's the guttaral scream? the overwhelming feeling of relief and joy? where's his quite yet potent anger towards naomi and max who knew all this time and yet didn't say a word??
• honestly i think the pacing and the dialogue are my main gripes with the show - because it feels abrupt but also so slow moving as a plot, yet none of that slowness is used to properly develop the characters somehow, so in the end its just slow plot that leaves you in a lull at times and characters that you can't care for. i know and love pip and ravi and all from the books and so I understand them, but somehow that feeling is just not conveyed somehow. they sound flippant while they should be caring, rehearsed when they should be raw, like some odd version of therapy speak where they're just saying what they're supposed to say without it actually making sense for their character
• it feels like the anticipation is missing - this is a murder mystery. a cold case. AND there's a personal attachment to the case. where's the hook where you wait eagerly for the next clue? where's the tension? here again the pacing issues rise up - they distance the audience from the mystery, from the urgency - though yes, i suppose there is none yet - but still, it ignites no curiosity. take any episode of veronica mars, for instance, or even the mentalist. that desire to see the mystery through is just not present, atleast for me. though i admit already knowing the killer in lieu of reading the books may be a factor, but still.
• OKAY WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE SAL INTERROGATION CLIP. excuse me? what the actual fuck. i can't interpret it as anything other than malicious, it's so fucking disgusting of them. they removed all instances of andie bell, the white angelic blonde, being someone cruel and a bully and mean, and added a scene of the brown guy being so violent and throwing a goddamn chair? which, sure is reasonable to an extent, if you ignore the constantly REITERATED testimony from all the characters that Sal was the kindest person.
okay I said only the nitpicky things but
• pips acting. hmm. idk. some times she's really good, like during the conversation with eliot ward in prison and with her mom about their differences for uni decisons and with max. but most of the other time it falls flat. maybe the dialogue and the lack of her actually having to find info play into this a bit.
• on the same lines, ravi. mannnn. i really did want to like him but. he's just not the ravi i knew from the books. nerdy silly jokes where . ??? the line delivery for mocking pip after she says she thinks maybe sal is guilty after all and for saying goodbye and for literally everything is the exact fucking same. what. also what was that scene with the marshmallow. bro. homey. yaar. mitr. buddy. you literally looked at it for 0.5 seconds and mumbled to the driver to stop the bus. ATLEAST slow poignant music? a flicker of memory? a flashback, or a hint of one to something that makes them them? also. literally they could've made this something from the beginning. maybe pip isn't the only one keeping secrets. maybe he planned to leave all along. they could've added this tension maybe.
• and yet again. PIPRAVI. my goats. RIP ig. another one bites the dust in little kilton. WHERE is the banter? the jokes? the mind reading of each other and the never questioning and the unwavering support and the COMMUNICATION? THEY NEVER HAD MISCOMMUNICATION WHAT THE FUCK.
• again i think the pacing and dialogue issue is underlying like a cancer EVERYWHERE.
•for a live action the characters sure are 2d.
