Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by the prolific Elin Hildebrand, the queen of beach reads, The Perfect Couple is set between the luxurious summer home of acclaimed writer Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Tag (Liev Schreiber), and the Nantucket police station in Massachusetts. The ultra-wealthy and secretive family has gathered for the wedding of Benji (Billy Howle), one of the couple’s sons, to Amelia (Eve Hewson), of whom Greer is mortally jealous. The wedding goes awry when the maid of honor Merritt is found dead on the beach, possibly murdered. From that moment on, the six episodes of the series take on the structure of a whodunit, punctuated by the interrogations of a pair of baffled police officers, the picturesque staff serving Greer, and her self-centered and spoiled relatives and friends. Unceasing revelations bring to light sins, guilt, and secrets harbored by all family members.
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury, Jack Reynor as Thomas Winbury, Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, Billy Howle as Benji Winbury, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Netflix © 2024Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Netflix
Perhaps the most hilarious aspect is the perspective of Nikki and Dan, the incredulous and baffled detectives faced with the brazen deceit of the suspects and the incomprehensible, empty, and opulent lifestyle of Greer and her decadent guests. Reflections of similar series – many starring and produced by Kidman, evidently fascinated by the formula of “sophisticated and secretive wife from an upscale background involved in murder” – such as Big Little Lies or The Undoing – highlight how other productions are better structured in terms of intrigue building, more tense, sharper, and deeper in their social analysis. The superficiality of the narrative becomes more evident as the resolution of the case approaches – hurried and random. The epilogue is bizarre but also curious in its cathartic twist and strangely optimistic tone.