I just finished this murder mystery series on Netflix called The Perfect Couple. It spans six long episodes revolving around the murder of a gorgeous maid of honor who arrived to attend her best friend’s wedding at an island. The series is a classic whodunnit story that does manage the suspense well until the final episode and surprises the viewers with some unexpected twists on multiple occasions in the story. Other than the murder mystery, there are explorations of nuances of relationships that add an element of depth to the series. There’s a reason the series is called ‘The Perfect Couple’ and not something directly related to the core theme of murder.
Nicole Kidman plays Greer, a famed fiction writer with an uptight and controlling aura about her. She is dangerously well put together despite the storm that brews within her as she struggles to hold her family together. Her husband, the apparently charming Tag Winbury (played by Live Schreiber) seeks his happiness in many places other than his wife and Greer is often left to clean after him. Their children, one of whom is getting married in the series where the murder plot unfolds, are three different kinds of menaces as well. And to top it all off, the maid of honor is found floating on the sea right adjacent to the private beach on the morning of the wedding, and all hell breaks loose.
Local police and a detective lead the series to a climax through a series of investigation room scenes where each character displays a peculiar demeanor, which helps keep us guessing till the end. Anyone could have been the murderer because every single person is revealed to be connected to the victim in one strange way or another, and there’s some reasonable motive as well. However, we have to wait till the final episode for the surprising reveal to happen.
‘The Perfect Couple’ is a great one-time-watch. If you return to it, you will find that the script follows the traditional murder mystery blueprint and doesn’t go too far with novelty. However, what makes it worth watching is the performances of the cast who play characters that are complicated in their own capacity, confined to the golden cages of material wealth and a responsibility to uphold the image of projected perfection. The series does well by keeping the storyline crisply confined to six episodes and not elongating it. It could have been intended to be some form of social commentary as it subtly makes fun of the ‘ultra rich’ lifestyle but the intended depth has not been reached in that regard. Other than the convincing storyline, the biggest strength of the series is the cast and that’s what has saved it from being an ignored trash on Netflix.
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