The Girl Before

[mc2fool]

Stylish BBC drama The Girl Before is intriguing and suspenseful all the way through, IMHO.

Jane falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, but when she discovers that another damaged woman died in the same property three years earlier, she starts to wonder if her own story is just a rerun of the girl before. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13930240/

I had difficulty resisting watching the remaining three episodes on iPlayer immediately after the broadcast of the first on Sunday, and not sure I would have succeeded had it not been for them being shown on the following three evenings.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 out of 5 stars and a recommended watch from me! https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0b54mrc/the-girl-before

[Fluke]

It was really good and kept me in suspense most of the way through, but the ending was a bit weak don't you think? I won't elaborate in case people haven't seen it but that whole last sequence, from the car journey onwards, seemed like the writers were rushing to get it finished. Jane wouldn't have done that I don't think.

[mc2fool]

It was really good and kept me in suspense most of the way through, but the ending was a bit weak don't you think? I won't elaborate in case people haven't seen it but that whole last sequence, from the car journey onwards, seemed like the writers were rushing to get it finished. Jane wouldn't have done that I don't think.

Ummm...I dunno, I didn't think so but I'll rewatch the last episode sometime over Xmas and let you know.

The TV series was an adaptation of the book of the same name and it was created, written, and executive produced by the author of the book, J.P. Delaney, so one would assume (I haven't read the book) that it's all pretty faithful to the original.

What I did like about the endings was that there were a couple of times when I thought, "that's it", and expected the end credits to roll, but then there was a bit more, a P.S. then a P.P.S. then ... well, as you say, one shouldn't give too much away.

[doug2500]

It was good......but how many red flags and warning bells does a girl need to be aware of before leaving?

I lost count of how many times I thought - just leave, NOW!

Minor spoiler risk........









Course we know how it ended now but still.

[Arborbridge]

I read the book a coupel of years back, and I've been recommending the TV adaptation to anyone who will listen!

I thought it superb and the characters very like the book. The big practical difference (an improvement, I think) was that in the book, the girls had alternating chapters. On TV they were able to interleave them closely or even have simultaneous actions. Very clever how alike they made them look, and how confusing it might have been until one realised they were coded by hairstyle, dress colour or which side of the screen they were on.

I don't have a bad word to say about it (but I'm easy to please). The house was just as I imagined, and the events as I remember. The book was probably more suspenseful to me, but probably because I knew what to expect second time round

The ending I just do not remember well enough, but it seemed different to me and rather more hanging in mid air. Unfortunately, I gave the book away, so I can't check.

[Mike88]

Huge spoiler alert:



https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the ... d-bbc-hbo/

[kiloran]

We finally got around to watching the final episode last night.
I found it too slow and long, though I guess that was to build up the suspense.
The continuous flipping back and forth over time really bugged me. Probably made worse by my face-blindness so I wasn't sure if I was watching Emma or Jane.
99% of the dialogue was in a mumbled whisper. I know my hearing isn't perfect but I don't want to wind the sound up and then get deafened when someone talks normally. A failing of all-to-many programmes these days, I don't know if it's the fault of the actors with poor diction, the director, or the sound engineer.

--kiloran

[pje16]

I was away over Christmas so binged the last 3 episodes yesterday
and perhaps watching them back to back was better as I quite enjoyed it
Now that we seem to be getting used to BBC's sunday night 9pm dramas
headsup
the next one "The Tourist" starts on Saturday at 9pm
Jamie Dornan is normally quiote good in these sort of things
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(TV_series)

[nimnarb]

Well, gave it a go and lasted until the second episode. Just too slow for this old brain. Read the spoiler link to see how it ended and saved a few hours.

[Arborbridge]

We finally got around to watching the final episode last night.
I found it too slow and long, though I guess that was to build up the suspense.
The continuous flipping back and forth over time really bugged me. Probably made worse by my face-blindness so I wasn't sure if I was watching Emma or Jane.
99% of the dialogue was in a mumbled whisper. I know my hearing isn't perfect but I don't want to wind the sound up and then get deafened when someone talks normally. A failing of all-to-many programmes these days, I don't know if it's the fault of the actors with poor diction, the director, or the sound engineer.

--kiloran

Emma or Jane was quite difficult, but it was part of the story (and the architect's hang up about his wife) that they should all be very similar. After a while, one could tell them apart, except in certain scenes, but that was all part of the fun for me. In that way, I think the casting was brilliantly done. Emma was slightly rounder faced, bigger eyes slightly softer: Jane a little longer faced and no-nonsense looking. Emma more compact of stature: Jane longer, slimmer. Both lookers!
As for chopping back and forth: this is a modern trend in novels. My wife hates it - she like a story which flows through on a consistent timeline. Personally, I found it confusing when I first encountered the technique in the Girl on the Train, but I can adapt to it.

Oddly enough, the sound didn't bother me too much on this one, probably because all the actors spoke "proper" at a slow pace and sounded their consonants. Although my new Bose soundbar helps - when desparate, I can still resort to subtitles.

And thinking of the slow pace. Yes, it was, but not excessively, in my view. Many of the nordic noir things are like this, where one has "less is more" acting and a slow unfolding of the story. However, I too, find programs stretch things out (especially in old epic films), so maybe I have been infected by the byte sized modern age requirements. Brian Cox, The Universe, was an intolerable example, on which I gave up!

Arb.