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25: The Housemaid Part Two - Plot Analysis
37 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of Book Watch, we’re diving into Part Two: Plot Analysis of The Housemaid by Freida McFadden and its 2025 film adaptation. With the characters and dynamics already established, it’s time to unpack the twists, reveals, and psychological mind games that make this story so unsettling.
In Part Two, we break down:
- The escalating tension inside the house and how the power dynamics shift as secrets come to light
- Key plot twists from the novel and why they work so effectively on the page
- What moments feel most essential to preserve in the adaptation—and which changes might actually improve the story on screen
From unreliable narratives to jaw-dropping revelations, we analyze what makes The Housemaid such a compulsive thriller and whether its shocking turns will translate successfully from page to screen.
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Transcript
Introduction to Book Watch: 'The Housemaid'
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, welcome back everybody. This is, my name's Chris. I'll be your host today with Sarah Day and Jordan joining me. Hi. On this episode we're going to be of Bookwatch, we're going to be continuing our discussion of The Housemaid, a Frieda McFadden's book from 2022, and the adaptation from this year, 2025. The Housemaid, directed by Paul Feig.
00:00:28
Speaker
In this episode, we're talking about the plot and the story differences between the movie and the book. and we'll get on to that in just a moment after these ads.
Adaptation Analysis: Book vs. Movie
00:00:44
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're a bookworm, a movie buff, or both, grab your bookmark, grab your popcorn, and let's watch some books.
00:01:10
Speaker
Today we'll be comparing the major scenes, which were adapted faithfully, which were altered, and what was omitted entirely.
Key Scenes and Pacing
00:01:19
Speaker
To start with, we got Millie's interview with Nina. What did you guys think of that?
00:01:26
Speaker
It was pretty spot on. I mean, I think there's only so many ways to botch that scene. So um yeah, it was pretty spot on. i think it was a good way to get some background on Millie and like the fact that she's living in her car and why she's so desperate for the job. um And so it was pretty spot on with the book. Saradae, what do you think? Yeah, i agreed. I don't um have any...
00:01:54
Speaker
thoughts on the beginning of the film i know we're going to get into more of the changes in the later half of the film but the first half um without getting too much into it being rushed i mean i think you have to and if you were going to rush anything the beginning was the perfect spot to rush things because we thought the beginning was so boring so um yeah i thought this was fine They moved a little bit of the like that first scene that she has talking to herself at the beginning. It sounds like a lot of her books start that way with that like ah um view of the past and then jumping forward to the present again. it's kind of interesting in the film kind of take that out of order, but it was still kind of there.
00:02:41
Speaker
um Yeah. I like that they made point of view, her writing in a journal and talking about how her counselor was saying to write in a journal. And that's how we kind of got her overview.
00:02:55
Speaker
That worked well, yeah.
Suspense and Tension in the Film
00:02:56
Speaker
yeah The next. I wish they hadn't cut this, sorry, I wish they hadn't cut the scene of her talking to the lady cop from the end. Because that, to me, like that made it feel like she just kind of came out of nowhere. So I think if they had started with that, like flash forward at the beginning of the movie, it would have tied things up a little bit better, but like it is not that serious.
00:03:21
Speaker
Like if they needed to cut time and like that's fine. That one interesting is that you're not sure who is dead. And so if you you have this puddle of blood and, you know, just a vague conversation of, you know, somebody's dead and then you've got Nina being crazy all through the beginning here. You don't know. And it gives it adds to that suspense of, oh, my, she's coming to do something here and we don't know what it is. But yeah, we assume it's going to be Nina dying.
00:03:46
Speaker
Before I saw it, I was wondering how they would do that. And I was like, because you don't know whose perspective it is either. You don't know if it's Nina or Millie. And again, you don't know who's dead. um So I was thinking it could be either one of them. Like you just see the back of a blonde person's head. Because I think they're both pretty blonde in the book, in the movie. Millie's not as blonde as Nina is. um But yeah, I thought opening just with her pulling up in the car was fine, getting right into it.
00:04:16
Speaker
And then for our second scene, we had the PTA nodes disappearing and Nina's kind of unraveling a little bit after she's been hired on. And that scene definitely was quite intense with ah just jumping right into the crazy, I felt like, which I liked.
00:04:36
Speaker
Yeah, maybe the book had a little bit more buildup, but again, like I just said, if we were going to rush anything, the beginning is where to rush it. And i didn't have any complaints about her unraveling so quickly after they hire a Millie. And knowing future Scythe, you know that she's supposed to you know be trying to make herself look worse and making her husband and her him kind of, her husband and Millie kind of get pushed together a little bit, so...
Character Portrayals and Dynamics
00:05:05
Speaker
yeah it was honestly like a little bit scary how amanda portrayed it like she had she really like had this like wild look in her eye and you were like oh like you really did think like maybe she could get violent with millie because she feels like millie has done something wrong towards her um and so like and again we talked about it last week with like how great amanda seyfried was in this film but like just from the first moment you see her, she's just nailing it and like really making you like, Millie's looking at Andrew like, oh my God, she's crazy. And you're like, yeah, dude, she totally is crazy. And like, I'm a little nervous right now. um And so she just does a great job with that. And it it really does set the tone of like Millie being like, what have I gotten myself into here? Definitely.
00:05:55
Speaker
And then we jump forward a little bit to the Broadway show that and the aftermath of that, which was kind of the next thing a little ways down. But next thing that was really big that Nina asked her to do and kind of another way to show a mess up that wasn't really there.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's some more things that happen kind of in between that are like pretty much the same and not as significant, but like Millie, like messing up the, the Broadway show and Nina getting upset about it. And then like it, you know, we, when you get the point of view changed later and you find out that Nina did that on purpose to set up, um, Andrew and Millie, it's like, you know, it just, is it's perfect. And, um,
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, it follows the book like really, really closely, like pretty much exactly the same. And yeah, it's just a ah good it was kind of a nice set piece. Like I like the restaurant set and the the Broadway show set like it looked pretty. The thing I liked about the restaurant set was when we get Nina's perspective, he takes her to the same restaurant, which I don't think they did in the book.
00:07:07
Speaker
I don't think they made if they did, they didn't make it as clear. But it was definitely the same set in the film. I like that. Yeah. Which I thought was like yeah a great little nod. Like this is not his first rodeo. He knows how to charm a woman and what what to do to make her like trust him and and fall for him, which was really great. And then, yeah, like they end up sleeping
Exploring Relationships and Themes
00:07:32
Speaker
together. And then Nina like – we'll get into that's like kind of the next scene as they come back and nina finds out and then there's like that whole confrontation too there was a bit of ah you know the interesting part where she had been in prince for 10 years so you know she's her in her journal she's writing about how you know it'd been like 10 years since she'd been with a man even then it was a high school experience and not an adult uh interaction so she was kind of you know kind of hard up for it it was it was uh easy for her to fall into that uh relationship a little bit there
00:08:05
Speaker
I think that might be part of why Nina chose her, you know, um not only did she know that she needed a job, but she would fall for him as easy as he would fall for her. She's vulnerable.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I thought that was really interesting. And then after that, we get the moments where Andrew has to kick Nina out or kicks her out because she's being crazy and locks. ah After that, we find him locking himlocking Millie in the attic. And then we see kind of the progression of going from...
00:08:39
Speaker
um being in love, being this, you know, lovey-dovey couple to she breaks a plate and ends up having to um be locked in an attic for unknown reasons at this point in the story. And we get kind of that progression.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah. um The plates is not the same reason that she gets locked in the attic in the book. In the book, she like is reading books off of his shelf and she leaves them out on the coffee table. And he says that that was unacceptable and that's why he locks her in.
00:09:13
Speaker
OK, so it's a totally understandable reason to lock him in room. Absolutely. Yeah. So, so right. So I actually, this is one of the changes I think you were alluding to last week, Saturday, that I kind of liked this change because it was like, they were his moms and like great, his grandmas and great grandmas, like fine China plates that were like from England. so like, they are very rare and very like personal to him. And so that kind of like made more sense versus like, really, like you just left books out and that's why you're being tortured. Like,
00:09:47
Speaker
even like in a in a suspense like thriller like fan fiction novel it still was like really like that's the best reason we could come up with so this like made a lot more sense and like not that it ever is acceptable to do any of this but it was like I understood more of like why that would be so triggering for Andrew, where he, in his, like, abusive, evil mind, he would be like, yeah, that's what's going make me do that term. think either way...
00:10:20
Speaker
Makes sense because he was abused himself. And I can totally see his mother getting mad at him for leaving books out and or like not putting toys away or not putting something away. So she locks him in her closet and makes him hold books. um And while think the place is a more visual representation of that and it works in this setting and the fact that she it's an accident whereas leaving the books on the table that's not an accident like you it's not it's not a bad thing but it's not an accident whereas she got scared and dropped the plates that is a pure accident um and then she gets punished for it so i think that that makes it more dramatic i guess um
00:11:10
Speaker
Whereas in the book it builds. Well, no, I guess it builds for Nina. Sorry. um Millie. It only happens to Millie the one time before she takes things into her own hands. But ah yeah I do like that it's a more dramatic and like, like what the fuck, bro? It was just an accident. It's just a plate. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:33
Speaker
Yeah. Right. And then that opens it up for the, like, her punishment or, like, her atonement being more violent. Because, like, in again, in the book, she just has to have these heavy books laid on her stomach. Three hours. like, what is it, like, five hours or something? Which, like, three hours, yeah, like, which is painful and uncomfortable, but, like, not the same as having to slice open your own stomach with a chunk of ceramic plate or porcelain plate. One of the things, that was like one of the changes. So, in the book...
00:12:04
Speaker
She had to have the books on her stomach for three hours. Well, she actually only has it on her stomach for two hours and 59 minutes before she takes the books off. So he's like, oh, you're a minute short. and Start all over from minute one. So she has to do it again. so that in the book, when he pulls out his tooth, he doesn't pull it out by the root. So she's like, oops, it's not the root. You have to pull out another tooth. where they completely took that out for probably for time in the film. But you see him do that with Nina with the hair. um
00:12:36
Speaker
So there's that portion of it, but also... um when they changed it to cutting herself with the plate 24 times because it was 24 pieces of the plate um instead of having the three hours of books because she left three books out. That was a lot more gruesome. And like you think, wow, he's a monster. Whereas putting books, like we just said, putting books on your stomach. I mean, I've never done it. I don't want to try it. So I can't say how torturous that is. But cutting yourself, that's a lot more torturous. And I was kind of shocked because –
00:13:13
Speaker
If he's planning on making her his new wife, she just tore up her stomach. Like, she's going scar. So she's never going to be able to, like, go to a beach or up the pool. Like, I'm sure they have a nice pool at you know, their golf club. So she's never going to be able to show off her stomach.
00:13:31
Speaker
um So that was just kind of like, hmm, I wonder why –
00:13:37
Speaker
her do that in that location. um But for dramatic effect, I think the plates worked.
00:13:47
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. One more thought on the a cycle of abuse. it's I'm wondering if it wasn't mom. Dad's dead and she is programmed psychologically that this is what has to be done. But could that have been a cycle of violence from passed down from father to son that he saw his mother get tortured this way and him over all his life. And so he's created that cycle now. and Honestly, I'd be almost more interested in the story if it had been the mother had killed the husband, her husband at one point too. And that becomes a little wink at the end of like, I got rid of my abuser and I'm glad you did too. I almost wish that had been a little bit more alluded to or something, or if that had been a thing.
00:14:29
Speaker
It could have been, but that's not what happens in the book. And it's definitely, yeah the mother is definitely the abuser. I think it would have been a more interesting story. um Although I don't think she, if I don't think she would allow her son to do that if she wasn't the abuser, you know? And like, you can already see him. we That's what I wanted to talk about last week was you can see Andrew,
00:14:58
Speaker
grooming Cece not in a like not in a creep way but in a abusive way like he in the book he's making her wear those dresses that are really itchy and uncomfortable and she hates them but he was raised prim and proper so he's going to raise Cece prim and proper
00:15:17
Speaker
You get like the juice of the crib lid, which is what he was told as a kid too, it seems like, all those sorts of things. Well, that's what I was kind of alluding to last week as well with Cece. Like, she acts that way because she, like, as she's grown up under his thumb... She knows that if she messes up, mommy gets locked in the attic and it gets punished. And so like that's part of why she's so like cold and like not trusting and she's not like affectionate the way like a normal kid her age would be is because she is growing up in this abusive environment where if I do anything wrong, like play with my toys wrong or get dirty at school or don't wear the right clothes or don't have my hair done or whatever, whatever.
00:16:04
Speaker
Not only like I might get punished, but also for sure my mom is going to get punished and I don't want that to happen to my mom. And so, you know, yeah, that's like that's why she's like that because she's growing up in this abusive home.
Power Dynamics and Character Influence
00:16:18
Speaker
Which is definitely an interesting topic to explore in this way and let you know and let people be seen that might be experiencing similar things. And I hope it can help some people that are seeing this on screen and maybe making a connection and able to break free. But next up in our process here, we have going through the scenes, we have Nina's point of view. And when we get her all of her background info dumped onto us there, and when the story gets interesting as far as the book goes, apparently.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yes, true. I wish, I think when we talked about last week with Enzo, like this is really where like Enzo comes in and plays a bigger role is when him, he like, you know, he recognizes what's happening to Nina. He sees the light on in the attic and he doesn't see her for a couple of days and he's worried about her and he checks on her and he. becomes you know kind of like the white knight character.
00:17:09
Speaker
Like, this is wrong. Let me help you. They try to figure out plans to get Nina out of this situation. And pretty much like almost all of that gets like removed, or at least it becomes a lot smaller than it is in the book. And I think that really sucks because, like we said, it's like, what is the point of having Enzo in the movie at all if he's not doing all of these things that he's supposed to be doing?
00:17:35
Speaker
Someone's got to take care of the grounds. but To piggyback off that, they they cut a lot out of her background as well because he's the only one that believes her because – um andrew has already gotten to all the neighbors and all of the friends and all of the pta ladies and she broke down and yeah told one of the women what andrew was really doing and she turned around and told andrew that nina was about to have another breakdown because he had told everybody that she's crazy she has psychosis and also in the book
00:18:13
Speaker
She started to believe that she did have psychosis when she was first in the hospital. She thought she really did almost drown her. She was gaslighted into believing it. um And then again, like she she tried to trust the friend or he locked her in the closet again. She she made a mistake. He locked her in the closet again. And she's like, okay.
00:18:33
Speaker
I'm not out of my mind. This is really happening. And that's when she went to the friend, but he had already infiltrated everybody. So she's really stuck here. And that's when Enzo comes into play. And um his sister is the one. And he does mention that in the film, but you get a lot more of why he's important in the book. um and how they plan like the whole passport thing was just a fleeting comment in the film um the sister was just a fleeting comment in the film um and so i really i really don't know why he was important in the film yeah and just real quick because you mentioned like the pta ladies and stuff there's also a line in the book that talks about how
00:19:18
Speaker
Andrew's dad was really close with the cops and they were all dirty cops that like the Winchesters can do whatever they want because the cops you know certain members of the police a local police force have been paid off by the Winchesters and so Nina can't even go to the police and try to plead her case because they're all basically on Andrew's payroll which like again ties into the fact that the cop in the book in the beginning and at the end is has that connection to his first fiance and so like that's the one and only cop who would ever not take Andrew's side and that's the only safe person the way that Nina and Millie are able to get away with you know the end of the story um and so I think like it again when you take certain things out you always are going to lose something and so like not having the background of like
00:20:09
Speaker
the PTA ladies, you know, the, the other moms in in the circle, you know, the mom talk ladies ah having their relationship and how they've been, you know, swayed by Andrew. And then like the local police have been swayed by Andrew and like not explaining how isolated Nina truly is. And therefore why Enzo is so important to her and why he matters so much. Like you lose all of that when you take those things out of the film.
00:20:38
Speaker
Definitely. That's all very true. And honestly, the, you know, the cop at the end is part of, you know, one of the things that I was like, you know you, if you don't have a cop, that's going to look the other way, basically this it's, you Batman can't Batman without a James Gordon allowing it in some ways. And so without that cop being willing to look look the other way, of this happens. If they looked into where is her car at the time when she's supposed to have not been there. Well, all the neighbors would have seen the cars at the driveway throughout that whole week. If you, You know all these things, there's ways they could probably have figured it out, but for the fact that someone was looking other way and finally able to, sit willing to say, okay, enough.
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah. Um, but we get, uh, yeah, all that info, which was great, uh, to finally get the story figured out. And then we get Millie's, uh, switching things up the universe of, her getting him locked in there when she tricks him a little bit or not, uh, uh,
00:21:35
Speaker
of is able to use the tool given to her by Nina, the little old cheese knife in the closet, and in the film at least, to injure him enough that she can get him locked in the room and can actually go recover herself a little bit.
00:21:52
Speaker
That was pretty interesting, i thought. Good way to show that they can't they are kind of... uh kendra spirits here and that she is helping yeah i forget in the book how she gets andrew locked in the closet um but i did like how they made it more clear that nina was like pulling the strings and secretly helping her and that millie kind of figured that out um before from the audience perspective don't i don't know if she ever made the connection but
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah, well, in the I think in the book, she like she recognizes like there's there's something there is some object in the room that like wouldn't be there unless Nina had put it there. And it's in the bucket in the book. It wasn't tucked away in the closet in the film, but it's like in the bucket.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. there's so Nina has put something in there and she kind of because we we kind of skipped over this scene, but Nina exposes Millie's past to Andrew and like tells him that she's been in jail, she's a criminal, you know, so which makes him more likely to victimize her because he knows that she's vulnerable. She doesn't have people looking out for her that will miss her if she goes missing for however many days or weeks that she's locked in the attic.
00:23:14
Speaker
um And but what Nina doesn't tell him is that Millie was in jail for murder um And so like, that's when, you know, Millie kind of has this moment when she finds the weapon or the tool, whatever's in the in the in the attic, like, oh, Nina wants me to kill him.
00:23:35
Speaker
Or she's at least like giving me the ability to kill him because she knows what I have done in my past. um Which, I don't know what state there, this is supposed I think New York, right? But like,
00:23:50
Speaker
i will the because Millie goes to jail because she kills a another student at her school who is in the middle of sexually assaulting her roommate her friend.
00:24:02
Speaker
Her roommate. like He's like actively griping her and Millie kills him and somehow Millie goes to jail for that because nobody else like speaks up and like you know explains what happens. Yeah. yeah So like She should have gotten ah an award for that, in my opinion, but whatever. um so like But Nina knows this background information and knows that Millie has killed before and has specifically her like victim was an abusive male.
00:24:34
Speaker
And so she like if there was ever a time that Millie is going to like snap and you know lose it and kill somebody, it's when she's confronted with an abusive male. And so i like Nina...
00:24:45
Speaker
You know, having orchestrated the whole thing, really set it up, like found, like she says in the book and in the movie, like, i I found the perfect person to
Conflict Resolution: Book vs. Film
00:24:53
Speaker
do this for me. The movie also does a brief glimpse of the bar when she works at the bar and she hits... one of the other male bartenders who's assaulting a female bartender and in the book that's a bit of a mystery for a while because we know that she was let go she was fired from the old job but we don't know why yet and we know that like if they find out why she was fired she'd go back to prison because of her parole um and they so they don't make it as um big of a deal in the film they just kind of glimpse that she does have this history mm-hmm
00:25:32
Speaker
I'm forever in those moments, but no sense of self-preservation for the not going back to prison, it feels like, you know. Well, i I like it because I, you know, I fancy myself as a protector type of person. and like I have, you know, if I've been in a bar and there's a guy like trying to talk to my friend a certain type of way, like I have gotten in his face and yelled at him, like, don't talk to my friend, like get away from us. Like, you know, so I understand in that moment, you're just like, this is wrong. And I need, I need to help this other woman. I need to stop this. And having that feeling kind of come over you and like, yeah, like I'm, I'm now putting myself in danger by confronting this, this man, you know, in this public space, but you know, this is my friend, I'm not going to let her be treated that way. And so like, I understand where Millie's like, yes, there is no self-preservation, but like I've been in that kind of moment. And so, yeah, you're not thinking about yourself. You just know this is wrong and I can't allow this. and I have to say something. So, like I said, Millie deserves an award, not jail time, in my opinion, but, you know, we live in an imperfect world. Unfortunately, not the way the our society works, and half the time nobody believes women in those situations, and that's terrible. So, I am, yeah, like i said, proud of her that she did those things, but it's tough when you're on parole and having to but protect yourself and she's not doing that which is yeah you know that's her choice and you know her strong sense of justice said i've got to protect these people and i'm uh totally fine with that and i probably would make the same call yeah but especially as the oldest of uh of all my siblings i would be uh wildly protective of those around me especially you know people being victimized by older people and uh males above them so um definitely uh agree with that statement um
00:27:21
Speaker
Then we go through the next scene here is kind of where we get the um the death of Andrew Winchester and all of its after aftermath, which you know it comes about because she gets that ability to get power over him for a little bit.
00:27:36
Speaker
But then... um after ah having him up there she kind of reverses the whole uh cycle of abuse and he has him doing sort of the same sorts of things she would ah he was having his victims do she has him pull out a tooth uh because of his perfect smile being what uh his mother comments on and he's commented on about how nobody can resist that perfect smile and uh then a nina comes back to try and help her and ends up letting him out of the attic. And that becomes a whole chase scene that you were talking about that in the film, that wasn't in the book, but as that tension before we find him,
00:28:18
Speaker
ah on the staircase trying to convince Nina that she should come back to him and he falls to his death after he tries to attack her and Millie comes back and helps by pushing him off the railing. This is probably the biggest change of the film to the book. um And i I know that I complained about Sidney Sweeney's acting in the last episode. I do want to say she has really good comedic timing because the crazy that kind of came out in this scene in the next few scenes was good. I do like and I liked.
00:28:56
Speaker
the change um and seeing her and Amanda act together in this sense, as opposed to Nina being crazy towards Billy and gaslighting her. um But yeah, so again, in the book, she makes him pull out more than one tooth because he didn't pull it out at the root. um And then, and that mirrored what he did to her and what he had been doing to Nina, like the hundred strands of hair. Um, she didn't like one hair was not at the root. So she made her pull out and another hundred. And then the three hours, it was only two hours and 59 minutes. So he made her do it for another three hours. So she was like, oops, no root, pull out another tooth. Um, and then
00:29:44
Speaker
She accidentally kills him in the book. She left him there too long and he, like, starved to death or got dehydrated. bled to death, maybe, even. um Because I think it was dehydration because she had already drank the three little water bottles. And then she locked him in there too long and he, died that Yeah. So when Nina came back, they found him dead. And then Millie's freaking out because...
00:30:10
Speaker
She thinks she's going to go back to prison because she killed somebody. um And then that's when Nina does the whole cover up. Like, go. You work on break for a week. I'll figure this out. um And then, yeah, Nina kind of takes over there's no light bulb thing um that happens between them um she doesn't leave the tooth on the floor um and then the chase scene of course doesn't happen because he's already dead in the room so um i'm fine with it because it is a movie you do have to have some dramatic tension at the end like you have to have that climax um So having a little chase scene at the end works for the film that I don't I don't think it would work in the book. I think how the book handled it was great. An accidental death of falling like that is a better ending than ah just dying. I have to cover up a um like him beat it up in the room and not getting him off water.
00:31:03
Speaker
I think it's harder in the book. Well, I think the him falling is harder because i ah correct me if I'm wrong, Sarah, but in the book, she what Nina says is Millie was out on vacation for a week and I was away visiting Cecilia at camp or something.
Climax and Thematic Closure
00:31:22
Speaker
And he accidentally locked himself in there. And and that's how he died. He doesn't stab him with the butter knife in the book. You're right. You are right. Correct.
00:31:31
Speaker
So so it's, you know, yes, his teeth are missing, which is suspicious, but like that's that's it. Like he has no other like major injuries to him other than his teeth being missing. And then like he she makes him put the books on his groin. um And so like his like genitals are crushed by the books. And so we're go about those two things.
00:31:54
Speaker
yeah like those Those two things you know I think are a lot easier for a cop who like has a vendetta against him already because her family member has been abused by him. like It's a lot easier to explain those things away versus when he falls. like Why is he changing a light bulb in the middle of the night? How did he fall? He's got a stab wound in his neck and the teeth are missing. and like There's all this other forensic evidence that like anybody other than that cop who looks at that Like, you know, the crime scene investigators and the autopsy doctor. Like, there's a lot going on that has to be covered up and explained away. So I think, like, that kind of plot hole being left at the end is, like, it's a much bigger plot hole than him being allowed to die dehydration. I think a lot more people are going to be annoyed by that if only seeing the film and being, like...
00:32:49
Speaker
There's no way they would get away with this murder. Whereas in the book, like you said, it does make more sense because he's dehydrated. And so like, it does make sense that he could have locked himself in that room. um It's a lot more believable in the book. And I think that's maybe the one thing the book does better. Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
yeah My struggle with the room is that if I was, like, if I happened to lock myself in there, I would have been trying everything to get out in some way. I would have been taking light switch covers off, trying to find a way to, you know, you know ah get to the locks or, you know, start a little fire to burn a wall a wall down, whatever. know, there was a hinges in the closet thing in the movie. There was there is that window that I would have managed to try to let break off a leg of the bed or whatever I could do to break that window and get somebody to help me. you know, the fact that nothing happens in the room except for him just dying in there would be my suspicion as a cop or whatever, know, I'm just sitting here, not doing it. Even in the film that everybody was locked in that room, did nothing to try and save themselves. I felt like they just went along with it, which can be fine for, you know with what anxiety and what a fear can do to you. But, uh, I just felt like I'm like, I would have been trying to get out of here.
00:34:00
Speaker
I've, I explained that away, which like, again, is me doing more work than the author did in the first place, which is a separate issue. But like, I explained it away, like he specifically built that attic to be his torture chamber. So like, you know, he used the bulletproof glass on the window and he like, you know, specifically built it to be a prison cell for whoever. So, you know, and maybe that because like the his first fiance, the sister got out. So maybe he learned some lessons, like maybe she did break the window or do something to free herself. And so then he made those adjustments for Nina and for Millie to, you know, to lock it down more. So it was harder to break out because I mean, like when Millie first goes up there and she's moving into the room.
00:34:47
Speaker
because she's the live-in housemaid, she sees the scratches on the door from, assumedly from Nina. So like he probably has like reinforced, you know, hinges and like, you know, he's probably done a lot of work to make this space a prison or that you can't escape.
00:35:06
Speaker
um And so that I'm able to kind of like headcanon that away. And I can get there too, but until you've tried anything, you don't know when you're in that situation. So I would have liked to have seen at least somebody try to um do more than just slam themselves into a door that swings the other way.
00:35:25
Speaker
That's only my my only problem with it. but Otherwise, yeah it's understandable given fear and given the the situation they're being put in. They're afraid even i mean even if you get out, what what are you going to He's got a camera on you. He's got you know all this stuff. But I would have and wanted someone to try.
00:35:43
Speaker
And both of these women too, like they're tiny women. They're not like trained fighters. Like even like, you know, there's no mention of either of them. Like, like Millie just got out of jail. Like she's, and Nina is like ah a housewife. Like there's not really a mention of them like working out and like being very fit or very strong. Like they're, even if they like,
00:36:05
Speaker
had the smarts to think of something else, like physically, were they even capable of it? And again, like part of him being that evil abuser, like he knows what type of prey to pick, you know, to, to make them more easily susceptible to him. um So I keep, I keep that in mind as well. And so that's why like, you know, as a, as a woman, like you always, you know, always be on your guard ladies um and be, you know, be aware of your surroundings and stuff and understand like, you know,
00:36:35
Speaker
Just we're, you know, we're women and and men are men. And, you know, there's a lot there's a lot of bad stuff that can happen, you know, with blue with these people.
Final Scenes and Future Speculations
00:36:48
Speaker
I walked my wife through all the steps that I would have taken to try and get out of there. So if she's ever, you know, stuck in a situation, she has not with me, but with, you know, other abusive situations, you never know what can happen that she knows at least did what to try, you know, save, be willing to say, how able to save herself if something happens. Yeah, yeah yeah so and then he dies ah from them but the fall and then we get the scenes with the cop.
00:37:12
Speaker
um the The cops that come after she tells Mina to get out of here. Well, she'll take care of it. She's talking and they they end up saying, you know, I... we believe we we're suspicious of these things and then the cop we like we said we talked they were talked to said my sister was the one that was um engaged to him at first and she's never been the same and she kind of looks the other way and says okay it's just an accidental death moving on then we move on to the funeral scene where um the mother
00:37:43
Speaker
And Nina and Cece are mourning the death of the of Andrew and greeting guests and all that. and Get a little bit of a line from the mother talking about how he had the perfect smile and how you you get those little creepy moments of hearing that she was created this cycle that of abuse that happened here. And then...
00:38:12
Speaker
move on to all the new stuff here in sec. But what guys think of the funeral scene and all that? I do think the book made it a little bit more obvious because I think she, I think the line is a little different. Like, I think she says, I'm glad taught taught him to take care of his teeth or something like that. um I mean, Jordan correct me if I'm wrong, but I think she had a little bit more, i like it was a little bit more evident that she did it to him and then he did it to her and she you know and then Nina was also doing it to Andrew. um So yeah, that that woman is just psycho.
00:38:53
Speaker
Psycho, psycho. Yeah, totally. There's, yeah, I think in the book, it's much more of an obvious, like, wink, wink, nod, nod, like, you know, the mom, like, has, like,
00:39:06
Speaker
predictably she's probably seen her son's body and you know like before the the funeral and stuff and she saw like all the damage that was done to him she's like i know what this is i know how this happened and like yeah like if he you know doesn't take care of his smile or his hair or whatever then like yeah he deserved it and you know it is what it is like she's very cold and heartless towards her son and you know yeah like I'm glad you taught him a lesson basically so but like it's more of the same abuse that are the same punishment of he didn't take care of his family so he doesn't deserve it and in this case he yeah was taught his lesson in a final way yeah exactly and it like I know you're kind of talking about like what if it was the dad like because the the mom is the one giving these lines I feel like
00:40:01
Speaker
it's trying to make it clear that she's the one who was doing the abusing of Andrew to turn him into the monster that he grew up to be. um Like, yeah, it could have been the dad, but like...
00:40:15
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like even with like a Stockholm syndrome kind of thing, like if the abuser dies, then like you just you're not going to go out and abuse the next person. You kind of just like go on with your life. um So for Andrew to be like that with his dad having died, I feel like it was mostly the mom and her her doing that to him.
00:40:39
Speaker
Yeah. And the way they portrayed it, I saw that. Definitely. I was just thinking that it almost could have been interesting to have that little wink, wink moment of like, you know, I did this, you know, I've been through this cycle before and, you know, you know, killing off my husband because he was the abuser and whatnot. A wink of, I see what you did and good job.
00:40:59
Speaker
ah You finally broke free. And then they moved on their separate ways. I thought could have made for a really interesting, like, Oh my, what happened in the past? We need that. That, that prequel now. Yeah. Yeah. thing yeah But I understand it. Yeah, it was definitely her that was portrayed as the abuser in the past in this story.
00:41:16
Speaker
Then we have the moment where Millie shows up at the funeral Nina says, I thought I told you to go get out of here. And she says, I had to come and make sure everybody was OK or whatever. Nina gives her a $100,000 check and recommends her another friend for a similar service. And that little friend for a similar service and we get that little Final scene of a vigilante career has begun.
00:41:45
Speaker
And we do get that vigilante tease in the book, but the the change in the check is... She does give her a year's salary in the book, and it's, like, towards the end of the year where she's like, okay, now I need to get a job because I can't, like, ah the check, the salary that she gave me is running out. um And that's when pretty much shot for shot, I think that scene at the end is what happens in the book with the new with the new family. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah. As far as a job for her parole goes, I don't think a check really helps her. So that's the part I was like, um that's not helpful here. A $100, $1,000 check from my boss who just died's wife just looks suspicious at this point and doesn't do anything for me as far as needing to have a job for my parole and doesn't.
00:42:39
Speaker
yeah help me with all the place to live really other than that i can go rent something but it doesn't give me a job doesn't do all any of the stuff i need here so i thought that was weird but i i can see you know she was just giving her the reward and moving on and uh then we get the recommendation at the end that yeah it was a really a fun scene they had me a little bit hooked into like all right i want to see what she does next with this is the character
00:43:05
Speaker
I think honestly probably the the best part of the movie was that end scene into the epic needle drop of Taylor Swift. That probably got the biggest reaction out of me. I was like, let's go. like This is so cool.
00:43:17
Speaker
um Yeah, I mean, we kind of talked about it last week too, or I alluded to it, um but if there was anything that was going to make me like be glad that I read this book and watch this movie, it's that setup of potentially having Millie going around and just murking abusive husbands. Like I'm all about that. And so, you know, we can keep coming up with ways with minimal plot holes for her to get away with Cause like at some point it's suspicious that you work for these families and the husbands keep dying.
00:43:51
Speaker
Um, that's a little, right like, somebody's going to pick up on that at some point, but I'm, I guess I'm interested to see how that could work out.
00:44:03
Speaker
Maybe the cop needs to become involved. Maybe they need to like actually incorporate this a little bit of yeah bringing everybody together to make a plan. Yeah, I think it needs a little bit of explaining. but And I don't know that the cop would like let her get away with multiple murders. Like he had an emotional investment in this one because oh in the book it was his daughter.
Listener Engagement and Future Episodes
00:44:22
Speaker
in the movie it was her sister but and it may maybe in the movie it it'll make more sense because of the girl power thing and protecting women so maybe the female cop will be more inclined to help her um but i don't think in the books i mean i haven't read the sequel so i don't know what happens if he comes back or not um but i don't think it would be as much sense for him to be okay with her killing other people whereas he didn't really he had the emotional connection to this case
00:44:50
Speaker
yeah right now the sequel being it like the Star Wars sequels somehow Andrew returned literally there's there's your's your twist somehow Millie kept getting away with murder yeah so overall you guys ah are not excited or excited for the next set here what do you think are we are we gonna um look forward to the next thing I would not have gone to see this movie if it wasn't for the podcast. If it was on streaming, I might have checked it out when I was bored.
00:45:26
Speaker
um I will probably watch the sequels if we want to do it for the podcast, but I'm not going to seek them out.
00:45:40
Speaker
I'm interested enough in how the next like phase of Millie's journey is that I would see the movie again. Again, with I have like the unlimited movie package with Regal. So it's not like I got to pay out of pocket for it in the moment. So I would go see the movie, the next movie if if it gets made. um But I would only suffer through another book if we were going to cover it here.
00:46:06
Speaker
So, all right. So it's up to you listeners. If when this next one comes out, you know, let us know if you want us to, to torture ourselves and by reading this, ah the next book in the series, and we'll, we'll take it on if you have enough of you give us that feedback. Otherwise we might just let that one go. Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:26
Speaker
And if you really liked it, again, change our minds. Convince us that it that it was great. Yeah, I mean, she has other adaptations in the works, I believe. So let us know if you want us to cover those as well.
00:46:38
Speaker
Right in. Please don't. Don't do it. right yeah well yeah Looking forward to hearing from some of our listeners on this stuff. But otherwise, anything else you guys feel like was missed in our review of ah the scene by scene? Anything you guys want to mention before we hop off here?
00:46:58
Speaker
I don't think there's anything else. ah i mean There's a lot that they pack into the film, given the length it is and how much was in the book. But I think we gave a pretty good overview of it. People can make their decisions on whether they want to jump in or not based on our review if they're not worried about spoilers. But otherwise, thanks for watching books with us. And thank you for joining me, ah Jordan and Sarah Day. Bye. As always.
00:47:25
Speaker
ya. guys.
00:47:29
Speaker
That's a wrap for this week's episode of Book Watch. 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.
00:47:44
Speaker
If you prefer to watch along, you can check out the show on YouTube, youtube.com slash at bookwatchpodcast. You can follow the show on Instagram at bookwatchpodcast. And you can follow me, Sarah Day, on Instagram at captain.mcd. That's M-C-D-E-E.
00:48:03
Speaker
And you can follow me, Jordan, on Instagram at jjcorrito. That's C-A-R-R-I-D-O. And you can follow me, Chris, at cyborgnight404. That's night with a K.
00:48:15
Speaker
You can also join the conversation in the Book Watch Lounge on Facebook at facebook.com slash groups slash bookwatch lounge. If you'd like to support the podcast, you can join the Patreon at patreon.com slash bookwatch podcast. Tiers start at only $4 a month and we would love to have you over there. Have a favorite adaptation you'd like us to cover or a book you think deserves a screen adaptation or just want to let us know of any feedback. Send us an email at bookwatchpodcast at gmail.com.
00:48:45
Speaker
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and we will see next week.