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35: His and Hers Part Two
38 Plays8 days ago
In this episode of BookWatch, We dive into the plot of His and Hers and all the dal twists and turns throughout this murder mystery adaptation. How do Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal’s performances bring Anna and Jack to life and how does a fundamental change in the beginning of the story affect the rest of the plot and how events unfold? Again, we recommend checking trigger warnings since this plot is very dark and very heavy. This well written and well acted story kept us guessing until the end, and is a great addition to your shelf if you love a dark, contemporary, mystery.
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 & Content Warning
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome back book watchers to another episode. um We are continuing our discussion of His and Hers by Alice Feeney and the January 2026 Netflix TV show adaptation. um Reminder, there's some disturbing content in this book and since we're really getting into the plot this episode, we will be talking about it fully and in depth. So check trigger warnings before listening. I'm your host Jordan. And I'm Chris.
00:00:26
Speaker
And I'm Sarah Day. And we're going to get started right after these messages.
Podcast Focus & Host Introductions
00:00:39
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.
00:01:06
Speaker
Okie dokie. Welcome back, everybody.
Book vs. Netflix Adaptation
00:01:08
Speaker
um we are going to go through this show and all of the fun twists and turns um comparing major scenes. So let's start at the beginning. So the show opens up and right from the beginning, everything's a little bit different from the show um and the book. Some, you know, pretty minor, like you don't lose anything, I don't think. But immediately I'm like, OK, who the heck is Lexi? where's Kat? And you know in the book, Kat Jones has the anchor spot, goes out on maternity leave for like two years because she has two kids back to back. And during that time, our um female POV, Anna, takes over the anchor position at the news station versus in the show, that's a little bit worked ah ah switched around. Anna is the anchor She's been the anchor for years. She goes through the loss of her child, um Charlotte, who she has with Jon Bernthal's character, Jack Harper, and she goes off and disappears for a year. And during her absence, that's when Lexi comes in and covers that. um
00:02:20
Speaker
So what did you guys think of that change right off the bat? Did it help her kind of a negligible difference? I think it works both ways. I wasn't really too worried about it. I mean, it was a little weird till, yeah, when you read the book first, see, huh, what happened here? Why is it backwards? But it didn't change how ah the story went in my mind, really.
00:02:42
Speaker
I wonder if they changed it a little bit in the show so that we are not as emotionally attached to Lexi because in the book she has the children and then in the show it's just her and her husband so we're not as like upset with her death because like she's not leaving kids behind.
00:03:01
Speaker
a little concession. Yeah. That can make sense. Yeah. I think that's part of it. And the other thing is um it sets up Anna like Because the whole thing is like, who's the killer, right? And so with Anna having been gone for a year and nobody, not even her detective husband, being able to track her down, you have to wonder like, what was she doing? Where was she? was she plot Was she the one plotting and planning all of these murders back in their hometown for, you know, and especially with the change they made to, you know, the the trigger warning scene, the rape scene of of the kids. She was the one who was like,
00:03:39
Speaker
more brutally assaulted in that scene instead of Catherine Kelly. So it makes more sense for her to have been the one planning all these revenge murders on these other girls. So that's why I thought that was a good change to make because it gave more... um legitimacy to Anna as pot potentially being the killer. And they added a few of red herrings like to her lines and things to make us think that she was the killer. I i thought like i never thought she was.
00:04:09
Speaker
um And I thought all these red herrings were, in fact, red herrings. There was a line later on in the season where, what is his name, Richard? asks where she's been. um it's i think it's when they were getting kicked out of the hotel and she says something about having to get gas and But it's when one of the other murders had happened. So it kind of sets it up that she could have committed that crime.
Character Dynamics & Murder Portrayal
00:04:34
Speaker
um And I was like, that's just too in your face. I just don't believe it. I don't think it was her. um And in the nature of being a TV show, I thought that they were going to get together in the end, her and Jack, and get back together. so I really didn't think it was him either. Yeah.
00:04:50
Speaker
So I, again, like I said in the ah last episode, I did think that it was Lexi early on. And then when the Lexi Alexis thing happened, I'm like, oh, yep, I'm so right. um And then so I just waited for it to play out. And every time I saw another red herring like that, I'm just like, nah, it's not her.
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and I think the whole thing of changing the anchors and all that and and the other scene kind of keeps her as the main focus of the show. It really ah yeah focused in on our main character instead of having all these other characters that are the you're going to get attached to slash you're going to are going to be given more limelight. So that makes sense, too.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah. and Sarah Dan, you mentioned Richard, who is Lexi's husband in the show, and even their his dynamic with Anna is different um in the show versus in the book because in the book they used to sleep together when they were out on assignment like before Anna made anchor and she was just a field reporter he was a cameraman and they would hook up all the time and she he was cheating on his wife and that was fine and now he's okay now I have a couple of kids i you know i have to fix my infidelity and be loyal to my I love my wife I love my kids I don't want to ruin my family so when Anna kind of propositions him he says no versus in the show it's I think like episode one you get a full on like sex scene of the two of them and one it's
00:06:21
Speaker
um ah that's a change. It's a a ah reaction to another change because she sees, want to call him Frank and that's not his name in the show. Jack. Jack sleeping with Rachel. So she's like, it's like revenge sex. Like her husband, because they are separated in the show, not divorced. So her husband is sleeping with this woman. So she's going to go and sleep with somebody else.
00:06:46
Speaker
Totally. And get revenge on the woman who took her job by doing it too. So. Fair enough. Absolutely. So, there's yeah, there's a lot of levels. So I think that that fundamental change of Anna being the person losing the anchor position, like fully having it and then losing it versus her being a temporary stand in and then having that taken away from her.
00:07:09
Speaker
like you have to make all these other changes to make that make sense. um So I don't think any of them really like bothered me though. Like nothing, I was like, oh, I wish they had stuck closer to the book. Like they all felt cohesive at least, even if, you know, as most of us are here on the pod, we're book truthers and we want things to be like shot for shot, like the book whenever possible.
00:07:34
Speaker
But I don't think any of these changes were like oh so serious that they ruined like the plot of the of the story. Right. So if i was more attached to the story, maybe, but it's it wasn't one that I was like ah really attached to
Casting Choices & Character Connections
00:07:48
Speaker
before. So like i was I could let it go. Yeah, for sure. OK, so we have the murder of Rachel and that's pretty much, you know, dead on. She's found on top of you know her own car She's stabbed a bunch of times. She's got two-faced written in nail polish on her nails. Her nails have been cut. um All of those like crime scene details are pretty much exactly the same as in the book. And that this is where we first are introduced to John Bernthal's character, Jack Harper. and He's the lead detective on the case and he's been sleeping with her. And so he has to like,
00:08:32
Speaker
Hide the fact that he's been sleeping with her while still investigating and like not letting himself get caught up in the investigation. It's all very, very corrupt. and Not the kind of thing you want from your police force, certainly. um But all of that was pretty much spot on. And even their Jack and Anna's first like face to face interaction um at the police line was pretty spot on, too. Don't you guys think? Mm hmm.
00:09:02
Speaker
Definitely. That was one they used in the trailers that kind of hooked me at first too was that little interaction and seeing, hmm, there's something weird going on here with these characters I do like from other things. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was smart casting to have Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal in the lead because I had never heard of this property before. But I was like, oh, I know them from Marvel movies and I love them in in their Marvel movies. like I would totally watch something starring the two of them. Like like you said, Saraday, like It's Frank Castle and then it's Valkyrie. Like what a weird combination. Let's see how this goes.
00:09:36
Speaker
So I think it was smart casting to get people interested in watching a show that like otherwise like there's a million murder mysteries out there. So having those two as your leads kind of makes this one stand out a little bit to get people to watch. Yeah, 100%. Like this is not something I think I would have gravitated to if it wasn't for those two actors.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah.
Anna's Personal Journey & Family Issues
00:09:54
Speaker
Okay, so Anna is back in her hometown. the investigation is kind of starting and she goes to visit her mom and she finds out that her mom has dementia and her husband, Jack, has been kind of helping her out and they've been trying to reach out to her. So this is another kind of the difference of her having disappeared for a year versus her not having done so in the book. When Jack says, like, I've been trying to reach out to you
00:10:25
Speaker
It's like, I feel like it was worse in the book because like she was getting the messages and she was just choosing to ignore them. It felt like she was being selfish, like because she wanted her anchor position so bad. She didn't want to. leave that to come and check on her mom who was sick um versus in the show when she disappears and nobody can find her. it's like, well, she, she might've just gone fully off the grid and not had a phone and not had any access and legitimately not had any idea that her mom was not doing well. um
00:10:58
Speaker
So, and that, that like, Plot point is very important, listeners, if you haven't read it or watched it. So keep in mind that mom is dementia adult. old um I like how both the book and the show kind of give the flashbacks to teenage Anna and like what happened in high school and her connection to all of these other girls. um It kind of makes...
00:11:27
Speaker
it can kind of get boring like we're driving from to this place to investigate and this and that and then like getting the flashbacks of like oh it makes sense like oh maybe Anna is the killer because she wants revenge for this or maybe this person's the killer they want revenge for that so I like those flashbacks I thought they were done well throughout the show too Yeah, that's always a good way to kind of give us some buy in for characters and ah keep bringing us back to what might have been the inciting issue. Then we go a little further, a little further until you eventually get where you need to be.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. So I think the next big thing is the murder of Helen Wang. and This is also a little different in the show because we saw, we actually, in the show, we actually get to meet Rachel's husband. um and he, we see him contacting Helen Wang. And so that kind of is another layer of what's going on between Rachel and Helen and the husband, like all of that stuff versus in the book, it you don't get those connections or if they're there, they're not as in your face. So it's a lot more like at kind of out of nowhere. You're like, oh my gosh, another person that Anna knew in high school. That's so crazy. um
00:12:40
Speaker
Versus in the show, like you're like, oh, she's probably next because Rachel's dead and then her husband's connecting to Helen. And so you get that, you know, you can you can thread that line together. But I think that scene was done pretty spot on as well.
00:12:55
Speaker
You guys agree? Yeah. I don't particularly remember. i like I feel like Helen's death is the most... Well, actually, in the show, Rachel's is pretty quick. But I feel like Helen's death is pretty quick. and like Not glossed over in a sense, but I don't really care about Helen as much. um you know And then we get to his sister, and that one's a lot a little bit more emotional. and like I just don't...
New Plot Developments & Investigative Scenes
00:13:23
Speaker
you know um care. Yeah. All we ever see of Helen really, I feel like is her standing in a room or at a table just doing work or clerical work or something. I almost wish she'd been like a school teacher there at the school or something, something beloved at that point to give us a reason to buy into her. Otherwise we just see her as a a faceless bureaucrat in the school that is just, you know, probably, probably affecting girls lives there again further. So, Well, in the book, too, there i don't think they included this in the show, but in the book, you kind of don't like her because she portrayed – not that you like Rachel, but she portrayed Rachel and Anna with the test or the paper or whatever it was where she, like, wrote the same paper for both of them. Right. And so she got them in trouble. Right.
00:14:11
Speaker
So, you know, you just don't really have, like you said, we don't really have an emotional connection to her whatsoever. So, um you know, either book and show, it was just, okay, another one is dead.
00:14:24
Speaker
We knew somebody else was going to die. So here we are Yeah. Yeah. This death, though, does kind of introduce the friendship bracelet thing a little bit more than, like, Rachel were focused on the nails and the message and, like, the stabbing, and there's a lot more. It's outside. There's a lot more going on with that one, um but I think the friendship bracelet clue is introduced in Helen's murder, and so that kind of, you get to start
00:14:57
Speaker
drawing those connections between all of the girls. Like, okay, like they were all involved and that's where like the use of the flashbacks is so effective. Cause you, like you said, Chris, like you could start finding out a little bit more, a little bit more. Okay. They were friends. They were in the same group. That's why they had the friendship bracelets. But then, you know, like you said Helen betrayed them by, you know, messing with their homework assignment that they were bullying her into doing for them, which not great either.
00:15:27
Speaker
um the another like red herring clue um pointing towards Anna is she's the first one on the scene she gets a tip that um Helen is dead and she's the first on the scene and she in the show they add the detail that she knows how to like jimmy the lock to get into the school without it like looking as if it had been tampered with or broken into um so I thought that was another like positive addition that the show made to kind of lead you down the wrong path of thinking that it could have been Anna. Right. um
00:16:07
Speaker
The show also added a town hall scene where you have Anna like soapboxing in front of the town of like, we all have to stick together and that kind of thing. and then you get Jack Harper in there trying to like talk to everybody and you know get everybody on the same page of like I'm trying to do this investigation can you guys just like let me work kind of a thing and then his like hoodlum little sister Zoe comes in and just starts getting into fights and causing problems and um I could have done without that scene like I don't feel like it added that much um as far as like the mystery what did you guys think
00:16:48
Speaker
I think the stuff with his sister in that was the biggest part. I think that her getting almost blamed by the town of like, you know, starting to get people suspicious with her and kind of starting to point us that way a little bit of like, hey you knew them. You were there with them. And, ah her having to defend herself a little bit and kind of giving Jack some more buy into because, Oh, now my sister's also being, uh, fingers pointed at her. And so it gave us more reasons to either trust her or not trust her for the the viewer watching this.
00:17:19
Speaker
That's true. Because most of what we know about Zoe's character in the book, we find out through the flashbacks of what she did when she was a teenager. You don't really get that much about her in the present day. So I think that's that's fair that that scene, you get to know a little bit more about her and the type of person she is.
00:17:38
Speaker
um The next thing, well, the next thing is, you know, Zoe's death. There's a lot of scenes added in the show of like,
00:17:49
Speaker
Jack doing and his partner Priya doing this like investigative work and like going to the coroner's office and like we need the DNA swab tests and, you know, going and talking to Rachel's husband and investigating that lead.
00:18:04
Speaker
None of which happens in the book or if it does, it's not, it happens, you know, off, off page basically. yeah. so There's not really a lot to compare how well they adapted it because it was new new scenes altogether. um But the next big scene is Zoe's murder um in her home while Jack is at Detective Priya's house having dinner with her. And that was a scene where i was like, oh, my God, it's Priya. Like she has no motive and it doesn't make any sense. But somehow it's her because she keeps she keeps disappearing out of the dinner. And she like seems like she has a crush on Jack and it's like a weird dynamic between them. And like while he's there with her having a couple of beers and hanging out. his sister's being murdered at the house. And so I was convinced reading the book the first time through, I was like, oh, it's Priya. Like, I don't know how she did it, but she did it.
00:19:06
Speaker
um But Zoe, Zoe's killed in the bath and she takes her own blood and writes the name Andrews on the wall, um which I think was skipped over in that's in the show in the show. But in the book, that's like a clue because it's,
00:19:23
Speaker
we all, so i at least I assumed, I think the readers meant to assume that it's got something to do with Anna. So now the question is, is Anna the killer? Anna Andrews, is she the killer? Or is she the next victim? Like, you know, because they were all friends, and they all the friendship bracelets, and they were all involved. um But that I think that scene was pretty well adapted as well. i think Jon Bernthal should get some sort of award for his acting when he finds his sister dead. Like that was heartbreaking. Yeah. When he calls her a sissy, it's so sad.
00:19:57
Speaker
The scene mirrored something that happens in Dexter, the show. And so that was kind of interesting, his wife is killed in the bathtub like that. And so it was a very similar visual to what I've seen in that show. And it's always brutal because water and blood mixing always makes for a huge mess and makes it a much bigger statement for viewer watching it. I do think it was adapted really well, and I think that his emotions came through really well, and I really appreciated that portrayal, and it felt pretty consistent with the book.
00:20:31
Speaker
I liked the change, like you mentioned, Jordan, with ah the the child being out of the house was good. Right. Same. um And it was frustrating to see it happen because you like she was scared. And I feel like there's a lot more emotion in the show than there was in the book about how scared she was. And she went to him and she was like, I'm scared. And he was like, it's going to be OK. And then of course, it wasn't OK. So. Guilt. In that grief. Yes. In the grief of him finding her in the tub. Like he also has a lot of guilt that i feel like you can see come through in his performance because it was like, you're going to be fine. And, you know, now she's dead. And then that turns to fear because he's like, I got to go find Anna. Right. Yeah.
00:21:13
Speaker
Because at that point, you know even without the clue of Andrews being written on the wall, there's no more denying that whatever like the killer is specifically targeting that group of friends from school. Right.
00:21:27
Speaker
And whether – again, we still don't have that clue. We don't know. Is Anna the killer or is she the next victim? He he knows for sure she's involved somehow. And he – the change of them still being married, he still loves her very deeply. He still wants to protect her. And so that's when he you know tries to run out the house to go to go find her. He gets the phone. So she calls him, right? Is that what happens? think so. The timing is a little different. Well, he's still over here.
00:21:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The timing. She's already at the house with Richard and that she's discovered that Catherine is Lexi or Lexi is Catherine, whatever order it is. Yeah. um So she, I think she calls him.
00:22:09
Speaker
yeah And that's so how he knows that she's there and he's on his way. And then of course, Priya freaking comes and causes a whole commotion and ah yeah it was very stressful watching this. Yeah. So backtracking a little bit. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
ah It definitely looked to Priya at that point like it was Jack causing the like all the people that his sister down. Yeah, you're running out of the house covered in blood. Adding up that, you know he was covering up ah evidence and that he was with Rachel and all this stuff. It makes him look very guilty at this point.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. He's been acting super shady the whole time. And so I put myself in Priya's shoes. I'm like, I would probably also think that he was involved somehow. Well, it's just like, why not just come forward and be like, hey, so I shouldn't be on this case because I slept with this lady last night, you know, like, and now she's dead.
00:22:56
Speaker
Just like it would have solved a lot of problems, I feel like. They probably would have arrested him, though, and just went ahead without, you know, looking into it any further at that point, too. I don't know. I feel like he was well liked and respected as a police officer. so Like if he had just come forward to his captain in the beginning and said, you know, i was with her last night, you know, but maybe he didn't have an alibi. I don't know why he freaked out, but I feel like a cop would know better. I don't know.
00:23:24
Speaker
You'd like to think so. But he also he also would have been fine because the next person to die was Helen Wang. And he would have, if he had done that, he yeah did get arrested, he would have been in jail. So there's no way he could be in jail and have killed Helen Wang. So, you know, at the very least, he's not going to be accused of continuing to murder people even if they still think maybe they're not connected whatever and so we still think that he did it for Rachel there's no way that he could be thought of as killing Helen and right he's not going to kill his own sister if he was going to kill his own sister he would have done it years ago why wait till now like all of those kinds of things so yeah I think we have no plot really though if he comes clean in the beginning right I know i know If the scuba gang doesn't split the party, there's no there's no story. so Yeah. ah
00:24:17
Speaker
Backtracking through the plot a little bit.
Tension & Climactic Confrontation
00:24:19
Speaker
So Anna and Richard, her cameraman, have been like sleeping out of the hotel, bed and breakfast, whatever, in the town. And somebody called and canceled their reservation.
00:24:32
Speaker
Somebody from... we don't know We don't know who it is at this point, but their reservation is canceled. They have nowhere to stay. And then Richard says... oh, my in-laws have a house near here. We can go stay there. And Anna's like, I really don't want to do that. Like, I'm super uncomfortable. Like, in the book, like, you cheated on your wife with me before. I don't want to go to your in-laws. And then in the show, we actively slept together within the confines of this TV show, like, couple episodes ago. like and another addition to the show is Lexi Jones, his wife, showed up in town.
00:25:08
Speaker
And, like, came into the investigation and interviewed Rachel's husband and like basically started competing with Anna one-on-one, like face-to-face for who can get the better story out of this situation. And so now it's like, not only are we going to go to your in-laws house where your in-laws like where she assumes her the in-laws are currently living, but also in the show, now your actual wife is also there. And I really don't want to go there with your wife, who is my like professional enemy, my nemesis, and also who like I've slept with you. And like three days ago, I slept with you. like That's super uncomfortable. i don't want to do that.
00:25:52
Speaker
She feels like she doesn't have a choice. I got really suspicious of Richard at that moment. Like, oh, maybe he's the killer for some reason. Like, he's going to get her. Like, I don't know. um so I was like, okay, i because i knew I, quote, knew that Lexi was the killer. So I was like, yeah, he's not on it. He's trying to get her to their place so they can kill Anna next. um And I can't remember the order of events um if Jack already knew Like if he was already – no, I guess he wasn't.
00:26:21
Speaker
Or if she had already died, sister had already died or not. I don't remember. They're happening simultaneously, I think. Okay. So, like yeah, i was I was getting nervous for Anna at this point because I did not think that she was the killer.
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think I had gotten past thinking she was the killer at this point too. um By this time, i i think we had gotten enough of the flashbacks to figure out that – because in the book, her name is still Kat – So I'm like, Kat, Catherine, you know, she married Richard Jones. So now Kat Jones is Catherine Kelly, who, again, a little bit of difference in what happened between the book and the show. But in the book, Catherine Kelly is violently raped by multiple men. And it is all after Rachel and Helen and Zoe basically pimp her out. Her and Anna are victimized in this situation after Rachel, Helen, and Zoe pimp them out to these men. and Anna in the book is the one to like kind of free herself and escape and run through the woods to get home. And she is not actually raped. ah But Katherine Kelly is. In the show, they switch that around, and Katherine Kelly is the one who escapes, and Anna is the one who is violently abused by these men. um
00:27:42
Speaker
So, but yeah, I think at this point in the book, we had gotten enough of those flashbacks to kind of put everything together. and I was with I fully thought, I was like, it's Cat Jones. And you know what? Good for her. They deserve it. Like, you know, Anna didn't deserve it. she She also wasn't in on it. But I understand her like you left. You didn't help me. You didn't go to the police and get somebody to come back to help me. You you just left and let that happen to me. Well, you invited her to the party thinking she was being a good friend, not knowing about it. so But how cat it is you invited me for that purpose.
00:28:19
Speaker
Absolutely. So I was, when I thought that the killer was Kat, I was like, you know what? Good for you. i support women's rights and wrongs. Go get them. Like they, they deserve it. I was very much in support of Kat Jones getting her long deserved revenge. um That's not what happens though.
00:28:39
Speaker
it It is, but it isn't. She did lure Anna there. But she's not the killer. As I understand it, it wasn't her luring her there. It was it was the killer manipulating both of them.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yes. yeah Mom wanted her there. And well, mom's goal was to get her home um to come see her instead. But that caused them both to end up at the house there at the end. So that was the mistake that both seemed like it was there in the movie, the TV show and the book. That's what the ultimate goal was, was to get them together.
00:29:16
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. You're right. I kind of like the book version better. i thought it was a lot more like... horror movie, like slasher movie feeling. And it was a lot more intense, a lot scarier the way that the book did it. Cause there's the, you know, Jack takes Priya's car and then he crashes it. And so this car is left in the woods and Anna, you know, somebody attacks Richard and he's on the ground and Anna's like, Oh my God, are you okay? She sees Kat Jones, a trigger warning for suicide She sees Cat Jones like hanging from the ceiling, you know, by the necktie from the school. It's like, oh my God, she killed him and then herself. Like, I got to get out of here. But then Kat Jones is alive and she lets herself down and chases Anna through the woods. And it's all very scary. She bumps into dementia mom in the woods.
00:30:09
Speaker
It's like, it's very intense and very scary. And I think that the show like kind of was anticlimactic the way that they did it, where it's just a Lexi versus Anna like fight in the house.
00:30:22
Speaker
And then Priya just comes in and shoots. Yeah. but I was pretty on edge during this scene. I wouldn't say that it was anti-climatic. um You know, maybe, yeah, compared to the book, but they are different mediums. And um i I definitely, like, I was on the edge of my seat thinking Anna was going to die until she got shot by Priya.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, the book is pretty intense with that being in the woods. And then i think it's it's mom that kills Lexi in the end, grabs the gun and shoots her and gets to make that kill.
00:30:57
Speaker
They hit her with a car, I think. I think Anna was behind the wheel. They get into a car and they crush her into the tree. But I thought mom found the gun on the ground and shot her still the killer the rest of the way. So there wasn't any trail or something at that point. I don't know i forget Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. But I know there was a knife.
00:31:18
Speaker
I think Priya still might have shot her. Maybe it was Priya. But it got confusing at that point a little bit in the book, I feel like. It was like so much happening all at once. And I'm like, okay. i I also read it two weeks ago, guys. It's not living in my brain anymore. Right. Good. We've read like two books since then. Yeah, literally. too.
00:31:40
Speaker
Some of us can't do that much, Chris. I'm doing my best out of here. and So yeah, and that was like the final red herring in the book at least was after all this stuff happens, they hit her with the car,
00:31:55
Speaker
all the somebody gets shot somebody shoots somebody it's a whole tragic mess and then the last like the mystery so in the book there's her pov which is anna his pov which is jack and then this mystery third person where we don't know who it is and it's the killer and we don't but we don't know who the killer is that pov like the second to last chapter in that POV is like, I have the knife in my purse.
00:32:22
Speaker
And I, that was the final thing that I was like, Oh my God, it was Anna the whole time because Anna has it in like her purse. But I was so, or no, it's Anna's chapter. She says she has a knife in her purse and I'm like, what the heck? And then the next chapter is the third person. And they're like, yeah, I can't believe Anna put the knife in her purse. i was like, wait, it's not Anna? What's going on? I was so literally up until the last second, I was still guessing who was the killer and like who did it. um So the book's really well written that way, and how it keeps you guessing the whole time.
00:32:59
Speaker
right um Yeah. And then we get our little like epilogue basically where it was Anna's mom the whole time. It was dementia grandma is the one who did it all. um So the final like kind of.
00:33:17
Speaker
twist slash plot reveal. um She does not actually have dementia. um In the book, she does have cancer though. So she knows she's dying she's or she's going to die soon. And she, all she wants is for her daughter to come home. And so she kind of, she also finds the videotape that Anna had from the events of her 16th birthday where the rapes in the woods happen and And her mom finds that and watches it and sees what happened. And she's like, that's why she my daughter doesn't want to be here. she she has all this trauma. I can fix it by killing the people who put her in that situation. And that will cure her trauma. And then she'll come home and be with me.
00:34:03
Speaker
I don't think that's how trauma works. but I think part of it was also her wanting Jack and her back together. Yeah. That was part of her goal, too. Well, and she feels responsible for that because she was watching the baby there when the yeah baby passed. Yeah. Yeah. So the baby died of SIDS, um or what we what we call SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. So nobody did anything wrong. There was no foul play. like That's consistent in the book and the show, whereas the doctors say, like,
00:34:30
Speaker
There's nothing that anybody could have done to prevent this. it was just a tragedy that happened. But the mom still carries that weight of guilt because she was the one babysitting at the time. Anna carries the guilt because it was her birthday and she was out of the house. Jack carries the guilt because he was the one pushing so hard. Like, we we should go out for your birthday. Let your mom watch the baby. Like, everybody's just carrying all this guilt for this tragedy. Yeah.
00:34:59
Speaker
And so the other, you know, final one of the final reveals is that Anna's mom had killed Anna's dad because he was an abuser. So again, i think he deserved it, but whatever. um He was an abuser. She killed him, buried him in the yard. And that's why she like the mom can't leave to go be with Anna wherever Anna happens to be. Anna has to come to her because she can't sell the house because there's literally a body and buried in the backyard.
00:35:29
Speaker
um And so we get this kind of somehow sweet like a mother-daughter healing that happens where in the book Anna like puts a patio in the backyard to like pave over where the
Resolution & Character Arcs
00:35:45
Speaker
bones are buried. And, you know, then they can maintain ownership of the house and they rent it out. So that mom can get cancer treatments and like be free of the house without having to worry about anybody digging up, you know, the past and finding out what happened. um
00:36:02
Speaker
In the show, they completely remove the plot line of the dad. um He doesn't exist at all. Basically, he just like left. He didn't. But he we don't know that he was an abuser. There is no dead body in the yard. and We know of.
00:36:17
Speaker
That we know of, yeah. um And yeah, everything just kind of gets wrapped up where it's still, i guess, for the town, it's still a mystery of who the killer was or they kind of pin it on Kat slash Lexi. But mom gets away with everything scot-free Anna and Jack get back together and they adopt Jack's niece because her mother, Zoe, was killed. And they just get to play happy family. And the show even ends with Anna being pregnant again. So they, you know, heal their marriage, adopt a little girl, get pregnant again. And everybody's, you know, riding off into the sunset. Yeah. Good big old recipe for happily ever after. Yeah. and Just a couple of murders and some crazy, yeah some other crazy stuff. And then you're, it's fine. Everything will work out fine.
00:37:11
Speaker
um all right final thoughts on anything what was does anybody have a bookmarked moment a favorite thing that happened or something that you really hated i've already kind of talked about what i really hated but i think the bookmarked moment for me is just like we've already talked about is the cast um like that's what pulled us in it was a good cast um i think that um
00:37:42
Speaker
My gosh, I had cannot remember her name for the life of me right now. Tessa Thompson was a little dry, ah but I think I said in the last episode, I think she is just kind of like a drier actress. um But for the most part, I think like that is why I watched the show. um i wouldn't, I mean, i this isn't really my genre, um like my favorite genre, but it was fine for what it was.
00:38:11
Speaker
Yeah, it wouldn't be a book I think I would have picked up otherwise, but i I found myself enjoying it. It was definitely something that I don't mind branching out and checking out something a new once in a while. um And yeah, they the cast was great to check out their performances as something other than what I know them as in the Marvel Universe. And so I really thought that was fun.
00:38:34
Speaker
um I don't think i have any other bookmark moments. We talked about most everything last week and this week that I would have brought up. But yeah, I think it was a solid story for sure that i definitely enjoyed checking out and ah better for knowing it, for experiencing it. But I don't know if I'll keep reading any other things from the author or anything.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah, right. it was It was an entertaining read and it was an entertaining watch, but it's not something I'll revisit. yeah Yeah, I'm struggling. I don't think I really have a bookmark moment either
Reflections on Performances & Thriller Genre
00:39:05
Speaker
because my like internal definition of a bookmark moment is like a favorite moment, but I think the story was so dark from beginning to end that I'm struggling to find a favorite moment in all the darkness. like There's a lot of times where i was like,
00:39:20
Speaker
looking watching like watching through my fingers like I don't want to see this. like I don't like this. and like you know Getting to certain scenes of the book, I was like, oh, I really don't want to have to read this anymore, but like it's literally my job right now, so I'm going to do it. like My bad. No, it's fine. I've You know, we talked about it. I just wasn't like mentally prepared for it. And that's OK. So note to self, check trigger warnings from now on. I think it's also different for me, like because it is set. It's a contemporary book. It's set in the real world. So those types of like dark things like murder and rape and like all these things.
00:39:59
Speaker
when you're reading it for me it's easier to digest in a fantasy world because it's like right it's easier to be like it's not real because there's dragons and magic and all these other stuff like it's not real um but when it's set in this kind of modern society where there's cars and cell phones and guns and all these like normal everyday stuff it's like oh it is really real and so it's a little harder to digest that way um But yeah, every the John Bernthal was great.
00:40:28
Speaker
I think he's great in everything he does, like not just because I have a crush on him. like I think he actually is a really good actor. um So you know he deserves some recognition for this. and Probably not like a whole Emmy or anything, but just acknowledge that he did really well. And then i think that's it.
00:40:46
Speaker
Unless anybody has any final comments, we can wrap it up. um Let's wrap it up. Dokie dokie. Be sure to like, subscribe, share with a friend. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
00:41:00
Speaker
And ah we'll see you next week for whatever we've got next. We're doing Project Hail Mary next. Yes. And we may or may not have a special guest for that. So tune in.
00:41:12
Speaker
Adios, book watchers. bye Goodbye.
00:41:18
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.
00:41:33
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.
00:41:51
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 knight with a K. You can also join the conversation in the Bookwatch Lounge on Facebook at facebook.com slash groups. slash book watch lounge.
00:42:12
Speaker
If you'd like to support the podcast, you can join the Patreon at patreon.com slash book watch podcast. Cheers 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 book watch podcast at gmail.com.
00:42:34
Speaker
Until next time. Keep reading. Keep watching. And we'll see you next week.