Nothing majorly ‘relevant’ happens in the second episode (and by relevant I mean Ammille of course), well, except the ‘Sprite’ scene, so I will just talk of the major differences from the book and the episode.

Why am I obsessed with these changes?

Well dear Readers, because like I already prayed, I hope that the show changes that original ending because it sucked balls! They don’t have to change who the killer is (even though I wish they would because that is part of the problem) but just change something! That is not how twists work!

 
 
 
 
 
 

Anyway, right from the start and the differences are apparent. The episode of course opens with Natalie’s funeral. There are major changes here. First in the book Adora (Camille and Amma’s mother) wears blue to the funeral not black like she does here. She also wore it to Marina’s (Camille’s dead young sister) funeral. But here, even during Marina’s funeral she still wore black not blue!

Another change at the funeral is that it was the priest who talked of the ‘Eye for an Eye’ analogy not Natalie’s mother like here. Also the woman that Camille met during the search for the Natalie in the first episode that seems to know a great deal about her, she was not that relevant during the funeral in the book like she is here, saving Camille and her mother a seat and chatting away with her. This woman seems to be given more screen time for some reason and hopefully she will play a larger role and help in changing the ending!

Another major change of course has to do with Ammille! In the book, this funeral happened in chapter three! In the story’s time that was five days since Camille had come back to Wind Gap. In those five days she had yet to meet Amma! Not officially of course, I mean. In actuality she had already met her but did not know her. Here during the funeral in the book, she sees Amma again with her friend but thinks she is a daughter of one of her classmates. But in the show, in addition to the changes to the funeral itself in that Camille stayed through the whole thing including the burial all the way to the after drinks whereas in the show she left after her mother stopped her from writing during the service, we know that Camille already knows Amma. They have met, at home and outside already both knowing each other.

When Camille goes to the shop to buy a sewing kit to mend her dress that she tore in church, there she meets Amma and her friends. Camille spies them replacing the bottle of Sprite with Vodka and she and Amma have this long-distance eye thing that we will come back to later so remember it. The girls come over once Amma spots Camille and she asks her to give her some money for the ‘Sprite’, after of course doing the hair thing that Camille had just done!

Fine, I am gonna come out and say it right now! I am not sure about Camille, it is probably her character, but Amma is just out here seducing Camille! The way she talks changes when she is talking with her. Always seems to get physical with her whereas she is not shown being that physical with the others (okay, we haven’t reached the part where we focus more on Amma with her friends so there has been no time to fully study that theory but it holds) but remember this point of seduction and physical contact for later too. She also doesn’t fail to praise Camille! She like praised her for her looks three times in one scene in episode one and here too after Camille gives her some money, which she took with one seductive touch to boot.

Yes, I am that keen. You can’t get anything past me!

And don’t get me started on the fact that Amma let out her dark side for the first time in defence of Camille in this scene soon after too! It happens after Amma gushes over Camille to her friends, a move to which Camille says that Amma should not play her like that because she has been playing that same game for twenty years (A formidable challenger finally, which intrigues Amma a lot since we can think of her as one of those antagonists that look for their kin – a person that is like them or understands them or puts purpose in their boring lives, etc)

Anyway one of Amma’s friends (her name is Jodes, the black haired) calls Camille old enough to be her mother. Amma snaps at her telling her to shut it and I just about melted. Amma coming to the defence of her big sister and Camille worrying about Amma telling her to go home because their mother wants her there, Camille wants her there! This was the first sign that Camille sees that she has some kind of power over Amma, or at least she thinks she does.

Back to the differences, Camille did not talk with any family member during the funeral in the book but in the show she talks with Natalie’s dad and in addition to this, the book was all in Camille’s POV but the show is straying. Mostly it is focusing on Dick (Amma calls him that) the detective which is strange because if you were going to have a different perspective in a thriller you would choose the antagonist, right? Then again it is not only him. We are now also adding Alan (Amma and Camille’s father) in the mix and he also seems to be given a story line that wasn’t in the book but that is for later. I just hoped that if we were going to expand the POV, we should at least be given the ‘killer’s POV to know their motives better but it is going to be left out to dry and make zero sense like in the book and they will think of out as a twist.

Please don’t let that be true!

Included in those changes is Camille’s boss that sent her to Wind Gap to cover the story. While he was all business in the book, here in the show he is turned into some kind of therapist to Camille’s problems and it seems he sent her back more for her own wellbeing than for the story, which is so not in the book. Also, in the book it was the next day after the funeral that Camille first meets not only Amma for the first tie and home but also Dick. It is also the day that she talks to the boy who tells her about her friend that saw a woman in white take Natalie the day she disappeared. Meanwhile in the show, this all happens on the same day of the funeral with Camille still wearing the same damn dress!

Another difference is in the scene with Amma at home where she gives us a glimpse of her instability. The scenes play out different. In the book you really feel that there is something going on with Amma, especially with her temper she displays. Despite Camille taking directly to her Amma never acknowledges Camille’s presence. But here in the show, Amma goes so far as to once again defend Camille, this time from their own mother who was once again going at Camille for some reason when it was Amma that was being problematic.

The main point here is that there is not a bullseye taped on Amma like in the book during this scene. Here Amma seems more hurt than anything but in the book she was just off! These are probably just changes for the sake of changes but it does affect the overall plot and if you are trying to hide the evidence instead of showing it more to make your ‘twist’ work, if you are going with the original ending, then this is going to make that ending even worse!

As for progress, we are on episode 2 and if we take it that it ends at the Amma scene, then we have gone through 23% of the story. Which is not bad I guess, considering that there are eight episodes. Kind of surprising though because I thought we would be moving at a fast pace judging from the first episode. Hmm, this does not bode too well. I mean they can change the scene but there is no time to add a significant amount of addition story.

Oh well, still praying!