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34: His and Hers Part One
55 Plays19 days ago
In this episode of BookWatch, Our hosts give Their thoughts on the characters from Alice Feeney’s 2020 novel His and Hers, and their adaptations in the 2026 Netflix adaptation. With multiple points of view, heavy content worthy of checking the trigger warnings, and more plot twists than dead bodies, this story kept us guessing until the very end. Starring Jon Bernthal as “His” pov and Tessa Thompson as “Hers” this small town serial killer story really shows that perspective is everything, and revenge is still sweet even 20 years after it’s due.
Join hosts Chris, Jordyn, and Sarah-Daye as they break down what worked, what didn’t, and whether this adaptation does the book justice.
Tell us your thoughts! Did you love or hate this adaptation? Let’s discuss in The Book Watch Lounge on Facebook
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Transcript
Introduction to 'His and Hers' and Content Warnings
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, book watchers. On this episode, we are watching His and Hers. The book was written by Alice Feeney, published in 2020. It was adapted into a Netflix limited series, released January 2026. Creator was William Oldroyd, and it stars Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson.
00:00:18
Speaker
Audiobook narrated by richie Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine as the respective His and Hers POVs. Please note this podcast will contain conversation regarding some scenes in the book and the show which depict crimes against children. Maybe very disturbing for some viewers and listeners. We really recommend checking the trigger warnings of the book and the show before consuming.
Meet the Hosts of 'Book Watch'
00:00:40
Speaker
All that being said, i am your host Jordan. I'm Sarah Day. and I'm Chris. And we're going to get started right after these messages.
00:00:56
Speaker
Welcome to Book Watch, the podcast where pages meet screens. Each week, we dive into the world of adaptations, comparing beloved books with their cinematic counterparts. From faithful retellings to bold reimaginings, we'll break down what worked, what didn't, and what made each adaptation unforgettable. Whether you are a bookworm, a movie buff, or both, grab your bookmark, grab your popcorn, and let's watch some books.
Hosts' Personal Reactions to Themes
00:01:22
Speaker
okie dokie so quick ish summary that's such a light way to enter this really dark story know sorry i'm just trying to find the light where i yeah can because this was a lot for me it is it's a heavy one it's probably our heaviest one that we've done on the podcast Yeah, I definitely think so.
00:01:43
Speaker
And I did not check the trigger warnings beforehand. I i usually am able to like compartmentalize like it's fiction um and things don't really bother me that much. But this one, I was not ready for what happened. um And unfortunately...
00:01:58
Speaker
It is something that is very prevalent in the real world right now. Jeffrey Epstein, all the things, the heinous crimes against teenage girls that have been coming out in the news recently. There is some, you know, grooming of teenage girls, a full on rape of teenage girls um in this book. And I walked right into that wall and I was not ready for it. So we just want to make sure that our listeners and anybody who wants to go and read and read this book, watch the show, you guys go into it knowing what was going to happen because this it was very triggering for me when
Book vs. TV Adaptation: Changes and Impacts
00:02:36
Speaker
I got there. So would have loved a heads up if I had known better.
00:02:40
Speaker
um I watched the show first, and I think that it's not... It's still graphic, it's still shocking, but I think the way a drama is is that you could tell something bad was going to happen in the next few scenes. So I think that was... It was... a I don't want to say easier pill to swallow in the show. um But I think it it prepared better prepared you mentally for what was about to go to happen. And they changed it a little bit. But yes. um Yeah. So when when I did get to the end of the book, I was you know, I was much more prepared than I was in the show.
00:03:16
Speaker
Yeah, I'd had some warning ahead of time. I just kind of looked up the story a little bit. So I kind of knew there was something coming in that area. I tried not to spoil myself fully into the story with that. But definitely was something that if I'd known you were unaware of it, I would have made sure I shared that with you. But we got through it. And yeah it is part of the story that... I think kind of leads into some of the actual reason for
Plot Summary of 'His and Hers'
00:03:40
Speaker
the story. So, um, however much it can be triggering, it can also tell a story that leads us where we're at here.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah. It, um, it definitely is the crux for why everything later in the story, like makes sense and is, you know, justifiable quote unquote. um So it it, it's not gratuitous by any means the way that a lot of um storytelling of this nature can be. But yeah, like I said, I did not watch the show first. I did not look into this story before reading it. I just was trucking along and there was, you knew like, like Sarah Day said, you knew something bad was going to happen, but I was not ready for that specific bad thing to happen.
Storytelling Techniques and Themes Discussion
00:04:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah, so anyways, ah getting into a little summary. So His and Hers is a dark adult murder mystery where the twists keep coming right up to the last moment. News reporter Anna Andrews, Tessa Thompson's character, returns to her hometown after the murder of an old high school friend and her ex-husband Jack Harper, played by Jon Bernthal. happens to be the lead detective on the case.
00:04:46
Speaker
The book continuously switches between Jack and Anna's points of view as they each try to solve the mystery of who is killing Anna's old school friends, as well as what happened 20 years ago on Anna's 16th birthday, which is the aforementioned rape scene. um dealing with really heavy topics, as we mentioned, murder, rape, and it also trigger warning for SIDS, which is sudden infant death syndrome. This book definitely has a lot of heavy, dark stuff in it. But as far as a mystery story goes, it's really well written. It kept me guessing all the way through. and it's a lot better written than some of the other thrillers that we've covered on this pod, if you know,
Acting and Performance Insights
00:05:25
Speaker
you know. um
00:05:27
Speaker
So let's as we mentioned, key themes, trauma, revenge, career ambition, truth versus lies versus somebody's, you know, your own truth, your perception of what happened. um Yeah. What did you guys, what what were your guys' as like initial thoughts on this book and the show as we, as we went through it?
00:05:49
Speaker
So as I mentioned, I watched the show first. um It's not as strong as I thought it would have been based on having John and Anna. um No, not Anna. Tessa. That's her character as the main leads because they're both such solid actors. And the one that plays Priya, Sunita Amani, she's up and coming right now. She's been in a lot.
00:06:13
Speaker
um I still loved it. I still did not guess the final, final twist. I thought I had figured things out. And then, of course, the final twist really threw me. And then getting to the book...
00:06:27
Speaker
reading it and you also get to see the perspective of the killer um in between all the chapters and so and it's just a lot darker and so that really it was it was hard it was a really hard book to read but also really interesting like and I do like I did want to know what was happening even though I knew um what happened in the show i was like did they change the ending at all so I still wanted to finish it but yeah it's definitely a lot Yeah, I love a good ah vigilante superhero, you know, origin story like this. You know, somebody gets away with it and they're going to go back for more. You know, you see it gets easier and easier, right?
00:07:05
Speaker
ah So it was ah definitely interesting to see the ways they kept things consistent, the ways they changed things in the show. And I read the book first and then watched the show, which I think.
00:07:19
Speaker
gave me i was told by one of my by my wife who had heard from our friends that i was not gonna like the ending because they changed things and i was okay with it so um i thought they did a pretty good job of interpreting the story a few missing plot points but we'll get into that here in a little later it was a page turner for sure um but it is hard to get through, especially like we already talked about, those scenes are hard to get through. But like it's well paced, it's well written, it's interesting. I was giving my husband updates as I was reading, i was like, oh, the killer is this person. i was like, oh wait, no, new information. It's this person. And I kept literally up until the last second, I kept changing my mind of who I thought it was. So from that standpoint, it's really, really well written. And you know if you can handle the content, I would say definitely worth your time. Yeah, exactly.
00:08:11
Speaker
We did the same sort of thing in my household. ah I read the book and then we were watching the show together. So I had my wife guessing each time we got to a different character like, OK, who do you think it is now? And it was always someone different and never the correct person until like the just before the ending when she was kind of figured it out. But it was it was close.
00:08:30
Speaker
So she did figure out the final twist. It was a guess, but and she wasn't really thinking she was right, but it was ah just a little like offhanded guess of like, oh, is it that person?
Character Actions and Motivations
00:08:40
Speaker
was like, no, it couldn't be. Good for her. Then it goes to the reveal.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yeah, not me. I was stumped. Let's get into this cast of characters, though. So as we mentioned, um our main female POV is Anna Andrews. She's played by Tessa Thompson. And then there are some of the flashback teenage scenes. And in those scenes, she's played by Kristen Maxwell.
00:09:04
Speaker
um What did we think of Tessa's portrayal of Anna based on how the characters described in the book? I thought she was a little bit more dry, but I also think that's just Tessa Thompson in general. That's how she portrays a lot of her characters.
00:09:19
Speaker
I thought the casting of young Anna was great. The first scene opens up with her drinking that like bottle of wine from the fridge or whatever it all in one scene. And that my wife said, oh, it's Valkyrie still.
00:09:32
Speaker
ah But I think she did a good job. It was yeah leette dry, but I think that fit the character pretty well. Okay, and then next we've got ah Anna's husband that she separated from slash ex-husband, depending on which medium you're looking at. um Jack Harper, he's a detective, and he is played by Jon Bernthal.
00:09:54
Speaker
Love me some Jon Bernthal. No complaints there with Jon. Again, I think it's a little bit of a different portrayal of the character, but it's the story's different. So i you know I thought he was fine for what he did in the show.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, he pulled off the kind of sneaking around, trying to hide his sins while still doing his job where he can and trying to reconnect with his, in the show, wife still.
00:10:21
Speaker
um i thought that his portrayal of all that made sense and agg grieving a spouse slash father of it's only been a year since their child passed away is what the story is. So I could see all of this, ah it making sense with the way he portrayed it. Mm-hmm.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think the show version of Jack Harper was a lot kinder and like almost more naive than the book version. Like when I was watching the show, i never thought that it was him. Like I never got that impression. He always just seemed like a good guy, a very flawed guy, you know, a morally not pure guy, but never, never did I think for a second that he was the killer. um which is a little bit different from the book because there are some parts, mostly earlier in the book, but there are some parts where I'm like, oh, it could be him. like You never know. The book tried to keep you moving back to him once in a while, yeah.
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Well, I think the show did too. Not as much, but... The show definitely put red herrings on a lot of characters. Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:28
Speaker
um Next up, we've got Anna's mom, Alice Andrews. She's played by Crystal Fox. um Mostly a minor role of throughout, especially the show, her like background stuff that she did was a lot was shrunk down a lot in the show. But she popped up here and there throughout the book. Well, she had. to yeah Removing the father storyline really kind of was one of the things i wish they had put in the show. But um i was it it worked out in the end. But the Anna finding her mom after the ah after the fact when her father disappears but all bloody and um trying to figure out what happened is kind of a big part of what leads to some of later things, I feel like. Yeah.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah. And it makes it makes more sense that like she's already done it before. And so it makes it easier for her to do it again, you know,
00:12:26
Speaker
later um but without that like initial instance with the dad it kind of makes it a little bit harder to believe that just what happened was her to her daughter which to be fair i would also do what alice andrews did if something like that happened to my daughter um don't come for me NSA agent listening to this. So you're on a list now, but okay. i You know what? Fine.
Minor Characters and Casting Choices
00:12:52
Speaker
i mean, there's a lot of death to pedophiles. its name one i Yeah. i agree. yeah Yeah. You, and the anger in the, like this pulled on my heartstrings a lot.
00:13:03
Speaker
Um, as a mom, the, the whole thing with the c SIDS and then what happened here and like that, it was the mom at the end of the day. Um, And it's like a lot of parents will say like they will. They will kill for their kids. Like do not like you go mama bear.
00:13:19
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um Yeah, she was valid for what she did. But i I agree with Chris, like taking away the fact that she killed the dad first kind of detracts from it making sense in the show. So I wish they had kept that in as well.
00:13:35
Speaker
Well, and there's the whole part of her not wanting to leave the house, like to go to a care home in the book and that sort of thing too, because the husband, the um dead father is buried in the backyard in the garden.
00:13:46
Speaker
As a big part of her reason to stay. and Yeah. And then it kind of changes Anna's character because Anna helps cover that up at the end of the book. She puts down like the patio and the cement to, you know, hide that from any potential renters who come into the house versus the show. And she's just reading her mom's confession letter and her mom still lives in the house. And like, that's it So not having Anna like looped in on the scheme, like not she's not looped in throughout, but like that last minute thing of like my mom did all this for me. and Let me, you know, get her back as well. Changes Anna's character a little bit, too. I do think in the show you see her accept it and like give her a nod of approval. Like, yeah, I see what you did. Thank you.
00:14:35
Speaker
And now Alice can go hire a housemaid and they can go vigilante together now. See, now that i would that's a crossover that I'm interested in for sure. Okay, so next character on our list is in the book. She's called Kat Jones. And in the show, she's changed her name to Lexi Jones. But this is Katherine Kelly, who is the odd girl out that gets extremely bullied and taken advantage of by the hurt by the victim's
00:15:09
Speaker
And she's Cat Jones, Lexi Jones is played by Rebecca Rittenhouse for her adult scenes. And Catherine Kelly, that's her name at the time when she's a teenager, is played by Astrid Rotenberry.
00:15:22
Speaker
um i kind of get why they changed the name, because that was one of the early things that made me think that it was Cat. Catherine Kelly was the fact that her name was Cat. So changing her name from Kat Jones to Lexi Jones, I think made sense to kind of like try to cover it up more and make you kind of work harder to, to guess that she was involved in any way. So I liked that. And I liked the, the characterization of teenage Catherine Kelly is different in and the book. She is described as being like almost albino. She's very skinny, still with braces, still the odd man out, but they changed that to make her, um, a plus size girl who gets picked on by these, you know, skinny, mean girl type types. Yeah.
00:16:07
Speaker
I thought the actress Astrid Rottenberry did a really great job in her acting. There is one look she gave and I can't remember if it was after the, i think it was after the piss in a cup scene or piss in a can. um And like, that's when I was like, she did it. She's, she's,
00:16:28
Speaker
getting revenge on everybody. And then what made me 100% know for a fact she did it was when they said her full name and it was Catherine Alexis. And I'm like, I turned to my head, I'm like, Alexis, Lexi, it's her. I told you I'm right. um And then, yeah, of course the final twist proved me wrong. But i up until that point, like the whole finale, I'm like, oh, I got it right. I never get it right. i'm so excited.
Character Dynamics and Jack Harper's Role
00:16:55
Speaker
Yeah. Well, but then we also get the moment where she does kind of kill her sister by a teenage spite more than anything. She wasn't trying to kill her sister. She was just trying to be mean to her sister. But the asthma attack happens and she cheat art she depleted the um inhaler before getting on the boat. And so her sister dies from not having her inhaler. Yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
yeah that scene made me really question if the show was going to change who the killer was. Right. um Because that's that scene, the book so yeah, that scene is not, it's described how the sister dies on the boat from asthma or suffocation or something like something innocent and harmless, like not suspected to be a murder at all. But having that scene in the show of Catherine pumping the inhaler and like blowing the medicine into the air so it can't be used I was like oh shoot maybe they changed it maybe they are having her actually be the killer because I also thought that it was her I was like Kat Catherine it's her she has every reason good for her they deserve it like go get them girl I was so like team Kat Jones when I was reading the book and then I was like wait what like it's not her like it's still a revenge killing but not the person who I think should have been able to get the revenge but we'll get to that
00:18:16
Speaker
Well, and if it had gone the way that that was planned, it would have just been all pinned on her. was just going to go to jail at the bomb and head away. And that's different too. And we'll get to that a little bit more when we talk about the plot. But even that is not originally how it was meant to go down. So that was fun. Another fun little twist. um So Lexi, Kat slash Lexi Jones is married to Richard Jones, who is a cameraman who also works for the news station. He's played by Pablo Schreiber.
00:18:46
Speaker
I i don't know if anybody, you guys, listeners, anybody who watches Law & Order SVU, but Pablo Schreiber is very well-known in my family for playing William Lewis. And he did such a good job in that role that William Lewis is our code word. Like, if something bad is happening...
00:19:03
Speaker
like that's the code word like i'm in trouble i need help um and he i can't see him as anything else when i see him i'm like there he is that's william lewis he's the worst so i immediately was like something's up with this guy like he's bad news like don't trust him um what did you guys think of him he's a much smaller role but yeah fine um I thought it was great. Like I, he did well as the, is he, isn't he? Like, can I trust him? Can I not trust him? Like, is he just a cameraman? And then like, when you find out the relationship with with him and Lexi, and then you start thinking how Lexi is the one behind all this, then you're like, yeah, i don't trust him. But do I, he on it? I don't know.
00:19:49
Speaker
So I think he nailed that kind of acting. Yeah, I think the actor did a really good job with the role. I mean, he's definitely not trustworthy. He's definitely someone that could have been an accomplice to some of this stuff. But ultimately, it seems like ah he got the short end of this whole thing because he wasn't involved in the original stuff. But yet he gets kind of shafted at the end. His wife dies. is you know the whole His world gets destroyed because of what these girls did back in high school.
00:20:18
Speaker
He always just is doing something. I always had like suspicions and like that he was involved, that he's not involved then always right at the last second I was like okay I guess you're fine. Okay so next on the list is Detective Priya Patel pet a lot played by Sunita Mani.
00:20:38
Speaker
that she was great um there's a of course a change in the storyline with the romance with um jack but um other than that i thought she was a really fun character i really liked her piecing things together and not really letting him throw her off his trail um but i really liked that side story Yeah. Both the book and the, um, the screen did that really well and, uh, kept her as, a the detective. He was kind of trying to push around as his subordinate that he's trying to train up, but also keep as his, you know, person doing the dirty work for him. I felt like, um, uh, But I think she did a really good job with it. She stay stood her ground on where she needed to. She was i willing to look behind the curtain a little bit and try to figure out what was going on where she needed to. And I think it was performed great.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, i um I agree with all that. There was some times in the book, because the book is so well written, that I thought it was her as the killer because she was being a little bit sus. And then she had lo I felt like she had lured Jack to her house and then she is disappearing throughout the dinner and coming back and forth. And I was like, oh my God, it's her. And I was like, wait, she has no motive. Like, why would she do it? um So testament to to the writing that it was, you know, like I said, kept me guessing, bouncing all over the place. And I think them changing the characterization of her made sense. I didn't like the subplot of yet again, an older man coming on to a younger woman. And he like resisted it for most of the book, but he still gave in. And that made me feel yucky about Jack Harper. So I did like that they took that part out and just made it more. He like I said, he's a little bit kinder in the show, i felt. And so I like that he was a little bit more of the like, you know, grumpy, you know, worn down detective, like teaching the young gun, you know, the ropes and all that. So I did I did like that change for both of them.
00:22:44
Speaker
Just want to add on to that that I liked how they changed Anna and Jack from being divorced to separated and that they like how they got back together at the end. and Like it's an easier way to get back together if you're just separated rather than divorced because you know a really terrible thing happened to them in their life and their relationship um and that's that's going need to affect a lot of relationships in that way. um But then this other terrible thing happened which kind of like brought them back together.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, ah I like that change as well. I think it made a lot of sense. And so it's just like I like his character a lot better in the show that, you know, yes, he was having an affair with Rachel, whatever, that they were separated. So, yeah um you know, that.
00:23:32
Speaker
I did find that icky, but um like I said, at the end of the day, like they were separated and then like he did go out of his way to protect her and they talked through a lot of the issues they had in the past year.
Supporting Characters and Their Impact
00:23:44
Speaker
The guy's a terrible driver.
00:23:48
Speaker
He's just got road rage, okay? It's not the same. That was one of Rachel's comments too. My wife was, that this guy cannot drive because like every time he's taking out some of those turns, it's just like cutting cold corners and driving in the middle of the road. And just like, come on, man, learn to drive.
00:24:06
Speaker
um Next character is Zoe Harper. so that's going be Jon Bernthal slash Jack Harper's sister. Adult version is played by Maren Ireland and teenage version is played by Leah Merritt. um I somehow felt like she got more character growth in the show and less at the same time. um The show took out the subplot of her attacking the animals of the neighborhood and making the fur coat, like full Cruella de Vil style, and like torturing the animals and all of that. So that they took that part out, um which I didn't mind because there's enough dark stuff happening. I don't need to see kittens attacked either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um and But the adult version, like we got more interaction between her and Jack in the show.
00:24:53
Speaker
And so that like gave her a little bit more depth. Like you kind of see like she just has been a messed up kid, a messed up person her whole life. And so like I did feel a little bit more sympathy for her in the show when she was killed than I did for her in the book when she was killed.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree with that. It was very much, I think that was performed well. I mean, she was just meant to be this dumpster fire of a person that was just having a hard time with life in general and had taken and her our brother after his loss and separation. and you know, he...
00:25:29
Speaker
um she was trying to do what's right but then she was kind of you know just a neglectful mom in some ways too leaving her kid alone and stuff so um i can see where the killer would have thought that um that jack might be better off being the parent of that child and i can see the motive there but it is a bummer to see a mom get killed and leave a child behind in the story yeah that's a bummer yeah and that i mean oh we'll talk about it in the next episode i'm sure but that scene of him finding her was so good Yeah, he really he really earned his Emmy. Yeah, he did. Yeah.
00:26:04
Speaker
Okay, next on our list, ah another one of the Mean Girl group, ah Helen Wang. Adult version is played by Poppy Liu. And the teenage version is played by Tiffany Ho. um Very minimal screen time for this character in the show and also in the book. She's not around that much. But I thought both actresses, you know, did their job portraying this character and how she was described in the book. Very uptight and like kind of proper. Yeah, I don't have much to add on Helen.
00:26:35
Speaker
She's had not really a big influence in the film at all. So, I mean, the like she's there, but we don't really see much. Yeah.
00:26:43
Speaker
Next up is Rachel Hopkins. The adult version is played by Jamie Tisdale. We really see her alive for like, what, two six seconds?
00:26:54
Speaker
Mostly she's playing a dead body. um but teenage Rachel Isabel Kuzmin, I think she did a phenomenal job. She just was... evil the whole time and i hated her desperately so really it's really great performance from from this young actress um i wish i knew her from other things so this was not my only association of her because she plays a really terrible person so um but she did a good job very punchable face
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um And this is the one I have like the most to say, or like she has the most cut. I feel like they're like their relationship was changed. And um so it is interesting to have such a major plot point of the book cut.
00:27:44
Speaker
so dramatically into the show because like you said she was only in there for two seconds um now granted the teen rachel was in there more in the flashbacks but we just don't get a a lot of rachel so she has the biggest character arc change i would say out of all of this cast I think another point with some of these characters is that you know the whole intro to the story and the exit to the story is there's two sides to every story and someone's always lying.
00:28:12
Speaker
um And so each of these characters has a reason they are the way they are too. So it'd be almost interesting to see more of Rachel's why she is the way she is. you know What is her home life like? We got a little bit of... um of Kat's story, but we don't see much of the home life of anybody else before adulthood. So there's a lot more story that doesn't need to be in this story, but, you know, is an interesting thought on life a little bit there of all of us have our demons that cause us to be who we are.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, i um I mentioned before I work with children in in the state of California. I'm a mandated reporter and actually just retook my certificate a month ago.
00:28:53
Speaker
And what something they said is like, if a child is grooming another child, it's probably because they have been groomed and they have been assaulted and molested. So um I didn't think about that because I was too busy hating her. And when I was reading it because of what she was doing to the other girls. But now that you've brought that up, like what was happening in her life? I'm like, oh, she was probably also a victim of this. um And she, you know, this, this type of thing probably happened to her first. And then she got roped in and, you know,
00:29:24
Speaker
not to psychoanalyze her too deeply but she probably was trying to get some control back in her life and was like if i can do it to somebody else and i can be in charge of what's happening if
Effects of Setting Change from England to America
00:29:34
Speaker
it still has to happen if i can be in charge that's better than just being victimized constantly um anyways nested zi but it gives people a little more depth to their characters if you think about where they come from Yeah, absolutely. Next up, so this is a new character that the show added, Clyde Duffy, who is Rachel Hopkins' husband. He's played by Chris Bauer. I think her husband gets mentioned throughout the book, but Clyde Duffy gets a lot of screen time and there's a lot of backstory for him in the show that is not covered in the book.
00:30:09
Speaker
One change that I noticed again, because I watched the show first, so when I'm reading the book, I'm noticing the changes. Yeah. he is mentioned to be like real, real old, like eighties or nineties old. And Chris Bauer is not that old. um They did mention the fact that like he is having issues in the bedroom and that's why they made this deal. um You know, so that's why in the book he's just real, real old. So that's, you know, that's the biggest change there other than being in the show a lot more.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think he performed the role well. He felt like a sleazy rich guy. Right. um that will end up you know Money is more important to him than most of the stuff in his life. So he you know just goes along with whatever.
00:30:55
Speaker
um One of my big problems with the show is was in the opening scene where we come in and it's not the Audi that she was said to be driving. I'm like, that's the wrong car. But that's just because I noticed that sort of thing. Mm-hmm.
00:31:09
Speaker
That one went over my head, so good thing we've got Chris on the case. Okay, next character is um Zoe Harper's daughter. In the book, her name is Olivia. In the show, her name is changed to Meg. I don't know why, it just is. But she is played by Miss Ellie Rose Sawyer, who is the cutest, sweetest little girl. I loved her every second she was on screen, and I was...
00:31:33
Speaker
I read the book first and so knowing what happened to her mom, she was in the house in the book when it happened. And so I was very terrified that some the show was going to change that and something bad was going to happen to her.
00:31:44
Speaker
and they did change it, but they changed it in a way that i really liked, which is that she was out at a friend's house at a sleepover. So she was not, she didn't have to accidentally, because I was so terrified that she was going to walk into the bathroom while Jack was dealing with her.
00:31:57
Speaker
and and so I was, I'm glad that they made that change. So I didn't have to worry about that. Yeah. Cute little kid. ah Her you know scenes of like where Jack was trying to use her as his like DNA to try and get out of that part and then getting caught by yeah sister was pretty good. And like, you know, I'm like, OK, this is ah this is like this kid's playing the role. Well, I like this. and They kept her mostly just a side story that that may be like Jack's interactions with kids and everything. So maybe trust Jack more.
00:32:31
Speaker
and he was good with her Yes, he was. Jim Press, he's the like manager of the news station. He gets to decide who's going to be the anchor, who has to go out into the field, that kind of stuff. And the show played by Mike Pneuski, so sorry for mispronouncing. um That character is completely different in the book.
00:32:55
Speaker
Both very minimal roles, but in the book, um this character is like he's got a lisp he can't say his r or a speech impediment and he can't say his r's and he's just like a complete laughingstock and nobody respects him versus i was like oh this is a powerful man like this is somebody that you know you if he tells you to do something you say yes sir and you go on your way right and both of the girls like really um brown nose
00:33:21
Speaker
not much to say about him yeah he was fine yeah just a side character Yeah. And then um the sheriff of Dahlonega, played by Dave Maldonado. This character, I don't think even makes a like, quote unquote, visual appearance in and the book. He's just referenced multiple times. So shout out this guy for making the cut. Yeah, again, good.
00:33:46
Speaker
Did fine, but didn't really stick on any level that mattered to me.
00:33:51
Speaker
Okay, so are there any other big character arcs that are changed between the show and the book that we want to talk about? I know we hit on a lot of them.
00:34:02
Speaker
um One of the things that we didn't was Richard Jones and Anna Andrews hooking up. in the In the book, they had hooked up previously on previous assignments, and then he got married, had kids, and now he's not interested in that anymore with Anna. versus in the show, it's like episode one, they're like, it's happening. And he's like actively cheating on his wife, like dirt throughout the um throughout this timeline, the storyline.
00:34:33
Speaker
Half the reason I didn't trust him right from the beginning, which is exactly he isn't trustworthy in his marriage. So clearly, we can't trust this character. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. Or Anna, but you know, or Jack or anybody that's been in fidelity to this thing, which is like everybody.
00:34:49
Speaker
Pretty much. um I think the final character that we didn't talk about yet is the location, the setting of the story. So this, The book is takes place in this little, in blackdown England, which is not a real place, the author said. But it's an English town. There's, you know, it's England. There's no guns. So like the fact that Priya Patel has a gun is like a big deal um in that story versus this show, they changed it. And so it takes place in Atlanta where everybody's got guns because it's the South. um And so like that part of it is because, you know, another reason why i was like, oh my gosh, maybe it is Priya because she has a gun and nobody else has a gun in the book. In the show, her having a gun is not special. She's a cop in America. Like, of course she has a gun. um
00:35:36
Speaker
What do you guys think about the setting change? Like, did it did it change it did it affect anything too much for you or was it like a pretty seamless transition?
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:35:45
Speaker
I don't think I noticed.
00:35:49
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's such a, like, it doesn't really have a lot to do with the plot. So i think it was fine.
00:35:57
Speaker
All right. Any other final notes on characters and character arcs? I know next episode when we go through the plot, more stuff might come up, but anything right now. I'm good.
00:36:10
Speaker
Okie dokie. That is a wrap on episode one of His and Hers. Be sure to like and subscribe, share to all your friends, check the trigger warnings, and we will see you next week.
00:36:21
Speaker
Bye. Bye.
00:36:27
Speaker
That's a wrap for this week's episode of Bookwatch. We hope you enjoy diving into the world of page to screen adaptations with us. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a rating and review wherever you listen and share it with a fellow book and movie lover.
00:36:42
Speaker
If you prefer to watch along, you can check out the show on YouTube, youtube.com slash at book, watch podcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at book, watch podcast, and you can follow me Sarah day on Instagram at captain.mcd that's M C D E E.
00:36:59
Speaker
And you can follow me, Jordan, on Instagram at JJ Corrito. That's C-A-R-R-I-D-O. And you can follow me, Chris, at CyborgNight404. That's Knight with a K. You can also join the conversation in the Book Watch Lounge on Facebook at facebook.com slash groups slash Book Watch Lounge.
00:37:21
Speaker
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00:37:43
Speaker
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and we'll see you next week.