Anonymous wrote:I came to really respect Jane as the series progressed. She seemed the most level headed, the most honest, the most sincere, and an excellent mother (especially considering she had no family support and was a single mother). I felt the actress did a terrific job. She was not pretentious. She really seemed like the kind of person I would want to be friends with, even with her baggage.

That was the point of the book and the show.

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show but the one thing in the finale I found annoying was the staring contest between Ed and Tory/theater director. You figured out the affair, we get it. No need for 10 shots of them all staring at each other.

Plus one

PP, I agree with you about the soundtrack. That said, I did find it strange that so many generic parents in Monterey had magnificent singing voices. Strained credibility.

I didn't like the finale. I should say, I haven't yet read the book because I was waiting for the end of the series. So, bear in mind, these are minor complaints from someone who only say the series.

I didn't buy Perry as the rapist. So we have lots of flashbacks from Jane and why isn't possible that she projected an identity on him because she was witnessing another man being violent with a woman. Didn't she once think it was the interior designer guy in one of the flashbacks, or am I misremembering?

Bonnie felt like a total out of the blue factor. I didn't even know she knew Perry. If that is true, than she just snaps and shoves? She had been presented as a calm, reasonable person who wanted to broker peace between Nathan and Madeline and was all about yoga and inner peace. It seems inconsistent that she would snap like that. Especially since we didn't see any past abuse or anything that might explain her behavior.

I'd have found it more believable if Ed did it, as someone who might know about the abuse.

Hopefully the book does a better job explaining these two things. Because the finale felt like a soap special where the last person you might think is the killer and the evil dude is even more evil because he is the rapist.

I would also have liked the last scene to show the bounds created between the mothers as well as their loneliness in the aftermath of the death.

The soundtrack has been great throughout. But never more poignanct or Ed more vulnerable as when he sang Wonder of You. Really good.

I loved the show but the one thing in the finale I found annoying was the staring contest between Ed and Tory/theater director. You figured out the affair, we get it. No need for 10 shots of them all staring at each other.

I liked Shailene because she has a real face. The kind of face that becomes attractive over time.

Anonymous wrote:I came to really respect Jane as the series progressed. She seemed the most level headed, the most honest, the most sincere, and an excellent mother (especially considering she had no family support and was a single mother). I felt the actress did a terrific job. She was not pretentious. She really seemed like the kind of person I would want to be friends with, even with her baggage.

I agree. Very honest, sincere, and kind. The actress gave an excellent, understated performance. Her eyes when she recognized Perry, amazing.

I loved the series but don't think Jane/Shailene was the best written or acted. Too many loose ends or unknowns with her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

In the book she admits to moving to find her rapist. Perry had a real estate brochure in the hotel room the night of the rape for the town she ends up moving to.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like the Bonnie intervention in the series--too random and out of the blue. Didn't like the Perry-was-the-rapist twist either. His abuse of Celeste was more than enough, thank you. And also don't get why they would lie when it was clearly accidental/ self-defense.

The book explains this very well. Bonnie plays a much bigger part. Look up book vs show and it tells you everything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

+1 - Jane moved there for a fresh start - she had no idea that the rapist lived there. This is in the tv show and the book.

No, she told everyone she moved there for a fresh start. She was hoping to locate her rapist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

+1 - Jane moved there for a fresh start - she had no idea that the rapist lived there. This is in the tv show and the book.

What? I didn't gather that. I assumed that was the sole reason she moved to Monterey. Hoping to come across him. Otherwise that is just too big a coincidence. Too soap operish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So did Jane move to Monterey knowing that Perry, her rapist, was there? It seems way too big of a coincidence otherwise.

Yes. In book she moved there to find rapist.

She also had a paid and Madeline got her work doing the books for coffee shop and other small business. My mom wondered what she was surviving on since she hadn't read book.

No, she didn't. The rape happened in another city and she moved there for a fresh start.

+1 - Jane moved there for a fresh start - she had no idea that the rapist lived there. This is in the tv show and the book.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So was that view thru binoculars at the end supposed to imply that the theater guy's wife was still stalking Madeline??

I think it was supposed to be the detective watching them, no? They don't go into it (on the show) what happens so the detectives still know they're lying.

Yes, I think it was supposed to be the detective watching. There was the same sound she always made, the sound of a lighter or something being opened and closed. I figured that's why they made sure we could hear that sound in her earlier scene, when she was watching Nicole Kidman being interviewed by the cops and the detective was watching through the window .

The sound you hear is the sound those "viewers" make that they set up in scenic pull-off areas. I'm not sure what they're called - but you look through them and click (put a quarter in?) and it allows you to see like you would with binoculars. Someone is watching them from a distance, maybe the detective. But I think what a PP said about it not being anyone in particular watching is more likely. The casual onlooker only sees these beautiful, happy people, with no sign of the trauma that lies beneath the façade.

It was the detective watching. The click you hear is the sound of her flicking the lighter.

I came to really respect Jane as the series progressed. She seemed the most level headed, the most honest, the most sincere, and an excellent mother (especially considering she had no family support and was a single mother). I felt the actress did a terrific job. She was not pretentious. She really seemed like the kind of person I would want to be friends with, even with her baggage.