Three Pines - General Discussion

[OtterMommy]

I've been really interested to hear what people who have not read the books think of the show.  It sounds like those of you here under that umbrella like it, which I'm glad about.  

I have been making my husband (who has not read the books) watch it.  After we finished the most recent episodes, I asked him what he thought of it.  He mulled that over for the moment and then said, "What is up with the duck lady?"

[BlackberryJam]

I think the show is trying to do a little too much right onw, giving us too many characters and story lines without taking time to develop things. I'm still enjoying it though.

Peter is such a douche. 

[WildPlum]

Speaking strictly on the TV series, Peter doesn't seem particularly likeable, but we haven't really seen enough to call him much else. He has some deep dark secret, but it is clearly just a personal one, as Gamache would have been unlikely to let something like "I killed my first wife" go after reading the psychiatric notes. My guess is that it is some kind of sexual issue.

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

I think the show is trying to do a little too much right onw, giving us too many characters and story lines without taking time to develop things. I'm still enjoying it though.

Peter is such a douche. 

This is where I think the series made a mistake by starting with the 2nd book.  You get to know the town and people of Three Pines in the first novels. Putting this under spoiler tags as it refers to the book:

Spoiler

The murder is fully within the town.  A beloved townswoman is murdered and a townsperson did it.  In the course of getting to the resolution, Gamache has to get to know the main people from the town.  There really aren’t any big outside influences involved.

And, yes, Peter is a douche.

[BlackberryJam]

51 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

This is where I think the series made a mistake by starting with the 2nd book.  You get to know the town and people of Three Pines in the first novels. Putting this under spoiler tags as it refers to the book:

  Hide contents

The murder is fully within the town.  A beloved townswoman is murdered and a townsperson did it.  In the course of getting to the resolution, Gamache has to get to know the main people from the town.  There really aren’t any big outside influences involved.

And, yes, Peter is a douche.

I agree about the first book, but I think the story was too complicated, or maybe too expensive, to

Spoiler

do the artwork of the house. And it's hard to bring in the Two Rivers storyline into a murder contained within the village. I appreciate the focus on Bea and the indigenous storyline. It makes me care so much more about the corruption storylines, because you know that's going to intersect. 

I would actually enjoy some more shots of the food. This is a mystery series with food porn that's not about a chef/baker, etc and doesn't include recipes. I like that. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

4 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

I would actually enjoy some more shots of the food. This is a mystery series with food porn that's not about a chef/baker, etc and doesn't include recipes. I like that. 

Yes, the food descriptions contribute in a major way to the atmosphere of the books.  The show is just not as cozy, by design.

Edited December 12, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Zella]

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Yes, the food descriptions contribute in a major way to the atmosphere of the books.  The show is just not as cozy, by design.

I want to be served a lot of the meals as I read! 

[SunnyBeBe]

I haven’t read the book and I’ve just started watching this on Prime.  I really like it so far.  It has the perfect mix for me.  

Edited December 13, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[dleighg]

2 minutes ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I haven’t read the book and I’ve just started watching this on Prime.  I really like it so far.  It has the perfect mix for me of mystery and humo

my husband and I were watching football (american) yesterday and the ads for broadcast tv shows made us looking at each other like "what? seriously?"

I love the non-broadcast shows (prime, or those brit versions) that are so much slower paced and thoughtful

[raven]

I really enjoyed these last two episodes and thought they were better than the first two.  I thought the murderer was pretty obvious again but that's fine, the mysteries aren't the point.  

I'm assuming Peter's secret is that he is gay.   I think Alfred Molina is hitting all of the right compassionate notes as Gamache.  

I really, really like Bea but the duck woman gets on my nerves.  Usually I enjoy quirky and cranky characters but, I don't know, maybe it's the actress?     Bea and Lacoste are my favorites.  I don't know how forgiving I would be towards the person who knowingly made a false call to CPS though.

I wondered why the possibility of photoshopping didn't come up earlier but I guess the default was "here's Blue in a photograph, she looks fine".  

I'm reading the first book (again, pretty obvious who the murderer is IMO; we'll see if I'm right) but there are so.many.characters.  I keep forgetting who people are and I'm a careful reader.  I do really like Gamache's relationship with his wife, even though she's in it minimally but those parts work for me.   Nichol's awful thought processes are really fascinating; watching her cluelessly sabotage herself.  

I like what I'm reading but the show changes have worked too, which is not always the case.  I'm sure I would be annoyed if I had read the books first.  I could bore you all to death the the changes made in other book adaptations that annoyed me because I'd read and loved the books first!

[WildPlum]

I want to know if the duck is just well trained or is some sort of puppet/CGI. It reacts to being held remarkably well.

[OtterMommy]

3 minutes ago, WildPlum said:

I want to know if the duck is just well trained or is some sort of puppet/CGI. It reacts to being held remarkably well.

We don't get the backstory in the show but Ruth had the duck since it was an egg and it imprinted on her (or she imprinted on it?  Whatever).

@raven it's interesting that you, who isn't as familiar with the books, and my husband, who has not read the books, both are a bit irritated by Ruth.  I only see her through the lens of the book, but I can see why someone who hasn't read the books would find her annoying.  She might just be a character that works better on the page.

I watched that movie version of the first book where Ruth was a complete zero.  It makes sense--that was a made for (broadcast) TV movie and Ruth is not a made for TV character, but compared to that version of Ruth, this one is far closer to the literary version.

[Zella]

As a reader of the books, I honestly find Ruth annoying in the books.

[OtterMommy]

Louise Penny posted that Three Pines is currently the #1 show on Amazon:

https://www.facebook.com/louisepennyauthor/posts/pfbid02moq1SQ1uftqSEBHRHAtNJG6xXx3etvY4x6gf8CsdZTXZTwGTSF3w6YnkCneXbeBxl

So, hopefully this leads to at least a seaon 2, although no word on that front yet.

[Zaffy]

Add me to the club of not having read the books.
I have really enjoyed it so far. I really like Molina (he is 69? it doesn't show!).
At the beginning I wasn't sure about the Three Pines people cause they were portrayed a bit like caricatures..to the point that I thought this is a dark comedy.
But in episode 3 and 4 they seem more human.
The scenery is of course amazing.

*** minor  spoilers about episode 4 ****

Spoiler

Did we know from the books if they found more bodies at the house?
Did  the 3Pinians burn it down before the investigation was concluded? That troubled me a bit. 

[3 is enough]

To answer @Zaffy:

Spoiler

I am currently reading book 2.  There is no residential school storyline in the books.  I think this was added specifically for the tv series in light of the events of the summer of 2021.  In fact, there were never any residential schools in that part of Quebec. 

[sugarbaker design]

5 hours ago, raven said:

I'm sure I would be annoyed if I had read the books first.

That's where I am.  The Cruelest Month, the book, bares no resemblance at all to Three Pines episodes 3 and 4, The Cruellest Month.  There was no residential school story in the books.  The identity of the victim is different, the identity of the killer is different.  The plot is not even similar. Even the spelling of the title is different.  All they share are characters like Gamache, Beauvoir, LaCoste, Nicholls, Clara, Peter, Myrna, Ruth, Rosa, Gabri and Olivier.

Edited December 13, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[OtterMommy]

4 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

That's where I am.  The Cruelest Month, the book, bares no resemblance at all to Three Pines episodes 3 and 4, The Cruellest Month.  There was no residential school story in the books.  The identity of the victim is different, the identity of the killer is different.  The plot is not even similar. Even the spelling of the title is different.  All they share are characters like Gamache, Beauvoir, LaCoste, Nicholls, Clara, Peter, Myrna, Ruth, Rosa, Gabri and Olivier.

As someone who has read all the books, I personally have no problem with the changes the shows have made.  I think they have stayed with the spirit of the stories and of the characters, and that's what is important to me.

Now, as I said before, I barely remember the book of The Cruelest Month.  I remember it had to do with the house, and that was about that, so I can't really complain about changes in the most recent two episodes.  However, they did set up the changes by having CC Poitier's house be a former residential school instead of what it was in the book.  That particular change should also be reflected in future episodes down the road.  But, to me that's not a big deal.

I know that not all avid readers of the book agree with me, but that's okay.  I've seen adaptations where the actions of the story are intact but it just doesn't *feel* like the source material.  I would much rather have a case like this where the stories may change,  but the spirit is the same.

[Anothermi]

On 12/7/2022 at 8:31 AM, Zella said:

  On 12/7/2022 at 8:21 AM, catsitter said:

It seemed strange that they only looked at the photographer's photos of the curling event, and never asked everyone else for their photos / videos.

On 12/7/2022 at 8:31 AM, Zella said:

I agree that is strange, but I think that may be a dated relic from the book, which was written in 2006 before cell phones were quite so ubiquitous. It would definitely be something for the showrunners to update, though. 

It's been quite a while since I read the books, but I'm pretty sure that in Book 1 a big point was made about how "invisible" Three Pines is. It couldn't be found using GPS. Also IIRC it is (was?) a bit of a black hole for cellular reception. That played a role in the early books.  So not only were cell phones not a thing for the time it was written, but wouldn't be a thing in Three Pines regardless. (The locals supposedly preferred it that way.)

However, that was not explained for these episodes, so it is a reasonable thing to wonder about. 

[sugarbaker design]

9 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I would much rather have a case like this where the stories may change,  but the spirit is the same.

So would I!  I just don't think the spirit is the same here.  I'm four episodes in, and I've yet to see Clara and Myrna in their pajamas sitting in easy chairs in the Cafe sipping hot chocolate and munching pastries.

[Anothermi]

I've only watched as far as episode two, but I am already relaxing into this translation from books > film. 

I'm good with the changes. I feel that the essence of the main characters are being accurately portrayed. (my opinion of course). And I actually really appreciate the updating of the underlying "issues" to make them more relevant.  It was also a good move to leave book 1 as its own movie: Still Life.

Starting with the 2nd book allowed an easy transition regarding the big house at the top of the hill into a residential school. 

I'm even good with the decision to age up Jean Guy (although I agree I found him too old to start with).  However, I'm assuming that the decision to focus more on Isabelle will result in less of the Jean Guy storylines. So basing this show's Jean Guy on the later, less emotionally unstable incarnation seems a good decision. Guess I'll have to wait and see how accurate that assumption turns out to be. 

One of the things I like about Louise Penny's writing for these books is that she takes her time to expose the experiences that make the characters into what we first meet, and then folds the changes that focusing on them brings into how they behave in subsequent storylines. That is what I hope to see as I watch more episodes. Recurring denizens of Three Pines getting their own in-depth exposé.

Sorry to those of you who prefer to give the police corruption stories a pass: that is Gamache's story line growth.  I can't see it being cut.

Although I miss the early touches the books gave us on the daily interactions between Three Pines residents, I'm hoping some of them will emerge in other episodes/ story lines. 

My current rating is 👍👍

[WildPlum]

I believe there are only 8 episodes, for a total of 4 story lines in this season. Two episodes are released every Friday, so at this point (12/15) we are halfway through. Based on the ratings - or at least the buzz - it seems like another "season" (I have a hard time calling 6 or 8 episodes a "season" but most of my favorite shows now are in this mini format) will probably happen.

[AnimeMania]

Three Pines    December 16, 2023         Prime Video    

Episodes 5-6    Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E05: The Murder Stone - Part 1

The Gamache’s anniversary celebrations at the exclusive Manoir Belleforet hotel are cut short by the discovery of a body. Gamache pulls in his team and together they investigate the case, which focuses on the hotel’s owners – the dysfunctional Morrow family – who are driven by bitterness and jealousy. Meanwhile, Lacoste receives a surprise call which blows the Blue Two-Rivers case wide open.

S01.E06: The Murder Stone - Part 2

Gamache and his team get to the heart of the case, excavating decades-old resentments and deeply buried secrets in the Morrow family as they do so, and make the key discovery that enables them to identify the killer. Meanwhile, Lacoste’s elation at making a breakthrough in the Two-Rivers case proves short-lived and a tragedy leaves her shell-shocked.

[OtterMommy]

I thought they handled this adaptation of A Rule Against Murder.  The hotel and the Morrow family is exactly how I pictured them from the book.  I was wondering if they were going to atttempt "the mystery of Bean," but I'm both unsurprised and relieved that they didn't because that is one of those things that probably would not translate well to the screen.  (In the book, Bean's mother raises Bean without gender--not because Bean in non-binary, but because Bean's mom wants to piss off her mother/the matriarch.  So, there is the running question among the family of whether Bean is a boy or a girl.  Louise Penny is very clear in the book that this is something that mother created and does not come from Bean, but I can see how a screen adaptation wouldn't be able to convey that and the entire storyline would come off as transphobic).  At least they included Bean.  I almost expected that Bean would have been written out of the adaptation.

Whoever the actor is who played Kevin is quite good.  When he had Isabelle on her knees, I was worried.  I mean, I knew she would be fine...but, man, it really seemed like he was going to blow her head off.  I think the writers of this show were very smart of switch up this storyline from what it was in the book because this Indigenous plot is much more engaging.

At this point, I'm honestly perplexed by Nichol.  I'm not sure where she is going in this show, but I probably won't be surprised with whatever path the writers put her on.

I have more thoughts, but they are mostly in comparison to the book, so I'm putting them under spoiler tags here.

Spoiler

We are starting to see the cracks in Jean-Guy.  Armand didn't seem concerned that JG was drinking, so he must not yet know about his addiction issues.  We are also seeing that his marriage to Enid--the Vera Peterson of the series--is falling apart.  It is interesting that the show has not made any real mention of Armand's children beyond a comment about being an empty nester and having granddaughter.  Neither Daniel nor Annie had made an actual appearance in the books at this point (I don't think, at least), although they were mentioned.  My guess is that, if we get a 2nd season, Annie will come on the scene.  I do hope we get that second season, because the next few books are brutal for Jean-Guy, but really emotional stories.

Oh, one more thing.  I had the exact same thought after I finished watching this that I had when I finished reading the book.  Now we know why Peter is such a douche (okay, I used a stronger word), but it doesn't change the fact that--at the end of the day--he's still a douche.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Well, they really changed a very specific characteristic of Bean from the book.  It's the only thing that had remained in my memory all these years after reading it.  I found it pretty annoying then, but it's probably less unheard of now. 

[kirklandia]

I'm a big fan of the books. I've only watched the first two episodes so far. The village doesn't look the way I pictured in my head, although I think the interiors are great. And I'm fine with the casting.
I am awash in Christmas music right now, so I really pricked up my ears during the choir scene. Quite unusual to hear a choir singing Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas. One of my favorites, with a bit of a dark side. "The Christmas we get we deserve". Hmmm… 

[WildPlum]

This was probably my least favorite of the stories so far - the concept of traumatized little rich kids (or rich people behaving badly in general) is not one I'm particularly interested in and I thought the "guest stars" went a little too far in showing that traumatized kids grow up to be .. taller traumatized kids. They all seem pretty juvenile, particularly all the boys.

Gamache's wife seems like a flippin' saint.

Not wild about the way everyone treats Nichols - if she is making mistakes, like potentially touching evidence, she needs to be told what she is doing wrong and why. Particularly disappointed in Gamache's and Lascoste's reactions to her - treating her kinda like the kid no one wants to pick for their sports team. I thought the general idea was that Gamache would train her. Jean-Guy seems like a jerk, based on what we've seen of him, and his reactions to her just sort of cement that in for me.

How did the police know to find Kevin Kis at the bus station? I suppose they could just have been looking out for him. Although didn't he have a car? If he can cross the border in a bus (which will stop at Immigration/Customs) he can drive across in his car. Or, really, there are places you can apparently cross the US/Canada border without going through a checkpoint. You are then in the US illegally, but I doubt he cares much.

[OtterMommy]

53 minutes ago, WildPlum said:

This was probably my least favorite of the stories so far - the concept of traumatized little rich kids (or rich people behaving badly in general) is not one I'm particularly interested in and I thought the "guest stars" went a little too far in showing that traumatized kids grow up to be .. taller traumatized kids. They all seem pretty juvenile, particularly all the boys.

This story (from the books) always stood out to me because it was so separate from the town of Three Pines. I felt at the time that it was an attempt of character rehabilitation for Peter, which wasn't successful.  However, the story was over the top in a way I find kind of fun, so I forgave that.  Reine-Marie was handled a little differently in the book as well.  Instead of going home when the investigation starts, Armand sends her to Three Pines (there is a reason for this, but I can't remember what it was).  So, periodically, we would get glimpses of the townspeople from her eyes as she tells Armand what she's up to.  Most of the calls are along the lines, "What is happening here and who on Earth are these people????"

57 minutes ago, WildPlum said:

Not wild about the way everyone treats Nichols - if she is making mistakes, like potentially touching evidence, she needs to be told what she is doing wrong and why. Particularly disappointed in Gamache's and Lascoste's reactions to her - treating her kinda like the kid no one wants to pick for their sports team. I thought the general idea was that Gamache would train her. Jean-Guy seems like a jerk, based on what we've seen of him, and his reactions to her just sort of cement that in for me.

As I said, Nicol is just perplexing to me at this point.  Her character is not in the books at this point, so now she's a creation of the show.  The literary Nicol had 2 purposes, one of which was to be a foil for Armand and that isn't even attempted here.  The other purpose--I don't know, I guess it could still happen, but I just can't see how the show could pull that off and have it make sense at this point.  However, the fact that Nicol always seems to show up is...suspicious.

59 minutes ago, WildPlum said:

How did the police know to find Kevin Kis at the bus station? I suppose they could just have been looking out for him. Although didn't he have a car? If he can cross the border in a bus (which will stop at Immigration/Customs) he can drive across in his car. Or, really, there are places you can apparently cross the US/Canada border without going through a checkpoint. You are then in the US illegally, but I doubt he cares much.

My guess, and I may have misunderstood something that was shown, was that either he and/or Lacoste had bugged phones.  I did find it crazy that he was even going to try to legally cross the border in a bus.  We were told in earlier episodes that, supposedly, an APB had been put out for him, both in Canada and New York State.  So, even if he hadn't been ambushed at the station, he still would have been picked up at the border.  From what I understand, the northern (US) border is fairly porous--as you said, Kevin could have easily crossed the border illegally.

[kirklandia]

The reality of the horrors of indigenous boarding schools makes watching these episodes extremely challenging. It has certainly been a topic of great concern here in the Pacific Northwest. I was gobsmacked when I saw this story today - I had no idea some of the schools are still in operation in the U.S.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/17/native-american-school-indigenous-students-suffered-future-hope.

Edited December 18, 2022 by kirklandia
Wordsmithing

[NJRadioGuy]

On 12/3/2022 at 10:35 PM, 3 is enough said:

Trying to figure out exactly where it was filmed but google has not been helpful.

On 12/4/2022 at 12:19 AM, OtterMommy said:

It's filmed near Ormstown, Quebec.

It's in the credits; the town of St-Armand, about a mile north of the Vermont-Québec border, in fact.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0325976,-73.0438941,3a,90y,170.46h,88.98t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sScPa_z5jmb4dtx4uxcJZDA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[NJRadioGuy]

I'm originally from Montreal (now living in NJ) but I never heard of these books before. What a welcome surprise! I'm only halfway through the series as I write this and for me the second story, The Caretaker, is the better of the two. When I lived in Québec as a child I'd never heard of the residential school scandal and wasn't exposed to much in the way of First Nations stories and as such I find the subject just heartbreaking. I'm of Irish descent, and reading about the Magdaline Laundries in Ireland evoked the same outrage and horror.

My one quibble is that I wish the dialog had mostly been in French (with English subtitles), using Québecois actors. I felt the same way with the former CTV/TVA production of Montreal police procedural 12-2 (IIRC the first season is also on Amazon Prime Video). I'm a huge fan of the Nordic Noir genre, and the fact those shows are filmed in Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, and Norwegian only adds to the mystique and charm of each of the productions. The small incidental bits of French here are most welcome indeed.

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, kirklandia said:

The reality of the horrors of indigenous boarding schools makes watching these episodes extremely challenging. It has certainly been a topic of great concern here in the Pacific Northwest. I was gobsmacked when I saw this story today - I had no idea some of the schools are still in operation in the U.S.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/17/native-american-school-indigenous-students-suffered-future-hope.

Thank you for posting this.  Chemawa is actually in my hometown.  It is one of those places that we all knew was there, but knew very little about it.  

Residential school in the US were a bit different from the schools in Canada.  I won't say one was worse than the other, they were just different and atrocities happened at both.  The big difference is that the schools in the US were run by the government (which did "outsource" the day to day operations, however the schools remained under the umbrella of the BIA) and in Canada it seems that the schools were handed over to the Catholic Church to run.  Also, in the US attendance wasn't officially mandatory, although families may have been very strongly pressured to enroll their children whereas, in Canada, it was mandatory for most tribes.

Both nations are responsible for decades of trauma and should face a reckoning for it.  I in no way mean to excuse Canada and its history with the schools when I say this, but they do seem to take more responsibility for it now than the US is currently doing.  

This is why I think the storyline in Three Pines is so vital.  It's bringing this awful history to the eyes of people on both sides of the border who may not be familiar with it.  I do fear, though, that those south of the border won't realize that our history isn't clean on this point.

[3 is enough]

Episodes 5 and 6 were kind of depressing . Not really feeling the dysfunctional family storyline.  

[raven]

22 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

As I said, Nicol is just perplexing to me at this point.  Her character is not in the books at this point, so now she's a creation of the show. 

In these last two, she was closer to book Nicol - more antagonizing then the puppyish demeanor the show started her off with.   She shouldn't have to be told not to touch evidence so I understand Lacoste's irritation yet Gamache and Jean Guy seem done with her for no real reason other than that she's annoying.  The tone is a bit confusing.  Maybe because I'm almost through the first book and 1) she's awful, period and 2) Gamache wants to mentor her and get her to see the error of her ways, much to Jean Guy's disbelief.

I liked this mystery better than the other two.  The whole family, except for Bean, was awful or annoying in different ways, though I did laugh when Peter, after looking carefully around, knocked Dad's ashes over.    I kept expecting Julia's son to show up - we hear about him but he never did, which was odd.   How old is he?  She got pregnant at 15 and looked to be around maybe late 30s, so I guess he could be an adult.  It was just odd.  I was expecting the other person in her room to be her son, not some random hotel employee.  Why did she smear raccoon feces over the stag? To point out the half brother?  Did she do that while she lay dying? Before?  I found all of that confusing and unnecessary; too convoluted.  It stretched credibility that no one remembered who shot the stag.  Those kids weren't babies when this traumatic event happened.  

Sorry to continue to nitpick, as I really did like these episodes and the show in general, but Lacoste leaves her phone in the car?? When she knows a very, very scared Kevin is waiting on her and Gamache and, I don't know, might call?   Then in the car she says that Kevin called but there's no mention of trying to call him back!  Bad writing, there.  

I think Kevin was grabbed because of the APB.  Presumably the bus station has surveillance and everyone's on the lookout after the (now we know it was planted) evidence found at the house.  I put it down to desperation on his part.

I'm holding out hope that Kevin isn't dead because that would be a just awful way to end these episodes on. 

It has to be the one other person who has the same/higher standing as Gamache on the force, that we've seen on the show., who is behind the Blue/Tommy coverup.   Gamache will need a shake up in his world.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

20 hours ago, raven said:

I kept expecting Julia's son to show up - we hear about him but he never did, which was odd.   How old is he?  She got pregnant at 15 and looked to be around maybe late 30s, so I guess he could be an adult.  It was just odd.  I was expecting the other person in her room to be her son, not some random hotel employee.  Why did she smear raccoon feces over the stag? To point out the half brother?  Did she do that while she lay dying? Before?  I found all of that confusing and unnecessary; too convoluted.  It stretched credibility that no one remembered who shot the stag.  Those kids weren't babies when this traumatic event happened.  

Sorry to continue to nitpick, as I really did like these episodes and the show in general, but Lacoste leaves her phone in the car?? When she knows a very, very scared Kevin is waiting on her and Gamache and, I don't know, might call?   Then in the car she says that Kevin called but there's no mention of trying to call him back!  Bad writing, there.  

Yes to most of that.

I expected that Julia had made a will leaving everything to her son, who was the young employee, whom she had found. They hadn't slept together; they were celebrating her inheriting the hotel. Then, he killed her so that he would inherit (after disappearing for a while to resume his actual identity or something; hadn't quite worked it all out!). Otherwise, what was the point of her mentioning at least twice that she was leaving everything to him? In fact, that should have protected her from being killed by anyone in her immediate family, because instead of having the slight chance of convincing her to turn the hotel back over to Thomas, it would have passed to her unknown son.

As an aside, presumably the deceased patriarch's estate would have been responsible for paying the inheritance taxes on the hotel. The more valuable it was, the more it would have reduced the remainder left to his wife. The hotel should really have been held in some sort of corporate structure so that each time it "passed" to the eldest son, there wouldn't be a risk of having to sell the hotel to pay the taxes.

I can believe that Peter and the younger sister wouldn't remember who killed the stag since they were quite young.  Thomas was too traumatized, and also probably couldn't permit himself to remember that a mere servant had done what he could not do.

The only reason I could imagine for Lacoste leaving her phone in the car when she knew Kevin would be urgently trying to contact her was because she didn't want to be distracted during the hotel arrest. But she could have just turned the ringer off. She would have still missed whatever calls came in during that period, but would have been able to try to call him back sooner. And wouldn't she have first texted Kevin to say that she would be unavoidably out of contact for a while, and that he should stay put until she could get back to him?

[kb3]

I have enjoyed meeting Gamache and the residents of Three Pines via audiobook. The narration, to me, is perfect.  Part way through the series the narrator passed away and there was much concern on finding a new narrator who would convey the same atmosphere.  Louise Penny has had a say in all of this, including the tv series.  She said she was a bit uncomfortable with some changes but as a whole it goes forward.  

[AnimeMania]

Three Pines    December 23, 2023         Prime Video    

Episodes 7-8 (Season Finale)    Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E07: The Hangman: Part 1

When a man bent on vengeance is discovered in the woods near Three Pines, seemingly the victim of a group lynching, Gamache finds himself wondering whether all the villagers are capable of murder. Meanwhile, Gamache’s investigation into Blue’s disappearance leads to a terrible discovery that turns Gamache’s world upside down.

S01.E08: The Hangman: Part 2

Gamache and his team unearth a tragic story that provides the key to the victim’s desire for vengeance, and by doing so leads the team to his murderers. Meanwhile, it falls to Gamache to apprehend the individual responsible for Blue Two-Rivers’ disappearance, putting himself in grave danger as he does so.

[OtterMommy]

Amazon, don't you dare cancel this show and leave it like this!

I mean, I know Armand will survive.  There are still 13 (and counting!) books to go!   I also see how this was a stand-in for the stake out incident in the book (which, given this and Jean-Guy's now apparent issues, is no longer necessary for the bigger plot).

My random thoughts:

1 - I guess Amazon Nichol is to Literary Nichol as Amazon Bea is to Literary Bea...  They took a character and kept the most basic infomation about them and then created a new character.  I'm all right with that.  Amazon Nichol is not going to serve the same purpose as Literary Nichol, but she's much more pleasant to watch.  And she's one of the good guys!

2 - I'm glad that, like literary Armand and Reine-Marie, the Amazon renditions are also the ultimate couple goal.

3 - We actually got a mention of Armand's kids! But here's a question for people who are familiar with Quebecois French (or whose French is not as rusty as mine).  Would a Quebecois speaker pronounce "Daniel" as "Danielle"?  That's what Armand said and I don't know if that is how it should be pronounced or if Amazon Armand has two daughters and not a son and a daughter.  It's not a huge deal.  Daniel is only a key player in one book (and, it's a book I can see the series--if it continues--not adapting)

4 - Speaking of future books, there is a story line concerning one of the Three Pines residents that I'm sure they will not adapt:

Spoiler

It would be The Brutal Telling, where Olivier--who is Gabri here, not sure why they switched those two characters--is arrested for murder.  I believe The Hangman takes place immediately after The Brutal Telling, but what happened in these episodes would make it very hard to adapt The Brutal Telling.

5 - Lacoste has always been one of my favorite characters in the books and I am over the moon that she is actually a major player in this show.  

Anyway, I loved not just these episodes but also the entire season.  I know it is not exactly like the books--and I'm okay with that.  If I want what is in the books, I can...re-read the books.

[dargosmydaddy]

16 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

But here's a question for people who are familiar with Quebecois French (or whose French is not as rusty as mine).  Would a Quebecois speaker pronounce "Daniel" as "Danielle"?

Yes

[raven]

Well, that escalated quickly!

I was excited because I thought last week was the last 2 episodes.   These were more of a Gamache character study, what with the Three Pines murder being wrapped up so obviously &  Lacoste and Gamache figuring out who murdered the kids.

I'm hoping Jean Guy tells the truth right away and they don't drag that out.   We  haven't seen enough of him for me to really care about him, though the actor is doing his best, but I do care about Lacoste.

Ruth, thankfully, knows what to do when she finds evidence, unlike Gabri.  I mean, come on!  Plus it's not like he didn't know who the murderers were.  Oof.

I have to say, I almost laughed when Arnot is all "hey, the actual murderer cop ran away, I don't know" then Gamache "is that HIM??  in the burning truck??" 

19 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

I'm glad that, like literary Armand and Reine-Marie, the Amazon renditions are also the ultimate couple goal.

I'm not far into the book series but I agree with this.  The ultimate couple goal is exactly right.   Poor young Armand, though!  What a terrible, terrible thing to live through and with. 

Overall, a good series.  I'm enjoying the books too; naturally we get more of the inner workings of the Three Pines residents.

[kirklandia]

i've read all the novels so far, am in the library queue for the latest, A World of Curiosities.

This just popped up in my FB newsfeed, Louise Penny is coming to town! It would be cool to see her.

And here is a Vanity Fair interview with Louise Penny about the show.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/11/louise-penny-three-pines-show-gamache-interview?fbclid=IwAR2lZRrbwnAZspEiym2CnAfi5OUuLtyQrRHkRBKwvNe3tB6zplyhL0CdIuY&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

[WildPlum]

Some good moments, but not particularly amused by the ending and I think I feel soured on the series.

[leighdear]

If this series goes to a second season (don't know if it's been decided or not), I REALLY hope they'll develop a thread for the people that HAVE NOT read the books. 

Probably 75% of this single thread is just wading through the whole "books vs. show" posts.  Sorry, boring as crap for me. 

I haven't read them.  I don't plan to read them.  I just wanted to talk about the show.

I get people that HAVE read the books wanting to discuss the show from their perspective, but that's so off-putting to those of us who have just seen the series.  I think you folks deserve your own thread for comparisons. 

But WTAF with a "cliffhanger" when there are 15 more books about this dude, Gamache?

I wasn't too crazy about any of the main characters & Jean-Guy is a tool.  I liked most of the village characters, though.

Overall show rating = C+  

Edited December 24, 2022 by leighdear

[OtterMommy]

31 minutes ago, leighdear said:

If this series goes to a second season (don't know if it's been decided or not), I REALLY hope they'll develop a thread for the people that HAVE NOT read the books. 

If this thread generates enough traffic, it will be converted to a forum.  In that case there will definitely be a book talk thread and, as with other forums dedicated to shows adapted from books, book talk won't happen in the episode thread.

[kirklandia]

Until there is a thread for it - more media coverage:

https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2022/1202/How-Alfred-Molina-found-his-superpower-in-Three-Pines

[NJRadioGuy]

Question for Montrealers. It's been over 40 years since I lived there and I can't recognize the building used as the supposed headquarters of the SQ. The aerial shot of the Jacques Cartier Bridge looking downtown would make sense since the real-life SQ headquarters building is very close to that bridge. But the one used in the show is somewhere up near St. Joseph's Oratory near Côte-des-Neiges and Queen Mary, east of the Décarie Expressway. Note that in French, Queen Mary would be....Reine-Marie!

Speaking of place names, I can't believe the Penny (ahem) didn't drop with the series filming location that I posted the other day. The stories of Armand Gamache are filmed in Saint Armand!

Edited December 27, 2022 by NJRadioGuy
Because holy Saint Armand Gamache, Batman!

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 12/23/2022 at 6:56 PM, raven said:

I'm not far into the book series but I agree with this.  The ultimate couple goal is exactly right.   Poor young Armand, though!  What a terrible, terrible thing to live through and with. 

So, within the show (not the book), young Armand was at home when his parents died in the car crash, and it is not true that he caused the accident by tickling his father with the blue jay feather?  It was unclear to me, because he did not have that vision while he was sleeping.  However, we have seen the version where he said goodbye to his dressed-up mother before.  And he would have almost definitely been hurt in an accident of that magnitude.

On 12/23/2022 at 6:56 PM, raven said:

I have to say, I almost laughed when Arnot is all "hey, the actual murderer cop ran away, I don't know" then Gamache "is that HIM??  in the burning truck??" 

Yes!

Boy, Pierre is as selfish as can be.  There's no way he could convince anyone that he shot Gamache in self-defense (he didn't leave a gun behind, or call in the shooting), so he could have at least spared his wife the horror of knowing that he tried to kill her very good/best friend's husband by shooting himself, instead of shooting Armand. But I guess when you ask someone for forgiveness right before shooting them to hide your own crimes, you are not exactly a normal person.

Finally, I know that Blue's mother was despondent when she killed herself, but it really stinks that she left her other daughter, as well as her motherless granddaughter behind for her own mother to raise.  Her younger daughter is remarkably unperturbed about not being a good enough reason for her mother to stay alive.

Edited December 28, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[sugarbaker design]

8 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Her younger daughter is remarkably unperturbed about not being a good enough reason for her mother to stay alive.

Just because she isn't outwardly expressing her trauma, it doesn't mean it isn't roiling inside her.

[jabRI]

On 12/22/2022 at 11:21 PM, OtterMommy said:

Anyway, I loved not just these episodes but also the entire season.  I know it is not exactly like the books--and I'm okay with that.  If I want what is in the books, I can...re-read the books.

Thank you, I just binge watched this and felt the same.  When they do an 'adaptation' of novels, they can take liberties for consistency and current relevance.

this from wikepedia about bringing Bosch to TV

According to Connelly, a number of changes were made "to the world of Harry Bosch ... in making the shift from page to screen". For example, in the television series, Bosch is born nearly 20 years later than in the novels, so that events can happen in the present day time, as they once did in the books. Also in the television series, Harry "is 47 years old and a veteran of the first Gulf War in 1991, where he was part of a Special Forces team that cleared tunnels. He has now been a police officer for twenty years with a one-year exception when he re-upped with the Army after 9/11, as many LAPD officers did. He came back to the force after serving in Afghanistan and again encountering tunnel warfare."

 

In the books he was a Vietnam war vet.  So I'm just saying in a screen adapation you are usually not transcribing the literal word to script (unless doing Shakespeare or Dickens) but taking the spirit of the writing.. I've loved the books and I love the series, though yea, I could have loved more Myrna :)

 

 

 

 

[Tyro49]

Wow, I didn't see that ending coming! (We know he won't die, as there is so much more to go!)

I've been thinking about why they didn't start with the first book, and I think I know why. Still Life was made into a movie (with a completely different cast) just a few years ago, and I think they didn't want to start the new series by going over ground so recently covered. I think maybe many of those on this forum have seen the film. (For those who haven't, Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery, is also on Amazon Prime.) I feel sure they will rework the story somewhat and cover it in an upcoming season.  (Because this is the book where Gamache first meets the people of Three Pines, and in this series that is no longer the case.)