Nine Perfect Strangers, season 2, moves microdosing therapist Masha (Nicole Kidman) into the Bavarian Alps where she aims her mushroom concoctions at a whole new set of people.

Nine Perfect Strangers has moved on from season 1, where Masha proved her idea for psychedelic treatment worked. Now she’s using it to fulfill a secret agenda of her own with a group of handpicked patients.

The nine who were invited to be treated were Victoria (Christine Baranski) and her “boyfriend” Matteo (Aras Aydin). Imogen (Annie Murphy) was Victoria’s angry daughter. Brian (Murray Bartlett) was there with his teddy bear puppet. Agnes (Dolly De Leon), a former nun, arrived. Peter (Henry Golding) was there to be with his billionaire father David (Mark Strong), who held everyone up by being a day late. Tina (King Princess) and Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) were a couple, both musicians.

The venue was an isolated hotel high in the Alps. Helena (Lena Olin) who had treated Masha in the past and whose family owned the hotel was there. Helena’s son Martin (Lucas Englander) was mixing the microdoses and working with Masha, a job he resented. He thought he should be in charge of the family business, not this bossy woman from his mother’s past.

The way Nine Perfect Strangers works includes a considerable amount of hallucination, a lot of revisiting past trauma, a lot of secrets spilled, and a lot of surprises. Every episode is full of high emotion. Masha acted as puppet master controlling what each person experienced and how they moved toward healing.

Some of the shine this plotline had in season 1 wore off a bit in season 2. Nevertheless, the series tackles big themes. Good vs. Evil, forgiveness, love, greed, redemption, letting go, keeping on. Every episode seemed to be pointing toward Masha being the ultimate heroic good person, but the ending muddled that. My response to the ending was disappointment.

The location was stunning and the cinematography inside the hotel was brilliantly done. They got creative with ways to visually show hallucinations and drug-fueled madness. It worked well.

Having Nicole Kidman in the lead is a guarantee that people will watch a series. I particularly love Dolly De Leon and was so happy to see her in this. Overall the cast is excellent.

All eight episodes of season 2 are available now on Hulu. Have you seen it already? What did you think?