March 27, 2025 • 47 mins
Candice Carty-Williams' acclaimed novel Queenie takes on new life in its 2024 television adaptation, offering viewers and readers two complementary visions of one powerful story. Following a 25-year-old Jamaican-British woman navigating the complexities of modern life in London, both versions capture the raw emotional journey of finding yourself when caught between cultures.
What makes this adaptation particularly fascinating is how thoughtfully it re imagines key aspects of Queenie's story. From the timing of her breakup with Tom to how she processes childhood abandonment by her mother, the television series takes a more measured, gradual approach to emotional growth that many viewers will find deeply authentic. While the novel has Queenie ultimately finding peace in independence and returning to her newspaper job, the series boldly has her forge her own path professionally while allowing her to explore a new, healthier romantic relationship.
With Carty-Williams herself serving as show runner, the changes never feel like compromises but rather deliberate creative choices that enhance different aspects of the protagonist's journey. The adaptation maintains the novel's unflinching look at how Queenie navigates microaggressions in predominantly white spaces while adding visual dimensions to her experience of London – a city portrayed with both beauty and complexity.
Both versions deliver powerful messages about healing, self-worth, and the communities that sustain us through our darkest moments. Whether you prefer the book's emphasis on finding fulfillment in independence or the show's vision of cautious new beginnings, Queenie's story reminds us that the path to self-discovery is rarely linear but always worth the struggle. Share your thoughts on which version resonated more with you – the journey might reveal something about your own values and experiences.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be discussingQueenie by Candace Cardi
Williams and its 2024 TVminiseries adaptation Queenie
streaming on Hulu.
(00:20):
Hi everyone, how are you?
I'm really excited for thisepisode.
I know I say I'm excited forevery.
Are you I'm really excited forthis episode?
I know I say I'm excited forevery episode, but I'm really
excited for this episode becauseit's I really really enjoyed
the story of this series andbook and this was one that kind
of I kind of just found on Hulu.
I think I just searched, likebest series on Hulu because I
(00:44):
didn't know what to watch and Iwas on my TV watching kick.
I don't watch a lot of TV.
I've always been a film lover.
I've always preferred film overTV, but I have my kicks in
which I do watch a lot of TV andthis is one of them, and I
found it after searching on Hulu.
And then I discovered that itwas based on a book and I'm
(01:05):
excited to bring it, especiallybecause it is by a British
novelist and so, yes, this is aBritish novel, it is a British
TV show and I just I love it.
It was great.
I love London, it is my favoritecity in the world and I wish I
could live there, but alas,that's not the case right now.
Maybe one day I'll live there,but yeah, and so it was really
(01:29):
just like I loved seeing thedifferent aspects of London and
like the different suburbs.
Obviously, I've been to themore touristy parts, but it's
always cool to see, like, themore hidden parts of it.
And I swear, the apartmentbuilding where Queenie's friend
Cheskay lives is used in likeevery single British TV series
(01:51):
I'm not even joking Like I,every single, like I feel like
it was the same one used inBehind Her Eyes.
And I don't know, I feel likethat is the only apartment
building in London, or maybethat is the only apartment
building built on a soundstage,but everyone uses it.
I swear, if they're filming anapartment scene in London, at
(02:14):
least the exteriors take placein that building.
So I don't know, unless theyall look the same, but I just
feel like I've seen thisbuilding two or three times
before.
But anyway, I digress.
So, yes, queenie, written byCandice Cardy Williams was first
published in 2019.
(02:34):
And it follows our protagonist,queenie Jenkins, who is a
25-year-old Jamaican-Britishwoman living in London, and
she's trying to balance twocultures and kind of failing at
both.
So she works at a nationalnewspaper.
She constantly has to proveherself in this newspaper.
(02:55):
She is currently in fresh outof a really messy breakup from
her long-term boyfriend, who'swhite messy breakup from her
long-term boyfriend, who's whiteHis name is Tom and Queenie
starts to cope in all the wrongways and by all the wrong ways I
(03:17):
mean with all the wrong men whoare just using her for her body
.
Essentially, and as the novelprogresses, queenie starts
wondering why am I doing this?
What do I want to be?
And she starts making changesto improve herself and her life.
The 2024 miniseries Queeniefollows Queenie Jenkins, who is
a 25-year-old Jamaican Britishwoman living in South London,
(03:40):
living in between two culturesand fitting into neither.
So I will say this is a reallysolid adaptation and there were
definitely some changes that Ipreferred in the like.
The novel is great, but therewere some minor issues that I
mean.
I saw the miniseries first, soI was expecting some of the
(04:02):
things that happen in theminiseries to happen in the
novel and when they didn'thappen, I was like I'm kind of
glad they changed that.
Honestly, I tend to be a purist, but in this case I feel like
it elevated the storytelling andQueenie's arc in a much more
fulfilling way.
So, that being said, as always,here is your spoiler alert.
If you are interested inwatching Queenie, which I highly
(04:25):
recommend, or if you areinterested in reading Queenie,
which I also highly recommend,then watch it, read it and then
come back Let me know what youthink.
But, honestly, I really dorecommend both.
They are fantastic.
So yeah, at the start of theminiseries and the start of the
book, we meet Queenie and she isat a health clinic and it is
(04:50):
there that she discovers thatshe had a miscarriage.
It's one of those things whereshe had no idea she was pregnant
and she had no idea that shehad just experienced a
miscarriage.
She had been experiencing someconcerning health issues and she
went to the clinic and that'swhen they told her and she's
obviously in shock.
(05:10):
In the book, she has alreadybroken up with Tom who, as I
said, is her long-term boyfriend.
He is white and Queenie is, asI said, she's Jamaican, british,
she's black.
She's already been broken upwith him?
For it's not.
It hasn't been that long at all, it hasn't even been a month
(05:30):
since they broke up.
But it's one of those thingswhere she reaches out to him and
he's kind of like we're nottogether, you shouldn't be
talking to me, and she's like,but I really need to talk to you
about this.
Like this is something you needto know, and he's like nope,
like we're not supposed to betalking, so don't talk to me.
And so she never has anyone toreally help her through her
(05:51):
conflicting emotions of like notonly was I pregnant, like I
just lost this baby, and shedoesn't really.
It's one of those things.
Her, she, the relative she'smost closest to, are her
grandparents and her aunt Maggie, and all three of them are very
traditional and very religious,so she doesn't really feel
comfortable confiding in themthat she had a miscarriage, and
(06:14):
she's scared to talk to herfriends about it as well.
And so the person she wants totalk to the most about this is
Tom.
This is his, his baby as well,and now this, this baby is no
more, and so it's a lot ofemotions running through her and
she doesn't have anyone to talkto.
In the TV series they're stilltogether.
So at one point in the bookafter, to get a glimpse into the
(06:38):
final moments of theirrelationship, queenie talks
about how this incident at Tom'smother's house during her
birthday party, in which she wasexperiencing a lot of like
microaggressions and she waskind of upset that Tom didn't
stand up for her and so she justcouldn't take it anymore and
she said something.
But it's one of those thingswhere she didn't realize she
(07:00):
said it out loud, like shethought she had thought it and
then when she looked ateveryone's faces she realized oh
crap, I actually said that outloud.
So that kind of caused a bigriff and while that wasn't the
official end of the relationship, that was kind of like the nail
in the coffin.
Tom's biggest issue withQueenie is just that he would
always try to talk to her andshe had like a wallop, like
(07:22):
emotionally she wouldn't open upto him in any shape, way or
form.
So he couldn't take it anymoreand he broke things off.
In the miniseries she finds outthat she had the miscarriage and
it's the same day as Tom'smom's birthday party.
So she finds out the news aboutthe miscarriage and kind of has
to put herself together to goto this birthday party.
(07:43):
And so she's like a bottle ofemotions.
She just wants to talk to Tom,but she has to play nice because
it's his mom's birthday.
And finally she just snaps andthey say they're like I said,
they're being reallymicroaggressive towards her.
So finally she says somethingout loud, doesn't realize that
she says it out loud, untileveryone's kind of looking at
(08:05):
her shocked, like you reallyjust said that.
And she's like oh crap, so thathappened.
And in the TV series this iswhen Tom officially breaks up
with her.
He like she leaves, she goes tothe bus stop and Tom is like
what the hell was that?
And she's like what do you mean?
What the hell was that?
Like why didn't you stand upfor me?
And he's like that's just howmy parents are, you know.
(08:27):
Like they don't know any better.
And she's like well, you shouldteach them how to be better.
And he's like well, you need tolearn how to talk to me.
And she wants to tell him sobadly about the miscarriage.
Tom can kind of sense thatshe's holding things back, just
like she always does, and he'slike I can't take it anymore,
(08:49):
like it's over, and he breaks upwith her in that first episode
after the birthday party.
So after they break up, queeniedoes try to in the TV series she
does try to find other ways tocope.
First she asks all her friends.
So her three friends are Darcy,chesky or Chesky and Cassandra.
(09:10):
So Darcy and Cassandra are bothwhite, cassandra is Jewish as
well and Chesky is black.
I believe she's Nigerian, she'sof Nigerian descent, anyway.
So those are her three friendsand she's like how should I cope
?
And they all offer up differentways to cope.
And Cassandra's like you'regoing to try yoga with me?
And Queenie tries yoga and shedoes not like it.
(09:33):
It's not for her, it's likemaking her more uncomfortable.
So she's just like not gonna,no, I'm done, I'm not doing yoga
.
And then Chesky's the onethat's like you just gotta sleep
with a lot of men.
And that's when Queenie decidesto start like sleeping with a
lot of men.
Darcy kind of says like youshould start putting yourself
out there.
And so, like Darcy makes her adating profile.
(09:53):
And then Chesky's the onethat's like just sleep with a
lot of men, like it's fine, likesleep them out of your system,
essentially.
So that's what she ends updoing.
She starts hooking up with allthe men that reach out to her on
her dating profile that Darcycreated.
So she does try other ways ofcoping.
First, in the TV series itdoesn't really work out.
So that appreciated is.
The first person she has sexwith after her breakup with Tom
(10:15):
is Adi.
Adi is of Middle Easterndescent, he drives for Uber and
every single time he seesQueenie he's always flirting
(10:35):
with her and hitting on her andshe's always like denying him.
She's like you're married,you're married, you're married.
And in the book she's like F itand she sleeps with him knowing
that he's married.
And I really didn't like it.
That just did not sit well withme.
Like no, I really did notsympathize with Queenie at this
(10:56):
point.
I grew to sympathize with heras the book went on, but in this
moment I was like no.
In the TV series, every singletime she's like you're married,
he's like we're breaking up,we're divorcing, and so when she
decides to sleep with him, likeshe thinks that the marriage is
over and so it's like okay tosleep with him.
And then she ends up comingacross Adi and his wife later on
(11:19):
in the book and the TV seriesand the wife confronts her and
is like, why are you sleepingwith my man?
And obviously in the book itdoesn't come as a shock.
She's like, yeah, I kind of hadthis coming and I was like,
yeah, you really did.
But in the TV series, like I'mso sorry, he told me you guys
were broken up and she's like,well, we're not, we're still
together.
We've always been together.
We've never been in the processof breaking up ever.
(11:41):
So Queenie does feel really badabout that.
But we get a montage of hersleeping with a bunch of guys.
And I feel like she does sleepwith a lot of guys in the book.
But I feel like she sleeps withmore in the book I mean more in
the TV series than she does inthe book, until she meets Guy.
She meets Guy on Halloween.
In the TV series she's workingat events.
(12:04):
So she and her friend Darcywork at the same newspaper and
she goes to this event to helpDarcy out.
And she meets Guy andcompletely ends up neglecting
her responsibility to assistingDarcy and Darcy is
understandably very upset.
She's like, it's fine, justlike, go with him.
Like you're not even helping meat this point, you're more of a
hindrance.
You want to be with this guy.
(12:24):
Like just go, and she's upset.
In the book Queenie does go tohelp Darcy out, but she actually
meets Guy after Halloween.
It's like and Darcy's a lotmore like okay with it in the
book than she is in the TVseries.
Like in the book she's likeyeah, whatever, it's fine.
Yeah, you can leave with him, Ididn't really need need your
(12:46):
help, it turned out okay.
So, yeah, in the TV series weget her neglecting her
relationships with her friends alittle bit more than she does
in the book.
In the book she doesn't reallyneglect her friends that much,
which isn't necessarily a badthing.
I like that she doesn't neglecther friends in the book and I
do wish the TV series hadexplored this a little bit more,
because we do see that Darcy'slike upset, that Queenie's like
neglecting her a little bit.
She confronts her but and thisconfrontation does it does
(13:09):
happen in the book too likeDarcy's, like everything's
always about you, and Queeniedoes end up apologizing and
realizes like, yeah, I do kindof make things all about me, but
I feel like there's moretension in the tv series when it
comes to this.
But I wish it was explored alittle bit more because after
Darcy's like it's always aboutyou and they have like a fight
the next episode things are kindof resolved again kind of
(13:31):
easily.
But anyway, so in the well, Iguess she does sleep with more
guys in the book, now that Ithink about it, cause like once,
once she meets Guy in the TVseries, like that's the only guy
she sleeps with for a while.
In the book Guy is the guy shesleeps with most often, but
she's still sleeping with otherpeople in between.
So in the TV series, like onceshe meets Guy and they start
(13:53):
their sexual relationship, likeit's pretty much just him and
Guy's really rough when it comesto having sex.
He likes really really rough,violent sex to the point where
Queenie's really sore after oneparticular sexual encounter and
she goes back to the healthclinic that from the start of
(14:14):
the book in the TV series andthey even ask her like are you
sexually assaulted?
Because it's like the damage toher skin, genital area and just
that area is just really bad,like I guess these are traumatic
signs that you would see inrape victims.
And she's like, no, it was,it's consensual and it is.
(14:35):
But they're like the clinicdoesn't believe her and they
they're like okay, well, if youdecide to press charges later,
here's how you can do that.
And she's like like I promise,like it was consensual.
And they're like okay, well,we're going to refer you to a
therapist in that case.
And so they refer her to atherapist.
I will say in the book shereally doesn't like having sex
(14:57):
with Guy.
She's looking for thatemotional connection and
obviously Guy's not giving it toher.
But like a lot of the timesafter they're done having sex,
like he'll fall asleep and spendthe night and so she'll find
ways to cuddle up to him andnever lasts very long Because as
soon as he feels her cuddlingup he's like nah, get off me.
But she doesn't really like it.
It is still consensual, but shedoesn't like it.
(15:17):
In the TV series she does likeit.
She enjoys this really roughway of having sex a lot Like she
enjoys it a lot Like she enjoysit.
I was going to say a lot more,but it's like she enjoys it, as
opposed to the book.
In the book she really does notenjoy it.
In the TV series she actuallyreally enjoys her sexual
encounters with Guy, even assore and as damaging as
apparently they are.
(15:37):
She really enjoys it, and inthe book she doesn't At one
point in the TV series.
So Tom is pretty much kind oflike how I said at the beginning
.
Tom is pretty much like nocontact, like it's a clean break
.
We're not talking to each other, like if we keep talking to
each other we're never gonna getover each other.
So no talking is allowed and soit's been really difficult.
(15:57):
But she's been able to keep herend of the bargain and
obviously it's easy for him tokeep his end of the bargain
until one day, on Christmas Evein the TV series he messages her
and says Merry Christmas XX,which, as a reminder, stands for
kiss, kiss.
So she's like, wow, what doesthis mean?
And she starts like secondguessing what it could mean.
And she's like asking all herfriends like what does it mean?
(16:20):
Like why is he reaching out tome?
Do you think he wants to getback together?
Like this is a Christmasmessage.
And her friends are all like Idon't know, maybe I mean it
could just be a Merry Christmasmessage.
And she's like no, like therehas to be some deeper meaning
behind it.
And this leads her to so in thebook, in the TV series there's
Ted.
Ted works at the same newspaperthat she does, but he works in
(16:43):
a completely differentdepartment.
So they run into each otheroccasionally but they don't see
each other often and in the TVseries, like anytime, they
interact.
Like it's obvious that he has acrush on her and that he's
trying to find ways to speak toher.
And at one point, like hediscovers her at a bar and she's
like really, really drunk andhe like takes her home and takes
(17:06):
care of her and he doesn'tattempt to do anything.
Like he looks genuinely worriedfor her.
But there isn't really any anyinteractions between the two of
them at this point.
Until Christmas Eve her bosscalls her and was like I need
you to work on Christmas Evebecause we need to get this
ready and I'm out of town.
And so she goes into the officeon Christmas Eve and it's only
her, ted, and the other womanwhich I don't remember her name,
(17:30):
but she's like that onecoworker, like she does not
interact with anyone.
She is there to work, shedoesn't.
Like she likes peace and quietand she doesn't interact with
anyone.
Like she's there when she's inthe office, she's working and
she is not going to talk toanyone.
So she's like Queenie is, hasinteracted a little bit with Ted
, but there hasn't been much.
(17:50):
And it isn't until, like herconfusion over her text with Tom
and it's only the three of themin the office and they start
talking to each other there andthere's obvious sparks and
chemistry and finally they likeshe like attempts to kiss him
and he's like no, we, weshouldn't, like it's wrong.
And she's like yeah, yeah,you're right.
So she goes into the bathroomto like cool off, and when she
(18:13):
opens the door to the bathroom,he's right there and then he
goes in after her close the doorand they have sex.
But it's really like the mostunsatisfying sex ever because he
literally finishes in like fiveseconds and that's not an
exaggeration.
Like she's very like oh my gosh.
Like like I have greatchemistry with this guy, like
(18:34):
we're going to have great sexand it's over.
Okay, so it's the text messagewith Tom and like her confusion
over that and what it could meanand the fact that there's like
instant chemistry between thetwo of them is what leads her to
have sex with him in the TVseries.
But in the book she and Tedactually start interacting with
each other a lot sooner, like Isaid, their first real
(18:54):
conversation in the TV series ison Christmas Eve.
While they're there working Inthe book, they meet and they
have this instant connectionwith each other and they start
sending flirty emails to eachother and they both end up
working on Christmas Eve.
However, tom in the book doesnot send Evie a I mean Evie does
not send Queenie a MerryChristmas message.
(19:16):
This is just them acting onmonths of chemistry and flirty
messages between the two of them.
And so there is no likehesitation on Ted's part.
Like they're in it, they'relike you like me, I like you.
Let's have sex and they do, andit's really unsatisfying and
Queenie's like wow, that wasdisappointing.
(19:36):
So, yeah, there's no textmessage from Tom and there's
more interaction between her andTed before they finally have
sex.
Tom does end up messagingQueenie in the book, though,
except he wishes her a happy newyear.
So after the new year, let's gowith the TV series, since there
was less interaction betweenher and Ted.
So she like she sleeps with Tedand then they don't talk to
(19:57):
each other for the rest of theyear until the new year when
they come back to work and shesees him and she's like trying
to talk to him and he's likeobviously avoiding him.
And then she's like, oh hell,no, we're not doing this.
So she like goes up to him andis like what is going on?
And he's like acting reallyshady, and he's just like, um,
no, you know nothing, um,nothing.
And then a woman who's there toshe was like invited to give a
(20:21):
presentation at the newspaper.
She shows up and she's like,hey, ted, who's your friend?
And he's just like, oh, it's uh, it's no one.
And then she's like, hey, ted,who's your friend?
And he's just like it's no one.
And then she's like again Ted.
And that's when you find outthat this woman is Ted's wife,
and this is not the first timeTed has cheated on her and she
is also pregnant, currentlypregnant with his child.
So this very pregnant woman islike again Ted.
(20:42):
And Queenie's like, oh, wow.
And so she just walks awaybecause she's in absolute shock,
like she had no idea this guywas married, she had no idea
this guy was in a relationship,like nothing.
So she walks away and is likeimmediately disgusted with Ted,
as she should be In the book,the way she ends up finding out
like he's still acting weirdtowards her, like he's avoiding
her.
And at one point she finallycorners him and is like, why are
(21:05):
you avoiding me?
And he's like I'm not avoidingyou, I don't know what you're
talking about.
And then another co-worker islike, hey, ted, how's the wife?
And that's when Queenie's like,oh, you're married, great, and
so she walks away.
So yeah, in the TV series shemeets Ted's physical wife and
finds out that Ted is a serialcheater and his wife is pregnant
(21:26):
and all these awful things.
And in the book it's a mutualco-worker Spills the beans.
So Ted, being the littlecowardly bitch that he is, he is
, he goes to HR and is like yo,like Queenie's, making me really
uncomfortable, she keepshitting on me and I don't know
what to do.
And so she's, she's suspendedfrom her job, while there is an
(21:49):
investigation going on which islike Ted, man up, please.
Like man up, you're the onethat cheated on your wife.
And like no, no, no, no, ted,ted, ted, man up.
So Queenie, as I said, issuspended.
And in since she's suspended,queenie ends up moving back in
with her grandparents.
(22:10):
In the book, in the TV seriesit's more of like she has a
panic attack and she moves backin to be with family, and in the
book she does have a little bitlike.
She does have indications oflike panic attacks, but the TV
series makes it like super clearIn the book, while she is on
leave she starts going totherapy, which she does in the
(22:33):
TV series as well, but shereally spends most of her time
like doing chores for hergrandparents and going to
therapy.
And in the TV series she startsexploring.
She's really depressed.
At first she doesn't want to doanything and then little by
little her friends and familycoax her and start going out
into the world and she startsdiscovering, like how she wants
(22:53):
to tell stories.
Because she's works at thisnewspaper, because she wants to
tell stories that matter to her.
So anytime she tries to bringup a story about like Black
Lives Matter or anything reallylike she wants to tell Black
stories, it's kind of it's not,kind of it is, it's shut down
and kind of just like no, wedon't have a place for that in
(23:13):
this newspaper.
And in the TV series.
Like she starts exploring likeif I want to tell the stories
that I want to tell like I canjust tell them through the use
of social media.
I don't need to work at thisnewspaper, to be a journalist
and bring stories that matter tome out into the world.
So she kind of starts exploringother things in the book.
She definitely focuses onfamily and therapy.
(23:37):
So in the TV series, as I said,on Christmas Eve, it was her Ted
and that coworker who was justthere to work.
Well, that coworker, after sometime, is during the
investigation.
She goes and she's like hey, um, whatever happened between
Queenie and Ted, it was mutual.
Like I saw their interactions,like it was mutual and Ted is a
(23:59):
fucking liar.
So she's called back into theoffice and her boss is like
we're so sorry.
Like this coworker came forwardand told us what happened and
Ted has been fired and you'rewelcome to start immediately.
And Queenie's like, great, well, thanks for firing Ted.
I actually don't want to workhere anymore.
I'm gonna quit and I'm gonna bea journalist in my own way.
(24:23):
And she leaves and she doesn'tgo back to that to that
newspaper my own way.
And she leaves and she doesn'tgo back to that, to that
newspaper.
In the book she does.
So she, and it's different,that same coworker is there in
the book but I guess thatcoworker just really minds her
own business because she doesnot come forward in any.
She does not come forward.
It's actually a security guardwho turns over the security
footage of the day they wereworking and they see like Ted
(24:46):
following Queenie into thebathroom and that it's not her
like harassing him.
So Queenie gets her job backimmediately.
The investigation is stillongoing, though.
So Ted, like in the TV seriesTed is fired immediately.
In the book he's not.
He's still there while theinvestigation is going.
But it's like you're notallowed to talk to each other.
And then he ends up sending heran email and is oh sorry,
(25:09):
queenie, when she's allowed toreturn back to the office, like
Ted is like hey, like I'm reallysorry, I lied to you.
And she's like nope, you're nottalking to me, we're not
allowed to talk to each other.
Like back away.
And he doesn't back away.
And then Cheskay good oldCheskay, we love Cheskay shows
up and is like did you not hearher?
Like back off.
And she like hits him with herpurse.
And then, of course, this likeother random white bystander
(25:32):
shows up and is like yo, is sheattacking you?
And he's like, before Ted canrespond, cheskay's like excuse
me, like I know you saw himgoing after my friend and you
heard my friend say get awayfrom me.
And you didn't do anything.
It isn't until I hit this man inself-defense of my friend that
you check up on him, like youshould be checking up on her.
(25:52):
And this random bystander'slike right, and he just and he
walks away and leaves and it'slike thank you, chesky, they
have that encounter.
And then after that he sendsQueenie an email and is like I
just want you to know like Iwill leave my wife for you.
Like I don't even love my wife.
I kind of just married herbecause I was getting up there
in age and I really wanted tostart a family.
(26:13):
And I know she's pregnant andit's like really going to suck
but like if you want to be withme, like I'll dump her in two
seconds flat.
And so Queenie's like all right.
So she prints out the email andgives it to her boss and that's
when Ted gets fired.
And then her boss sends her to amusic show to review the show
(26:33):
and it is such a well-writtencritique that she from then on
becomes the live music reporterat the newspaper.
So now her job at the newspaperis to go to live events and I
guess it isn't just music, it'sjust live events.
She's going to go to them and Iguess it isn't just music, it's
just like live events.
She's going to go to them andshe reports on them and
critiques them and reviews themessentially.
(26:53):
So in the book she does keepher job at the newspaper and
she's perfectly happy staying onas this like live events
reporter.
But in the TV series she doessay no, I want to tell my own
stories.
I want to tell the stories ofBlack women, specifically from
my grandma to just other womenthat I admire and respect and
(27:15):
that are doing something inLondon, whether they're artists
or filmmakers or whatever, and Iwant to interview them and I
want to tell the stories andthat's the story I want to put
out into the world.
So throughout all this in thebook and the TV series, we end
up finding out that it'sprobably difficult for Queenie
to cope first of all and justopen up emotionally because she
(27:37):
was briefly abandoned as a child.
So her mom her mom had her whenshe was Queenie's mom was a
teenager when she had Queenieand it was one of those things
where her, where Queenie's dad,was much older.
So it was like this much olderman preying on this teen girl
and then when she got pregnantit was like I'm done with you.
(27:57):
And in the tv series, likeQueenie, like Sylvie.
Her mom never saw this man everagain.
In the book, like Queenie,doesn't have a relationship with
her father, but she knows thathe went back to Jamaica and he's
in Jamaica somewhere In the TVseries.
She has no idea what happenedto this man.
Like, this man, as I said,abandoned Sylvie as soon as
Sylvie got pregnant and was likepeace and they never saw him
(28:19):
again.
So at one point as onceQueenie's a little bit older,
sylvie ends up dating anotherman named Roy.
Roy is again much older and heis also extremely abusive.
So Queenie sees this manabusing her mother verbally and
physically and he verballyabuses Queenie and so she sees
(28:41):
this growing up and at one pointher mom is like it's over and
they move into their ownapartment.
But then she ends up gettingback together with Roy and she
moves in with Roy and leavesQueenie at this apartment and no
one has any idea that Queeniewas living by herself for
several months and she wentthrough months Like sometimes
(29:02):
her mom would visit her butthere would be extended periods
of time when she didn't see hermom at all and she was literally
living by herself in thisapartment as an 11 year old
little girl and it isn't untilher aunt, maggie, finds her and
gets her out of there thatQueenie finally has a stable
home.
That is extremely traumatizingand that would be extremely
(29:22):
traumatizing for anyone to gothrough.
In the book I feel like it wasso much easier for Queenie to
forgive Sylvie in the book thanit is in the TV series.
So Queenie doesn't want to seeher mom at the beginning of the
book and then that kind of justshifts and her mom like anytime
her mom comes over, sheoverhears a conversation between
(29:42):
Sylvie and Maggie about Sylviebeing like I'm such a horrible
mom, blah, blah, blah.
And after Queenie overhearsthis like she softens her heart
and like pretty much immediatelylets her mother in.
In the TV series it's a lotmore difficult for her to
forgive her mom.
She doesn't really forgive hermom and doesn't get that closure
until the final episode, and Ifeel like that makes a lot more
(30:04):
sense to me.
Now I understand everyone'sjourney of forgiveness is
different.
Some people it's just reallyeasy for them to forgive, no
matter how they were treated bysomeone and other people, it's a
little bit more difficult forthem to forgive.
However, considering that shewas abandoned by her mother as a
(30:26):
little girl and left to fendfor herself for months, and that
her mom chose this abusive manover her, I feel like her
journey of forgiving her motherjust made a lot more sense to me
in the TV series than it did inthe book, because I feel like
it would be very difficult toforgive your mother for
(30:47):
something like that.
And I just want to be veryclear I'm not shaming victims
who stay with abusive partners.
There's a variety of reasonswhy people stay, and so I'm not
here to judge anyone who hasstayed or has or decided to stay
once.
I'm just saying that, likeputting myself in Queenie's
(31:07):
shoes, I would be so angry at mymom if she chose an abusive man
over me.
I would be so mad, and so Ithink, like I said during,
queenie's journey to forgivenessjust feels a lot more fleshed
out in the tv series than it didin the book.
In the book, I just felt like itwas so easy for her to forgive
(31:28):
her mother, and in the TV series, like she struggles, she
struggled, like her mom keepstrying to make amends and
Queenie is just like nope, Idon't want to hear it, I don't
want to talk to you.
I like no, I don't want you inmy life until she goes to
therapy and she starts talkingto her therapist and she makes
that decision of like, I do wanta relationship with my mom and
(31:49):
I'm choosing to forgive her, andshe does.
And I also want to say whateverthat it felt authentic to me
because we see her go on thisjourney, and it would have felt
authentic to me as well if shehadn't forgiven her mom.
Everyone's journey is differentand everyone's journey of
forgiveness is different.
And I'm not here to say you'renot allowed to forgive someone
(32:09):
who hurt you, or why would youever forgive someone who hurt
you like that?
That is a personal decision andwhatever decision you decide to
make is the right decision foryou.
So I just want to, in caseanyone needs to hear it just
want to remind you that whateverdecision you decide to make is
the right decision for you andno one should shame you.
Either way, you're gonna getshamed, unfortunately, but they
(32:30):
shouldn't be shaming you and itis your decision, whatever it is
.
But I'm just speaking likeputting myself in Queenie's
shoes.
I just felt like her journeymade a lot more sense.
Her journey to forgiveness madea lot more sense in the TV
series than it did in the book.
But anyway, another change thatI really liked in the TV series
than it did in the book, butanyway, another change that I
really liked in the TV series.
Okay, well, really quick.
(32:52):
So, guy, you know rough sex, guy, it turns out that he is
Cassandra's, her friend,cassandra's boyfriend.
Again, she doesn't know thatGuy is with Cassandra In the.
It's one of those things thatCassandra's always talking about
my guy, my precious guy, andthat's how she calls him.
(33:13):
Queenie doesn't realize thatwhen she says my guy, she means
his name Guy, not like how mostpeople would say, my guy is a
great guy.
No, she's literally saying myguy, as in my boyfriend named
Guy.
So Queenie doesn't put two andtwo together, obviously, like
she doesn't realize thatCassandra has been name dropping
(33:34):
Guy this whole time.
But Cassandra's dating Guy andshe talks about, like he's so
respectful, like he doesn't wantto have sex until we're like
like he feels like it's tooearly in our relationship, like
he wants to wait until we'relike like he feels like it's too
early in our relationship, likehe wants to wait until we're,
like, more committed to eachother before we take that next
step.
And it's wonderful and my, myguy is so great.
(33:56):
And I will say, in the TV series, at the end of one of the
episodes it's revealed whoCassandra's boyfriend is.
So like we see her having agame night with her dad and her
boyfriend and the camera pans upand like we've heard
Cassandra's boyfriend is.
So like we see her having agame night with her dad and her
boyfriend and the camera pans upand like we've heard Cassandra
talk about her boyfriend thiswhole time but we've never seen
him.
And so this is the big reveal.
And like as a viewer Iunderstand that this is a big
(34:19):
reveal, like this isn't justsome random guy, like we're
supposed to recognize him assomeone.
And I'm watching it and I'mjust like I don't know who that
is.
Like he.
I was like, oh, it's Tom.
I guess the actors who playedTom and Guy looked alike to me
but I was like, right, it's Tom.
And then like, but it didn'tmake sense to me Cause I was
(34:40):
like, but why would Cassandralike date Tom and not tell
Queenie?
But Cassandra keeps saying youdon't know my boyfriend.
And I was like does that meanCassandra never met Tom when he
and Queenie were still together?
And then, when the plot twisthappened, at one point, queenie
and Cassandra are supposed tohang out and Queenie never shows
up to the restaurant wherethey're supposed to be having
(35:00):
brunch.
So Cassandra goes to Queenie'splace and as she's talking to
Queenie being like why didn'tyou show up?
Guy comes down the stairs andCassandra's like that's my
boyfriend, guy.
And I was like oh, that's whothe big reveal was.
Got it All right.
Sorry, tom and Guy, forconfusing the two of you, but
anyway.
So Cassandra is like pissed offat Queenie and she says some
(35:24):
really awful things, like shecalls her a whore and just like,
just like really really awfulthings, and essentially ends the
friendship In the book.
The book ends with Queeniecelebrating her birthday and
they're like at a restaurant andor I don't know if they're
celebrating her birthday, butthere's there's like a big
celebration and they're at arestaurant.
(35:45):
It's like Queenie and like hergrandparents, her aunt Maggie,
her mom and Darcy and Cheskay.
And then Cassandra shows up andDarcy's like sorry, I'm the one
that invited her.
I apologize if I wasn't meantto.
And so Cassandra and Queenietalk it out in the restaurant
bathroom and they work thingsout and Queenie, like decides to
(36:05):
forgive Cassandra, and soCassandra joins the party.
But in the TV series, queenie,before she like before she's
told by the newspaper like youcan get your job back if you
want.
She very briefly works at acoffee shop and while she's
there working, cassandra showsup and Queenie's like nah, you
know what, I don't forgive youfor.
Like you said some really awfulthings to me.
Like I don't forgive you, havea nice life, we're not like this
(36:28):
friendship is over andCassandra leaves, and so in the
TV series she actually doesn'tstay friends with Cassandra.
But all right.
Another character that is in theTV series who's not at all in
the book is Chesky's cousin.
So Chesky has a cousin who veryobviously has a crush on
Queenie and they're interacting,but Queenie doesn't see him as
(36:51):
anything other than Cheskay'scousin until the final episode.
In the final episode they'recelebrating Queenie's
housewarming party.
She's finally able to move outof her grandparents' house again
and she has a nice studioapartment, and so she's having a
housewarming party and Chesky'scousin shows up and he's like
you know, I like you, right.
(37:11):
And she's like yeah, I know youlike me.
And then they oh, one morething before we get to that.
Sorry, it's like I'mremembering things as they come
along.
So in the book and the TV series, queenie goes to Tom's old
place, or to her old place thatshe used to live in with Tom,
and she tries to talk to him andshe finds out that he has a new
(37:32):
girlfriend.
And she's like wow, you movedon really fast.
Like I'm over here pining foryou and you already have a new
girlfriend.
And he's like that's just howit worked out, so we never see
Tom again after this.
Like she sees Tom has moved onand that kind of gives her the
closure to like this reallysucks.
I do miss him.
I do still have feelings forhim, but I have the closure that
(37:53):
I need.
I'm going to officially likeforget about him.
And that's when she likedeletes his number.
In the TV series she andChesky's cousin start making out
and it's like all right,they're now a couple like, or
they're going to become a couplein the future of this world.
And as she's making out withChesky's cousin, tom shows up
with flowers and it's like oh,is she going to take him back.
(38:15):
I don't know, but then shedoesn't.
And the next like, we see Tomholding flowers and kind of just
looking at her like wow, okay.
And the next shot is theflowers inside the garbage can
in her apartment, and it endswith her and her mom just
talking and reconnecting andgetting to know each other again
.
So the book ends with like ahuge celebration in which she's
(38:40):
forgiven her mom and Cassandra,and everyone is there her whole
family and her friends, and it'sjust a celebration and
Queenie's happy with theprogress she's made.
And the TV series ends with herin a new relationship with a
guy who seems to genuinely likeher and no more Tom, and it ends
(39:00):
with her and just her and hermom in her studio apartment
getting to know each other.
So one I really really likedthe ending of the TV series in
that sense that it ends with herand her mom kind of just
starting over, and that's thelast image we see is mother and
daughter reuniting and formingthat relationship again, and
(39:21):
it's just a really wonderfulimage to end on for the TV
series.
What I really liked about thebook's ending, though, is that
she doesn't end up with anyone.
I like that they.
You know we, throughout theseries we see her hooking up
with non-Black men and it's niceto think that the guy who's
more than likely going to becomeher boyfriend now is Black.
(39:43):
But I like that she ends upwith no one in the book.
I really like that because itjust to me, it just shows how
far she's come and, mind you,she has made that same progress
in the TV series.
So I think that's why she'sready to have a relationship
with Chesky's cousin.
Like it's definitely not goingto be just a sexual relationship
, like there's going to be anactual connection and genuine
(40:05):
likes for each other.
But I, I really like, I reallyreally like that it ends with
queenie not needing a man.
And again, not that she needs aman in the tv series, but it's
just a lot more like poignant tome in the book.
Like that that point is justjust a lot more obvious of like
(40:26):
I don't need a man, I'm happybeing single and whenever I meet
someone, it like it's going tobe great, as opposed to like the
TV series where we see this guywho's who has been pining for
her and he does treat her welland it, like I said, it's not
going to be a nasty, just ahookup situation and she has
grown in her power and shedoesn't need a man.
(40:47):
But I just really like to meit's just a lot more.
That message of like I don'tneed a man is just a lot more in
your face in the book, sinceshe really doesn't end up with a
man.
So I really really liked thatending in the book that she ends
up with just herself and thepeople that stuck by her.
Now she does make a commentabout Cassandra, like these are
all the people that stuck by her.
Now she does make a commentabout Cassandra like these are
(41:07):
all the people that stuck by me,Not Cassandra, but actually
like she does end up forgivingCassandra, but it does end kind
of like ambiguous as to whetheror not that friendship will
continue, like she allowsCassandra to stay, but it's like
these are the people that stuckby me through it all.
Cassandra didn't and we'll seeif in the future she does or not
, and if she doesn't then I'mokay with cutting her out of my
(41:29):
life.
Yeah, I just really reallyliked that it ends.
The book ends with Queenie andjust her and herself not needing
anyone and the support systemthat stuck through it all with
her.
I don't mind that she ends upwith a boyfriend, necessarily in
the TV series, but I justreally, really liked that.
It's like she's happy beingsingle in the book.
(41:49):
So yeah, that was it.
So one thing yeah, that was achange I really really liked.
But one change I really likedin the TV series was her
deciding not to continue workingat the newspaper because she
really wasn't valued.
And even in the book I don'tfeel like she was very valued
and she's happy with the job sheends up getting at the end.
(42:11):
So, like I'm not faulting her,like she's happy, but I really
like that in the TV series she'slike I'm not valued here and
these are not the stories.
I'm going to ensure I'm tellingthe stories that I want to tell
.
So I really like that detail.
I don't, I didn't mind, I'mtelling the stories that I want
to tell.
So I really liked that detail.
I don't, I didn't mindCassandra Like the.
I liked that we got to see bothendings to Cassandra.
(42:31):
We got to see her forgivingCassandra and we got to see her
not forgiving Cassandra and Ithink both work.
I think they're both justifiedin their own way and, like I
said, like whatever works forher Worked book Queenie, it
worked.
The best thing for her was toforgive Cassandra, tv Queenie.
The best thing for her was tonot forgive Cassandra.
So I really like, I like itdidn't bother me that she
(42:53):
doesn't become friends withCassandra and it didn't bother
me that she decides to try thefriendship again with Cassandra.
So, yeah, one thing aboutCassandra Cassandra's portrayal
in the novel is controversialbecause, as I mentioned,
cassandra is Jewish and somepeople felt that the novel
(43:16):
contained antisemitic tropes.
We don't see this in the TVseries, or at least I didn't
notice this in the TV series,but yes, in the book.
What the antisemitic trope isthat you know Cassandra's Jewish
and she's lending Queenie moneyand she's expecting Queenie to
pay her back Like every like.
She doesn't drop the topic oflike you're gonna, I'm lending
(43:38):
you money and I expect you topay me back every cent In the TV
series.
I don't think Cassandra lendsher any money, which is why I'm
saying I didn't notice theantisemitic trope in the TV
series.
I don't think Cassandra lendsher any money, which is why I'm
saying I didn't notice theantisemitic trope in the TV
series.
But some critics of the novelhave pointed out, like the
novels.
They like the novel, but theyhave pointed out that Cassandra
is problematic and that she isan antisemitic trope in, or can
(44:02):
be considered an antisemitictrope, the way she is portrayed
in the novel.
There's also an author cameo inthe TV series.
So, as Queenie is like startingto feel better and starting to
go out into the world and kindof discover her passions or
rediscover her passions, she isinvited by Chesquet to this
(44:25):
gallery that features, just likeBlack female artists and she's
really like inspired by this artthat she's seeing.
And that's kind of when she'slike I want to talk to the
artist of this and bring herstory to the world.
And so that's kind of whatstarts inspiring her in terms of
like what stories she like, how, what journalistic approach she
(44:46):
wants to to take.
And candace plays I don't thinkshe plays like one of the
artists.
No, she doesn't play an artist.
Queenie is talking about one ofthe, about an art piece, and,
like candace and this other ladywho I think is I think she
might just be an actor likeapproaching her, like oh, we
hear you talking about the piece, what do you think?
And like queenie says heropinion and they're like wow,
(45:08):
you're very nuanced.
And Queenie's like thanks, andshe's the one that isn't.
Candace is like I'm the artistof this, these paintings, and
Queenie's like I would love tointerview you.
And she's like are you anartist too?
And that's when Candace says no, I write books and that's how I
know.
It was an author cameo.
It was just very pointed.
It's like yeah, we have anauthor cameo, so anyway, let's
(45:29):
get into it.
I rated the book three stars andI rated the TV series three
stars as well.
However, I do feel that thebook edges the TV series out
just the tiniest bit.
So for me, the winner is thebook.
They're both fantastic and Ithink they're both worth
(45:52):
checking out.
I think the TV series is agreat adaptation of the book and
I think the changes made in theTV series enhanced it.
The only change I wish theyhadn't made, as I said, was I
kind of wish they had just leftQueenie single and happily
single the way she is in thebook.
But otherwise I thought thechanges they made just really
(46:14):
helped enhance that story.
I loved that Queenie had moreof a journey in forgiving her
mother.
I love that Queenie decided notto go back to the newspaper.
But I really, really like theending of the book and the way
it's written, in which she'sreflecting back on who she is
and how much she's grown as aperson, and she's like this is
(46:35):
all I need.
These are the people that stuckwith me through my most
difficult times and as long as Ihave them, like, I'll be okay.
And yeah, so I really liked.
I think the ending is whatedges out the book a little bit
more for me, but I really the TVadaptation is great and the
changes they made just reallyenhanced the story.
(46:55):
So that is it for this week'sepisode and, oh my gosh, I can
actually tell you which episodeyou can expect next week.
Next week I will be talkingabout Let the Right One In by
John Lindquist.
He has a middle name but Idon't know how to pronounce it,
so I will look up how topronounce it for next time and
it's adaptation Let the RightOne In.
And I'm going to be doing.
(47:15):
I'm going to be doing Let theRight One In because I was like,
because there is an Americanadaptation, but the American
adaptation is technically calledLet Me In.
So no, just no, I will be doinglet the right one in versus let
the right one in.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please leave it a rating and a
review and share it with allyour friends.
Tell them all about thispodcast and I will see you next
(47:35):
time.
Bye, really quick.
One thing I forgot to add isthat Candice Carty Williams is
actually the showrunner of theQueenie TV show, so no author
consulting needed to be done.
She literally told the storythe way she wanted to tell it,
and the changes are definitelyauthor approved.
All right, see you next time.
Welcome to Books vs Movies, the podcast where I set
out to answer the age-oldquestion is the book really
always better than the movie?
I'm Yuvia, an actress and booklover based out of New York City
, and today I will be discussingQueenie by Candace Cardi
Williams and its 2024 TVminiseries adaptation Queenie
streaming on Hulu.
(00:20):
Hi everyone, how are you?
I'm really excited for thisepisode.
I know I say I'm excited forevery.
Are you I'm really excited forthis episode?
I know I say I'm excited forevery episode, but I'm really
excited for this episode becauseit's I really really enjoyed
the story of this series andbook and this was one that kind
of I kind of just found on Hulu.
I think I just searched, likebest series on Hulu because I
(00:44):
didn't know what to watch and Iwas on my TV watching kick.
I don't watch a lot of TV.
I've always been a film lover.
I've always preferred film overTV, but I have my kicks in
which I do watch a lot of TV andthis is one of them, and I
found it after searching on Hulu.
And then I discovered that itwas based on a book and I'm
(01:05):
excited to bring it, especiallybecause it is by a British
novelist and so, yes, this is aBritish novel, it is a British
TV show and I just I love it.
It was great.
I love London, it is my favoritecity in the world and I wish I
could live there, but alas,that's not the case right now.
Maybe one day I'll live there,but yeah, and so it was really
(01:29):
just like I loved seeing thedifferent aspects of London and
like the different suburbs.
Obviously, I've been to themore touristy parts, but it's
always cool to see, like, themore hidden parts of it.
And I swear, the apartmentbuilding where Queenie's friend
Cheskay lives is used in likeevery single British TV series
(01:51):
I'm not even joking Like I,every single, like I feel like
it was the same one used inBehind Her Eyes.
And I don't know, I feel likethat is the only apartment
building in London, or maybethat is the only apartment
building built on a soundstage,but everyone uses it.
I swear, if they're filming anapartment scene in London, at
(02:14):
least the exteriors take placein that building.
So I don't know, unless theyall look the same, but I just
feel like I've seen thisbuilding two or three times
before.
But anyway, I digress.
So, yes, queenie, written byCandice Cardy Williams was first
published in 2019.
(02:34):
And it follows our protagonist,queenie Jenkins, who is a
25-year-old Jamaican-Britishwoman living in London, and
she's trying to balance twocultures and kind of failing at
both.
So she works at a nationalnewspaper.
She constantly has to proveherself in this newspaper.
(02:55):
She is currently in fresh outof a really messy breakup from
her long-term boyfriend, who'swhite messy breakup from her
long-term boyfriend, who's whiteHis name is Tom and Queenie
starts to cope in all the wrongways and by all the wrong ways I
(03:17):
mean with all the wrong men whoare just using her for her body
.
Essentially, and as the novelprogresses, queenie starts
wondering why am I doing this?
What do I want to be?
And she starts making changesto improve herself and her life.
The 2024 miniseries Queeniefollows Queenie Jenkins, who is
a 25-year-old Jamaican Britishwoman living in South London,
(03:40):
living in between two culturesand fitting into neither.
So I will say this is a reallysolid adaptation and there were
definitely some changes that Ipreferred in the like.
The novel is great, but therewere some minor issues that I
mean.
I saw the miniseries first, soI was expecting some of the
(04:02):
things that happen in theminiseries to happen in the
novel and when they didn'thappen, I was like I'm kind of
glad they changed that.
Honestly, I tend to be a purist, but in this case I feel like
it elevated the storytelling andQueenie's arc in a much more
fulfilling way.
So, that being said, as always,here is your spoiler alert.
If you are interested inwatching Queenie, which I highly
(04:25):
recommend, or if you areinterested in reading Queenie,
which I also highly recommend,then watch it, read it and then
come back Let me know what youthink.
But, honestly, I really dorecommend both.
They are fantastic.
So yeah, at the start of theminiseries and the start of the
book, we meet Queenie and she isat a health clinic and it is
(04:50):
there that she discovers thatshe had a miscarriage.
It's one of those things whereshe had no idea she was pregnant
and she had no idea that shehad just experienced a
miscarriage.
She had been experiencing someconcerning health issues and she
went to the clinic and that'swhen they told her and she's
obviously in shock.
(05:10):
In the book, she has alreadybroken up with Tom who, as I
said, is her long-term boyfriend.
He is white and Queenie is, asI said, she's Jamaican, british,
she's black.
She's already been broken upwith him?
For it's not.
It hasn't been that long at all, it hasn't even been a month
(05:30):
since they broke up.
But it's one of those thingswhere she reaches out to him and
he's kind of like we're nottogether, you shouldn't be
talking to me, and she's like,but I really need to talk to you
about this.
Like this is something you needto know, and he's like nope,
like we're not supposed to betalking, so don't talk to me.
And so she never has anyone toreally help her through her
(05:51):
conflicting emotions of like notonly was I pregnant, like I
just lost this baby, and shedoesn't really.
It's one of those things.
Her, she, the relative she'smost closest to, are her
grandparents and her aunt Maggie, and all three of them are very
traditional and very religious,so she doesn't really feel
comfortable confiding in themthat she had a miscarriage, and
(06:14):
she's scared to talk to herfriends about it as well.
And so the person she wants totalk to the most about this is
Tom.
This is his, his baby as well,and now this, this baby is no
more, and so it's a lot ofemotions running through her and
she doesn't have anyone to talkto.
In the TV series they're stilltogether.
So at one point in the bookafter, to get a glimpse into the
(06:38):
final moments of theirrelationship, queenie talks
about how this incident at Tom'smother's house during her
birthday party, in which she wasexperiencing a lot of like
microaggressions and she waskind of upset that Tom didn't
stand up for her and so she justcouldn't take it anymore and
she said something.
But it's one of those thingswhere she didn't realize she
(07:00):
said it out loud, like shethought she had thought it and
then when she looked ateveryone's faces she realized oh
crap, I actually said that outloud.
So that kind of caused a bigriff and while that wasn't the
official end of the relationship, that was kind of like the nail
in the coffin.
Tom's biggest issue withQueenie is just that he would
always try to talk to her andshe had like a wallop, like
(07:22):
emotionally she wouldn't open upto him in any shape, way or
form.
So he couldn't take it anymoreand he broke things off.
In the miniseries she finds outthat she had the miscarriage and
it's the same day as Tom'smom's birthday party.
So she finds out the news aboutthe miscarriage and kind of has
to put herself together to goto this birthday party.
(07:43):
And so she's like a bottle ofemotions.
She just wants to talk to Tom,but she has to play nice because
it's his mom's birthday.
And finally she just snaps andthey say they're like I said,
they're being reallymicroaggressive towards her.
So finally she says somethingout loud, doesn't realize that
she says it out loud, untileveryone's kind of looking at
(08:05):
her shocked, like you reallyjust said that.
And she's like oh crap, so thathappened.
And in the TV series this iswhen Tom officially breaks up
with her.
He like she leaves, she goes tothe bus stop and Tom is like
what the hell was that?
And she's like what do you mean?
What the hell was that?
Like why didn't you stand upfor me?
And he's like that's just howmy parents are, you know.
(08:27):
Like they don't know any better.
And she's like well, you shouldteach them how to be better.
And he's like well, you need tolearn how to talk to me.
And she wants to tell him sobadly about the miscarriage.
Tom can kind of sense thatshe's holding things back, just
like she always does, and he'slike I can't take it anymore,
(08:49):
like it's over, and he breaks upwith her in that first episode
after the birthday party.
So after they break up, queeniedoes try to in the TV series she
does try to find other ways tocope.
First she asks all her friends.
So her three friends are Darcy,chesky or Chesky and Cassandra.
(09:10):
So Darcy and Cassandra are bothwhite, cassandra is Jewish as
well and Chesky is black.
I believe she's Nigerian, she'sof Nigerian descent, anyway.
So those are her three friendsand she's like how should I cope
?
And they all offer up differentways to cope.
And Cassandra's like you'regoing to try yoga with me?
And Queenie tries yoga and shedoes not like it.
(09:33):
It's not for her, it's likemaking her more uncomfortable.
So she's just like not gonna,no, I'm done, I'm not doing yoga
.
And then Chesky's the onethat's like you just gotta sleep
with a lot of men.
And that's when Queenie decidesto start like sleeping with a
lot of men.
Darcy kind of says like youshould start putting yourself
out there.
And so, like Darcy makes her adating profile.
(09:53):
And then Chesky's the onethat's like just sleep with a
lot of men, like it's fine, likesleep them out of your system,
essentially.
So that's what she ends updoing.
She starts hooking up with allthe men that reach out to her on
her dating profile that Darcycreated.
So she does try other ways ofcoping.
First, in the TV series itdoesn't really work out.
So that appreciated is.
The first person she has sexwith after her breakup with Tom
(10:15):
is Adi.
Adi is of Middle Easterndescent, he drives for Uber and
every single time he seesQueenie he's always flirting
(10:35):
with her and hitting on her andshe's always like denying him.
She's like you're married,you're married, you're married.
And in the book she's like F itand she sleeps with him knowing
that he's married.
And I really didn't like it.
That just did not sit well withme.
Like no, I really did notsympathize with Queenie at this
(10:56):
point.
I grew to sympathize with heras the book went on, but in this
moment I was like no.
In the TV series, every singletime she's like you're married,
he's like we're breaking up,we're divorcing, and so when she
decides to sleep with him, likeshe thinks that the marriage is
over and so it's like okay tosleep with him.
And then she ends up comingacross Adi and his wife later on
(11:19):
in the book and the TV seriesand the wife confronts her and
is like, why are you sleepingwith my man?
And obviously in the book itdoesn't come as a shock.
She's like, yeah, I kind of hadthis coming and I was like,
yeah, you really did.
But in the TV series, like I'mso sorry, he told me you guys
were broken up and she's like,well, we're not, we're still
together.
We've always been together.
We've never been in the processof breaking up ever.
(11:41):
So Queenie does feel really badabout that.
But we get a montage of hersleeping with a bunch of guys.
And I feel like she does sleepwith a lot of guys in the book.
But I feel like she sleeps withmore in the book I mean more in
the TV series than she does inthe book, until she meets Guy.
She meets Guy on Halloween.
In the TV series she's workingat events.
(12:04):
So she and her friend Darcywork at the same newspaper and
she goes to this event to helpDarcy out.
And she meets Guy andcompletely ends up neglecting
her responsibility to assistingDarcy and Darcy is
understandably very upset.
She's like, it's fine, justlike, go with him.
Like you're not even helping meat this point, you're more of a
hindrance.
You want to be with this guy.
(12:24):
Like just go, and she's upset.
In the book Queenie does go tohelp Darcy out, but she actually
meets Guy after Halloween.
It's like and Darcy's a lotmore like okay with it in the
book than she is in the TVseries.
Like in the book she's likeyeah, whatever, it's fine.
Yeah, you can leave with him, Ididn't really need need your
(12:46):
help, it turned out okay.
So, yeah, in the TV series weget her neglecting her
relationships with her friends alittle bit more than she does
in the book.
In the book she doesn't reallyneglect her friends that much,
which isn't necessarily a badthing.
I like that she doesn't neglecther friends in the book and I
do wish the TV series hadexplored this a little bit more,
because we do see that Darcy'slike upset, that Queenie's like
neglecting her a little bit.
She confronts her but and thisconfrontation does it does
(13:09):
happen in the book too likeDarcy's, like everything's
always about you, and Queeniedoes end up apologizing and
realizes like, yeah, I do kindof make things all about me, but
I feel like there's moretension in the tv series when it
comes to this.
But I wish it was explored alittle bit more because after
Darcy's like it's always aboutyou and they have like a fight
the next episode things are kindof resolved again kind of
(13:31):
easily.
But anyway, so in the well, Iguess she does sleep with more
guys in the book, now that Ithink about it, cause like once,
once she meets Guy in the TVseries, like that's the only guy
she sleeps with for a while.
In the book Guy is the guy shesleeps with most often, but
she's still sleeping with otherpeople in between.
So in the TV series, like onceshe meets Guy and they start
(13:53):
their sexual relationship, likeit's pretty much just him and
Guy's really rough when it comesto having sex.
He likes really really rough,violent sex to the point where
Queenie's really sore after oneparticular sexual encounter and
she goes back to the healthclinic that from the start of
(14:14):
the book in the TV series andthey even ask her like are you
sexually assaulted?
Because it's like the damage toher skin, genital area and just
that area is just really bad,like I guess these are traumatic
signs that you would see inrape victims.
And she's like, no, it was,it's consensual and it is.
(14:35):
But they're like the clinicdoesn't believe her and they
they're like okay, well, if youdecide to press charges later,
here's how you can do that.
And she's like like I promise,like it was consensual.
And they're like okay, well,we're going to refer you to a
therapist in that case.
And so they refer her to atherapist.
I will say in the book shereally doesn't like having sex
(14:57):
with Guy.
She's looking for thatemotional connection and
obviously Guy's not giving it toher.
But like a lot of the timesafter they're done having sex,
like he'll fall asleep and spendthe night and so she'll find
ways to cuddle up to him andnever lasts very long Because as
soon as he feels her cuddlingup he's like nah, get off me.
But she doesn't really like it.
It is still consensual, but shedoesn't like it.
(15:17):
In the TV series she does likeit.
She enjoys this really roughway of having sex a lot Like she
enjoys it a lot Like she enjoysit.
I was going to say a lot more,but it's like she enjoys it, as
opposed to the book.
In the book she really does notenjoy it.
In the TV series she actuallyreally enjoys her sexual
encounters with Guy, even assore and as damaging as
apparently they are.
(15:37):
She really enjoys it, and inthe book she doesn't At one
point in the TV series.
So Tom is pretty much kind oflike how I said at the beginning
.
Tom is pretty much like nocontact, like it's a clean break
.
We're not talking to each other, like if we keep talking to
each other we're never gonna getover each other.
So no talking is allowed and soit's been really difficult.
(15:57):
But she's been able to keep herend of the bargain and
obviously it's easy for him tokeep his end of the bargain
until one day, on Christmas Evein the TV series he messages her
and says Merry Christmas XX,which, as a reminder, stands for
kiss, kiss.
So she's like, wow, what doesthis mean?
And she starts like secondguessing what it could mean.
And she's like asking all herfriends like what does it mean?
(16:20):
Like why is he reaching out tome?
Do you think he wants to getback together?
Like this is a Christmasmessage.
And her friends are all like Idon't know, maybe I mean it
could just be a Merry Christmasmessage.
And she's like no, like therehas to be some deeper meaning
behind it.
And this leads her to so in thebook, in the TV series there's
Ted.
Ted works at the same newspaperthat she does, but he works in
(16:43):
a completely differentdepartment.
So they run into each otheroccasionally but they don't see
each other often and in the TVseries, like anytime, they
interact.
Like it's obvious that he has acrush on her and that he's
trying to find ways to speak toher.
And at one point, like hediscovers her at a bar and she's
like really, really drunk andhe like takes her home and takes
(17:06):
care of her and he doesn'tattempt to do anything.
Like he looks genuinely worriedfor her.
But there isn't really any anyinteractions between the two of
them at this point.
Until Christmas Eve her bosscalls her and was like I need
you to work on Christmas Evebecause we need to get this
ready and I'm out of town.
And so she goes into the officeon Christmas Eve and it's only
her, ted, and the other womanwhich I don't remember her name,
(17:30):
but she's like that onecoworker, like she does not
interact with anyone.
She is there to work, shedoesn't.
Like she likes peace and quietand she doesn't interact with
anyone.
Like she's there when she's inthe office, she's working and
she is not going to talk toanyone.
So she's like Queenie is, hasinteracted a little bit with Ted
, but there hasn't been much.
(17:50):
And it isn't until, like herconfusion over her text with Tom
and it's only the three of themin the office and they start
talking to each other there andthere's obvious sparks and
chemistry and finally they likeshe like attempts to kiss him
and he's like no, we, weshouldn't, like it's wrong.
And she's like yeah, yeah,you're right.
So she goes into the bathroomto like cool off, and when she
(18:13):
opens the door to the bathroom,he's right there and then he
goes in after her close the doorand they have sex.
But it's really like the mostunsatisfying sex ever because he
literally finishes in like fiveseconds and that's not an
exaggeration.
Like she's very like oh my gosh.
Like like I have greatchemistry with this guy, like
(18:34):
we're going to have great sexand it's over.
Okay, so it's the text messagewith Tom and like her confusion
over that and what it could meanand the fact that there's like
instant chemistry between thetwo of them is what leads her to
have sex with him in the TVseries.
But in the book she and Tedactually start interacting with
each other a lot sooner, like Isaid, their first real
(18:54):
conversation in the TV series ison Christmas Eve.
While they're there working Inthe book, they meet and they
have this instant connectionwith each other and they start
sending flirty emails to eachother and they both end up
working on Christmas Eve.
However, tom in the book doesnot send Evie a I mean Evie does
not send Queenie a MerryChristmas message.
(19:16):
This is just them acting onmonths of chemistry and flirty
messages between the two of them.
And so there is no likehesitation on Ted's part.
Like they're in it, they'relike you like me, I like you.
Let's have sex and they do, andit's really unsatisfying and
Queenie's like wow, that wasdisappointing.
(19:36):
So, yeah, there's no textmessage from Tom and there's
more interaction between her andTed before they finally have
sex.
Tom does end up messagingQueenie in the book, though,
except he wishes her a happy newyear.
So after the new year, let's gowith the TV series, since there
was less interaction betweenher and Ted.
So she like she sleeps with Tedand then they don't talk to
(19:57):
each other for the rest of theyear until the new year when
they come back to work and shesees him and she's like trying
to talk to him and he's likeobviously avoiding him.
And then she's like, oh hell,no, we're not doing this.
So she like goes up to him andis like what is going on?
And he's like acting reallyshady, and he's just like, um,
no, you know nothing, um,nothing.
And then a woman who's there toshe was like invited to give a
(20:21):
presentation at the newspaper.
She shows up and she's like,hey, ted, who's your friend?
And he's just like, oh, it's uh, it's no one.
And then she's like, hey, ted,who's your friend?
And he's just like it's no one.
And then she's like again Ted.
And that's when you find outthat this woman is Ted's wife,
and this is not the first timeTed has cheated on her and she
is also pregnant, currentlypregnant with his child.
So this very pregnant woman islike again Ted.
(20:42):
And Queenie's like, oh, wow.
And so she just walks awaybecause she's in absolute shock,
like she had no idea this guywas married, she had no idea
this guy was in a relationship,like nothing.
So she walks away and is likeimmediately disgusted with Ted,
as she should be In the book,the way she ends up finding out
like he's still acting weirdtowards her, like he's avoiding
her.
And at one point she finallycorners him and is like, why are
(21:05):
you avoiding me?
And he's like I'm not avoidingyou, I don't know what you're
talking about.
And then another co-worker islike, hey, ted, how's the wife?
And that's when Queenie's like,oh, you're married, great, and
so she walks away.
So yeah, in the TV series shemeets Ted's physical wife and
finds out that Ted is a serialcheater and his wife is pregnant
(21:26):
and all these awful things.
And in the book it's a mutualco-worker Spills the beans.
So Ted, being the littlecowardly bitch that he is, he is
, he goes to HR and is like yo,like Queenie's, making me really
uncomfortable, she keepshitting on me and I don't know
what to do.
And so she's, she's suspendedfrom her job, while there is an
(21:49):
investigation going on which islike Ted, man up, please.
Like man up, you're the onethat cheated on your wife.
And like no, no, no, no, ted,ted, ted, man up.
So Queenie, as I said, issuspended.
And in since she's suspended,queenie ends up moving back in
with her grandparents.
(22:10):
In the book, in the TV seriesit's more of like she has a
panic attack and she moves backin to be with family, and in the
book she does have a little bitlike.
She does have indications oflike panic attacks, but the TV
series makes it like super clearIn the book, while she is on
leave she starts going totherapy, which she does in the
(22:33):
TV series as well, but shereally spends most of her time
like doing chores for hergrandparents and going to
therapy.
And in the TV series she startsexploring.
She's really depressed.
At first she doesn't want to doanything and then little by
little her friends and familycoax her and start going out
into the world and she startsdiscovering, like how she wants
(22:53):
to tell stories.
Because she's works at thisnewspaper, because she wants to
tell stories that matter to her.
So anytime she tries to bringup a story about like Black
Lives Matter or anything reallylike she wants to tell Black
stories, it's kind of it's not,kind of it is, it's shut down
and kind of just like no, wedon't have a place for that in
(23:13):
this newspaper.
And in the TV series.
Like she starts exploring likeif I want to tell the stories
that I want to tell like I canjust tell them through the use
of social media.
I don't need to work at thisnewspaper, to be a journalist
and bring stories that matter tome out into the world.
So she kind of starts exploringother things in the book.
She definitely focuses onfamily and therapy.
(23:37):
So in the TV series, as I said,on Christmas Eve, it was her Ted
and that coworker who was justthere to work.
Well, that coworker, after sometime, is during the
investigation.
She goes and she's like hey, um, whatever happened between
Queenie and Ted, it was mutual.
Like I saw their interactions,like it was mutual and Ted is a
(23:59):
fucking liar.
So she's called back into theoffice and her boss is like
we're so sorry.
Like this coworker came forwardand told us what happened and
Ted has been fired and you'rewelcome to start immediately.
And Queenie's like, great, well, thanks for firing Ted.
I actually don't want to workhere anymore.
I'm gonna quit and I'm gonna bea journalist in my own way.
(24:23):
And she leaves and she doesn'tgo back to that to that
newspaper my own way.
And she leaves and she doesn'tgo back to that, to that
newspaper.
In the book she does.
So she, and it's different,that same coworker is there in
the book but I guess thatcoworker just really minds her
own business because she doesnot come forward in any.
She does not come forward.
It's actually a security guardwho turns over the security
footage of the day they wereworking and they see like Ted
(24:46):
following Queenie into thebathroom and that it's not her
like harassing him.
So Queenie gets her job backimmediately.
The investigation is stillongoing, though.
So Ted, like in the TV seriesTed is fired immediately.
In the book he's not.
He's still there while theinvestigation is going.
But it's like you're notallowed to talk to each other.
And then he ends up sending heran email and is oh sorry,
(25:09):
queenie, when she's allowed toreturn back to the office, like
Ted is like hey, like I'm reallysorry, I lied to you.
And she's like nope, you're nottalking to me, we're not
allowed to talk to each other.
Like back away.
And he doesn't back away.
And then Cheskay good oldCheskay, we love Cheskay shows
up and is like did you not hearher?
Like back off.
And she like hits him with herpurse.
And then, of course, this likeother random white bystander
(25:32):
shows up and is like yo, is sheattacking you?
And he's like, before Ted canrespond, cheskay's like excuse
me, like I know you saw himgoing after my friend and you
heard my friend say get awayfrom me.
And you didn't do anything.
It isn't until I hit this man inself-defense of my friend that
you check up on him, like youshould be checking up on her.
(25:52):
And this random bystander'slike right, and he just and he
walks away and leaves and it'slike thank you, chesky, they
have that encounter.
And then after that he sendsQueenie an email and is like I
just want you to know like Iwill leave my wife for you.
Like I don't even love my wife.
I kind of just married herbecause I was getting up there
in age and I really wanted tostart a family.
(26:13):
And I know she's pregnant andit's like really going to suck
but like if you want to be withme, like I'll dump her in two
seconds flat.
And so Queenie's like all right.
So she prints out the email andgives it to her boss and that's
when Ted gets fired.
And then her boss sends her to amusic show to review the show
(26:33):
and it is such a well-writtencritique that she from then on
becomes the live music reporterat the newspaper.
So now her job at the newspaperis to go to live events and I
guess it isn't just music, it'sjust live events.
She's going to go to them and Iguess it isn't just music, it's
just like live events.
She's going to go to them andshe reports on them and
critiques them and reviews themessentially.
(26:53):
So in the book she does keepher job at the newspaper and
she's perfectly happy staying onas this like live events
reporter.
But in the TV series she doessay no, I want to tell my own
stories.
I want to tell the stories ofBlack women, specifically from
my grandma to just other womenthat I admire and respect and
(27:15):
that are doing something inLondon, whether they're artists
or filmmakers or whatever, and Iwant to interview them and I
want to tell the stories andthat's the story I want to put
out into the world.
So throughout all this in thebook and the TV series, we end
up finding out that it'sprobably difficult for Queenie
to cope first of all and justopen up emotionally because she
(27:37):
was briefly abandoned as a child.
So her mom her mom had her whenshe was Queenie's mom was a
teenager when she had Queenieand it was one of those things
where her, where Queenie's dad,was much older.
So it was like this much olderman preying on this teen girl
and then when she got pregnantit was like I'm done with you.
(27:57):
And in the tv series, likeQueenie, like Sylvie.
Her mom never saw this man everagain.
In the book, like Queenie,doesn't have a relationship with
her father, but she knows thathe went back to Jamaica and he's
in Jamaica somewhere In the TVseries.
She has no idea what happenedto this man.
Like, this man, as I said,abandoned Sylvie as soon as
Sylvie got pregnant and was likepeace and they never saw him
(28:19):
again.
So at one point as onceQueenie's a little bit older,
sylvie ends up dating anotherman named Roy.
Roy is again much older and heis also extremely abusive.
So Queenie sees this manabusing her mother verbally and
physically and he verballyabuses Queenie and so she sees
(28:41):
this growing up and at one pointher mom is like it's over and
they move into their ownapartment.
But then she ends up gettingback together with Roy and she
moves in with Roy and leavesQueenie at this apartment and no
one has any idea that Queeniewas living by herself for
several months and she wentthrough months Like sometimes
(29:02):
her mom would visit her butthere would be extended periods
of time when she didn't see hermom at all and she was literally
living by herself in thisapartment as an 11 year old
little girl and it isn't untilher aunt, maggie, finds her and
gets her out of there thatQueenie finally has a stable
home.
That is extremely traumatizingand that would be extremely
(29:22):
traumatizing for anyone to gothrough.
In the book I feel like it wasso much easier for Queenie to
forgive Sylvie in the book thanit is in the TV series.
So Queenie doesn't want to seeher mom at the beginning of the
book and then that kind of justshifts and her mom like anytime
her mom comes over, sheoverhears a conversation between
(29:42):
Sylvie and Maggie about Sylviebeing like I'm such a horrible
mom, blah, blah, blah.
And after Queenie overhearsthis like she softens her heart
and like pretty much immediatelylets her mother in.
In the TV series it's a lotmore difficult for her to
forgive her mom.
She doesn't really forgive hermom and doesn't get that closure
until the final episode, and Ifeel like that makes a lot more
(30:04):
sense to me.
Now I understand everyone'sjourney of forgiveness is
different.
Some people it's just reallyeasy for them to forgive, no
matter how they were treated bysomeone and other people, it's a
little bit more difficult forthem to forgive.
However, considering that shewas abandoned by her mother as a
(30:26):
little girl and left to fendfor herself for months, and that
her mom chose this abusive manover her, I feel like her
journey of forgiving her motherjust made a lot more sense to me
in the TV series than it did inthe book, because I feel like
it would be very difficult toforgive your mother for
(30:47):
something like that.
And I just want to be veryclear I'm not shaming victims
who stay with abusive partners.
There's a variety of reasonswhy people stay, and so I'm not
here to judge anyone who hasstayed or has or decided to stay
once.
I'm just saying that, likeputting myself in Queenie's
(31:07):
shoes, I would be so angry at mymom if she chose an abusive man
over me.
I would be so mad, and so Ithink, like I said during,
queenie's journey to forgivenessjust feels a lot more fleshed
out in the tv series than it didin the book.
In the book, I just felt like itwas so easy for her to forgive
(31:28):
her mother, and in the TV series, like she struggles, she
struggled, like her mom keepstrying to make amends and
Queenie is just like nope, Idon't want to hear it, I don't
want to talk to you.
I like no, I don't want you inmy life until she goes to
therapy and she starts talkingto her therapist and she makes
that decision of like, I do wanta relationship with my mom and
(31:49):
I'm choosing to forgive her, andshe does.
And I also want to say whateverthat it felt authentic to me
because we see her go on thisjourney, and it would have felt
authentic to me as well if shehadn't forgiven her mom.
Everyone's journey is differentand everyone's journey of
forgiveness is different.
And I'm not here to say you'renot allowed to forgive someone
(32:09):
who hurt you, or why would youever forgive someone who hurt
you like that?
That is a personal decision andwhatever decision you decide to
make is the right decision foryou.
So I just want to, in caseanyone needs to hear it just
want to remind you that whateverdecision you decide to make is
the right decision for you andno one should shame you.
Either way, you're gonna getshamed, unfortunately, but they
(32:30):
shouldn't be shaming you and itis your decision, whatever it is
.
But I'm just speaking likeputting myself in Queenie's
shoes.
I just felt like her journeymade a lot more sense.
Her journey to forgiveness madea lot more sense in the TV
series than it did in the book.
But anyway, another change thatI really liked in the TV series
than it did in the book, butanyway, another change that I
really liked in the TV series.
Okay, well, really quick.
(32:52):
So, guy, you know rough sex, guy, it turns out that he is
Cassandra's, her friend,cassandra's boyfriend.
Again, she doesn't know thatGuy is with Cassandra In the.
It's one of those things thatCassandra's always talking about
my guy, my precious guy, andthat's how she calls him.
(33:13):
Queenie doesn't realize thatwhen she says my guy, she means
his name Guy, not like how mostpeople would say, my guy is a
great guy.
No, she's literally saying myguy, as in my boyfriend named
Guy.
So Queenie doesn't put two andtwo together, obviously, like
she doesn't realize thatCassandra has been name dropping
(33:34):
Guy this whole time.
But Cassandra's dating Guy andshe talks about, like he's so
respectful, like he doesn't wantto have sex until we're like
like he feels like it's tooearly in our relationship, like
he wants to wait until we'relike like he feels like it's too
early in our relationship, likehe wants to wait until we're,
like, more committed to eachother before we take that next
step.
And it's wonderful and my, myguy is so great.
(33:56):
And I will say, in the TV series, at the end of one of the
episodes it's revealed whoCassandra's boyfriend is.
So like we see her having agame night with her dad and her
boyfriend and the camera pans upand like we've heard
Cassandra's boyfriend is.
So like we see her having agame night with her dad and her
boyfriend and the camera pans upand like we've heard Cassandra
talk about her boyfriend thiswhole time but we've never seen
him.
And so this is the big reveal.
And like as a viewer Iunderstand that this is a big
(34:19):
reveal, like this isn't justsome random guy, like we're
supposed to recognize him assomeone.
And I'm watching it and I'mjust like I don't know who that
is.
Like he.
I was like, oh, it's Tom.
I guess the actors who playedTom and Guy looked alike to me
but I was like, right, it's Tom.
And then like, but it didn'tmake sense to me Cause I was
(34:40):
like, but why would Cassandralike date Tom and not tell
Queenie?
But Cassandra keeps saying youdon't know my boyfriend.
And I was like does that meanCassandra never met Tom when he
and Queenie were still together?
And then, when the plot twisthappened, at one point, queenie
and Cassandra are supposed tohang out and Queenie never shows
up to the restaurant wherethey're supposed to be having
(35:00):
brunch.
So Cassandra goes to Queenie'splace and as she's talking to
Queenie being like why didn'tyou show up?
Guy comes down the stairs andCassandra's like that's my
boyfriend, guy.
And I was like oh, that's whothe big reveal was.
Got it All right.
Sorry, tom and Guy, forconfusing the two of you, but
anyway.
So Cassandra is like pissed offat Queenie and she says some
(35:24):
really awful things, like shecalls her a whore and just like,
just like really really awfulthings, and essentially ends the
friendship In the book.
The book ends with Queeniecelebrating her birthday and
they're like at a restaurant andor I don't know if they're
celebrating her birthday, butthere's there's like a big
celebration and they're at arestaurant.
(35:45):
It's like Queenie and like hergrandparents, her aunt Maggie,
her mom and Darcy and Cheskay.
And then Cassandra shows up andDarcy's like sorry, I'm the one
that invited her.
I apologize if I wasn't meantto.
And so Cassandra and Queenietalk it out in the restaurant
bathroom and they work thingsout and Queenie, like decides to
(36:05):
forgive Cassandra, and soCassandra joins the party.
But in the TV series, queenie,before she like before she's
told by the newspaper like youcan get your job back if you
want.
She very briefly works at acoffee shop and while she's
there working, cassandra showsup and Queenie's like nah, you
know what, I don't forgive youfor.
Like you said some really awfulthings to me.
Like I don't forgive you, havea nice life, we're not like this
(36:28):
friendship is over andCassandra leaves, and so in the
TV series she actually doesn'tstay friends with Cassandra.
But all right.
Another character that is in theTV series who's not at all in
the book is Chesky's cousin.
So Chesky has a cousin who veryobviously has a crush on
Queenie and they're interacting,but Queenie doesn't see him as
(36:51):
anything other than Cheskay'scousin until the final episode.
In the final episode they'recelebrating Queenie's
housewarming party.
She's finally able to move outof her grandparents' house again
and she has a nice studioapartment, and so she's having a
housewarming party and Chesky'scousin shows up and he's like
you know, I like you, right.
(37:11):
And she's like yeah, I know youlike me.
And then they oh, one morething before we get to that.
Sorry, it's like I'mremembering things as they come
along.
So in the book and the TV series, queenie goes to Tom's old
place, or to her old place thatshe used to live in with Tom,
and she tries to talk to him andshe finds out that he has a new
(37:32):
girlfriend.
And she's like wow, you movedon really fast.
Like I'm over here pining foryou and you already have a new
girlfriend.
And he's like that's just howit worked out, so we never see
Tom again after this.
Like she sees Tom has moved onand that kind of gives her the
closure to like this reallysucks.
I do miss him.
I do still have feelings forhim, but I have the closure that
(37:53):
I need.
I'm going to officially likeforget about him.
And that's when she likedeletes his number.
In the TV series she andChesky's cousin start making out
and it's like all right,they're now a couple like, or
they're going to become a couplein the future of this world.
And as she's making out withChesky's cousin, tom shows up
with flowers and it's like oh,is she going to take him back.
(38:15):
I don't know, but then shedoesn't.
And the next like, we see Tomholding flowers and kind of just
looking at her like wow, okay.
And the next shot is theflowers inside the garbage can
in her apartment, and it endswith her and her mom just
talking and reconnecting andgetting to know each other again
.
So the book ends with like ahuge celebration in which she's
(38:40):
forgiven her mom and Cassandra,and everyone is there her whole
family and her friends, and it'sjust a celebration and
Queenie's happy with theprogress she's made.
And the TV series ends with herin a new relationship with a
guy who seems to genuinely likeher and no more Tom, and it ends
(39:00):
with her and just her and hermom in her studio apartment
getting to know each other.
So one I really really likedthe ending of the TV series in
that sense that it ends with herand her mom kind of just
starting over, and that's thelast image we see is mother and
daughter reuniting and formingthat relationship again, and
(39:21):
it's just a really wonderfulimage to end on for the TV
series.
What I really liked about thebook's ending, though, is that
she doesn't end up with anyone.
I like that they.
You know we, throughout theseries we see her hooking up
with non-Black men and it's niceto think that the guy who's
more than likely going to becomeher boyfriend now is Black.
(39:43):
But I like that she ends upwith no one in the book.
I really like that because itjust to me, it just shows how
far she's come and, mind you,she has made that same progress
in the TV series.
So I think that's why she'sready to have a relationship
with Chesky's cousin.
Like it's definitely not goingto be just a sexual relationship
, like there's going to be anactual connection and genuine
(40:05):
likes for each other.
But I, I really like, I reallyreally like that it ends with
queenie not needing a man.
And again, not that she needs aman in the tv series, but it's
just a lot more like poignant tome in the book.
Like that that point is justjust a lot more obvious of like
(40:26):
I don't need a man, I'm happybeing single and whenever I meet
someone, it like it's going tobe great, as opposed to like the
TV series where we see this guywho's who has been pining for
her and he does treat her welland it, like I said, it's not
going to be a nasty, just ahookup situation and she has
grown in her power and shedoesn't need a man.
(40:47):
But I just really like to meit's just a lot more.
That message of like I don'tneed a man is just a lot more in
your face in the book, sinceshe really doesn't end up with a
man.
So I really really liked thatending in the book that she ends
up with just herself and thepeople that stuck by her.
Now she does make a commentabout Cassandra, like these are
all the people that stuck by her.
Now she does make a commentabout Cassandra like these are
(41:07):
all the people that stuck by me,Not Cassandra, but actually
like she does end up forgivingCassandra, but it does end kind
of like ambiguous as to whetheror not that friendship will
continue, like she allowsCassandra to stay, but it's like
these are the people that stuckby me through it all.
Cassandra didn't and we'll seeif in the future she does or not
, and if she doesn't then I'mokay with cutting her out of my
(41:29):
life.
Yeah, I just really reallyliked that it ends.
The book ends with Queenie andjust her and herself not needing
anyone and the support systemthat stuck through it all with
her.
I don't mind that she ends upwith a boyfriend, necessarily in
the TV series, but I justreally, really liked that.
It's like she's happy beingsingle in the book.
(41:49):
So yeah, that was it.
So one thing yeah, that was achange I really really liked.
But one change I really likedin the TV series was her
deciding not to continue workingat the newspaper because she
really wasn't valued.
And even in the book I don'tfeel like she was very valued
and she's happy with the job sheends up getting at the end.
(42:11):
So, like I'm not faulting her,like she's happy, but I really
like that in the TV series she'slike I'm not valued here and
these are not the stories.
I'm going to ensure I'm tellingthe stories that I want to tell
.
So I really like that detail.
I don't, I didn't mind, I'mtelling the stories that I want
to tell.
So I really liked that detail.
I don't, I didn't mindCassandra Like the.
I liked that we got to see bothendings to Cassandra.
(42:31):
We got to see her forgivingCassandra and we got to see her
not forgiving Cassandra and Ithink both work.
I think they're both justifiedin their own way and, like I
said, like whatever works forher Worked book Queenie, it
worked.
The best thing for her was toforgive Cassandra, tv Queenie.
The best thing for her was tonot forgive Cassandra.
So I really like, I like itdidn't bother me that she
(42:53):
doesn't become friends withCassandra and it didn't bother
me that she decides to try thefriendship again with Cassandra.
So, yeah, one thing aboutCassandra Cassandra's portrayal
in the novel is controversialbecause, as I mentioned,
cassandra is Jewish and somepeople felt that the novel
(43:16):
contained antisemitic tropes.
We don't see this in the TVseries, or at least I didn't
notice this in the TV series,but yes, in the book.
What the antisemitic trope isthat you know Cassandra's Jewish
and she's lending Queenie moneyand she's expecting Queenie to
pay her back Like every like.
She doesn't drop the topic oflike you're gonna, I'm lending
(43:38):
you money and I expect you topay me back every cent In the TV
series.
I don't think Cassandra lendsher any money, which is why I'm
saying I didn't notice theantisemitic trope in the TV
series.
I don't think Cassandra lendsher any money, which is why I'm
saying I didn't notice theantisemitic trope in the TV
series.
But some critics of the novelhave pointed out, like the
novels.
They like the novel, but theyhave pointed out that Cassandra
is problematic and that she isan antisemitic trope in, or can
(44:02):
be considered an antisemitictrope, the way she is portrayed
in the novel.
There's also an author cameo inthe TV series.
So, as Queenie is like startingto feel better and starting to
go out into the world and kindof discover her passions or
rediscover her passions, she isinvited by Chesquet to this
(44:25):
gallery that features, just likeBlack female artists and she's
really like inspired by this artthat she's seeing.
And that's kind of when she'slike I want to talk to the
artist of this and bring herstory to the world.
And so that's kind of whatstarts inspiring her in terms of
like what stories she like, how, what journalistic approach she
(44:46):
wants to to take.
And candace plays I don't thinkshe plays like one of the
artists.
No, she doesn't play an artist.
Queenie is talking about one ofthe, about an art piece, and,
like candace and this other ladywho I think is I think she
might just be an actor likeapproaching her, like oh, we
hear you talking about the piece, what do you think?
And like queenie says heropinion and they're like wow,
(45:08):
you're very nuanced.
And Queenie's like thanks, andshe's the one that isn't.
Candace is like I'm the artistof this, these paintings, and
Queenie's like I would love tointerview you.
And she's like are you anartist too?
And that's when Candace says no, I write books and that's how I
know.
It was an author cameo.
It was just very pointed.
It's like yeah, we have anauthor cameo, so anyway, let's
(45:29):
get into it.
I rated the book three stars andI rated the TV series three
stars as well.
However, I do feel that thebook edges the TV series out
just the tiniest bit.
So for me, the winner is thebook.
They're both fantastic and Ithink they're both worth
(45:52):
checking out.
I think the TV series is agreat adaptation of the book and
I think the changes made in theTV series enhanced it.
The only change I wish theyhadn't made, as I said, was I
kind of wish they had just leftQueenie single and happily
single the way she is in thebook.
But otherwise I thought thechanges they made just really
(46:14):
helped enhance that story.
I loved that Queenie had moreof a journey in forgiving her
mother.
I love that Queenie decided notto go back to the newspaper.
But I really, really like theending of the book and the way
it's written, in which she'sreflecting back on who she is
and how much she's grown as aperson, and she's like this is
(46:35):
all I need.
These are the people that stuckwith me through my most
difficult times and as long as Ihave them, like, I'll be okay.
And yeah, so I really liked.
I think the ending is whatedges out the book a little bit
more for me, but I really the TVadaptation is great and the
changes they made just reallyenhanced the story.
(46:55):
So that is it for this week'sepisode and, oh my gosh, I can
actually tell you which episodeyou can expect next week.
Next week I will be talkingabout Let the Right One In by
John Lindquist.
He has a middle name but Idon't know how to pronounce it,
so I will look up how topronounce it for next time and
it's adaptation Let the RightOne In.
And I'm going to be doing.
(47:15):
I'm going to be doing Let theRight One In because I was like,
because there is an Americanadaptation, but the American
adaptation is technically calledLet Me In.
So no, just no, I will be doinglet the right one in versus let
the right one in.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please leave it a rating and a
review and share it with allyour friends.
Tell them all about thispodcast and I will see you next
(47:35):
time.
Bye, really quick.
One thing I forgot to add isthat Candice Carty Williams is
actually the showrunner of theQueenie TV show, so no author
consulting needed to be done.
She literally told the storythe way she wanted to tell it,
and the changes are definitelyauthor approved.
All right, see you next time.
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