I've decided to try to start making a blog post for every episode of the new Nancy Drew TV show, and write my reviews and opinions! I am sick and tired of seeing so many Nancy Drew fans say such negative things about the show, and incase that's all you're seeing (and because of that you don't want to give it a chance), I want to share my opinions on it. As someone who has been a collector, researcher, and fan of Nancy Drew for many many years, I want to give detailed reviews on each episode, using my extensive knowledge of Nancy Drew lore. (There's slight spoilers, but nothing obtaining to the mystery in this particular post, but just beware if you haven't yet watched the pilot) I want to create a safe place for fans no matter what their opinions on the show are! Its perfectly okay to like the show and it's perfectly okay to not like the show! I just ask that you respect each other's opinions and views!
My critiques are very minimal. Overall I think it was great, I liked it much more than I expected to. Of course it's not what we're used to, but I think they did great at making Nancy the same character, but putting her into the modern world. People are too quick to judge the show based on the sex scenes and whatnot, but that wasn't the main focus at all. It showed Nancy having real human emotions and problems, but also finding her love for solving mysteries again after her mom dying. It's also great that we finally have an adaptation where she is 18, just like in the books (of course in the original text versions of the books she was 16, but I prefer her being 18 like in the revisions).
I liked Bess and George's characters much more than I expected to. I think we'll soon see Nancy, Bess, and George become friends, after all, the people behind the show did say they will become friends at some point. I think it's cool that we get to see how the trio become friends, since they were kind of just placed there in the books suddenly, with no real back story. Bess and George aren't cousins, but they still interact the same. I went in thinking I wasn't going to like them at all, but I actually really see their personalities from the books there, just shining through! I think as the show goes on, we'll see more of the classic Bess and George as they grow! I'm happy that they didn't try to make George a lesbian, like they've tried to in the past. To me, that feels like they'd be falling into a typical stereotype that if a girl is tough or a tomboy, then they're gay, and also that a lesbian has to be tough. Stereotyping is just not cool, so I'm glad they didn't follow that stereotype. Not a fan of her having an affair with a married man, that doesn't feel like George...but we'll just have to see what happens with that. I actually thought Bess would be my least favorite portrayal, but after watching it, she's more like book Bess than I thought she would be. Yes they made her a rich city girl, but her personality is still there...and I think I'll be able to look past the other changes with her. Although I do still wish they made her plump and blonde (would have been a great way to promote body positivity)...but oh well 🤷
I wasn't a fan of the casting of Carson (he's shorter than Nancy which I found weird, I wish he was tall and distinguished!, The original casting of Freddy Prince Jr. would have been great, and with Scott Wolf, he reminds me too much of a mixture of Michael J. Fox and Jason Priestly. While I love both of those actors, I don't see them as Carson Drew haha. But also, they may have had to reshoot his scenes very quickly after replacing Freddy, so it could improve after the pilot.), but as for him and Nancy's relationship, I understand why it's rocky, Nancy just lost her mom and Carson just lost his wife...it's gotta be rough... especially for Nancy after she finds out he's with someone else so soon after. And also he seems to be drowning himself in his work after Kate died, as distraction, and in the process, kind of pushing Nancy away. Maybe Nancy reminds him too much of Kate, and it's painful for him. In the books we never saw what it was like so quickly after Mrs. Drew died, so we don't know what it was like. They also seem to have based their relationship off of The Big Lie comic book series. I don't like that they don't have the great relationship they had in the books, but it is a more realistic between a father and his 18 year old daughter, (especially under the circumstances) and hopefully we'll see their relationship develop over the course of the show.
With Nancy and Ned, yes Nancy is having casual sex with him...but that is pretty normal today, whether you agree with it or not. Plus she's sad from her mother's death...she's probably trying to feel something again. I'm hoping we see Ned get proven not guilty and that their relationship can get deeper. After all, he did start off as a suspect in the books! It's weird seeing Nancy have sex because that's not at all what we're used to, but it wasn't as much of a focus like it seemed it would be from the trailers (and definitely not as detailed and crass as other CW shows, such as Riverdale). I also love how Ned helped Nancy out of a tough situation, which he did often in the books!
The focus really did seem to be more focused on the mystery rather than the romance!
I really like seeing Nancy not be so perfect. We get to see Nancy and the other characters grow together, in a modern world. She also felt a lot more like the original 1930s Nancy to me, personality wise, which I really like! You also have to remember that when Nancy Drew first came out, she was never really considered to be a proper role model, to us looking back on those old books, she is, but back then she wasn't. Plus, even now when we look at the books, is she really a great role model if she's breaking into places and whatnot?
I also loved all the nods to the classic books, and also that she lives on River Heights Drive, so we still have the River Heights element!! (To those of you still wondering why they changed the town's now from River Heights, it's because it sounds so similar to Riverdale, and they didn't want it to be associated with it, so I totally understand the change.) There were SO many references to the books, some you may miss the first time!
I LOVED seeing TV's first Nancy Drew, Pamela Sue Martin, that was so fun!
I love that the cop was Chief McGinnis! Yes he doesn't like her, but depending on the Nancy Drew book series, sometimes he likes her and sometimes he doesn't. So I'm happy he's in the show!
It seemed like they took elements from every Nancy Drew medium out there! Even the voice over could be looked at as being taken from the Nancy Drew Girl Detective series!
I've said this before and I'm saying it again; Nancy Drew is timeless, and always adapted to whatever time period she was in. Her independence, boldness, her will do bring criminals to justice, and her love for people is what makes her who she is! She is smart, pretty, perceptive, couragous, multi-talented, humble, and caring.Through the years she has aged to each generation's "normal", she was never meant to be old fashioned and she was always up with the times, and up with the latest fashions and trends. This show is giving her the struggles of our current world, but is also making her a woman who is strong in who she is and keeping her most important characteristics from the books. The main difference is that we're finally seeing her as someone with real human problems and emotions, and there's nothing wrong with that!
Of course there's things I don't like about the new show, but I'm choosing to focus on the positive!!
I also suggest trying the show BEYOND the pilot. Pilots are rarely good, and a lot of times they're not even accurate representations for how the show will be later. A lot of times first seasons aren't very good, so please just giving the show a chance beyond your initial opinion!!
So please, don't listen to all the negatively from other fans. If they don't like it, that's fine! But that shouldn't make other people decide not to give it a chance, you could be pleasantly surprised like I was! Have an open mind and try to focus on the positive side of things!!
Stay tuned for my review on the next episode!!
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