“She jumped feet first into a wasp’s nest. Someone was going to get stung.”
The wasp’s nest is the Winbury family and the twisted web of sycophants, social climbers and downright fools that surrounds it. The perfect couple at the centre of it all is Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber), the scion of an old-money Nantucket family, and Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) – a famous crime novelist. When everyone gathers at Summerland – the Winbury family’s “cosy $40 million cottage by the sea” – for the wedding of Amelia Sacks and Benji Winbury, the middle son of the family, it looks like postcard-perfect nuptials are a sure thing. But then a body washes up on the beach. Suddenly, a family that’s kill-someone-and-get-away-with-it rich finds itself in a situation straight out of one of Greer’s novels, and everyone – including the Winburys’ extended circle – is a suspect.
Each episode of this six-part series is stacked with curveballs and misdirects – just when you think you know what’s happening, the rug is pulled out from under you. You’ll only have the full story once you’ve seen the whole story, so here’s why you need to watch the whole thing as soon as possible – before anyone can ruin it for you.
The cast really goes for it
Nicole Kidman was born to play the icy, sassy matriarch that is Greer Winbury. You can’t take your eyes off her. Her performance is hammed-up to the max but still completely grounded in empathy. Her co-stars are no slouches either. Liev Schreiber is a man grappling with the boredom of having had everything handed to him. Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters) is captivating as bride-to-be Amelia Sacks. Special shout-out to Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus), a specialist in the rich-people-behaving-badly genre, as Amelia’s maid of honour (and Instagram influencer) Merritt Monaco. There’s not a weak link in the bunch, and everyone has off-the-charts chemistry. It’s a campy blast.
A whodunnit in pacy, bite-sized chunks
The Perfect Couple is Goldilocks length: short enough to tear through in a single weekend (or evening, no judgement), but long enough to really immerse yourself in its world. It’s adapted from the book of the same name by author Elin Hilderbrand. And because mysteries are all about the characters’ motivations and their relationships to each other, miniseries are perfect for giving the plot the space it needs. The story is told in six parts via roughly 40-minute episodes, allowing the tension to build and the resolution to climax meaningfully.
Location, location, location
The only thing better than watching messy, sexy and sad rich people squabbling is watching them do it in a picturesque locale. And Nantucket, the exclusive island enclave for the wealthy elites of Massachusetts, is a real looker. The Perfect Couple makes the most of its stunning setting, giving us lingering aerial shots of this beautiful stretch of sand whenever possible.
One wedding and a funeral
There’s something about weddings isn’t there? What other life event brings together so many different people from your past? It’s an event where long-simmering misunderstandings and resentments can bubble up to the surface – helped along by an open bar. It’s the ideal jumping off point for The Perfect Couple, where years, sometimes decades, of unresolved tensions come to a head. You’ll be rooting for someone for half an episode, then by the end you’ll loath them. And at the centre of all is the big question: are Tag and Greer, the kind of husband and wife that wear matching robes and have steamy kitchen make-outs, really such a perfect couple?
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Netflix. The Perfect Couple now playing only on Netflix.
