Streaming on: Netflix
Episodes viewed: 6 of 6
Pitched somewhere between The White Lotus, Glass Onion and the latest Harlan Coben series, The Perfect Couple is a glossy spin on the rich-people-are-awful sub-genre of murder-mystery: combining melodramatic twists, turns and character revelations with a remarkably deep bench of on-screen talent, plus stylish direction from The Night Manager’s Susanne Bier.
Bier reunites with Nicole Kidman (after previously working together on the not-dissimilar-in-tone The Undoing) for this six-part Netflix series, which sees Kidman once again step into the role of slightly miserable, impeccably coiffed (though the wig here is questionable), incredibly rich woman. Also on executive producing duty here, she plays Greer Garrison Winbury, bestselling author, and matriarch of the wealthy Winbury family. The cast surrounding her is stacked: there’s Liev Schreiber as her rugged, pot-smoking husband Tag; Bad Sisters breakout Eve Hewson as fish-out-of-water bride-to-be Amelia; Meghann Fahy (so good in the aforementioned The White Lotus) as her bubbly influencer bestie Merritt; Midsommar’s Jack Reynor in full douchebag mode as Greer’s eldest son Thomas; Dakota Fanning playing against type somewhat as his heavily pregnant, aesthetics-obsessed wife Abby; and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend MVP Donna Lynne Champlin as police detective Nikki Henry.
The actors elevate The Perfect Couple’s cheesy dialogue and tired genre structures.
It’s an impressive list, and the actors undeniably elevate The Perfect Couple’s sometimes cheesy dialogue and use of tired genre structures — the prime suspect being flashbacks interspersed with police interview sequences. While this isn’t a particularly innovative show in terms of form or story, it delivers its mystery in a really slick way, quickly introducing you to characters that feel true and lived-in, and maintaining just the right amount of true drama and emotion amid the more heightened moments. The most jarring element tonally is the opening credits sequence, which employs the now overused tactic of having the cast doing a choreographed dance, with Kidman, Schreiber and co. boogying on the beach to Meghan Trainor’s ‘Criminals’. Given this is a show centred around murder, it’s an oddly cheerful way to start each episode — but does weirdly make the cast feel more like a family.
When it comes to the whodunnit being unravelled, The Perfect Couple does well to keep you guessing, though occasionally feels like it’s playing for time by introducing new plot threads. You may well suspect the culprit ahead of the finale, but you likely won’t have figured out their motive — and what this show does well is get you invested enough in these people to keep on watching. It knows what it is (shiny, easy, bingeable) and what it is not (pretentious, groundbreaking, particularly memorable) and hits that mark. Ideal Netflix fodder.