Credit: Netflix

Was it just us, or did you also notice that the second season of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder genuinely felt completely different from the first season? Season one still had that exciting teenage-investigation energy where Pip was sneaking around town, exposing lies while she was figuring out what happened to Andie Bell. Obviously, the story got dark, but Pip still looked hopeful back then. She genuinely believed finding the truth could fix things. But this season, both she and the audience are dragged into the dark territory.

Because this time, Pip looks exhausted from the start. And that makes complete sense because her podcast has blown up, as a result of which everybody in Little Kilton knows who she is now. But that leads her to another problem, where every person in town suddenly wants something from her. Being Pip is exhausting!

And then, Jamie Reynolds disappeared, and it made us more worried for Pip, didn’t it? Nobody wanted her to get involved, but obviously, Pip gets dragged back into another investigation. The deeper she searches for Jamie’s disappearance, the worse everything becomes. Every episode introduces another secret, another dodgy adult or another concerning family situation. The whole Brunswick family storyline, especially? Absolutely rotten from the beginning. The second their names started popping up more, you just knew that the ending was going to be foul. There was no easy escaping that storyline!

Emma Myers also plays Pip so differently this season, and thank God for that, because imagine her running around acting cheerful after uncovering multiple murders before uni. Sure, she as Enid in Wednesday is actually that character, and we’re so used to watching her like that, but this time, the change is good and acceptable. Sure, watching her look damaged was a bummer, but it was important for the storyline.

And then, the finale comes, and oh my God. Are you joking? The last two episodes genuinely become ludicrous once Stanley Forbes lands right in the middle of everything, and that leads us to the very important question.

Who killed Stanley Forbes?

Here, everything completely goes off the rails once Charlie Green enters the picture properly because the finale no longer becomes a small-town mystery. And yes, Charlie is the one who kills Stanley Forbes. But the reason the whole scene is such a punch in the gut is that by that point, Pip has already uncovered the truth about what Stanley helped hide for years alongside Scott Brunswick. And no, because as soon as those details started coming out, you know this was not ending peacefully for anybody involved.

Charlie’s younger brother was one of Scott Brunswick’s victims, so by the finale, Charlie wants revenge more than anything else. Once he tracks Stanley down, the entire situation explodes almost immediately. Pip tries to stop things from getting worse, but Charlie shoots Stanley before setting the building on fire. And the situation that’s going to stress you out is how Pip barely escapes alive herself while Stanley dies outside the building.

The mad part is that the show never writes Stanley as some over-the-top evil villain, either. He absolutely participated in horrific things, but the series also makes it obvious how deeply Scott Brunswick controlled and manipulated the people around him for years. So by the end, Stanley’s death doesn’t even feel satisfying. Everybody already looks drained with a horrible leftover feeling.

Why does the ending change Pip completely?

You have to agree that Pip looks fully broken by the finale. Season one still had moments where solving mysteries looked exciting underneath all the murder drama. Season two completely kills that feeling. By the end, every new clue just looks terrifying to her because she already knows where these investigations lead.

The fire, Stanley’s death and Charlie’s revenge plan basically push her over the edge mentally. And whew… if the show follows Holly Jackson’s third book properly, season three gets even darker because Pip starts dealing with paranoia and PTSD afterwards, which makes complete sense because this girl has genuinely seen enough crime to last several lifetimes.

And that’s why the ending was amazing but also so dark because technically Pip solves the mystery again, but she doesn’t even look relieved afterwards. She just looks tired. Completely done. And that, that’s what makes the finale even sadder.