Shining Girls review: Cranial time crime

Shining Girls is a series based on a book by South African author Lauren Beukes. A book that I have sitting on my bookshelf signed by said author. I absolutely loved the book! It’s brutal, well paced, and I think, rather unique. This is a crime noir series story that adapts pretty well to television. Writer and producer Silka Luisa changes a few things, but this is to be expected in any adaptation. And to the most part, it works.

So what is it about?

Kirby, played superbly by Elisabeth Moss (all hail Scientology), is a victim of a horrific attack, one that leaves her horribly scarred and mentally traumatised. She is the only survivor of a string of brutal murders by Harper, played by Jamie Bell and has spent years trying to find the killer. Joining Kirby in investigating Harper is seasoned and alcoholic journalist, Dan (Wagner Moura). Together they put the pieces together of who Harper is, and, more importantly, when he is from.

Harper uses a house (or wormhole) to bounce backwards and forwards looking for his ‘Shining Girls’ to murder. His propensity to leave objects from different victims inside the bodies of others, is what leads Kirby and Dan figuring out that he is from a different time period. That and the fact Dan unknowingly meets him before finding a picture from decades before, and he hasn’t aged. Just to make Kirby’s life more of a hellscape, is that fact that things keep changing in her life.

Change isn’t good

One moment Kirby’s desk is next to the door. Then it’s across the room. The coroner is a woman, then suddenly a guy. She’s living with her mother, then she’s living alone. Or she has a cat, but now she has a dog. You are left wondering whether this is caused by her trauma, or if something more sinister is at play. It’s done really well though and will have you guessing at the mechanics behind it.

I think the showrunner does a good job in not needing to explain everything, too. In the book you never really know WHY the house is able to send you to different times. It does tell you a lot more about the relationship between it and Harper though. And that it’s almost like the relationship between Frodo and The Ring. It demands much for the use of its powers… But in the show it doesn’t spend time on this. Which makes sense, it’s only 8 episodes long. It’s also a good idea that they didn’t go into the romantic relationship that Kirby has with Dan, as it happens in the book. An 8 part show is not long enough to explore this.

The series is well-paced, beautifully shot and has an incredible sound score. You’re going to want to binge it too as the cliff hangers are massive.

The negatives (big spoiler warning)

Okay. I need to put out a spoiler warning. A big one. I need to do this in order to justify my score for the series. You see, 90% of the show is superb. As I’ve already mentioned. It has a gripping story, great character development and is visually stunning. Spoiler incoming for the last episode in 1… 2… 3…

The ending completely drops the ball on the show. At least I think that. I watched it with my girlfriend and she loved it. But I’m a snobby cynophile who expects consistency, even if it’s at the expense of happy endings.

Shining Girls ending

In THE Shining Girls (that’s the book), Kirby dispatches Harper inside the House after burning all the tokens he leaves inside his victims. She then burns down the house. In the postscript an engineer finds the key to the House, leaving us to wonder whether he will start using it like Harper.

At the end of the series, Kirby kills Harper, that’s the same. But the difference here is she now travels back in time to save the first victim. Not only that, but Kirby confronts Harper, who doesn’t know what the hell is going on, and threatens him. This seems to undo everything that Kirby has been through and also rights all the wrongs of Harper. The last thing we see of Kirby is her sitting in the house, as its new owner. I really don’t like this ending as it almost turns Kirby INTO Harper. Which is not what the entire season has been about.

I see that many other reviewers also didn’t like the ending, but because they thought it was depressing and that it didn’t explained the supernatural elements. But they are NEVER explained in the book, and that’s the point of the house. It’s like that ol Spider-Man quote ‘with great power…’ and I think that it was the house does. It has power that amplifies what you already are. In the case of Harper, he is a killer. You see this in his actions in the First World War when he kills his own friend to steal his gas mask. This happening before he encounters the house.

Creator Silka Luisa has also hinted at a second season, which is exactly what I thought when I watched the ending. I thought ‘this is done so that they can make a second season, not because it makes a good ending…’

That said, I still think it’s worth a watch. It is gripping and if you aren’t a picky person like me, I think you’ll find the ending fine. Just don’t expect any answers.

Shining Girls gets a…

7/10

While the story is great, I found the ending to be too Hollywood.