She lives on through you 🕋

I was pretty excited for this new 4-episode tv mini-series to land on HBO Max. The Girl Before is based on the psychological thriller book of the same name written by J.P. Delaney. Now that the tv show is finally here and I have had the time to watch it all, let's talk about it.

You may notice that the two women on the poster image for this show look strangely similar. They are two separate women and they share two similar, yet different stories. I'll talk about both separately, but one thing they have in common is the architect Edward and his beautifully designed minimalistic home in England.

Edward has created an ultra-modern home located at One Folgate Street that refuses to enable its guests to live a messy life. It is a dream home, but it comes with caveats. There are many rules that must be followed strictly, but the trade-off is that even if a place like this would normally be far out of your budget, Edward is looking for the right people to live there, not the right amount of money. He is more interested in gathering data to improve the AI system that runs this regimented home.

The first woman to move into the house is Emma (she is the girl on the right in the photo above). She and her boyfriend Simon interview to potentially start living at 1 Folgate St. They are in the middle of some relationship problems, but Simon is willing to restrict his life and move into this amazing house to hopefully patch things up with his girl Emma. They are the furthest thing from a tidy couple and this doesn't mix well with how the house operates. Edward of course doesn't realize this, plus he is also fascinated by Emma's beauty.

Emma and Simon move in and begin to experience the luxuries of their new home and also are quickly annoyed by all of the rules. One thing for instance is that they only have a certain amount of time to brush their teeth. They also are never allowed to leave their clothes lying on the floor. Edward is serious about his idea of a perfect life and keeping things simple.

Next, let's talk about Jane (the girl in the middle of the thumbnail image). She moves in after Emma and Simon. The narrative goes back and forth between the two timelines and shows off plenty of this interesting house. There are far more things in common besides just the two girl's looks. Edward seems to be putting them both through the exact same trials and falling for each of them. Jane is a heck of a lot smarter than Emma though, so an investigation begins.

I don't want to spoil things for you, but there is a lot to get invested in with this show. The house is just so cool, you will want to learn what all it is capable of. There is murder, or is it just death? The characters keep you guessing and even Edward is not fully explained until the end. I was impressed with everything this show gave me and I think it lived up to the hype that I had for it. I was surprised that it was only four episodes, but they are each around an hour long. Basically, things didn't feel cut short and they also weren't too long and drawn out either.

The Girl Before is a pretty awesome show to take the time to fully enjoy. It is well done and all of the characters are interesting in their own way. You may find yourself feeling sorry for the wrong person or even loving somebody that isn't who you think they are. The mysteries will explain themselves by the end of the show.

Check out the trailer below to see if you think this is something that you may enjoy. I encourage you to give this show a chance.