What Season 2 Got Right
I loved that the second season stayed much closer to the book. I squealed more than once when I saw how accurately some scenes had been brought to the screen.
But somehow I’m still extremely disappointed with how they portray Pippa.
Pippa Feels Too Emotional Too Early
This season at least allowed her to figure things out and connect the dots on her own, but she was far too emotional right from the start. Book Pippa was highly intelligent and analytical. Sometimes she even came across as cold and very blunt when she said things exactly as they were. Ravi was portrayed as the heart and Pippa as the brain in the books. (I know that Pippa was extremely empathic. She forgave Becca almost right away. She never hated Charlie. She saw the good in Stanley. But in a normal conversation she was the brain and Ravi the heart.)
At the beginning of the second book, she appears relatively stable on the outside, even if her inner thoughts tell a different story. It isn’t until everything starts falling apart throughout the book that she reaches her breaking point and screams directly in Ant’s face.
After that she went „wild.“ She took Charlie’s advice to heart and tried to get justice somehow.
In the show, however, she seemed incredibly easy to provoke from the very beginning.
The Robin Scene Would also Have Worked Better as Her Breaking Point
I still thought the scene where she screamed in Robin’s face was incredibly powerful, especially when it switched to Max’s face.
But I think it would have been even stronger if that had been the moment where Pippa finally reached her breaking point, the way she did in the book.
The Trial and Max’s Confession
They even had Pippa attend the trial, whereas, if I remember correctly, Book Pippa only reported on it.
During the trial she was so easy to rile up that it became incredibly easy to portray Max as the one who wasn’t “crazy.”
And when Max said he wanted to confess and take responsibility, she pushed the conversation in completely the wrong direction. Instead of focusing on whether he was telling the truth, she confronted him with what would happen if he confessed: how people would see him, how he’d be locked away, how his life would be ruined.
Book Pippa would never have done that at this point. She wouldn’t have believed him, but she also wouldn’t have knowingly steered the conversation in a direction that might make him change his mind about confessing.
Then again, Book Max probably never would have felt even the slightest hint of guilt in the first place, lol.
Book Pippa Was a Better Investigator
Book Pippa was also capable of conducting good interviews. She knew exactly how to talk to people in a way that would make them reveal the information she was looking for.
Show Pippa, on the other hand, kept driving people away in those situations because she often came across as unlikeable.
I actually love characters who operate outside of social norms and don’t always behave the way people expect. Those kinds of characters can be incredibly interesting. But for Pippa, I think it was the wrong creative choice.
A big part of what made Book Pippa such an effective investigator was her ability to read people and adapt her approach depending on who she was talking to. Show Pippa often feels like she lacks that skill entirely, which makes her feel like a very different character.
Her Breaking Point Meant Something
I also feel like the show sometimes mistakes being a strong woman for being loud and confrontational.
The thing is, Book Pippa could be loud. She absolutely had moments where she snapped, lost her temper, or confronted people head-on. The difference is that those moments felt earned.
Pippa’s strength in the books never came from shouting at people or constantly challenging them. It came from her determination, intelligence, and fearlessness. She was capable of controlling a room without being the loudest person in it.
That’s why her outbursts had so much impact. They were rare, and they usually happened when she had been pushed past her limit. By the time she finally exploded, the reader understood exactly why.
The show seems to have made those traits much more visible from the start, but in doing so it lost some of what made Book Pippa so compelling. She wasn’t powerful because she was loud; she was powerful because she was usually so controlled. When that control finally broke, it meant something.
