The Bayview Four: Show vs Book

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Here!

[Bill1978]

Anybody else disappointed that the show decided to reveal the individual secrets (except for Bronwyn's) so early. I felt part of the appeal of rwading the book was trying to work out what Simon actually had on them all.

Or have I forgotten the book and the secrets were revealed immediately - like within the each character's first 2 POV chapters?

[Minneapple]

Should probably be a spoiler warning on this thread?

I re-read the book to refresh myself (I remembered the big overall story, but had forgotten some details). The secrets come out through little hints, but it's fairly clear early on what they are. Bronwyn says something about how teachers probably don't want her teaching other kids her methods of passing chemistry. Addy is at a party and dreading seeing TJ. Cooper is texting with "someone." So it wasn't hard to figure out what the secrets were.

[Bill1978]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:42 AM, Minneapple said:

I re-read the book to refresh myself (I remembered the big overall story, but had forgotten some details). The secrets come out through little hints, but it's fairly clear early on what they are. Bronwyn says something about how teachers probably don't want her teaching other kids her methods of passing chemistry. Addy is at a party and dreading seeing TJ. Cooper is texting with "someone." So it wasn't hard to figure out what the secrets were.

While the secrets were reasonably easy to work out, it was still nice to have to wait to see if your theory of what they are is correct. I feel some of the suspense has been lost with the show because we weren't really given any time to guess ourselves.

When I reads the book I always felt that, even though there are 4 POV characters, Bronwyn was the lead and Nate second. Having watched 4 episodes, I feel like Addy at the moment has been pushed to main character even though we spend a lot of time with Bronwyn and Nate. Maybe it's just because Addy has the most growth to achieve as a character. Going from popular to outcast and kinda back again. While the other 3 just seem to be about I hope my secret doesn't come out - although I admit I know Nate's character growth is also a big deal which I think is going to happen now that mum is back. I totally forgot she wasn't dead.

[Bill1978]

I will be honest I don't like the changes they've made with Maeve. Much prefer book Maeve, I just feel this Maeve also doesn't match with the Maeve we met in the sequel book.

My memory says that Kris helps with the cracking of the mystery using some technology knowledge, but this show went out of their way to show just how clueless Kris is with technology. Or have I remembered that part of the book wrong?

I also miss Eli and I miss the press covering the story.

Clearly what drew me into the book and wanted to see it adapted into a TV series is very different to what drew the people who created this adaptation. Sure they are hitting the beats, but how they get to the beats is often quite disappointing due to the changes.

[scarynikki12]

33 minutes ago, Bill1978 said:

My memory says that Kris helps with the cracking of the mystery using some technology knowledge, but this show went out of their way to show just how clueless Kris is with technology. Or have I remembered that part of the book wrong?

 

If memory serves the group (Bronwyn, Maeve, Addie, Cooper, Kris, and Ashton...I think that's it since Nate's arrested by now) meet at a coffee shop Nate's lawyer frequents and they look at all the evidence they're aware of while they're waiting. What Kris does is notice things in a new light and leads them to the the whodunit reveal.

Speaking of, I'm guessing there's no Ashton in this show which is sad for me as I liked her supporting Addie and the Not Dating she does with Nate's lawyer. 

[Bill1978]

33 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

Speaking of, I'm guessing there's no Ashton in this show which is sad for me as I liked her supporting Addie and the Not Dating she does with Nate's lawyer.

I miss Ashton too, and I'm not sure how the show will resolve with Addie's growth with the sister to live with.

And thank you for the clarification on Kris I have no idea why I've remembered him as a tech genius. Mybe my brain just merged Maeve's contribution with Kris for some reason.

Fingers crossed Eli comes into the show now that Nate is arrested. I don't think we've seen Eli in the show though so it really won't be as organic an introduction on the show as it was in the book.

[Minneapple]

I miss Ashton as well! I loved her relationship with Addy and how the two of them helped each other break out from their mom. It seems like the show ditched that and expanded TJ's role so Addy could have boy drama, which...eh. I prefer Addy's sister.

[scarynikki12]

In the first episode I was concerned that they'd changed the premise and put Simon in a coma rather than kill him. As the episodes unfolded I started to worry that they'd change the ending and I'm sorry to be right. They put too much emphasis on the parts of Simon that could draw our sympathy and ignored his incel behavior. 

Since the episodes have aired and the whodunit has been revealed I'm going to go into actual book detail now.

They paid lip service to Simon setting this all up as an elaborate frame job but then didn't follow through. One thing I love about the book is how the whodunit is set up and then revealed. I love that we learn pretty quickly that the Bayview Four didn't do it which automatically leaves two other options: the teacher and Simon himself. The teacher doesn't feature enough to even qualify as a dark horse candidate which then just leaves Simon. But we're also conditioned to be looking for one person to kill/harm another so the reveal that Simon killed himself is still an excellent twist. 

Changing the murderer to Jake was excessive in my opinion. It made sense for us to learn that Jake was in the know and used it as a way to torture Addy because his emotional abuse was laid out well. His part of the story culminating in almost killing Janae and Addy made sense in the book but having him be the Main Bad behind everything was just too much. I wish he had dressed as Diego Rivera so he could just lean into it and twirl a mustache. 

Given how much of Maeve's character and story was changed for the show I wouldn't be surprised if the text was supposed to be sent from her but I'd rather they just go right into an adaptation of One Of Us Is Next. Just make that Big Bad somehow be witness to them covering up Jake's death and using the knowledge to fuck with them.

[Minneapple]

The finale was the most drastically different turn from the book. I gotta say, it disappointed me a little; I never was under the impression that Jake could be smart enough to mastermind a murder and a coverup. And I assume that with that cliffhanger they want a season two with the same main characters rather than Maeve being the focus?

I loved in the book at the end when Bronwyn's confession about cheating was on the news and Yale tweeted at her that they were looking forward to receiving her application. Too bad we didn't see that in the show.

[scarynikki12]

Ok so season 2 isn't based on any of the books, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I wish Maeve hadn't been changed from her book counterpart. Book Maeve would NEVER have kept Simon Says' identity a secret from Bronwyn and the others. She absolutely would have taken initiative to get in contact should the opportunity present itself but she'd have used the truth to their advantage the second she found out. Book Maeve would have revealed Fiona to the others so they could protect themselves and plan their counter offensive rather than stay quiet and complain about not being invited to the cool kids table.

I'm still salty that show Maeve not only had no issue with Simon but was in love with him before he died. Bronwyn hated Simon more than Maeve in the books but Maeve didn't like him either which was one of the points. Book Simon had exactly 1 friend, Janae, in part because of the typical cool kids vs uncool kids bullshit that happens in school but also because of his own incel personality. Maeve and so many others he attacked in his blog didn't do anything to him personally but he still went after them because Simon was an asshole. He was unhappy in his own life and took it out on others at every opportunity. At this point the show can't really do a course correct but maybe a future adaptation will be willing to present Simon for the monster he was.

[ybrik]

1 hour ago, scarynikki12 said:

Ok so season 2 isn't based on any of the books, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I wish Maeve hadn't been changed from her book counterpart. Book Maeve would NEVER have kept Simon Says' identity a secret from Bronwyn and the others. She absolutely would have taken initiative to get in contact should the opportunity present itself but she'd have used the truth to their advantage the second she found out. Book Maeve would have revealed Fiona to the others so they could protect themselves and plan their counter offensive rather than stay quiet and complain about not being invited to the cool kids table.

I'm still salty that show Maeve not only had no issue with Simon but was in love with him before he died. Bronwyn hated Simon more than Maeve in the books but Maeve didn't like him either which was one of the points. Book Simon had exactly 1 friend, Janae, in part because of the typical cool kids vs uncool kids bullshit that happens in school but also because of his own incel personality. Maeve and so many others he attacked in his blog didn't do anything to him personally but he still went after them because Simon was an asshole. He was unhappy in his own life and took it out on others at every opportunity. At this point the show can't really do a course correct but maybe a future adaptation will be willing to present Simon for the monster he was.

Wow that is quite a difference with the Maeve character which is weird because a lot of my issues with the character seems like I wouldn’t have with the book version. I think Bronwyn was right about at least show version of Maeve. She may have wanted to help her sister and friends but it seems like alot of her motivation seems to be wanting the others not only include her but do what she wanted. I want to like her since she seems to Janae’s love interest and I like Janae but it seems like a combination of the writing and how the actress is portraying the character makes me really not like Maeve. 

[scarynikki12]

4 hours ago, ybrik said:

Wow that is quite a difference with the Maeve character which is weird because a lot of my issues with the character seems like I wouldn’t have with the book version.

Oh book Maeve is great. They kept her computer genius and Bronwyn initially wanting to keep her out of everything but the sisters are super close and Maeve’s hacker talents are important to the Four unraveling the mystery. She’s one of the central characters in the second book and is still close to her family and the rest of the Four so we get to see how they’re doing while the new mystery unravels. 

[Artsda]

I just finished season 2 and that is nothing like book 2.  However I did like it, but was really different with the club still being in highschool with no time passing compared to book 2 with them in college.