What Do Those Black Ribbons Mean in ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’?

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

The Big Picture

• Black ribbons symbolize mourning and silent victims in
  A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
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• Black ribbons hold deeper meaning as markers for Calamity parties and teenage depravity.
• The haunting final shot of black ribbons in the forest hints at unseen suffering in the series.

With a long suspect list, plenty of twists, and six episodes filled with intrigue, Netflix has itself a bona fide mystery hit with its recent release of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Based on the Holly Jackson novel of the same name and adapted for television by series creator Poppy Cogan, the show follows Emma Myers as Pip Fitz-Amobi, an amateur sleuth intent on solving a local murder case as a project for her upcoming college applications. As Myers sinks her teeth into a character far darker than her role in Wednesday, Pip’s search quickly sees her chasing clues throughout her hometown of Little Kilton, studying everything from old social media posts to hotel guestbooks to uncover the truth of what really happened. Yet, despite all Pip’s evidence, the most unsettling visual in the entire series is the show’s use of black ribbons.

Shown hanging off the trees of Little Kilton’s nearby forest and blowing to an ominous breeze in the series’ first episode, black ribbons can be seen in the background of various scenes as Pip investigates the disappearance of Andie Bell (India Lillie Davies) in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Working with the brother of the boy who allegedly confessed to Andie’s killing before killing himself, Ravi Singh (Zain Iqbal), the two are on the case, with their quest to clear the Singh family name spiraling into a web of lies that soon calls even Pip’s closest relationships into question. As Myers’ character learns not even her family and closest friends can be trusted, however, black ribbons appear more frequently, leaving fans to ponder what the strange ribbons mean in one of Netflix’s best new series.

Black Ribbons Are a Common Symbol of Mourning in ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’

While Pip’s mystery has many complex layers for her to unpack, sometimes the simplest answer is the most accurate. In a broad sense, black is a color commonly associated with death and mourning, while ribbons are typically used as symbols of awareness, such as how Breast Cancer Awareness advocates use pink ribbons to spread support for those looking for a cure. In the week of remembrance following Princess Diana’s death, tennis players in the U.S. Open even wore black ribbons out of respect for the royal tragedy, alluding to Britain’s history with the recognizable symbols of grief. Therefore, in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, it makes sense that Little Kilton’s most foreboding strips of fabric represent the series’ central tragedy.

Appearing on-screen during the most unnerving scenes of Pip’s early investigation, the ribbons’ understated presence in the series establishes the sense of loss lurking at the edges of Little Kilton, the same sense of lingering unease that prompts Pip’s English teacher, Mr. Ward (Matthew Baynton) to urge her to drop the case. Yet, just as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder‘s trailer demonstrates, Pip is not the kind of character to leave a stone unturned, and she only seeks out more black ribbons as the show progresses. As symbols of remembrance themselves, however, the strips of fabric fall short of honoring Andie’s disappearance. In fact, given that many are located deep within the forest, the cloth could represent how Little Kilton has cast out Andie’s memory from their daily lives if not for the more colorful shrine dedicated to Andie in the center of town.

The Black Ribbons Have a Darker Meaning in ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’

Since Little Kilton’s painted memorial demonstrates how the town has chosen to honor the girl’s memory in a happier way, it’s clear the show’s black ribbons don’t stand for the grief over Andie’s death alone. Thankfully, the fabric’s greater implications are revealed once Myers’ stand-out character delves deeper into the disappearance at the heart of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder‘s adaptation. Far from being a decorative form of mourning, the ribbons are also shown marking the locations for the secretive Calamity parties thrown by Pip’s rowdiest classmates, establishing the haunting set pieces as signs of the dark side of teenage life in addition to their mournful connotations.

Unfortunately, the extra meaning that this association adds to the ribbons is even darker than their original symbolism. Rather than standing for a broad sense of grief at the center of Andie’s disappearance, the ribbons come to represent a predatory culture of fear when placed within Calamity’s depraved context. Offering Emma Myers a greater challenge than her British accent, the actor’s good girl persona is tested once she explores Calamity in Episode 3, subsequently experiencing the threat of assault and dangerous drugs firsthand. And while Pip is able to escape her debauched night due to the intervention of a bystander, the consequences of Calamity’s teenage cruelty play a crucial role in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s tragic ending.

Black Ribbons Also Symbolize Silent Victims in ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’

Having met Andie’s sister, Becca (Carla Woodcock), at Little Kilton’s memorial earlier in the series, Pip is horrified to learn that Becca herself was assaulted at a previous Calamity party by Little Kilton’s resident rich boy, Max Hastings (Henry Ashton). With Mr. Ward already exposed as the man behind the death of Ravi’s brother, the shock of this revelation is immediately followed by Becca’s confession that she is the one who killed Andie, ultimately revealing herself as TV’s newest killer because her sister was the one who sold Max the Rohypnol he used to assault her in the first place. As a result, Becca’s rage becomes the face of Calamity’s cruel underbelly, and since the series’ black ribbons act as markers for the dangerous parties, the strips are also suggestive of the countless women victimized by people like Max Hastings.

As Pip points out in the series’ final episode, there’s no telling just how many former classmates the prince of Little Kilton has assaulted, as her earlier investigation proved that Max had been receiving regular batches of date rape drugs from Andie throughout high school. With two more books in Jackson’s series to adapt, it’s possible the show’s popularity could eventually help Pip make good on her promise to bring Max’s crimes into the light, but until then, audiences will have to keep themselves entertained with Netflix’s newer releases. Pip may have solved this storyline’s cold case, but the show’s final, haunting shot of countless black ribbons in the forest reminds audiences that there are still plenty of suffering, unseen characters left to explore in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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