Based on Louise Penny’s #1 New York Times bestselling novels, “Three Pines” from Amazon Prime Video and Left Bank Pictures stars Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, a man who sees things that others do not: the light between the cracks, the mythic in the mundane, and the evil in the seemingly ordinary.
Discuss the series with other Louise Penny fans here!
321 replies on “Three Pines Series Discussion”
I’ve read all of the Gamache series twice. I feel Nathaniel Parker was perfect for the role. Handsome, kind, strong but sensitive. Alfred Molina is an excellent actor but he did not have the warmth Parker showed. Also, as an actor Parker’s presence commands a room. Just like Gamache.
I don’t feel that Molina has that energy.
I wonder if they had stuck with Nathaniel Parker, picked a better location that looked more like Three Pines as described in the books. And followed the books stories closer, the series would have continued.
I loved Still Life the movie. I was extremely disappointed in the series.
I found the series on Amazon before ever knowing about the books. I really enjoyed the show, so much so that I’ve been borrowing the books from my library. After reading the books and going back to watch the shows that match up with the stories in the books, I see how much Amazon destroyed Louise Penny’s works. I can’t understand why plot points had to be changed in the show, why characters are completely different from their book counterparts (looking at you Olivier and Gabri!), and why political issues needed to be overlaid with the “whodunnit” stories.
Books will almost always be the superior medium over their movie/tv adaptations. I have long since become extremely unhappy with any screenwriter who thinks they can tell a better story than the original author. Louise Penny’s books are popular and beloved for a reason and any adaptation should respect the source material.
Louise Penny has a wonderful imagination. I was thrilled when I first heard there would be a TV series based on the Gamache books. I enjoyed comparing the TV characters to the ones in the books and felt the actors did a great job of portraying the complex characters. Although the books and TV stories were not exactly the same I still loved the show (The TV stories were intriguing and the acting excellent) and was very unhappy it was cancelled. I have been blaming Prime for the cancellation (LOL) making it difficult for me to start watching any new Prime series, instead of watching when it’s first released, I will wait to see if it’s renewed or has a few seasons behind them before I invest my time. I am extremely disappointed the show was cancelled.
I’m reading The Grey Wolf. It seems like there’s a conversation that is accidentally duplicated a few pages apart. They are on pages 179 and 185 and end with the sentence “Tell me about the wolf”. Anyone know if this has been pointed out to the editors?
I liked the TV series on Amazon Prime. But reading the comments here, I see that the TV series was different in some key ways from the books. I like the TV series, and I like the books (I’ve read only Still Life, so far). To me it is okay if they are different in some ways. I thought Molina was a very good Gamache. I see here that some readers were disappointed by Molina as Gamache.
Just to change the topic, I think Louise Penny’s whole series of book are about the fantasy what the world could be like if the world was ruled by very intelligent and very literate adults who are dedicated to kindness, caring, sharing, and concern for the well-being of all. I.e., a paradise, a utopia, a golden age, a Narnia or a Hobbit land or a land of Oz or in Peter Pan’s Neverland except without the dark forces.
Please redo the series . I was so looking forward to watching it.
The writers should stay closer to the Authors book plots, such a wonderful story lines to follow if they stick to Louise Penny’s books
Were the Chief Inspector Gamache Novels translated to French? If so, where are they available?
I loved reading the books . I’ve read them all except Grey Wolf (can’t wait).
The TV series was very disappointing , but could they possibly redo the series. Start with book one and follow the storyline in the books with actors that depict the readers expectations.
We love Louise Penny’s book series and would love to relive them on screen.
Please Please Please
I completely agree! I’ve read all her books and they are fantastic. I have watched the series and it was so disappointing. I know tv shows are not always as good as the books they are based on but this series wasn’t even close. I would have been ok with some of the character changes but I really didn’t like how they depicted Three Pines. They made it seem like a sinister place with secretive and unwelcoming residents. This isn’t what Three Pines is at all. It’s too bad. I know it is possible to make a good tv show adaptation of a book series. Just look at Father Brown, Vera, Shetland, Morse and Endeavor. These series are all based on books but the essence of the characters and locations are translated well. Come on! This book series deserves so much better.
Agree on everything. They missed the mark on theridiculousending! In so many ways I think it was a hack . Molina was the best of the actors. JeanGuy was ain insult. Dio it again and do it right!
Didn’t watch the Prime shows, but saw the movie made for tv, Still Life, in 2013. Nathaniel Parker played Gamache. It got me started on reading the series. Liked the movie but as usual, characters got changed. It’s a shame.
Every thing about the show was horrible- acting , directing, characters.
I thought the series was wonderful and so much better than lots of other crap out there. I would write many, many letters to bring it back if I knew who to write them to.
PrineVideo; please bring back Three Pines.
I enjoyed the TV series. I can’t wait to read Ms Penny’s books. Molina should have learned some French but I did enjoy his acting. I wished the series had a second year.
I’ve been a Penny fan since the beginning and, with the exception of ‘The Madness of Crowds’, have read all of the books numerous times. I couldn’t agree more about the absolute failure of the show. The choice of creepy music makes Three Pines feel like the set of a horror movie. I don’t like Molina as Gamache, or Sutherland as Beauvoir, in fact all the characters were miscast and made the watching of the series painful for me. I’m glad they seem to have abandoned the idea of continuing it.
Every one be clear . The book had nothing to do with First Nations
This is just a woke rewriting of a whole novel that steals its soul
I sooooo agree. How did it make sense mutilate the storylines that made the novels so wonderful to create this series? The characters are watered down, perhaps in an attempt to give them mass appeal? Several of the first novels are mashed into the first 10 minutes of episode one. Everything is wrong. Even Gamache isn’t his classy self. He’s a bit snarky in his dragons with Nicole, not his strong, measured self.
The TV show creates none of the feel the books do.
And if you haven’t heard the audio books, give those a try!
I have to believe Louise Penny was sorely disappointed. I know I was.
I’m happy to have found this message board. I was wondering if I was being too harsh. Glad to know I’m not alone!
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the series. I too am glad the series has been discontinued.
It didn’t begin to do justice to the books.
I just finished Curiosities audio version. Loved it. Did I miss something? How did Jennings find/connect and his daughter?
Thanks
I enjoy the comments about the series–I too was very confused by the change in storylines, why the Gabbri & Olivier characters seemed to be flip-flopped, change of locations, etc. Now I am just trying to watch the series as if it’s not based on the books. And yes, I LOVE the books, just like the rest of you! 🥰
Just found this discussion. I watched the first four episodes last year and was intrigued by it and what I had heard about Louise Penny’s novels. So intrigued that I began reading the series and am currently in #12. I a totally captivated by the world of Three Pines and Armand Gamache. The BOOKS, not the series. Today I went back to watch the later episodes and turned it off after 10 minutes. Everything written above about how disappointing the adaptation is, is spot on. The adaptation could have been soooo good because Louise Penny has done all the work. Brilliant writing!
As usual, but even more so this time, the books are better than the tv/movie.
I totally agree with you. Louise Penny’s work is brilliant. What a shame the TV series is SO POORLY DONE. Bad direction, terrible performances and mediocre camera work.
Heartbreaking.
The video adaptation doesn’t work because the camera can’t stay on a character who is thinking, not speaking. Much of the printed words that are in the character’s heads keep us in the printed version and when there is no way to capture that insight the video fails. Also, the very complicated plots that bring us back to the books, are too layered to capture on film. A film succeeds with a simple plot.
Ms Penny is a genius. She has captured intriguing plots, great writing, and unusual grammar. I’ve read all the books in series fashion and only wish I could write like her.
Me too! But the whole Gabbri and Olivier flip really bugs me… Lol
So true. She has taken her politics way to far and the tv series reflects the woke perspective and has ruined it for me. To the point I don’t know whether I can ever read anything new she might do. I have loved each and every book I have read so far. The political 3 pines tv produced with Penny’s approval is/was horrible. How could she have allowed tv to produce this horrible show.
I was so excited when I started to watch the The Three Pines and loved Molinari as Gamache. But soon realized that there was bad castings to the other beloved characters. Clara was all wrong .Where was her hair and Olivier and Gabri were totally wrong. But the worst was the plot and how little they portrayed the nuances of the plot.
Thus far I have read 13 of Louise Penny’s Gamache series and am presently at The Kingdom of The Blind. I love each book. My husband has had trouble with his eye and will be getting cataract surgery, so every evening instead of TV i read to him 4 or 5 chapters and then we have lively discussions on the plot but mainly on the beauty of L.Penny’s weaving of the stories .
I love Three Pines and almost wish I lived there except my french is atrocious and i would have to be one of the Anglos.
why did Peterhave to die in TheLong Way Home?
Someone needs to put a giant “SPOILERS” at the top of this page. Thanks Jean.
The first Louise Penny book I read was “State of Terror’ written with Hilary Clinton. I loved the book, I couldn’t put it down. My husband brought home the book “A Better Man” from the library. He suggested I read it before he returned it to the library. I am not an avid reader, I read five books a year. Before I had finished A Better Man, I was on the internet looking to see what other books she had written in the Inspector Gamache series. I ordered as many as I could. At one point, I had 7 books waiting to be read at my home. I started at the beginning of the series and have read all eighteen books in 6 months and I am not retired like my husband. Now I am disappointed that I have to wait until the next one comes out. I can hardly wait.
Louise Penney’s story and character crafting is such a gift to the reader, I’m appalled at this poor adaptation for tv. While I anticipated many blending of storyline and casting issues, the level of storyline abuse is desecration to the creation as a whole. If they removed Three Pines from the title and changed the character names all other resemblances to the original stories would be unrecognizable. Louise Penney should get her stories back.
When I heard that the books were being made into a TV series I was delighted. I thought that Alfred Molina was an excellent choice for Gamache.
There all my delight ends.
The rest of the casting is appalling! The actors playing Gabri & Olivier seem to have been given each other’s scripts as their appearances are the opposite of their descriptions in the books.
Even the actual Three Pines that are supposed to have been there since the civil war are weedy little things that look like they were planted last week
Agent Nichol is a bumbling clown rather than a damaged, spiteful, complex character.
Jean Guy is a rumpled mess. Clara is a drip, and the way they’ve portrayed Ruth is downright crime.
And the writing!!! Louise Penny WROTE the highly successful books Why did the writers think that they could do a better job and utterly change the characters the ‘feel’ of the place and the stories themselves
I absolutely love these books, and I absolutely hate the TV series.
What a terrible waste of what should have been a hit series with many seasons.
Kim, we need team jackets at the very least. The books are so well put together: the inly good thing I can find to say about the series is that I like the title’ Beyond that is nothing but despair. I looked forward to seeing the series, but minutes into the first episode I shut off the television, put on some music and reached for the next book in my Louise Penny re-read list.
The Amazon series is a total disgrace – an insult to Three Pines (if anyone can find it in that series), to Gamache (when did our soigne gentleman detective turn into that laughable creature with thick heavy glasses- they should be half-moon and for reading only and where his crisp shirts and cashmere sweaters – this creature looks as though he slept in his clothes for a week at least – and those eyebrows, that hair!, to Jean Guy (if anyone can possibly find him in that shabby individual masquerading as Beauvoir). Gabri and Olivier seem to have lost themselves – I did not recognise them at all, not even sure if they were there at all, but so far the casting director shows no sing of having read even one of the books.
Enter Clara and Ruth – who dreamed up this bad joke? What happened to Clara’s hair? the daubs and blobs of paint? the cake? and other bits of food? I can relate to Clara as I am forever running my hands through my hair as I work. I may not stick paint brushes in it, but as I write, pencils and pens find storages places there. The hair on the tv screen is WRONG
And when did Ruth have almost shoulder-length hair, a sort-of page boy. Her her is short, so short her scalp almost shows through. her hair is almost ragged.
I despise, loathe, abhor, am utterly dismayed by the Amazon interpretation of Still Life, let alone of Three Pines and of its inhabitants who have become all but real to me, non, make that have become real to me.
Penny has a way of developing three-dimensional characters; on the tv screen the characters were barely one-dimensional. If I am so angry, how must Louise Penny feel?
Agree completely. So disappointed…
The towns farther south towards Sherbrooke are a LOT like these, especially around the Hatleys etc. but not Knowlton itself. I lived in the Townships for decades, and the light, the feel and the look ARE right. The lighting and photography are excellent.
However, you are dead-on about the awful direction given to Gabri and Jean-Guy.
The terrible misuse of the actress portraying Gabri actually amounts to ABUSE.
Now that I know the actress is actually an anglophone, I have to say that
this actually amounts to blatant bigotry or racism.
Enter the bumbling francophone fools, right?
Molina is a fine actor who keeps them afloat and deserves better from casting and direction.
Where did they get their director? Don’t tell me…Concordia, right?
Kim, I totally agree!! Alfred Molina is good as Gamache. Not perfect, but good. I really like the casting of Lacoste, but why make her a single mother? I like the actor playing Jean Guy, but that isn’t Jean Guy! Where is the temper and the fire?!?
The rest of the casting is a huge disappointment. Reine Marie is good, but too serious and saintly. Clara is a disaster. Where is the quirkiness and humour? Gabri & Olivier have switched bodies and lost their personalities. Myrna is way too young and bland. Where is that seasoned sage? They should just recast and start over.
Hi KIm, totally agree with you. I watched the first one and was so upset! First of all in the book they describe the pine trees as hugh. In the TV series they are a joke. Did anyone read the books before they made the series. I watched one and only one. I thought everyone was miscast. So sad, they could have been wonderful
Nailed it.
I agree heartily with the disappointment so many readers felt with the incomprehensible changes made to the characters. I can’t think of a single reason for Olivier and Gabri switching bodies and jobs. With the exception of Molina, most of the casting reminds me of the unbelievable mistake of casting Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher!!
I agree. The Prime Video production is a travesty of LP’s wonderful books. Three Pines and its inhabitants have become sinister. The chief inspector is OK, but the rest of the characters are barely recognizable. The novel to film transition can be done well, e.g., Prime’s rendition of Jack Reacher, but “Three Pines” was painful to watch.
There have been many, many comments that I agree with. Yours almost nails every thought I had about the series. It truly was appalling. I mean…Rene Marie was terribly cast, well – they ALL WERE. I could not have been more disappointed.
FWIW – I’d never heard of this book series at all…until I saw the Amazon version a few months ago. I enjoyed it very much, but couldn’t believe “they” killed off the main character (although I did notice that – ominously circling birds aside – Gamache rather conveniently appeared to be shot in a bodily location which could theoretically allow for a full recovery…in a Season 2…or left as a discussion for the audience to argue over if it’s a one and done). But my point is – that after having seen the series, and in particular because of it, I was compelled to learn more about the characters, and that lead me to the books! And, as if often the case, there is no question the books are far superior. Louise Perry is a delight and a treasure; I love the characters and her sublime wit in unexpected places. I found myself LOL at many of the salty exchanges and wry observations. In closing, just as the Amazon series lead me to her books, my curiosity about “What is the Arnot case?” lead me to this site. It appears I will have to read on to learn more. Voila!
I felt the same way. I was unfamiliar until I watched Three Pines… its my dream home! Truly. I’m in love with the characters and culture. So have read 4 now. I could sit all day and read one after the other. Whimsical, serious, thought provoking, funny and I’ve gained weight just reading about the food! Love Louise! And all her characters.
Each story is like an onion peeling layer after layer. And each book reveals yet another layer about the characters.
The series missed the charm and warmth of three pines and its eccentric inhabitants. Casting? Direction? Scriptwriting? Disappointing.