The Perfect Couple is a murder mystery set in the posh world of wealth and privilege in Nantucket. It is based on a popular novel by Elin Hilderbrand. I know some of the fans of the book were worried about changes to the story, but I haven’t read the book. I enjoyed the twists and turns of this mystery series, worry free.
The Perfect Couple might be Amelia (Eve Hewson) and Benji (Billy Howle), pictured up top. They were in Nantucket for their wedding, set to happen the next day.
Or perhaps the perfect couple was meant to be Greer (Nicole Kidman) and Tag (Liev Schreiber), the parents of Benji. Greer was a famous writer with a new book launch coming soon after the wedding. The characters in her novels were meant to represent her and Tag and their “perfect” relationship.
That relationship was far from perfect. He was a serial philanderer who smoked weed 24/7 and guzzled whiskey all day long too.
Others at the festivities included Benji’s older brother Thomas (Jack Reynor) and his wife Abby (Dakota Fanning). Benji’s younger brother Will (Sam Nivola) was about to turn 18.
Amelia’s best friend, Merritt (Meghann Fahy), was the maid of honor. Benji’s friend Shooter (Ishaan Khattar) was the best man.
All these people and more were ready to party and celebrate. But the night before the wedding one of the people there was murdered. Yep. Cancel the wedding and call the cops.
The cops were Det. Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin), who was brought in from the mainland, and Dan Carter (Michael Beach), the local police.
All that happened in the first episode. The remaining 5 episodes of the limited series were devoted to the police investigations and interviews, lots of twists and red herrings making everyone look guilty at some point or other, and the unmasking of the rot at the center of the various relationships in the group.
I loved the slow reveal of character and the repeated reviews of various scenes revealing more and more of the truth with each new look. I loved that I didn’t know who the killer was until the very end. Looking back, the clues were obvious. But there were obvious clues about everyone who became a suspect. Just about everyone was a suspect. It was delightful to stay with the story until the end when the big reveal finally came. I appreciate a well-written mystery that can keep me involved and guessing until the end.
Susanne Bier directed every episode. I liked some of her decisions. For example, I loved the happy line dance scene in the opening credits of every episode. When it was over the dark secrets slapped you in the face. I thought that was a nice contrast. I grew weary of the constant extreme closeups of characters’ eyes. I supposed these “windows of the soul” were supposed to reveal something or mean something, but I found the technique overused.
Overall, I thought the series was well done and a great watch. You can see it on Netflix. Excuse me while I get a copy of the book by Elin Hilderbrand [affiliate link]. I’ll be reading for a while.
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i enjoyed all of the performances and the story kept me guessing throughout. it was better than i expected.
The various characters were so well drawn.