THE PERFECT COUPLE – Limited Series (2024)
When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin (with a body discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony) everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect.
Adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel, Netflix’s latest series The Perfect Couple attempts to lure its viewers into a binge-worthy murder mystery. However, despite a star-studded cast led by Nicole Kidman, the series stumbles from its clichés and awkward character choices, muddying its potential.
Benji (Billy Howle), the son of famous crime author Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), is marrying beautiful zookeeper Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson). The first episode welcomes us to the couple’s wedding rehearsal party in Nantucket, where Greer stands proudly alongside her three sons for a family photo. The colour choices here are the first you’re likely to notice. Everything is so vibrant that you might convince yourself you’re staring into a rainbow, or that everything is so perfect that deception lies around the edges. Cinematographers Shane Hurlbut and Roberto De Angelis bring this out initially with sweeping aerial shots of the crowded beachfront, scattered islands, beachside mansions, and whales flipping over in the water.
However, the lavish party ends in disaster the night before the wedding: a dead body has been discovered floating in the water, and everyone is a suspect. The decision to keep the victim’s identity a secret in the first episode is a clever yet time-worn device to help move the plot and heighten expectations. Thankfully, their identity is revealed in the second episode.
As two detectives, Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin), investigate the murder, we meet a large cast of familiar suspects. We have the arrogant, drug-taking Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor). The shy and emotionally volatile Will Winbury (Sam Nivola). Then there’s Abby (Dakota Fanning), Thomas’ heavily pregnant wife, who projects a sharp, witty edge reminiscent of a money-hungry princess, and Greer’s husband Tag (Liev Schreiber). There’s also an ever-watchful housekeeper named Gosia (Irina Dubova), Benji’s best man Shooter (Ishaan Khattar), family friend Isabel (Isabelle Adjani), and Amelia’s best friend Merritt (Meghann Fahy).
Many of the characters in The Perfect Couple—aside from Amelia, Greer, Abby, and Tag—are stock characters, serving only to stir the pot and keep the investigation moving by creating suspicion. The affluent family involved in the murder is always entertaining enough in its own right, as each aims to explore themes of marriage, family, power, and excess. But here viewers might find themselves wanting more. Like its predecessors Knives Out (2019), HBO’s White Lotus, and Death and Other Details (2024), The Perfect Couple oftentimes leans on its sardonic edge to inject some levity. However, some may find this approach jarring, especially where it challenges viewer expectations.
The wedding rehearsal breaks into a bizarre dance sequence, which might work pre-murder to contrast joy with chaos. However, using it in every episode’s opening credits feels misplaced and leaves us scratching our heads. Moments like these disrupt the traditionally tense atmosphere of whodunit mysteries, where the stakes only get higher, the tone gradually darkens as secrets come to light, and everything, including the softer comedic moments, is balanced alongside character progression and deep thematic storytelling.
Unfortunately, some viewers may find too many inconsistencies even when fully invested. Many characters don’t seem to progress fully in light of the murder, including Greer despite the struggles within her tumultuous marriage to Tag. And we may even question whether showing certain side characters at all is a wise way to spend screen time. Amelia’s parents, Bruce (Michael McGrady) and Karen Sacks (Dendrie Taylor), for example, play a minimal role in the story, lacking in offering support to their daughter and confronting Amelia’s would-be in-laws. And a scene close to the opening where Chloe Carter (Mia Isaac) hides a bloodied shirt from her detective father, suggesting it’s crucial, doesn’t develop as anticipated.
Although, in a series where plot consistency wavers across six episodes, strong acting becomes the true asset here. The scenes with Schreiber, Kidman, Hewson, Fanning, and Fahy bring notable intensity to their performances.
“Do you wanna hit me? Do you wanna yell?” Tag menacingly jibes at his wife while she’s at her desk writing one of her potboilers. “Is that what you want?” asks Greer, getting up from her desk. “Do you want me to hit you?”
Scenes like these, where Schreiber and Kidman stand nose to nose, are some of the better confrontations that get to the heart of the story. Tag and Greer’s emotional personalities can only be brought out from under their falseness when they’re alone and none of their family or friends can tell the difference. The series aims for this, although it struggles to connect fully.
It’s the same for Amelia. Hewson’s performance is promising and emotionally affecting during the first few episodes. Her animated facial expressions and sad blue eyes create a useful contrast between her lively yet conflicted character and the rest of the family, who seem sardonic, affluent, and false. She adequately captures emotional arcs, as Amelia seems torn between her romantic allegiance to her fiancé and her attraction to his best man Shooter, although it is useful to note that her role is undercut by this romantic subplot that seems misplaced and unearned. Yet it’s the scenes when she’s crying or confronting Tag and Greer in light of the murder where things are never more intriguing.
This is also true for Fahy and Schreiber. When Merritt and Tag share the screen, especially during those scenes captured beachside, the water is always glassy and reflective, both actors give us a richer understanding of their complex relationship. Ultimately, these sentiments lead to uncovering the mysteries of the murder. But the detectives do most of the heavy lifting, whilst other characters like Thomas and Benji dwindle, and red herrings abound.
Merritt’s flip is one of the more positive aspects. In the beginning, Meghann Fahy’s performance as Merritt Monaco seems like the mirror image of the role she played as Daphne Sullivan in Season 2 of White Lotus. She lounges around poolside in similar micro-bikinis and flirts with many of the men, simmering a potential fling with Will. Moving into the later episodes, we discover that there is much more to her role than being Amelia’s seemingly promiscuous friend tagging along.
Similarly, Dakota Fanning’s performance as Abby Winbury is effective given her limited screen time. Both she and Greer seem like carefully curated caricatures with sharp edges, which proves useful to the story. It suggests that the affluent confidence they exude will become nothing more than superficial details, like Greer’s blonde hair extensions or the Claude Monet painting hanging in her living room, which she later reveals is a fake. And this expectation for the story is paramount.
Ultimately, The Perfect Couple is worth a single watch. Whether it merits rewatching to uncover clues you might have missed, as with The Undoing (2020) or Behind Her Eyes (2021), is entirely subjective.
USA | 2024 | 6 EPISODES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH
Cast & Crew
writers: Jenna Lamia, Bryan M. Holdman, Leila Cohan, Courtney Grace, Evelyn Yves & Alex Berger.
director: Susanne Bier.
starring: Eve Hewson, Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Billy Howle, Dakota Fanning, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jack Reynor, Michael Beach, Ishaan Khatter, Sam Nivola, Mia Isaac & Meghann Fahy.
