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S2:E4 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2014 Film)
39 Plays2 months ago
Our final stop on this Month of Love is anything but lovey-dovey. Join us as we tackle Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, the psychological thriller that redefined marriage (in the scariest way possible) and its 2014 film adaptation directed by David Fincher. In this episode, we dive into the manipulations, mind games, and media frenzies that make Amy and Nick Dunne’s story so disturbingly captivating. Is it still about love if it’s laced with lies, illusions, and missing persons reports? Let’s find out.
Hosted by Lindsey with co-hosts Crystal and Keri.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
Question of the Episode:
- “What’s something that comes across as attractive or romantic in books, but gives ick or major red flags in real life?”
Share your opinions with us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube or email us at basedonabookpodcast@gmail.com.
Intro/Outro Music - Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!)
Thanks for listening to Based on a Book - see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(1:08) Let’s talk book ratings
(5:50) Gone Girl Book vs. Movie Breakdown (SPOILERS)
(1:17:52) Final Verdicts – even though it's obvious
(1:19:56) Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:08
Speaker
Based on a book, the podcast that makes you question everything you know about romance. I'm your host, Lindsay Maroney, and I'm not as skinny as a stick of macaroni. I'm Crystal. I quit the junior high basketball team, but nobody wrote a book about it. And I'm Carrie, and I'm not a cool girl.
00:00:30
Speaker
It is our final rendezvous in the month of love. Woo! In this episode, we're covering Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and its 2014 movie adaptation directed by David Fincher, where trust, devotion, and wedded bliss go hand in hand with secrets, twists, and a whole lot of mind games. So first, we will set the scene.
00:00:59
Speaker
Nick and Amy Dunn seem like the perfect couple, successful, good-looking, and settled into a comfortable life in the Midwest. But on the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy suddenly disappears under suspicious circumstances. As a media storm brews, evidence begins to point in every direction, leaving Nick struggling to prove his innocence.
00:01:27
Speaker
So before we flip perspectives, let's talk ratings. Carrie? No, no. Okay, so I'm not gonna get, it obviously not gonna get into any spoilers, but I did see the movie before I read the book. So I feel like sometimes when you do that, especially with a thriller and it takes away the like big twist out of it, I feel like that can sometimes affect your reading experience a little bit. So I feel like if I had read this first, not knowing what was going to happen, I probably would have rated it even higher. But for now I'm saying
00:02:18
Speaker
for red flags. Okay. All right. Crystal, I love Dateline and True Crime and Forensic Files and all that kind of stuff. That's like my daughter and I like super duper. Like when we have like mother daughter date nights, like like that's what we do. We get a whole bunch of junk food and we watch True Crime. And so I i really love that. Reading this book,
00:02:49
Speaker
was equal parts fun and exciting and incredibly tedious. i i I just I went back and forth between like wanting to know what's next and being mad that it was taking so long to get through parts. By the end, I recognized that like that was seriously the the building, you know, and I liked it. So I gave it three and a half great Mississippi floods. Okay. Also the film was filmed in Cape Giardo which is like right down the road from where I live and I'm Missouri and he mentions the floods in the beginning of the book and I was all with the markers for the floods and I was like I know those places and I know those years because we have those markers in my town too. Oh that's cool. Yeah that is cool. It's almost like you were there.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, and kind of don't want to be there. You're not wrong. But if you like Dateline. Yeah, you cut for a row seats. Yeah. I had never read this book and I had never seen the movie before. But being a fan of true crime, I i had the twist.
00:04:07
Speaker
spoiled for me based on similar stories that happened in real life that they would relate back to the story. So I knew what was going to happen, but I still really enjoyed reading it. So for my rating, I gave it four anniversary clues. o Okay. Yeah, I remember I don't know. I remember recommending this, but I don't remember if either of you watched it. The American Nightmare documentary on Netflix. Yes. And ah everyone called it the Gone Girl case. oo Wait, which one was that? Because I might have watched it.
00:04:47
Speaker
It was Denise ah Huskins and Erin Quinn. Yes, I did watch that one. yep yes so that There was a whole documentary on Netflix and the police were comparing it to the Gone Girl movie, saying it we're calling it the Gone Girl case.
00:05:04
Speaker
They were like, this was too coincidental that this movie had just come out and that this was happening. Like they must have been a copycat. This must have been, they set this up or whatever. Yeah, they would not consider like the fact that this person was actually kidnapped in all of these events. I don't want to go too far into it. Like if you haven't looked into the case and don't want. But the police were definitely prejudiced by the movie. Exactly. Like hardcore. It was affecting like them, how they were looking into the evidence, how they were interviewing people and stuff. But if you haven't seen that case or looked into it or watched the documentary, highly recommend that. Yeah, agreed.
00:05:50
Speaker
So I guess we're gonna go ahead and ah start breaking it down. Yeah, let's break it down immediately because we have so much to talk about and I need to get into it. So this is your warning. We are about to dive into all the secrets and diary entries in Gone Girl. If you haven't finished the book or movie, consider this year cue to hit pause and preserve those oh so perfect illusions of wedded bliss.
00:06:18
Speaker
But if you're still here, then buckle up because secrets and spoilers lie ahead. And serious spoilers as in the huge twist yeah in this thriller novel. It's supposed to be a very iconic twist too. Yeah. There's one really big twist and then like little sprinkles. Yeah. wall yeah There's like twists and then a couple little turns.
00:06:44
Speaker
There you go. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. There's some 180s and some 360s. It's fine. Okay. I like it. I like it. There's also quite a bit of trigger warnings. Lord, there's a lot. Yeah. This episode does contain talks of violence, emotional and psychological abuse, sexual content, domestic issues, abduction and confinement, blood and gore, mention of suicidal ideation, strong language, mental health, and false accusations. If I missed any, let me know. A little bit of gore, maybe? Did you say that? I don't know.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. but it's Yeah. It's a, it's a wild ride. It's true crime. It is. Yeah, it's wild. But with the, both the book and the movie, the narrative alternates between the point of view of Nick, who is played by Ben Affleck and Amy Dunn, who is played by Rosamund Pike.
00:07:55
Speaker
It's 2012, the morning of Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary. Nick wakes up in a cold sweat. He creeps downstairs to find Amy cooking crepes. And soon after, he heads to his bar that he owns with his twin sister, Margot. ah go ah The bar is the bar.
00:08:17
Speaker
Shortly after arriving at the bar, he gets a call from one of his nosy neighbors that his wife's strictly indoor cat is sitting outside, which that's scary on its own. a Yeah. Nick arrives back home to find Amy is missing and there are signs of a struggle. Following this,
00:08:41
Speaker
Amy's narration comes up in the form of her diary entries and follows the earlier stages of their relationship. So we are going to go back and forth between Nick and Amy. I love that the cat is in the movie. I was like, the cat is like the main character. Like every single scene, yeah the cat is there. The cat steals every scene it's in too. It's just like, hello, I am cat. And like, it's so the cat was so animated. I felt like the cat was always just like in the background, like watching hanging out. And I was like, the cat is literally the main character.
00:09:15
Speaker
ye I was really glad that they included him feeding the cat because, you know, I was stressing the whole time. I was like, that cat out there, you better feed it. easy Take care of the cat.
00:09:28
Speaker
of So the diary entries describe how Amy met Nick in New York City where they both worked as writers. Nick was a journalist who wrote movie and TV reviews.
00:09:42
Speaker
while Amy wrote personality quizzes for women's magazines. After two years of dating, they got married, and the couple lived in a beautiful brownstone home in Brooklyn where they were happy. Can I make a quick comment? Mm-hmm. About the casting. You know, how we're starting off casting. Roseman Pike, perfect. Mm-hmm. casting. Absolutely perfect. Perfection. Mm-hmm.
00:10:11
Speaker
Ben Affleck? I don't know. I was picturing like in the book he felt like more like dorky to me. Like he didn't seem so like He seemed a little Midwest dorky to me. I can say that because I love Midwest dorky, but specifically in the book, he says, like, I have a punchable face. And so when I saw Ben Affleck, I was like, yup. That's true. That's true. That was the chin for me was the chin, the chin. Yeah. It's just like his personality in the movie, like knowing how he was in the movie. And then I'm reading the book and I was like,
00:10:56
Speaker
Maybe it was the narration because I was listening to the book. I was like, he's not like, I don't know. It wasn't like computing. Like it wasn't adding up to me. Okay, okay. Let me sell you for a second. Okay. First of all, no shade to Ben Affleck. I don't know him personally. He might be cool, but he does seem like he's gone through a lot of shit in life. So I'm not going to say that he's a bad guy, but he definitely has a punchable face. And let me point that out to you.
00:11:24
Speaker
Remember in Armageddon? Do you guys remember Armageddon? Yes, yes, yes. When he is like there he's about to go into space, but he's like laying out on the ground in the grass with Liv Tyler, and they're like kind of making out and talking to each other, and he gets that like little half smile grin in his face. That's the moment I decided he had a punchable face 20 freaking years ago, 25 years ago.
00:11:49
Speaker
armageddon okay okay i could see it i could see it see okay so okay so he makes a good nick well also in the movie like to me he was like nicer besides like like don't think about him like what we know a little bit later like in the beginning in the past quote past showing like when she's writing him in the past and stuff like it feels Sweeter like he is sweeter and I feel like he was not like that in the book Just my opinion just okay Okay. Yeah, I see that It's really I think of Ben Affleck and I think of like
00:12:34
Speaker
I think of him with J.Lo when they're doing the pictures and like he's got that, that grin or that a half yeah grin, that little half. Yeah, true, true. Honestly, Ben Affleck was the only person I could picture as nickdom sir yeah pardon Nick I'm seeing it. I got it now. umm I'm on board now. I'm easily influenced. Can you tell? Sorry, Ben Affleck.
00:13:01
Speaker
Sorry, he listens. i I'm sure. sure he's he If you're listening out there, Ben, I'd make a better match for you than any of those. Jennifer's just saying. but Oh, God. That out there. Damn, I've been thirsty lately. Oh, my God. No, thank you. It's February. Stay away from me, Ben. Month of love. It's got to end. I mean, and but again, just like in in warm bodies, you have to have your own place, even if we get married. You have your own place. I have my own place. This is 747.
00:13:33
Speaker
but Sips juice box.
00:13:39
Speaker
No, Ben can stay away from me. No, thank you. I'm okay. He likes Duncan. I can't be mad about that. Okay. Just saying. Free coffee? Shit. It's all down.
00:13:54
Speaker
ah So this duncan we could use a sponsor but sorry ki no yeah i agree that we're going to go back to 2009 because but remember we started in 2012. We're going back to 2009. Both Nick and Amy lost their jobs following the Great Recession of 2008.
00:14:20
Speaker
Meanwhile, Amy's parents, Rand and Elizabeth Elliott, had written a successful children's book series called Amazing Amy based on Amy's life experiences. However, when sales from the books declined and Rand and Mary Beth didn't curb their spending, they also started facing financial issues. So their solution was to ask Amy for money from her trust fund, which was $650,000.
00:14:50
Speaker
which today would be about $950,000. And it was like most of her trust fund. Yeah, it was most of what was left. Yeah. And Nick was like, he was like, we need to talk about this. And she was like, no, we can't talk about this. like Obviously we're going to help my parents and technically it was their money to begin with. Yeah, technically it was their money to begin with.
00:15:14
Speaker
Which is bullshit. You gave me that money, it's mine. And you all got yourself in your own financial worries by yeah not making good decisions when you had plenty of money to make good decisions with. So no. Also, i was just still so this is still in the perspective of her diary. Right. Yes. too But Nick and Amy decide to relocate to Nick's hometown in North Carthage, Missouri to care for Nick's sick mother, Maureen.
00:15:44
Speaker
And with permission, Nick uses what remains of Amy's trust fund to open the bar with Go, who also lost her job in New York during the Great Recession. So Nick finds work teaching journalism at a local college. Nick and Amy's marriage deteriorates. And Amy describes how she hates being a housewife in the suburbs and resents Nick for making her move.
00:16:14
Speaker
her diary comes to portray Nick as an aggressive, moody, and threatening husband and indicates that she fears for her life. Okay. It was all through this first couple of chapters of her diary entries from the very beginning that I was like, this only confirms my hate for everyone named Amy.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I know there's some Amys out there going, what did I ever do to this bitch? You know what you did. I don't like none of you. You know what you did. You know what you did. and And if you're all we hadn't met yet, don't need to. And you know it.
00:16:57
Speaker
Just saying. So then here comes this Amy writing all these diary entries about how she's, you know, I'm never going to be the kind of woman who gets mad at her husband. I just want to support him. And if he wants to have his own life, I want to be supportive of his life. And then bitches up a blue streak and makes fun of all these Missouri people and being in the Midwest and like, nope, don't like you either. What do you know? Surprise, surprise.
00:17:24
Speaker
You don't like Missouri, Missouri doesn't like you. Pretty much. I was like, I hope he did kick her into the river. Shoot. No. Okay, so the way that- If this were a Dateline episode, and that's how I was playing this in my head, that this was a Dateline episode, the longest Dateline episode ever.
00:17:43
Speaker
But like i'm I'm playing this in my head and they're like building the backstory. She lit up the room, but then the change came and she wasn't quite herself anymore. So like that's what's playing in my head. you know And I was like, yep, she's the bad guy, I bet. I bet she's the bad, because you know they don't ever start out. like Everybody always looks at the husband first or whatever and I'm like,
00:18:12
Speaker
I don't know, not in every Dateline episode and this one's really long. This one's really long. I will say that I really liked in the movie how they did the quote like diary entries. Yes. How they set that up because usually I like would hate something like that. I would find that like kind of like tedious and boring. But the way that they did that like jumping into these past diary entries and like her writing them and then, you know. I also love it. Oh, go ahead. The audio book had two different narrators too. Yeah. So a male narrator and a female narrator. Yeah. So when they switched perspectives, it switched, it literally switched voices and that was really nice. Yeah. I love that. And just Rosamund Pike, I just can't get over her. I love her. like It was the perfect Amy. Like she just was like,
00:19:12
Speaker
The personality, I don't want to say, I don't want to say monotone because that's not what it is. It's like the, um, it's like where Nick is the only one that brings out like the goodness in you. Like you kind of look like you're like very stoic. Yeah. And hardcore RBF.
00:19:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah and that's what it was. ive Yeah, like Rosamund Pike played that off so well. Yeah. That, you know, that apathy like she didn't care about anything that didn't deserve her attention. Yeah. You know, and she played that off so well. And she was like playing this part for Nick. That was very important to her until it wasn't. Yeah, right.
00:20:08
Speaker
Exactly. So we're going to switch to Nick's narrative and he views Amy as a needlessly difficult, antisocial, controlling perfectionist and an unwelcome obligation. But he is concerned about her disappearance. Nick becomes a suspect in the investigation led by detectives Rhonda Boney and Jim Gilpin.
00:20:38
Speaker
And Nick downplays their relationship issues. And during the investigation, the police discover a gift from Amy to Nick for their anniversary. And Nick explains Amy's tradition of an increasingly passive-aggressive treasure hunt that she hides around the city.
00:20:57
Speaker
That's exactly what it is. A passive aggressive treasure hunt. But the gift literally like the little the gift literally says clue number one on it. yeah like The cops pulled this thing out of their house that says clue number one and they're like, can you explain this? And he's like, yeah, my wife's a bitch. but And he's also not making himself look good whatsoever. He knows nothing about his wife.
00:21:25
Speaker
two I mean, there's reasons I will get into why he doesn't know certain things, but like, just like general they like questions that they ask him, like he doesn't know things. He just like looks so bad all the time and I'm just like,
00:21:40
Speaker
Oh my gosh, you look terrible. He seriously did himself no favors. But I feel like he fell into that trap that so many other people fall into, which is you can trust the cops, but also don't tell them anything you think might make you look bad. So it's like, which one is it? Do you trust them or do you not trust them? Yeah. Which just don't. Just get a lawyer every single time. Get a lawyer every time. Shut up, get a lawyer. Yep.
00:22:09
Speaker
<unk> There's a song, like, don't fucking talk to the cops. I don't remember what the jingle is, but like, that's it. Don't do that. Same song. I mean, it should be. yeah But I mean, he did so he tells the cops this random shit, and of course, like, let's face it, anybody in that situation would be, you know, muddle-headed. You're not making smart decisions right now because you're kind of panicked. Yeah.
00:22:33
Speaker
but like Like they asked him about like, Oh, your anniversary, you must had reservations at the local fancy restaurant. And he was like, Oh yeah, yeah. No, we didn't, you know, but he wasn't thinking, you know, dummy. Yeah. And like, even his sister like brings up like him, like naturally, like being a fibber basically, because he just didn't want like confrontation. Right. Easier to lie than to have to deal with the truth.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And it's like, okay, but little do you know, like you know that you know you're innocent, but little do you know that like all this is going to be used against you. It is an investigation. Yeah. And it's like, I'm going to need you to like get it together, please.
00:23:22
Speaker
As Nick tries to decode Amy's clues, the police discover more and more evidence that implicates Nick in Amy's disappearance. And while this is happening, Nick also regularly silences or doesn't answer calls on a burner cell phone.
00:23:40
Speaker
And that's what, okay, so whenever I had seen the movie before there, I saw it so long ago, literally when it came out in theaters, that was the last time I seen this movie. And um I went on a first date for this movie. Weird first date movie. Yeah. And yeah, I literally, and it was the longest movie. It's a a like two and a half hours. Yeah. For a first date. Like that's ridiculous. Anyways, the terrible idea.
00:24:09
Speaker
And I could not remember a lot of like different parts, but I remember like the big events that happened. And I was like, what is going on with this burner phone? And I was like, oh, I know what's going on. I know exactly what's going on. And it like clicked for me. And I was like, this bitch.
00:24:33
Speaker
Yep. I think when they first mention it in the book, he just says something about a phone ringing. And then he lets it slip that it's a burner phone. And I remember reading and I was like, Are you serious? Burner phone. Mm hmm. We all know. Yep. So when the when the case hits the press, the media leaps on the opportunity to vilify Nick as he's handsome, seems insincere on camera. Has a punchable face. Has a punchable face. like really Does this happen really fast, like the press thing? It happens fast, but I feel like it always does. When you think about in like the last handful of these types of cases that have been in the news, it's always like she's been missing for two days. Husband at the vigil with no tears.
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, smiling, yeah he you missing poster. And she's like, I mean, not super famous, but she was like, kind of like, no, amazing right yeah, yeah its amazing. amy thing and We gotta talk about those books. But let's move forward first. um And ah everyone always knows the husband is the first suspect. Always. Always. Yeah, that was clue number one. Husband. Mm hmm.
00:25:56
Speaker
Amy's parents come to town and help in the search effort. And at first, they're very supportive of Nick. And soon the police find huge amounts of unpaid credit card debt, which he claims to have been unaware of. And the detectives admit that the crime scene at their home looks staged, including clean traces of Amy's blood in the kitchen and the fact that Amy's life insurance was recently increased by Nick, which he claims was her idea.
00:26:30
Speaker
So let's go back to the parents kind of her parents coming to town because like not only did they write this series of children's books based around Amy, but they have this like fairy tale romance perfect relationship. Her dad still sends her mom flowers once a week and they never fight and they're always together, super supportive.
00:26:53
Speaker
like So it's a lot of pressure when they show up for Nick to also be the perfect husband all of a sudden. He feels like he has to make them think that they that him and Amy still had a perfect marriage too.
00:27:11
Speaker
it's very like he's He's very awkward around them. He doesn't seem to know what to say or how to say it. It's, yeah. Especially because his parents were divorced. Right. So it's that much more important for him to show them, like, no, we're still good. Everything was good. We still had a great marriage. She still did the sc the you know the scavenger hunt, treasure hunt for our anniversary or whatever. You know, because they were like, is is everything okay? or what had Because, you know, even they are like, you know, the police asked us about you because that's what they're supposed to do.
00:27:49
Speaker
And we just wanted to make sure that like everything's still in the up and up and he was like, yeah, yeah, of course, of course, you know. Yeah. I was also curious how much of that was unreliable narrator. Right. Because they were having their own issues in their marriage and they're, they're looking into someone else's marriage and what seems like right what seems like really lovey-dovey isn't actually really lovey-dovey it's just like well and that's because we only ever see we we see all of this either from Nick's first person perspective or Amy's first person perspective and
00:28:29
Speaker
You know, so there's going to be a lot of bias in how they view other people, but that's how Nick was viewing it was that they they have a perfect marriage and we have to live up to that. And that's even how Amy mentions it in her earlier diary entries. She talks about like living up to, you know, what her parents, you know, have.
00:28:48
Speaker
And like they won the last book that they published was like Amazing Amy Gets Married, but she was still single at the time and she was like, yep, still single. Thanks. You know, and not being able to live up to this picture perfect idea that they had of Amazing Amy. Yeah. And they kind of show that like whole scene like in the movie too, where they go to like this whole like book event and she's walking amongst like all the releases and it's like, ah me Amazing Amy plays volleyball and like she said like she tried to and she failed at it or something. or well Yeah, she got kicked off the team in first yeah and freshman year, but Amazing Amy made varsity. Yeah, and she goes through all like the different books and like what she tried to do but couldn't but amazing Amy could.
00:29:45
Speaker
and So always living up to that like idea of what her parents thought she should be. he And also Nick was very like on her side and against her parents like doing that and knew how she felt about it too at that time in the past.
00:30:05
Speaker
I will admit the proposal at the book event. In the movie was really cute. It was really cute. I'm like sorry, but I feel like the Nick in the book wouldn't do that. I don't know. I don't i don't know. I don't know if I'm viewing.
00:30:23
Speaker
Nick from Amy's perspective. right That's true. That's true. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Because we have, it's the unreliable narrators are fucking me up. Yep. They give me every time. Yeah. They're really screwing with me. And I'm like, this isn't my, this isn't the Nick that I know. And then I'm like, but also like Amy fuck with my head. e Yeah. She got in my head. Definitely.
00:30:50
Speaker
So Nick's involvement in the search efforts is revealed that Amy attempted to purchase a gun at the abandoned mall on Valentine's Day.
00:31:02
Speaker
because she didn't feel safe. Can I make a really random comment about this mall? Yes, please. Okay, so this is so random, but when I was watching the movie, I saw the mall because they do like this whole thing. It's a little different in the book and movie how they get into this mall. Right.
00:31:21
Speaker
And I saw the mall. This is so random. I saw the mall in the movie and I was like, I know this mall. I literally know this mall in this movie. I've seen this before. And I looked it up and it's Hawthorne Plaza abandoned mall in Los Angeles. Like that's where it was filmed.
00:31:38
Speaker
And I was like, I've totally seen this before. So you know me, I'm like, I get obsessed with random topics, you know, me with my um tornado storm chasers. let's And I had a point in time where I had an obsession with people exploring abandoned places.
00:32:01
Speaker
And that is a very popular location that people go and explore is this abandoned mall, this exact one. And I literally saw that and I was like, I've been there. Actually, I've been there because I like saw the escalators and I saw the drop off at the top. I was like, dude, I've seen that so many times. I know this mall. I've been there on YouTube last week.
00:32:24
Speaker
I was on YouTube there last year when I used to be obsessed with watching those videos a thousand times. That's so funny. So I thought that was really weird. Yeah. in the In the book, it's Nick and a bunch of volunteers, they go out to the mall and they confront the the people who are staying there. And in the movie, it's the police. They go into it. Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
So Nick finally admits that the missed and ignored calls are from his 23-year-old mistress and former college student, Andy. And Nick and Andy have been dating for over a year.
00:33:11
Speaker
This shit pissed me off. And you know what was another indication of this? It was like, kind of, you could tell. Before you find out about him having an affair, he goes, I think, to the second clue of the little scavenger hunt thing, and it's in his office.
00:33:32
Speaker
and he is with like one of the detectives and they're like see that there's a like women's underwear in the office and they're like take it for evidence he's kind of freaking out about it they're thinking it's Amy's because in the clue it kind of indicates that they used to like mess around in his office or something like that and they take it for evidence and you could tell he's freaking out I'm like that's not her underwear and that's why they kept asking him to what size is your wife yep And, or, or I think it was, um, and you watch you yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, um, this part in the movie where she comes over to Margo's house. I was like, why would you do that? Why is young and stupid. and
00:34:31
Speaker
Well, also, it's different in the book in the movie because he's ignoring her in the book. Like he won't answer, won't answer, and then eventually sees her. But in the movie, he's been trying to call her and contact her and she wasn't answering. So he was like desperate to talk to her in the movie. yeah I guess I gave her more motive to actually show up. Either way, don't do that.
00:34:56
Speaker
If you're the other woman and you see your man on television because his wife went missing, just walk away now. Just walk away. She knew he was married the whole time. She knew he was married the whole time. She knew he was married the whole time. And now look, I've been the other woman, not on purpose, but it's just, you know, I've left her, but then like,
00:35:18
Speaker
Turns out, no, he freaking didn't. But no, this girl knew that she was still married, knew that they were still living together, knew like, so, you know, she's all like, oh, he's he keeps saying he's going to leave her. He's going to leave her. Yeah. Uh-huh. But again, when you're young, you think that, you know, I don't know, this is why I don't like contemporary romance because it leads you to believe that all men are good. Well, usually they all people are good somewhere, but they're not.
00:35:47
Speaker
I don't think there's a good person in here. I don't think there's a single good character in here. No, but that's why last week's episode had me like, nope, none of this is real. This is closer to real than that was. Here, let me flip the switch. Honestly, I was like, while I'm watching the movie and reading this book, I'm like, I feel like, okay, so the moral of the story of this entire book is don't have an affair. That's the moral of the story. Pretty much.
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah. Pretty much. So meanwhile, Amy's diary entries have been detailing a marriage in rapid decline, starting with the beginnings of doubt and ramping up to full fledged accusations of mental and physical abuse. It is also revealed by Amy's supposed best friend from the neighborhood, Noel Hawthorne, that Amy was pregnant, which Nick was unaware of. Dun, dun, dun.
00:36:47
Speaker
A twist. Nick. Is this a twist or is this a turn? This is a turn. It depends on who you are. Because for Nick, it's definitely a twist. Mm hmm. It's true. It's true. And her parents, they were freaking out. Mm hmm. And the media. Yeah. Mm hmm. Spin it. Nick, who's growing desperate, hires the famous defense lawyer Tanner Bolt.
00:37:15
Speaker
who is known as the savior of wife killers. As he flies back from Tanner's office in New York, Nick figures out the answer to Amy's last clue. He's supposed to go to the woodshed on Go's property. Amy's last diary entry states that she's afraid Nick will kill her. So I think this is actually technically where it goes to part two in the book.
00:37:46
Speaker
And honestly, things start to switch. The tone shifts. Exactly. yeah The tone yeah it definitely shifts a lot here because Nick is starting to catch on.
00:38:00
Speaker
to Amy's clues. So Amy's narration shifts to present day, surprise, revealing that she is alive. She's alive. And staged her own disappearance to go into hiding. After discovering Nick's affair, she became angry at his disregard for her and planned extensively for a year to fake her death.
00:38:30
Speaker
and frame Nick as a revenge. Her pregnancy, years of diary injuries, and other evidence were all fabricated in order to incriminate Nick. She's planning to commit suicide to ensure Nick's conviction for her murder as soon as she's sure that he'll get the death penalty.
00:38:54
Speaker
So it's a bit extreme. This is like, I mean, this is the most iconic, one of the most iconic moments in the Gone Girl movie. Like if you look up Gone Girl clips, Gone Girl movie, you will see this iconic monologue from this moment. It's called The Cool Girl Monologue, which is personally one of my favorite monologues. So good all the time. Yeah, it's one of my favorite monologues of all time. I haven't mark even tabbed in the book. It's like it's seriously this whole section. It's
00:39:42
Speaker
much longer, much more detailed in the book. But I love this part so much of her describing what she's doing, what she planned, and then describing what a cool girl is hey and saying that it's the defining compliment that men always use in what women sometimes bend themselves.
00:40:13
Speaker
due to the social pressures hu to be what a man wants and what they sometimes are pressure they pressure them to be and then if they say that they don't or don't want a cool girl they always want a cool girl or saying that like and a cool girl is uh usually error How do they usually fake a cool there is no such thing as a real genuine cool girl. They're all it's only variations of every Exactly what she says variations of every fucking thing he likes and doesn't ever complain Because and how do you know you're not cool girl because he says things like I like strong women
00:41:00
Speaker
And if he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else because I like strong women is code for, I hate strong women. Yep. Okay. Goosebumps. Oh, that section. I love that part. Wait, don't get me wrong. I don't like this character at all, but that, that rant who is like the jaded cynical woman in me was like, yup.
00:41:27
Speaker
Yup, that's it. It was iconic. That's not the thing that I have marked in my book, though. I have something else marked. Actually, we skipped over it, I think. The part where he go, well, it's different in the book than in the movie. In the book,
00:41:48
Speaker
Nick goes to visit Desi, who is Amy's like high school ex-boyfriend that she claims was like stalking her after they broke up and tried to commit suicide on her bed. And he Nick goes to visit him in St. Louis because it's only like an hour away from where they live to like see if he knows anything or has heard anything or kind of gauge whether or not he's actually a threat.
00:42:14
Speaker
in the movie, he doesn't do that until after he starts figuring out what Amy's actually done. But he goes to see Desi and the definition of a gentleman, a guy who could quote a great poet, order a rare scotch and buy a woman the right piece of vintage jewelry. And I'm like,
00:42:40
Speaker
I've never heard by a woman the right piece of vintage jewelry to describe the perfect man, but that's it. That's it. And of course, Desi would be played by who I consider my perfect man, Neil Patrick Harris, patrick garret who I have had a crush on since he was Doogie Howser.
00:43:03
Speaker
And then when he came out of the closet publicly, I was like, still my perfect man, bud. Still my perfect man. So thank you for that. And I bet you he does know exactly the right piece of vintage jewelry to buy a woman. Anyways, that's the only quote I had in the book. The fact that he's made another appearance on our podcast. Yup.
00:43:26
Speaker
Love that man. Love him. Very different from beastly, but very different, completely different character. Yeah, totally. So Nick then discovers that Amy has filled the woodshed with all the expensive purchases she made in order to create a trail of debt and reckless spending for the police to find.
00:43:53
Speaker
The shed also contains Amy's anniversary gift of Punch and Judy puppets, indicating that she expects Nick to receive the death penalty for her murder. oh Amy hides in the Ozarks and attempts Oh, I'm mad about this too. Oh, that was a reaction. That was a reaction. Because okay, because again, Amy is doesn't like being known as the spoiled rich girl, right? She is. Yep. But she 100% is and so she shows up over here in the Ozarks. And all she does is make fun of all the people around her and how talk about how she's better than them.
00:44:37
Speaker
but she's But then the one time someone's like, oh, that girl, like they're watching the news. And she's like, I think that's just a spoiled rich girl. And Amy's over here pretending to be Nancy or Lydia or whatever. And like gets all heard about it and spits in the girl's drink and all her food. And it's like, but you are a stuck up little rich girl who thinks she's better than everybody else. When she did that, that actually made me laugh.
00:45:06
Speaker
I'm close enough to the Ozarks and and living in the Midwest. and so Every little dig she made in this book, I was like, I freaking hate her. like i just We'll show you who's better. Oh my gosh. I just thought it was funny in the movie, it was Mountain Dew that she spit into. and as They're in the Ozarks. Yeah. I thought it was very fitting.
00:45:34
Speaker
and she yeah She's in the Ozarks. She's attempting to monitor the investigation through the news media. However, she meets Jeff and Greta, her neighbors at the rental cabins. and They decide to rob her. Because she was stupid. Because again, entitled little rich girl didn't know how to hide or split up her money.
00:46:04
Speaker
And so she ended up flashing it in front of them at one point. And they're all like, oh, Miss Moneybags over here. So of course she got robbed. What did you think was going to happen? I thought it was really funny when she was when Greta was counting the money. She's like, Oh, there's got to be more than $1,000 in here. Just a little bit. Like, and you carried all that on you. You didn't like hide some in the car, put some in a suitcase, put some over here to make sure that if you got robbed, you'd still have something left. Like, why is she carrying that much money on her?
00:46:39
Speaker
Yeah. Right. You carry a 20. You carry a 20, you lock everything else up in a safe deposit box or in a locker at the bus station or something, you know, but whatever. know That was one of her big mistakes. And in the movie, like fall whenever it falls out, like the fanny pack like falls on the ground during like mini golf. um Yeah. Why are you carrying around during mini golf? Right?
00:47:06
Speaker
Even if you were paying for mini golf, 20 bucks. Also, so let me go back a little bit to the beginning. So now we know that she's obviously faked her death, right? And the police are kind of leading down this, like, she died, it's Nick's fault. But like, so you're telling me that the nosy neighbor across the street saw that the cat was outside, but didn't see a strange car coming and going from the house that he had never seen before? Didn't hear a struggle, didn't see anyone leave, didn't see, like,
00:47:35
Speaker
but he noticed the cat outside. Well, they did in the book mention that he was an alcoholic and he was not at the bar that day because he was hungover.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah. but I just, I feel like you got that many neighbors around and they did talk about in the book, how like half the houses are vacant because of the the recession and the big housing boom or the housing crash. And so like, I feel like the movie probably like the neighbor was directly across the street that was nosy. Whereas in the book, he was probably like a couple of houses down or whatever with some vacant houses in between.
00:48:17
Speaker
because I've been through some of those neighborhoods not long after that. Like I lived in this area when that happened. And I remember that being that way, that like you drive through these McMansion neighborhoods and there'd be, you know, 15 to 20 houses, but only five of them were occupied, right you know? So I, you know, I guess it's distinctly possible that no neighbor didn't see anything. But I also feel like she had a whole new strange car that she bought in Hidd and then had to bring it there that day in order to get away in it. And nobody noticed. Well, you see, she snuck out the back door and walked the riverbank because the, isn't the Mississippi River in their backyard? Yeah. So she walked the riverbank. So the car wasn't parked. Which is also not really how people do. You don't really walk in the Mississippi riverbank. Just saying.
00:49:14
Speaker
and And it's not really in your backyard, in anybody's backyard, because that would put you in a floodplain. Just that part out there. That's fair. There's probably like one of those creeks off the river, that because there's a lot of those,
00:49:32
Speaker
still put you in a floodplain. We get lots of floods around here. We get lots of floods around here. Just saying.
00:49:43
Speaker
and why no one lives there in that neighborhood. It's because there's rivers in the backyard. and Pretty much. Your homeowner's insurance is too high because they're in a floodplain. so She gets robbed. She is desperate for help, so she seeks help from her wealthy ex-boyfriend, Desi Collins.
00:50:07
Speaker
With whom she had a manipulated mo manipulative, manipulative of relationship goodness in her youth. so let's see Okay. This is where I want to go back though. Okay. So she gets robbed. She has no money. Yeah. She's on the lamb, right? She's, she's on the run. Yeah. She goes to a casino. She goes to a casino with more cameras that casinos have more cameras and especially the casinos out here in the, like along the river, there's a ton of them.
00:50:37
Speaker
And like there are crap tons of cameras everywhere, everywhere. Everything you do is being recorded. Yeah. So that would have, that would have been done or in. The other thing though, is that like, why didn't you just steal from someone else? Like go hang out in a parking lot somewhere and snatch someone's purse when they're not looking or I don't know. Like you're already a criminal.
00:51:07
Speaker
Like, go full crime. Why did you go asking for help from someone you knew was probably going to be weird about it? Because she's sticking to what she knows. She's sticking to what she knows. Should she be able to fight anyone off? Should they fight back? She's making dumb mistakes.
00:51:24
Speaker
Because I like how she said that she would have Roundhouse kicked Jeff if she was one of the girls from the movie. Can we go backwards for a second? Yeah. Because I just remembered the part in the movie, so she gets to the place. you know she's I don't know if we mentioned this, but she kind of like does this whole thing where she's trying to disguise herself, right? Like she's dyeing her hair, changing her clothes. She buys fake glasses.
00:51:53
Speaker
you know, trying to disguise herself. And so she gets to the place, you know, she's settling in all this stuff. And in the movie, I don't remember this happening in the book. I don't think this happened in the book, but she gets, she's brushing her teeth and she gets like a hammer from a toolbox. Yeah, that was not in the book. And she literally is like aiming the hammer at her eye and hits her eye. I like, I like screamed out loud.
00:52:23
Speaker
I did not like that. I did not like that one bit, like to just like fake the fact that you have like a black guy, which like, I guess you're trying to fake this because like faking this like abuse thing with Nick, I'm assuming, but it didn't go, like the only person that witnessed it were the people that you met at this location. Right. So it it wouldn't matter.
00:52:54
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know why that was there. In the book they kind of, although this this part wasn't in the book, she kind of describes like Greta's situation. Greta was the one that had the black eye. Yeah. And she kind of described it as like a domestic abuse situation where she was trying to get away from her abuser And it seemed less likely that people would ask questions. Yeah. So it wasn't necessarily that she was trying to frame it on Nick. It was just that she wanted to play a part and she would ask questions. That makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah.
00:53:34
Speaker
Yeah, because I was like, I don't understand why i do that if you don't want people to know you're here and like go along with the story. But that makes sense. Like you're trying to like play a certain part, I suppose. People treat you a certain way, which is which is all she ever freaking did. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. hit apart um So they made it a casino in the Is it in the book in the movie? is it Yeah. Okay. And Desi is still obsessed with her. and He was freaking me out. Yeah. And he decides to hide her in his lake house, but he becomes possessive and controlling and
00:54:23
Speaker
She's basically trapped. She doesn't like that. Yeah, no, she don't like that at all. like he There is a point a point in the book where she's like, I really need some money. It's going to like make me feel safer. Because she gives him like this whole story. like i Because he knows that everything that's been going on from what he sees on the news, and she knows that Nick has gone.
00:54:43
Speaker
are Desi knows that Nick has come and like talked, tried to talk to him and all that stuff. So he knows the entire scenario that's going on and that she's like missing and everything. Well, Desi also showed up at the volunteer station to help get for her. Yeah. Right. And Amy like tells him like her quote, her store side of things saying that like she's been like abused and all these things that she's like had to run away and all this stuff.
00:55:14
Speaker
And so she needs like his help. And whenever he takes her away, Desi takes her to his place, she's like, I could really use like some money to like make me feel safer. He's like, here's $40. And he's like, big ass, like freaking lake house. Because he's like, you don't need to go anywhere. You don't yeah need clothes. I'll take care of that. He's on this multimillion dollar estate. That is his lake house. yeah I was like, this ain't no lake house, but OK.
00:55:43
Speaker
Meanwhile, Nick is back um trying to repair his image in the press. Yeah. With his fancy lawyer and suddenly gets this idea in his head that like, I'm going to send messages to Amy to try and convince her to come back. Cause that's the only way anybody's ever going to believe that I didn't kill her is if they find out she's not even dead. Well, the lawyer was, and then the lawyer is like.
00:56:12
Speaker
telling um him that the best way to do this is you need to come out with your about your affair now because it's gonna come out eventually kind of thing. You need to get ahead of it. Yeah. And before he can get ahead of it, Andy comes forward and apologizes for her affair with Nick But he's still able to turn the near disaster around when his lawyer Tanner gets him an appearance on, I can't remember her last name, but Sharon, I think it's Schieber? Schieber, I think they were trying to go for Maria Shriver, like, because that was she was on Dateline at the time. um So I think that was them trying to like kind of Gillian's attempt to
00:57:05
Speaker
make it sound like. So it was like Schreiber or Schreiber, but it was a B. so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But Nick gets on her tell all talk show and during his interview, he pretends to be apologetic about his infidelity.
00:57:23
Speaker
and failings as a husband, as a hint to Amy. And he sends her like secret codes by like wearing the watch that she bought him and wearing the tie that she bought him and then doing the like coded covering the dimple on his chin so that she knows for sure that I'm telling the truth.
00:57:43
Speaker
their little secret code to each other. What is it? No bullshit? What was it? Yeah, no, no bullshit. Yeah. And all the the whole time in his head, he's like, I fucking hate her. I fucking hate her. It's like he literally- That fucking bitch, that fucking bitch, which is what his father would- I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, yeah.
00:58:02
Speaker
So yeah, that was I thought like I'm watching that and I'm like, Ooh, now it's getting real good. And the whole dar and episode I wanted. yeah Yeah. And in the movie, this part is done so well, because she's watching it with Desi next to her, right? And with Neo Patrick Harris, and she's, she's watching it with him.
00:58:20
Speaker
And the way that she's watching him on TV doing this interview, and she's like eating her food, like she's got crazy in her eyes staring eyes. She's got serial killer eyes. I'm telling you, this is the hating game. This is the hating game. This is the real hating game, literally. This is the real one. And I'm loving it. This is the hating game gone too far.
00:58:46
Speaker
And she's like looking at the TV, like she's just like like, she is loving it on scary levels that he is saying all the things that she wants to hear. She's eating up every word coming out of his mouth. She's like, I haven't seen him in this way in so long because The what she left in the state of their marriage was like he was not trying anymore like he's just like not what they signed up for because if Going back to like the whole cool girl monologue. It was like you thought that I was going to love you Unconditionally and you were just gonna go run off with your new cool cool girl think again bitch and I'm going to go fake my own death and do all this crazy ass shit on you and do all this stuff. And so now she's seeing the side of him that she's been wanting this whole time. Like I need you to reach my level and now you're reaching my level after I like did the absolute most. And so she's like has like heart eyes. Yep.
00:59:55
Speaker
and up that There's the scene where she's in the Ozarks and she's talking with Greta and Greta mentions that her mom lives in some commune in Texas. And I kind of want to Amy to go to Texas and to just go live in the commune. Yep.
01:00:11
Speaker
Yep. And that, and that would be a happy ever after for her, I guess. And, and Nick hopefully would, you know, nobody, no case, you know, hopefully that would have been the perfect ending to this book, but no, continues. Yeah. So Nick is able to flip the narrative and he is well-received for his interview.
01:00:39
Speaker
until the police discover the woodshed, which also contains violent porn videos. okay so let me okay outside of the porn videos, the the lawyer knew about this the shed and like withheld that from the police for, like he was like waiting to see where public opinion would sway to after the interview before telling the police. Then of course the police found it anyways. And to me it was like, I don't, I mean, I don't know a lot of lawyers. I do know a couple and like, you don't hold on to evidence that long.
01:01:21
Speaker
you know You don't wait a day or two before you tell the cops. You maybe wait a couple hours. you know and so That part in the book kind of made me like,
01:01:32
Speaker
This doesn't, that's not, like, what? No. You know, like, that had me like- You just screwed him. Yeah, like, that was totally the lawyer's fault, that like- And his sister, because it was on his sister's property. Exactly. They were also thinking that he hadn't touched any of it and that his fingerprints weren't going to be there, so they could just go in and dust it for fingerprints. Right. And prove right away it wasn't him. Exactly. Yeah, none of his fingerprints would have been on it, but Amy thought ahead.
01:02:02
Speaker
And she did yeah was I think it's just hinted at that She was potentially drugging him so that he would sleep heavier and in his sleep She would take his hands and put his fingerprints on everything Mm-hmm. So like I obviously don't like Amy like I obviously hate Amy but like this is brilliant Amy was smart as hell like Amy was crazy and like I like gray animal lecture would be like nasties. She was she was doing research while she was at home. yeah She was like, Oh, she's always reading something to the cops when they were like, well What does she do all day? He's like, Well, she reads a lot. She's always reading something. Yeah. oh yeah
01:02:47
Speaker
She was reading true crime. like She was taking notes. It's incredible. Like even going back to how she set up the scene before like leaving where she's staging it to where not only does it look like she was like kidnapped, it also looks like it was a staged kidnapping. So it makes him look bad.
01:03:12
Speaker
On top of everything. Then planned out all these clues for the scavenger hunt that would actually lead to the clues for the cops to find. She's brilliant. Gillian, the author, Gillian Flynn, is brilliant to have thought about all this. It's so good. I don't want to know what skeletons are in her closet. Once again, Roseman Pike. I'm actually afraid of her now.
01:03:41
Speaker
yeah There's a handful of shows she's been in that I'm just like, that's one scary bitch. She's fucking scary. Well, not only was she faking all of this, the way that she faked the diary entries. So perfect. Oh my gosh. Yes. We have to talk about that. So she was able to match up events and dates.
01:04:04
Speaker
back to when they first got together and when they got married, all of the major events or ah events that they went to, she even switched up the, the pins. So it looked like it was a different pin for different injuries. And she, she timed it to where she was writing a certain amount of entries within a certain amount of time. So it wasn't all at once.
01:04:32
Speaker
And she made a point to make it over the course of seven years, like from when they met and not like every single fricking day, you know, like. right Yeah. And she lined up like actual real ones and and mixed in her fake shit. Yeah. So we don't even know like which ones are fully true and which ones are only partially true or which ones are just complete lies. I'm a viable narrator. It's awful.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, her mixing in all that. really And then the way that it's revealed in the movie as well, like she's like crying while she's like writing them. Mm hmm. and like and we have to remember she's a writer in the beginning. It says that she is with this psychology degree. Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:28
Speaker
so You have to remember that too. so like She knows how to do this. yeah and The police find her diary at Nick's father's house where she hid it knowing Nick wasn't going to look there and find it. and I was like, oh, we're done. We're done. It's only partially burned, so it looks like Nick tried to burn it to get rid of evidence.
01:05:56
Speaker
yeah She thought of everything. and the one I like how in the movie they had like the two detectives, right? And one of them was just like, obviously it's him. Like they, he didn't want to investigate anymore. Like it was like one clue and he was done. He's like, just arrest him. We're done. yeah And the other, like the other detective, the lady was like, no, we need to do like so much more investigation on here. And the other guy was like, it's obviously him.
01:06:22
Speaker
the Like what more do you need and he was like done on the first and there were a couple of you yeah and there were like a couple of things that like the girl Rhonda bony was like. Like it doesn't there's just it's just a little bit off it's just a little bit off and I gotta be able to wrap this up.
01:06:41
Speaker
in order to should we move forward. Like I just- I need one more thing, one more thing. And he's like, what do you need? he's She's like, a body. Yup. That would do it. Yup. But no, old girls playing house with their ex. yeah But the police do, instead of finding a body, they do discover the murder weapon.
01:07:08
Speaker
And it just so happens to be the missing handle from the puppets that Amy gifted Nick for their anniversary. So because of this, Nick is arrested, but is released on bond pending his trial. And then we go back to Desi's house where Amy sees the TV interview.
01:07:31
Speaker
of with Nick's performance as the perfect husband. And she's convinced that the two of them are perfect for each other. So she mutilates her own body. So that appears that Desi has been holding her captive. And then she seduces him and murders him. So then she drives back. She killed Doogie. She did.
01:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, brutally. Yeah. That I didn't like to see no Patrick Harrison. It was bad. It was bad. It was bad. Me on my first date. Wow.
01:08:16
Speaker
and would Please tell me it was your idea to see this movie too. You're like, oh, let's go see this movie. Oh, it totally was. It totally was. Oh lord. I remember being so shook. I was like, oh my gosh. And I remember it was like a super late showing too. So we like didn't even get to leave the movie theater until like probably until the next day or something. It was so good to wait. I wonder how scared he was. He's like, uh, again. Was there a second date? I need to know. Oh, I was with the man for three years after that. Oh, Jesus. I mean, trial by fire, I guess. Yeah. At least he didn't take it as a threat.
01:08:53
Speaker
Maybe he did. That's why he stuck around for three years. Yeah. I was like, I gotta stick around. and I'm scared. Oh Lord. Oh man. But she, uh, she murders Desi and then she drives back to carthridge Carthage and runs into Nick's arms in front of the press. Times that perfectly.
01:09:16
Speaker
And yeah that I will say in the in the book and in the movie, they do this perfect like hug in front of the cameras and he whispers into her ear, you fucking bitch. I love it. That was so good. Love it. Yeah. I love it. That's when she knew she fucked up. That's when dads you he knew he fucked up by ever meeting her. Right.
01:09:47
Speaker
she She should have stayed gone. She should have stayed gone. nerve the Girl. Girl.
01:09:58
Speaker
So Amy is able to manipulate her return to fit her narrative. She fabricates a story for investigators that she was kidnapped from home and imprisoned by Desi before she killed him to escape.
01:10:15
Speaker
And she admits that her diary entries were melodramatic, and she was actually glad to be back with Nick. But Nick, Detective Boney, and Go all know that she's lying, but they have no proof.
01:10:36
Speaker
So, Nick is forced to return to his married life with Amy as the media storm dies down from the story. Well, and Detective Boney is literally told, do not investigate this further. We look like idiots because she's still alive and it obviously wasn't him. like we We just need to tuck tail and turn around. like do not Do not engage with that at all. And so, like Nick and Go are basically like begging Boney to keep investigating. And she's just like, I can't. There's nothing I can do unless you have some actual evidence. There's nothing I can do. And Tanner moves on to a new case because he's got nothing. He can't move forward with anything. There is a moment in the... What? Wait, when do you know what I'm gonna say?
01:11:30
Speaker
i want you to say it because you're cracking me up i don't know what you're talking about which part are you talking about um there's a jump scare in the movie yeah yep now i know there's a jump scare in the movie whenever uh
01:12:05
Speaker
everything, all the truth about Desi and everything, literally a jump scare. This is why I can't go to the movie theater. I don't go to the movies anymore because if I can't shout, is that Ben Affleck's dick out loud? Then I don't want to go.
01:12:23
Speaker
Oh my god, because straight up for 0.5 seconds you see a stick and it was a jump scare and that's why I can't go to the movie theater because I wouldn't be able to shout that out loud if I see something like that. At least the story wasn't because I got banned for shouting out.
01:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, that was really unexpected. I could not believe that. Yeah, yeah. I cannot believe that. Well, I'm pretty sure that Neil Patrick Harris, yeah pretty sure there's frontal nudity, like a split second there too. After he's murdered? Yeah. Yeah, the completely drenched in blood. Yes. Yeah, that was disturbing too. But I'm just saying the Ben Affleck one really threw me off and I was embarrassed. With Lizzie always suggesting these incredibly disturbing movies.
01:13:25
Speaker
I thought it was good though, right? It was. ah But at the end, Amy begins writing her memoir of the fabricated events called Amazing, which obviously is named after her parents seriously. And Nick privately begins writing an expose of Amy's deceptions called Psycho Bitch. Yeah.
01:13:51
Speaker
was actually the original title of the book instead of Gone Girl, it was going to be Psycho Bitch. I like it. I would have been even more interested. Amy still worries that Nick will leave her, so she uses some of his sperm that they had stored to get herself pregnant.
01:14:12
Speaker
they wear poho Because Because unless she was storing it in the deep freeze in the basement, it was being stored at a storage facility. And there would have been records that she had gone to get some. Yeah. And he could have used that concern. I don't understand that whole part. And the reason why they had it in the first place was because they were actually going to try to have a baby before.
01:14:41
Speaker
yeah But yeah, I didn't understand this whole part to begin with and I was just like, okay. Yeah. And Nick, although he's aware of the full extent of Amy's um manipulations.
01:15:01
Speaker
Psychosis. He is trapped into staying with her because he refuses to abandon his child because he has daddy issues. And despite his desire to expose Amy's horrible behavior, he chooses fatherhood over freedom and he destroys his manuscript. He then dedicates himself to the role of perfect husband. And one day, while Nick is caring for Amy, he momentarily drops the act and he reveals that he feels pity for Amy.
01:15:41
Speaker
which deeply unsettles her. But Amy does feel triumphant that she has won, she has her perfect husband again, and now they're about to have a kid. But she does, she does still nurse some doubts about Nick's plans. But she does get the last word in the story because she felt she deserved it. I love that last line. It was a good last line, yeah. That was a good one. I hated this ending.
01:16:09
Speaker
because there was no resolution. And I'm really sick of Lindsay suggesting that we read books with no resolutions. I love those kind of books. Hate it. Hate it. It's right up there with not naming the narrator. It's just not okay.
01:16:25
Speaker
And so I forever more banned Lindsay from choosing books. I thought we decided that on episode two, leave the world Yeah. Or pre-episodes. No more. We need to do something. Yeah. this This legit could have been a five star for me. I took one and a half stars because there's no freaking resolution. None.
01:16:50
Speaker
we're We're left to wonder what the hell happens. And is that psycho bitch still out there? In the movie, whenever they have this conversation, and Nick like grabs her and like, throws her against the wall, that part freaked me out. I was like, oh my God, that was kind of scary. He really did that too. like yeah he would really Yeah, he really like threw her against that wall. And then she's like, you think you're going to find someone else? Think again, baby. What is she doing? Oh my gosh, she's got to throw her eyes again. I'm wild. Yeah, like she was really in it. And for some reason, I feel like Nick
01:17:34
Speaker
Like he didn't like fight that hard thinking about what he was going to do. Like he kind of like, we just fold it yeah immediately. you And he just was like, Hey, I think he kind of needs her crazy in a bad way. Not a good way. Like in a bad way. Yep.
01:17:53
Speaker
ah well pre Final verdict. What do we say? This is hard. This is hard. To me, it's one of those that like i if somebody asks if they should watch the movie, I'll probably say, yeah, go for it. It's not a bad movie. If somebody asks me if they should read the book, I will probably say, yeah, it's not a bad book. It's a decent read. But I'm not going to go out of my way to recommend either. No. OK. That's fair. I love the movie. I think it's like hard for me because like when you see the movie first to be like,
01:18:31
Speaker
I don't feel like you're getting so much extra stuff from the book. Meaning game, I feel like you got like you a lot of extra stuff by reading the book. But this, I don't think you're getting a ton of extra things that you're missing from the movie. right I think the movie's giving you what you need.
01:18:51
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah. So it's ah one on adaptation. Yeah, I yeah agree. Yeah. Okay. Uh, well that leads us to our question. Wait, Lindsay, what do you think? And I agree. I think the, the book, like you said, it didn't have a lot of extra stuff. Normally you get some inner monologue. I mean, if you want to read it just for Amy's cool girl monologue, then go for it.
01:19:17
Speaker
Because it was a lot better in the book than it was in the movie. But you're not really missing a lot of inner monologue or descriptions. The movie the movie pretty much spells it all out. And like like you said, Crystal, if you want to read the book, yeah, it's a good book. If you want to watch the movie, yeah, it's a good movie.
01:19:36
Speaker
You can really go either way. The author had a hand in the screenplay. Yeah. You can kind of tell. You can kind of tell. Yeah. Yeah. So that's always a good thing in my opinion. I agree. Absolutely. Goldman, Princess Bride. Yep. Mm-hmm. Exactly. But what is something that comes across as attractive or romantic in books but gives ick or major red flags in real life? Carrie?
01:20:07
Speaker
As someone who reads romance mostly, definitely like the over possessive stalker, touch her or die tropes. I love those in my romance books. That's going to give me major, extremely terrible red flags in real life. That's a good one. Yeah. If you're being over possessive stalker in real life,
01:20:37
Speaker
I'm going to send you to Block City. me Crystal? I actually had a hard time with this because as we have well established at this point, I'm super cynical. So everything gives me the ick. I feel that too. But there's a couple that really kill me. One is that like mostly in like you'll see a lot of it in more fantasy stuff, but like sometimes in other types of books where like they're like mentally connected where like they always or they feel each other's feelings or they can sense each other's thoughts or whatever. Like it seems really cool in the book and super romantic, but also like I need my privacy. Ew. No. Oh yeah. No. Imagine. No. Thank you.
01:21:22
Speaker
Then I really, really hate the orders for her. Like I love it in a story, like orders her rest her drinks or orders her dinner or or picks her out an outfit, a dress or whatever. Like in real life, like I pick out what I want to eat. I pick out what I want to wear. Like I might ask your opinion, but you don't get to choose for me. No, no, absolutely not.
01:21:43
Speaker
yeah But then the other one, I am a sucker for this in a book or in a movie. The big public romantic gestures, the big grand proposal or the whatever, hate that in real life. Do not do not put me in a situation like that in real life. I don't want to witness it in real life because I always feel like, am I supposed to like clap? Am I supposed to congratulate the person? Am I supposed to pretend I don't notice? like I don't like seeing those in public. I don't want to be a part. I don't want people looking at me like that. like No. No, big it. That is such a good answer. Good answer. Good answer. Good answer. no Thanks for your grand acknowledgment there.
01:22:31
Speaker
Family Feud. Good answer. This time it was legit a good answer. Most of the time it was. It really was. It was. We say that for every question of the episode. After every answer. Good answer. Good answer. Be over here like this.
01:22:48
Speaker
ah Damn.
01:22:57
Speaker
I thought about my answer while I was listening to the graphic audio for ACOTAR. I've also kind of thought about it reading a lot of romantasy books recently, but hearing it in the audiobook when a man growls. I knew you were going to say that.
01:23:19
Speaker
Why do you be growling like a dog? You need to calm down. i know I knew you were going to say that. Whenever I read that on page, it gives me the ick on page in a book and in real life. um Because you think, oh, he's so passionate. But then you hear it and you're like,
01:23:36
Speaker
Why are you growing it? Do you guys ever read like a book and then you hear somebody like doing something or doing like a gesture and you're like trying to do it in real life? Because you're like, how are you doing that? ah yeah What do you look like doing it? i Do you catch yourself doing it? I do it when they like especially when they're talking about smiling. She smiled with all of her teeth and I'm like,
01:24:03
Speaker
How does that work? Yeah. Good answer, good answer. that Oh my God. Well, that's going to wrap up our deep dive into the twisted world of Gone Girl and officially closes out our month of love.
01:24:27
Speaker
Thanks for joining us as we dissected every clue, every lie, and every secret. If you've still got theories or questions, let us know on social media. We're on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Send us your recommendations for adaptations we should cover through our book adaptation submission form, which is available in the show notes.
01:24:53
Speaker
And don't forget to follow Rate Review and download our podcast on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you listen to your podcasts. Keep on keeping on,