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Champaign ILL: 8.1 Milligrams Per Deciliter (2018)
Could have been a cinematic short
Personally, I would have let the runtime on this episode be shorter than others (maybe tack that extra time onto the next ep), and have cut/ended somewhere around (IIRC) the 16min mark.
This episode could stand as a cinematic short in that time frame. You don't need to have the prior knowledge of their friendship, their current troubles, to understand what's happening here.
On top of the wonderful character work by Pally and Richardson, who do their best work of the series here, the episode is shot as a one-r. And it's become kinda gimmicky (1917 stretched it out into feature length and hid their cuts beautifully, and it's its own masterpiece), but here, in that first 16mins or so, it didn't really look like there was anywhere to hide a cut. Major props to the crew on this episode as well-shows and movies wouldn't work, wouldn't exist without them and they oftentimes don't get the recognition they deserve, and here, they absolutely bring their A games here.
If you don't watch any other episode of this show, okay, fine. But watch this one. There's such a passion from everyone involved, and at the very least, that deserves to be seen. Even if the rest of the show wasn't really your scene (it does seem to have a bit of an uneven tone at times), this is solid work from everyone involved.
One of Us Is Lying (2021)
If I could separate the two
If I could separate this in my mind from the book, had no knowledge of the book whatsoever, then I'd likely have enjoyed it a little more. As a standalone, it's fine, really. And as an adaptation, it does okay for maybe three episodes, but then it loses itself. Let me say, there were some changes I liked, the biggest being Keeley knew about (not that we really see her stand up for Coop, but it was nice he wasn't hiding it from everyone - and his brother knew too). But there's a lot missing, or changes in/to characters that doesn't fit. Kris, Ashton, Eli, Mikhail the investigative journalist, Bronwyn being the overachiever she is never being explained or even hinted at...
The book made a statement, much like Simon did. There were are reasons, even if they're things that probably aren't a big deal, when you're a teenager, yeah - it feels so much bigger than it is.
Important character development was lost, most especially with Addy. One of the best written characters and transformations was completely scrapped. Sure, there are snippets of it,
Yes, the book is better, and as a show, this is okay. It's simply okay. Middle of the road. As an adaptation, I feel like it almost fails completely. Kudos to the cast and crew; everyone really did their best in their roles, and I feel bad they were ultimately let down.
So check it out if you need to pass the time and want something that at least maybe started with some thought to it. I was so excited to learn they'd made an adaptation of this. (I'm super psyched for Ragdoll too - if you can handle gory description, go read Cole's book before the show comes out!) And it seemed like I was one of the last to know about it too (I run a virtual book club and no one had said anything!). I hate to be one of those "the book is better" people, but I'm this case, it really is. The book was saying something, making points, and working within character archetypes to allow the characters to have growth naturally. There was already a blueprint with the book. The changes are baffling and clearly don't work for the story because that's not what happened, what should have happened. I feel bad for McManus too, her wonderful debut turned and twisted into something that misses the point entirely.