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S4:E15 Reading Christian Grey's POV So You Don't Have To
56 Plays6 days ago
We read Grey, Darker, and Freed—the Fifty Shades trilogy told from Christian Grey’s POV—and now we have thoughts. In this episode, we’re talking about what it was like to revisit the story through Christian’s eyes, whether these books gave us new insight, and how his narration changed the overall experience of the series.
Hosted by Keri with co-hosts Crystal and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
- Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian by E.L. James
- Darker by E.L. James
- Freed by E.L. James
Listen to Grey, Darker, and Freed on LibroFM with Our Affiliate Links:
Want to follow our entire journey through reading and watching Fifty Shades of Grey from the very beginning? Start here!
Question of the Episode:
- If you've read other POV retellings, which ones work or totally miss the mark?
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Thanks for listening to Based on a Book—see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(03:05) "Christian Said What??" Game
(09:51) Book Ratings/Ranking
(16:47) Series Breakdown
(39:50) Final Verdicts & Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Reflections on Fifty Shades
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to based on a Book, the podcast that still isn't sure why we read the POV of one of our least favorite characters. I'm Keri, and yes, this was my original idea. I'm k Crystal, and I am so glad that this is our last Fifty Shades episode.
00:00:28
Speaker
And I'm Lindsay. And I'm happy to be freed from this series. We all are, honestly. we all We've been trapped. We've been trapped.
Christian Grey's Perspective: Unwanted?
00:00:39
Speaker
So we completed the entire Fifty Shades trilogy by E.L. James. And for some reason, we decided to read three books that were released following Christian Grey's perspective. Grey, Darker, and Freed. ah First book was published in 2015. Second one was published in 2017. Third one was published in 2021. All of these released after the entire Fifty Shades trilogy was released.
00:01:07
Speaker
And ah his perspective covers the events that happened in the entire trilogy. Unfortunately. When the first book, Grey, was released, E.L. James stated that the extra perspective was written for readers who asked,
00:01:25
Speaker
And asked. And asked for it. Who? did die Who asked for this? Nobody asked for this. Okay, so. E.L. James, Ice Queen, Snow Dragon.
00:01:36
Speaker
Nobody asked for this. No, people were begging for the the, people actually were begging for this perspective. I remember at the time, like, when it was like peak 50 shades of gray time, this was a very popular thing that was happening and people wanted I can't. They were wrong.
00:01:56
Speaker
don't understand why. Yeah. So basically they were, the fans were wanting to dive deeper into Christian's motivations and his troubled past.
00:02:10
Speaker
ah EO James also talked about when it came to the relationship, she wanted to write the quote, other side of the story. yeah crystal is rolling your eyes right now i'm trying not watching um'm trying so hard to save my comments for when you ask me for my comments why it' so hard and if you don't know anything yeah well we're gonna get to the reviews we're gonna get to the i know i know if you can't already tell how this is about to go
00:02:46
Speaker
So if you don't want know anything about Fifty Shades, I wanted to get our thoughts on the trilogy before we get into Christian's perspective. All the way since the beginning, we will link those episodes in the description. But this episode will be full of spoilers um as it will be covering the entire trilogy and our thoughts on basically our entire reading experience because this is about to wrap all that up.
00:03:11
Speaker
Before we get into our writings, and Crystal is just dying right now. I'm trying so hard. We're actually going to play a little game
Games and Cringe-worthy Quotes
00:03:20
Speaker
first. You know, we're go to we're going to laugh, break the ice a little bit ah before we get into what we can all assume are not the greatest reviews.
00:03:32
Speaker
But before we get into that, let's start the episode with a fun little game that I'm going to call... Christian said what? yeah
00:03:45
Speaker
How this works is I'm going to read a line and both Lindsay and Crystal, anyone listening or watching, is going to guess if it's a real quote from the book or if I just made it up.
00:03:56
Speaker
Oh, man. All right. And you're both either going to say if it's real or if it's fake. And this is all what Christian Gray has said, whether it's real or I just made the quote up.
00:04:13
Speaker
All right. Little also has an opinion. She's ready to play. Yep. There's only six of these, not too many. So well it will be quick. First quote I have is, I howl at the gray sky above me.
00:04:30
Speaker
Christian said that. That's correct. He said that in Freed. He did say that. He said that went, he howled. What the hell? Are we back in Twilight? I remember thinking that when I read it. Yep. That is real. It's basically another man growling.
00:04:45
Speaker
That is real. That is at the end of Freed when he's just so upset when he thinks Anastasia's leaving him, but she's really just trying to get the money for Jack. He howls at the gray sky above him.
00:04:59
Speaker
What a dork.
00:05:02
Speaker
All right. And also, okay, so this is Fifty Shades, so it's going to get explicit. So here we go. Her words travel directly to my dick, passing go on the way.
00:05:15
Speaker
Real or fake? Sounds pretty real. that That sounds exactly like something Christian would say. It was real. That was from Gray, Chapter 13. Yeah.
00:05:29
Speaker
really was shocked. Pass and go the way. Don't bring Monopoly into this. yeah Don't bring a board game in here. he has a playroom. Why not? Hey, there you go. yeah Yeah. Remember when she was like, like your for your Xbox games and stuff?
00:05:50
Speaker
Oh my God. For your board games? For Monopoly? Yeah. Do we play Monopoly in here? Don't worry. we got We got the same lines from- Go to jail. but Go directly to jail. Yeah. And stay there.
00:06:03
Speaker
right. Next one I have.
Value of Christian's Perspective
00:06:05
Speaker
this Is this real or fake? What I need her to understand is that this is a con- I totally butchered that. What I need her to understand is that this contract isn't about the law. It's about trust.
00:06:21
Speaker
that That's very much a Christian thing. I think that sounds kind of fake. Or fake. I think that sounds fake. You think it's real? It's real. It's from gray.
00:06:32
Speaker
i think they're all going to be real because he said some dumb shit.
00:06:38
Speaker
so It's just too, it's too easy to laugh at him. Okay. All right, Crystal, will keep it together. All right. Next one. my cock approves big time. Yeah.
00:06:52
Speaker
That's Christian gray. He said that.
00:06:56
Speaker
It's real. It's yeah from darker. right Next one. It's been a long time since I've seen. He said that too. I don't even know what you're going to say, but he said it.
00:07:13
Speaker
It's been a long time since I've seen pubic hair up close and personal like this. Yeah, he said that in gray. Yep. Real. Last one. it Get it together, Carrie. This was your idea.
00:07:29
Speaker
She places a chopping board and some red peppers in front of me. What the hell am I supposed to do with these? They're such a weird shape. Yeah. Yeah. That's real.
00:07:40
Speaker
Real. That's from Darker. Surprise. Tricked you. They're all real because this f freaking series is so damn cringe. It's so cringy. so i actually, like, I listened to the audio on three times speed so that I could get through it faster. But there was parts of me that was like, I need to go get a paper copy so that I can highlight all of the cringy moments. And then I realized I'd highlight the whole book.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. i actually saved one, another one that i put a tab on because it wouldn't really fit in this specific game scenario. But i already talked to you guys about it because I just could not hold it in because it was the most insane thing I ever read.
00:08:24
Speaker
But I'm going to read it here too. This is from Gray, the first one. I ache everywhere. My lungs are bursting. My head is throbbing. And the yawning dull ache of loss eats away at my insides. I cannot run from this pain, though I'm trying. I stop to change the music and drag precious air into my lungs. I want something dot dot dot violent.
00:08:49
Speaker
Pump it by the black eye peas. Yeah. I pick up the pace. I have that in my notes.
00:08:58
Speaker
I just, what is it with- It's like, pump louder. It's so violent.
00:09:06
Speaker
Well, I just, I'm like, ah did she, did did E.L. l James just like, Google, like, top hits of whatever year this was supposed to be set in You know? Because there's so much music in all of these books. And it's all the weirdest shit.
00:09:25
Speaker
Well, I mean, like, I'm pretty sure whenever that was published, that's when that song was popping, probably. You know? Exactly. It's just like, really? That's that's what the billionaire's listening to?
00:09:41
Speaker
That's what the billionaire finds to be so violent. Yeah, that's what's on their playlist. That honestly set me to orbit. Like, I was listening to the audiobook, and I cackled out loud at that part.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, I did too. Oh, man. this that Those quotes were killing me. All right, let's get into our book ratings. Yeah.
00:10:07
Speaker
All right. So I want to know ah first. ah Ratings for the books overall and if they're different for each of the books, it could be the same for all of them or if it fluctuated at all for all the books. Crystal, I'll start with you because you're ready.
00:10:28
Speaker
Nope. I want Lindsay to go first because everybody already kind of knows where i'm going to go with this. And I want to know what Lindsay has to say. Okay. Lindsay, you go first. ah So my rating for gray and darker is the same. I gave them both one and a half safe words.
00:10:46
Speaker
And then Freed, I will say, it was a little more entertaining because there there were more scenes that weren't in the the Fifty Shades, the original trilogy. So that one was a little more entertaining. I gave that one two popsicles.
00:11:02
Speaker
Okay. All right. yep Yep. Why? Why? Give me some more thoughts here so that I don't come off across as a complete total bitch. Oh, okay. Okay, so gray and darker are literally Fifty Shades.
00:11:19
Speaker
Yep. The exact same scenes. Mm-hmm. And it did not help me like Christian anymore. So I didn't want to hear from his perspective. His thoughts and his actions don't align.
00:11:33
Speaker
And it made me dislike Anna even more. So. Yeah. I'm going to have to agree with that. Did you listen to the audiobook, physically read?
00:11:46
Speaker
I listened to the audiobook for all three. Did you like the narrator? For the audios? He was okay. He was okay. Yeah, it was narrated by Zachary Weber. I think all three of them were narrated by him. Yeah, I thought he was okay, too. Like, it was honestly better than the other audiobooks. I will say that. I was gonna say that, too. Yeah, I liked him better than the other audiobooks.
00:12:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So, better listening experience. Yeah. All right, Crystal, we're ready. So I did not rate them individually. i listened to them all on audio. I listened to them back to back to back over the course of two weeks. These are so much longer than they need to be i I sat hard with my rating because legitimately I don't know that I can rate this fairly.
00:12:45
Speaker
But then I was like, no, this is about the, like like, I've always said that I am the audience. I'm not professional critic. I am not a professional reviewer. I don't teach literature anywhere. i'm not a pro.
00:12:58
Speaker
I'm an i'm like a fan or not. I'm a reader, right? I'm the audience. And so as a member of the audience, I give this see this Christian POV series zero stars. Zero.
00:13:15
Speaker
Because I already read this book, all three of them. months ago, a year ago. This is not new. None of this is new. Even the horrible emails that we had to listen to are word for word the exact same as the original trilogy.
00:13:35
Speaker
This added nothing, nothing. It was hard to get through originally from Anna's point of view, getting through this from another point of view when nothing changed. In fact, Lindsay's right. This made me dislike Anna more. This made me dislike Christian way more. Like it solidified my like anger and hatreds towards him.
00:13:58
Speaker
I give this, if I was going to give this, any I was like, maybe I'll give it one bad dream. But we already knew he had bad dreams that was already about and what they were about because he told Anna what they were about in the original book. So that's not new. So back to zero.
00:14:15
Speaker
Back to zero. This added nothing to my life. In fact, I feel like it was a waste of my time. And I hate saying that because I love to read and I love books. And I feel like any reason that anybody reads anything is makes it a valuable book. If it gets anyone to read it at all, it's a good it's there's a reason for it to be there.
00:14:38
Speaker
Anything that helps readers read more, go for it. But this is not it. This is not this was a waste of my time. And I feel bad about that. yeah no I'm angry about it though. yeah Guilt and anger because I hate i hate saying that. Obviously E.L. James, Snow Queen's Ice Dragon like put effort into making these books. you know she She as a writer is not an invaluable person and this is not an invaluable contribution to society.
00:15:13
Speaker
Just to my life, waste my time. Mm hmm. I mean, she was doing something right because she's she's got more money than I do. Yeah. I mean, like she was selling all these dang books, you know, and movies.
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah. And these movies and stuff. so she's doing something right. But yeah, i feel the same. Like, I don't want to be a freaking negative hater. you know, like I hate being that person. Like, I really do want to like this stuff.
00:15:42
Speaker
And at one point I did. Like i really genuinely did. i was looking back. I had read Gray and Darker at one point in my life way back forever. i actually had Freed sitting on, I have like a ah red shelf that's to the right of me and on the other side of my room is like my unread shelf. And I had Freed on my unread shelf as the only one I had not read in this entire series. So yeah,
00:16:09
Speaker
I was excited to finally complete the entire thing moving forward so I could just be done with it because it was really hard to pick that up randomly after I had spent such a long break from this entire series. But...
00:16:24
Speaker
I will say that I'm kind of with Lindsay on this where like I want to give like gray and darker like a one and give Freed like a 1.5 because it did have a little extra stuff that was not in Fifty Shades Freed which was like something that you hope to see when you're getting like a different perspective story. Like this is what honestly...
00:16:53
Speaker
to be fully transparent, I think that all this really needed was maybe like a couple chapters of his point of view in the back of the book. You know what I mean? in the back of Fifty Shades of Grey or something. Because there were moments in Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades of Grey That we don't necessarily see because they're separated. So like we don't see his point of view in those situations. So I can see that where we just get the extra chapter or something like that. You know what mean?
00:17:27
Speaker
But we don't need freaking 30 hour audio book to go over these
Alternative Valuable Perspectives?
00:17:34
Speaker
these events. Like that is absurd. And I just, I am baffled.
00:17:41
Speaker
how long these books are and compared to the series and the fact that we are re it's so repetitive. I find that absolutely ridiculous. And i like, I want to like that stuff. Like I want to go into it with an open mind. i want, you know,
00:18:01
Speaker
I was hoping going into this that maybe like I don't mind an unlikable character, like a character I hate going into it. I was like excited to see like, hey, maybe this is about to change my perspective on some dude that I really can't stand. Right. And like that would be really cool on the author as a writer in general.
00:18:24
Speaker
To be able to do that, you know? and just But, like, it's so tedious and annoying. It's so tedious. Because, like, seriously, full conversations just copy and pasted from the original books. The emails just copy and pasted from the original books. It it literally, like, an I feel like when we have different POVs like this, I want to see the stuff I haven't seen yet.
00:18:52
Speaker
I want to learn the stuff I didn't know about. And so some of the added moments of Christian in Dr. Flynn's office. hu Kind of interesting. We learn a little bit more there. Some of the conversations that Christian has with his security personnel, like,
00:19:13
Speaker
I guess it was kind of interesting, but we found out about those conversations in the other books. We weren't present for them, but we did find out about them. So kind of feel like that wasn't new info. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I like, we we want us we want to learn something new.
00:19:26
Speaker
And I feel like we didn't get that. We got Charlie Tango. We got that. We did. the The actual, what was happening that was kind of. yeah Yeah. So let's talk about what actually was different. Like what actually came out of this series that actually was different.
00:19:47
Speaker
Starting with Grey. Like I genuinely cannot think of scenes in Grey outside of maybe...
00:19:58
Speaker
Like, points of his past. Like, we get flashbacks into his past that are super quick. Kind of like whether they're a nightmare or just incorporated where something is, like, triggering a memory. um a lot of it with, like, Mrs. Robinson, which, like, I don't even want to see. no Nope.
00:20:21
Speaker
And yet we are getting graphic details on... which is just disturbing in itself. And then we're also having to listen to the argument of him defending Mrs. Robinson. right i didn't i definitely didn't want more of that.
00:20:36
Speaker
No. Yeah. Yeah. i absolutely hated that. And as he's defending Mrs. Robinson, we're getting explicit detail of their past relationship. And I'm just like, why? If we know the, like we as readers, we're,
00:20:54
Speaker
Know what the end game is, right? Mm-hmm. So why do that? You know what I mean? Like, why put in explicit details that way where It's like he's remembering it fondly. I can hear a train in the background for Crystal. Yep.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah. way i have like storms coming in with really low cloud cover. So the train a few blocks away is even louder when the clouds are low. Yeah. That's not me farting. I promise. It's a train. Yeah.
00:21:32
Speaker
i was like, wait, is that me or is that over there? It's a train. Yeah. Just pretend we're in Seattle. There's trains in Seattle, right? Yeah, there you go. We're we're putting the vibes in the setting.
00:21:45
Speaker
But yeah, I just think it's weird to to put in those really explicit scenes knowing that we are... endgame of where Christian comes to terms how that relationship was not good and that relationship was really bad what is the purpose of putting those scenes into the story i think I really feel like a lot of this was written specifically for E.L. James to have the opportunity to defend Christian
00:22:16
Speaker
hu I think this was written a lot to like further solidify that he wasn't the bad guy that whatever like we shouldn't hate him. This was what was going on in his head.
00:22:31
Speaker
hu But for me in particular the exact opposite happened. Yeah. I it only solidified. That he was just incredibly immature. That he was not ready for this. Like, at one point he even tells Anna that, like, you know, I'm not trying to... Or, where I like you just the way you are. I just think you should blah, blah, blah, blah. So basically, I like you just the way that you are, but I need you to change.
00:23:01
Speaker
Like, I like you the way you are, but you'd be better if you changed. Mm-hmm. what do you you know what i mean? like That kind of stuff out of somebody who's supposed to be mature. like oh i feel like writing this perspective is insinuating that he is mysterious and not a predictable person. When I find him the most predictable character I've ever read. Yeah.
00:23:27
Speaker
And I can read him like a book. Literally. Yeah, literally. So why do i so whenever I'm reading his perspective, I'm like, oh, so you're exactly who I thought you were.
00:23:39
Speaker
So what's the point of this? You know, you read the original 50 Shades trilogy and you're like, man, does this man ever work? And then you read his point of view and you're like, oh, yeah, no, he doesn't. It doesn't ever work.
00:23:52
Speaker
Exactly. You're like, oh, this guy is an asshole. He's got a troubled past. He, you know, obviously has a lot of trauma due to his childhood. You know, he never really grew up due to his trauma in his childhood. We read his point of view. Oh, that's literally what it is. That's literally what happened. Yep.
00:24:17
Speaker
Okay. And like, That's all we're going to get. this I mean, yeah, there's a little extra detail into it to the point that you're getting a little more flashbacks, I guess.
00:24:30
Speaker
But i don't see us getting any extra perspective behind his actions. And i feel like that's what a different POV is supposed to do. It's supposed to give us some insight into maybe, a you know, reconsider a part of the story we thought we knew. yeah Or, you know, the way the story was originally told, but was it really like that? You know, it's supposed to, like, change the way we think about something. Mm-hmm.
00:24:59
Speaker
And none of this changed anything. It didn't. tell the story from a different angle. Like, I feel like, honestly, the POV I almost want to see is, like, Dr. Flynn's POV or the Grey's parents' POV, like, watching their, you know, raising their their kids, adopted children, you know, like, one of those POVs. Shoot, Jose. Let's see Jose's POV.
00:25:25
Speaker
You know, like, watching your friend, like, Kate, Kate? Yeah. At one point in the book, like, um in gray and in Fifty Shades of Gray at the end when she like finds the contract and a copy of his contract or whatever and she's telling Anna like what has he gotten you into and she's like geez I left you alone for 16 days and this is what happens I want to see Kate's POV Honestly, yeah, because we have like no insight on Kate and Elliot's like relationship. So like, yeah, that would make kind of sense. Watching best friend and brother. Yeah. Best friend and brother watching Christian Grey, who's never had a girlfriend, according to his whole family. And but Kate's best friend, who's the virgin, suddenly the the guy who's never had a girlfriend and the virgin get together and are going to get married after only knowing each other for like two, three weeks.
00:26:19
Speaker
Like, that would be interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Little agrees. Yeah. Anybody else's POV. Anybody with a differing mindset. Anyone but the main characters, please. We've heard enough from them. Who only ever end up fighting and then agreeing with each other. Fighting and fucking it's all the same. Yeah. That's literally all they're doing. yeah.
00:26:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Give me Mia's POV. There you go We barely see her ever. She at least went to Paris. Yeah. And gets kidnapped. I know. At the end of the book, we'd get, you know, a little more...
00:27:00
Speaker
I guess you could say a little more insight, even though we kind of know what's happening and when we write read the first book. But insight behind the breakup and his reaction to the breakup, how like sad he is how he dealt with it.
00:27:19
Speaker
um And then we see that in Darker as well. um I found Darker way more grating than all three of them.
00:27:31
Speaker
Mm-hmm. A darker I felt like the torture was never going to end for myself. Like... It never, it it it went on. Like seriously, I listened to this on three times. i and And I know that for a lot of audio listeners, that's like whoop-dee-doo.
00:27:48
Speaker
I am very much a one to one and a half person. I like to, when I'm listening to a book, I want to i want to think, I want to have time enough to like pause it if I need to rethink something or to back up without it having to hit back up 17 times. i i Because i'm I'm doing dishes, I'm doing laundry, i'm like i'm or I'm driving. Like, I'm actually doing stuff while I listen to these audiobooks. And so I can't let it go fast or else I'm going to miss something.
00:28:15
Speaker
But this one was just so tedious. yeah I could barely get through it. And this is probably, even though it's not the longest one, the one that took me the longest. Because I kept just, like, realizing, hey, I've zoned out. It's time to pause and go do something else.
00:28:32
Speaker
And i couldn't I couldn't do a lot of it you know like in big stretches. i just couldn't. i couldn' It couldn't keep my focus. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was pretty horrendous. I think the only things that stood out as things that being really different in the second book was the fact of when the helicopter crash happened, we had his perspective because in the original story, he's just disappeared and then eventually shows up and we find out like how he got home, which in my mind was so boring.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah. Literally such a boring story. Like they crash and then he just like hitchhikes his way home. Boring and honestly unrealistic to me.
00:29:21
Speaker
you You're telling me you were just in a helicopter crash. This trucker picks you up and you don't want to stop at the nearest phone you can get to to call in a helicopter crash. You have to report that shit.
00:29:35
Speaker
You can't just leave your helicopter sitting there for days and not tell the FAA. you know what i mean it just so but he's just like oh you don't have a cell phone and mine's dead so i guess just keep driving for the next few hours till we get to seattle take the nap you know like yeah it takes a nap in the back of a stranger's doesn't bother to call anybody in his family doesn't and and tells himself oh nobody's gonna be worried about me nope nobody's gonna be worried about you when your helicopter doesn't show up.
00:30:07
Speaker
And then is so confused when he gets home and everyone is worried about him. So confused. You know? i don't... I don't. And then Anna, she she goes to the bathroom for five seconds and like all hell breaks loose. like It's like ridiculous.
00:30:24
Speaker
Gone for five seconds. And legitimately, again, you were just in a helicopter crash. And I get that he, like, landed safely or whatever, but you still need to be checked out by medical personnel. If that had been Anna in the helicopter and not Roz, then...
00:30:41
Speaker
He would have been like, I need you checked out by a doctor. Like, that was a traumatic event. You have to get checked out. But he didn't. Roz was just like, i she'll be fine. She can wander through in her broken heels.
00:30:52
Speaker
He would have been shooting off flares, sending off smoke signals. Like, he would have gotten everyone there. Right? But no, they're just going to hike and find a trucker to take him the rest of the way. Like, what? It makes no sense. No sense.
00:31:08
Speaker
The other scene i liked that was in Darker at the very end when we have the confrontation with Mrs. Robinson, we actually got to see that conversation he has like with his mom discussing...
00:31:28
Speaker
what has happened with Mrs. Robinson in the past whenever the mom finds out. I thought that was interesting and I actually was like, oh my gosh, I actually get to know happened in this conversation because Anastasia in the original series walks away.
00:31:43
Speaker
i thought that was interesting. I like that we got that perspective for that conversation. But is there anything in the first two that stuck out to you guys as something different that we got?
00:31:57
Speaker
No, he knows about it, really. The helicopter and the conversation with Grace. Yeah. Yeah. And then... and will say, though, in in Darker, we get to see him interact with his employees a little more. Yeah, that's true. We see that relationship with them more. Yeah.
00:32:16
Speaker
Like, although like he's not super close to anybody that he works with, you can tell that he treats them well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then at one point, like, his... His PA – did she get married in Darker or is that yeah in – Yeah. She gets married and she didn't tell him that she was getting married.
00:32:35
Speaker
And he's like, why didn't she tell me? Why didn't she tell me? And I was like, yeah why would she tell you shit? She doesn't have to. She's an employee. Back off. You are not her, like, best friend, okay?
00:32:48
Speaker
yeah i don't tell my boss why i'm taking time off like personal every single time personal none of your business i think he was also more upset like the fact that he wasn't knowledgeable about their personal life when everyone else was and whose fault is that yeah like oh my poor 50 nah bitch pay attention if you want to know shit ask questions yeah Yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
And then in Freed, we actually, like we indicated before, we actually get a lot of...
Freed - Insights or Dullness?
00:33:23
Speaker
I'm not going say a lot. I'm not going to give it that much.
00:33:26
Speaker
I'm not going to give it that much. We get some... different perspective and different information because in 50 shades freed, it immediately starts with like the honeymoon in part and, and freed his perspective.
00:33:43
Speaker
It starts very soon after 50, the same night. Yeah. So we actually get a whole chunk of scenes from the point that they get engaged to the honeymoon that we do not have in 50 shades freed. And at first I was super excited because I was like, yes, new material.
00:34:05
Speaker
And then it was like, none of this is, and I already knew about this because there are flashbacks in Fifty Shades Free. yeah So we hear about all this. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't like as detailed, but it was just kind of like talking about what had happened. I was super confused. i was expecting the same... but like Like we got in Grey and Darker. I was expecting the exact same story. And I was like, wait, did I miss this in Fifty Shades Freed?
00:34:31
Speaker
Oh, no. This is actual new material. Yeah. Yeah. and But it was just... so boring. Like it was just a freaking snooze fest, man. And the only other thing that I found interesting that felt new where I had assumed differently in the original, but saw it differently in his perspective now was when she skipping all the way to the end,
00:35:01
Speaker
All right. We're referring to the she calls him about the money and taking the money and he's just like, okay, just take it. Like she's leaving me, bla blah, blah, blah.
00:35:12
Speaker
I didn't, I don't know if this is ever brought up in the original book, But it never clicked with me that the only reason he realized what she was doing was because Jack had been released. He didn't.
00:35:26
Speaker
It didn't click for him that she would never do this. Kind of like how the movie does it where he's like, she's obviously in trouble. Like she wouldn't be doing this. That's not how the book is. Nope. He only figures it out because Jack got released. He was on bail or something. Yeah.
00:35:43
Speaker
And that's the only reason he figured it out. And I thought in the book, for some reason, it clicked with him because he was putting two and two together. Like, she would never do this. And he found out about Jack.
00:35:56
Speaker
But now, he just assumed that she was leaving, no matter what. Yep. And I was like, oh, so you're just adding to my shit list more and more every mean, honestly, she should have.
00:36:08
Speaker
yeah Because we also see his perspective after he like loses his shit about her being pregnant. yes and And then he's like, I shouldn't have done that like the next day, but she's so mad. And he's all like, I got to find a way to to I don't remember what his exact words were, but like, I got to find a way to warm her back up to me, maybe some sexy time. And it was just like,
00:36:34
Speaker
No, dude. That's their only way to fix arguments. that That's his only way to he yeah he anything. At no point was he like, I screwed up. This is bad. That was horrible. I need to find a way to apologize to her. He was just like, I just need to get her in bed.
00:36:53
Speaker
Like, He even relates it back to their honeymoon when they're on the yacht and he puts all those marks on her. We get that perspective and he's not apologetic. He doesn't feel bad.
00:37:07
Speaker
Nope. So you're just confirming everything we thought about you and what we knew about you. So like. Yeah. This doesn't help us feel for you whatsoever. No, these books did not help his reputation at all. No, we I didn't even make he didn't even seem more like emotionally vulnerable to me at all. He just it just solidified my feelings on him already. Yep.
00:37:37
Speaker
yup He still wanted to argue about their vows and her not wanting obey him That whole thing. i was like, oh, so we have to do a deeper dive on this part. Like ah a scene that I don't want to hear about. Okay.
00:37:55
Speaker
The most ridiculous scene in this entire story of them arguing about whether or not she should have a promise to obey in her vows. Okay.
00:38:08
Speaker
Which is absolute insanity to me. Him him losing it over that. a temper tantrum, too. temper tantrum. my gosh. And then when she didn't take his name, again, temper tantrum. Yeah.
00:38:23
Speaker
Like, just, I can't. I can't with this man. It was just horrible. i was like, I'm literally reliving this nightmare. Again. yeah From beginning to end. Again. Again. For no reason.
00:38:37
Speaker
and like none of it there was like nothing that was justifying his behavior that we saw like in the original series.
00:38:47
Speaker
And like we said before, it just like kind of felt like it made it worse. Do you guys think, I mean, I think this is pretty obvious based on what we said. Are we both all agreeing that it doesn't add any value to the series whatsoever?
00:39:03
Speaker
no Does not add any value whatsoever. Nope. Yeah. I think that... Yeah, I think it's more like what Crystal said earlier. i think that EO James probably got a lot of hate about Christian in general and tried to maybe redeem his character by doing this.
00:39:31
Speaker
and yeah writing this series. And I don't- A swing and a miss. Yeah, I don't think it did well. I mean, i according to a lot of like reviews on the book and everything, on all the books,
00:39:47
Speaker
It's a lot of people don't really enjoy this series. um The spinoff of it. I mean, but it's still public. She still published all three. um So there was an incentive still there to do that, which I think is interesting.
00:40:04
Speaker
I think it's pretty obvious. Our final verdict of worth the read or skip. Oh, skip. Skip on this one Honestly, though, either or.
Conclusion: Read or Skip?
00:40:15
Speaker
either read the original 50 Shades series or read this POV because they're basically the same. That is so true. Honestly, if anyone has done that where they have read his perspective and hasn't read the original, I really want to know that.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah. So let us know if you've done that because that would be kind of crazy. i kind of want to go into question of the episode. If you've read any POV retellings,
00:40:44
Speaker
Are there other ones? i kind of stay clear from these a lot of the time because I think there is such thing of too much of a good thing. Mm-hmm.
00:40:57
Speaker
Where I think that sometimes when we beg for like other characters perspectives, I think a lot of the times it doesn't do well for a lot of reason reasons, specifically something like this where it's just kind of retelling the story.
00:41:15
Speaker
who But I don't know. do you guys have any ones that you actually like? I know, Lindsay, you just read Midnight Sun not that long ago. ah Yeah, did. Wow, I just completely blocked that out of my memory. I completely forgot. I was racking my brain. I was like, what other POVs have I read? Yeah, I read Midnight Sun.
00:41:37
Speaker
And yeah, it was a lot of the same story. And it was longer than Twilight. It was... you know That's what I'm saying. It's like, how do you do that? Like, how do you actually write it in a way that makes it intriguing?
00:41:52
Speaker
I mean, i I have never read like this situation where it is yeah literally an entire series and now we're going to read the same series from a different characters POV. I've never done that before this. Yeah. But I have read books that are different characters POVs of stories that I know.
00:42:12
Speaker
Right. um You see that a lot with villains. You get the villains, baby like the movie Maleficent. Right. We see Maleficent's point of of what happened. Or um recently i read How to Summon a Fairy Godmother, which is by Laura J. Mayo. It's a Cinderella what if.
00:42:31
Speaker
Oh, yeah. and And it's from the perspective of one of the stepsisters. And she retells at the beginning kind of what happened, but from her point of view. and then we go into like what's happening afterwards from to her. well is that Maleficent that you have?
00:42:46
Speaker
This is, first of all, this is Snow White from the Wicked Queen's perspective. Nice. I have not read this in years, but I liked it when I first read it.
00:42:57
Speaker
I'm telling you, like, seeing, and and that's why I think different POVs, especially from villains, because now we're not getting the same story. We're getting the other side of the story. Yeah.
00:43:10
Speaker
But with Christian and Anna, we didn't get the other side of the story. It was the same story. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know? So I love seeing the other side of the story. I love seeing stuff like that.
00:43:21
Speaker
You know, even Like, Hook, although not really a Peter Pan retelling of the story, POV. it's But it's it's kind of a different side of what happens, you know, from a different perspective. And I love stuff like that, especially from, the like, the villain character or again, the other side. You know, the other team. Like, I would love to to read a Twilight POV from the Volturi movie.
00:43:50
Speaker
You know what i mean? Like, what is their, like, they they've been watching this family out here that's basically vampire vegetarians, you know, and and there's like a wolf pack happening and they're just watching like, do we need to step in? Do we not need to step in? What the hell are they doing? Like, that could be interesting.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah. But I don't want to hear, i don't want to read, you know, Edward's point of view because we already know that story. Yeah. You know?
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah, that makes total sense. I think the appeal, specifically speaking on the Edward one, was at the time, and I think this is kind of what the Christian thing was with Christian Grey,
00:44:42
Speaker
was At the time, Edward felt very like mysterious, where you didn't know what he was thinking, what his motives were sometimes. Especially he disappears for basically a whole book. Yeah, exactly. least that we get more. Yeah. I think that was kind of the incentive on that too. But I feel like it's been too long Yeah. Since that story.
00:45:12
Speaker
So then it like came out way later that it kind of feels like, okay, we know exactly what he's doing now. You know what i mean? Yeah. I think my favorite part of Midnight Sun was getting Alice's perspective.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah. There go. Someone that's like completely outside the relationship, like what Crystal said. So that's totally, that's totally fair. And I wonder, would these have been better if I had read them in tandem and we didn't have so many conversation and email overlaps, right? Like take that out and read them in tandem. Yeah.
00:45:44
Speaker
Could that be interesting? Like, I don't know. Yeah. go We did not need the emails. We did not need the emails. No. Absolutely not. No. I was just filling pages. Yeah.
00:45:56
Speaker
like There's a part of me that's like, did she have a contract with her publisher for so many pages? It's possible. You know what I mean? Because there's so much that is copied, literally copied.
00:46:10
Speaker
Even the signatures, the timestamps, the signatures, every time. Yep. I can't believe we did that. But we read Christian's POV, so you don't have to. You're welcome. Yeah, you're welcome. Maybe this was enough to tell you what to expect and convince you it ain't worth it.
00:46:33
Speaker
But maybe it piqued your curiosity just enough to try it. Let us know. Maybe. You don't know. But let us know if you've read the entire series and all your unhinged thoughts on Christian Grey in the comments because we would love to see them. um i personally can't wait um to never look at this series again.
00:46:57
Speaker
And my copies will be going to the thrift store next to the 500 other copies already waiting there for it. Mm-hmm. You can check out all our links in the episode description. And if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a rating or review because it really helps us out. That link also includes our adaptation submission form.
00:47:18
Speaker
So you can submit a series you would love to see us cover next there because we just finished a series on here. Yay. Next week, we will be finishing up his dark materials. But for now, don't forget to blast black eyed peas when you need to help get through your day.
00:47:38
Speaker
We will see you in the next chapter of Based on a Book.