A near-perfect balance of mystery, tension, and red herrings is present.
The Perfect Couple, starring Nicole Kidman, Live Schreiber, and Ishaan Khatter (in a significant role that he fully deserves), is a near-perfect blend of intrigue, suspense, and red herrings. It’s a nimble, even-paced, and deliciously twisted whodunit that takes on board a whole complex of themes – severe family dysfunction, class snobbery, dangerous liaisons, long-buried secrets that sow deep distrust and complexities of policing a town where the rich wield inordinate power.
Showrunner and writer Jenna Lamia’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name is gripping from the start, zigzagging through the numerous turns and turns that ensue after a dead body is found on the beach the morning of a high-society wedding on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.
The family is prepared to go all out for the Fourth of July weekend when they are abruptly stopped by what the Nantucket police consider to be a murder case rather than a simple accident, as some of the partygoers would have the world think.
The Perfect Couple is unquestionably its own beast, but its core is evocative of Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers (all starring Nicole Kidman and set in a Californian village), and The White Lotus.
In addition to not being a formulaic affair, it is quick enough not to be burdened or slowed down by an incredibly crowded plot that becomes increasingly complex by the time the sixth and final episode, which is the longest of the bunch at 63 minutes, begins.
Susanne Bier, the director, has a track record of exposing the numerous psychological mysteries surrounding human behavior and analyzing the acts of imperfect individuals in an imperfect world. She uses all of her cunning to fully develop the lovers, friends, and enemies, as well as the personal and group obsessions and antics of the occupants of a summer estate by the sea.
The ideal couple in the title are anything but a model couple for others to follow. Greer Garrison Winbury (Kidman), a supersuccessful murder mystery writer, with 29 turbulent years of marriage and 28 books under her credit. She has a lot to hide and is a cynical control freak. She shares this sentiment with her spouse, Tag Winbury (Live Schreiber), who never fails to seizes the chance to declare that he still cherishes his wife above everything things.
The riches that Greer’s books have amassed serves as equal funding for their ostentatious lifestyle as the wealth that the Winbury family has amassed over many centuries. As a result, Greer’s life partner and his three sons can live well, never having to worry about where their next million dollars is coming from.
The show begins with the pre-wedding celebration of Greer’s son Benji (Billy Howle), who is being married to the far less wealthy Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson), a zookeeper from Easton, Pennsylvania, who is seen by the snobbish novelist as an intruder whom the Winburys would be better off without.
Shooter Dival (Khatter), the best man and the groom’s friend from his university days, gets there early for the celebration. However, Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy, who also starred in The White Lotus), the maid of honor, arrives a little later than expected. Merritt is a bubbly woman who immediately makes an impression on everyone.
Both visitors—Shooter and Greer have a unique bond—have an effect on how events play out for the Winbury family and the Nantucket law enforcement in the coming days.
A body is found on the beach some hours after the wedding-eve celebration comes to an end. The wedding is canceled. Under the direction of Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach), the local police launch an investigation, and Detective Nikki Henry (a magnificent performance by Donna Lynne Champlin, who occasionally steals the show’s thunder) leads the team. Everyone in the family’s immediate vicinity is a possible witness as well as a suspect.
This is, fundamentally, recognizable domain – Greer tells a TV questioner that she once had “an Agatha Christie fixation” – yet The Two or three has characters and circumstances that steer the story in bearings that dumbfound however much they appear to be completely conceivable given the world that the Winburys occupy and the imaginary universe that Greer gets extraordinary mileage from.
Greer is a well known person wildly defensive of the picture of her family, marriage and way of life she needs to project. No Winbury, particularly a young lady wedding into the family, has the choice to resist the principles that she sets. Abby figures out how to live with that reality yet Amelia draws back in bewilderment at the idea she can’t express her genuine thoughts and do her heart’s offering.
A portion of the turns in The Ideal Couple might feel slightly thought up and erratic, however The Ideal Couple springs constantly shocks. It doesn’t fall into an example of consistency albeit the fast progression of episodes and disclosures – gave generally through answers that the suspects and witnesses give to questions asked during police cross examination – readies the crowd not to fully trust anything.
Everyone in The Several disapproves of one another and not such a huge amount with the remainder of the world, which they possess the ability to close out from their line of vision when they need. Greer’s oldest child Thomas (Jack Reynor), his pregnant spouse Abby (Dakota Fanning), who can detect the aggression that Amelia incites in the class-cognizant Greer, and most youthful Winbury kin, Will (Sam Nivola), continually wrestle with enervating, while possibly not through and through malefic, powers at work around them.
THE END
Very good writing.
Very good writing