Netflix’s Whodunit has a crucial Nicole Kidman scene that is not to be missed

Not since Great Little Lies I am so intrigued by a murder mystery. Netflix The perfect coupleCreator Jenna Lamia’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s novel has plenty of memorable characters, and while it’s dark, it’s also funny. When it comes to peeling back the layers of a wealthy family that is just the opposite of their facade, The perfect couple Excels and leans into the typical murder mystery trappings while building an intriguing web of character connections. I enjoy meeting anyone all the time without losing sight of the bigger picture.

On the eve of their wedding, Amelia (Eve Hewson) and Benji (Billy Howle) are seemingly so happy and in love. Benji’s mother, Greer Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a best-selling author 20 times over, dotes on him and her two other sons, Thomas (Jack Raynor) and Will (Sam Nivola). Greer’s husband, Thug (Liev Schreiber), openly shows his love for her, while offering good wishes to the wedding videographer. Amelia’s best friend, Merritt (Meghann Fahy), is the picture of support and adulation, while Abby (Dakota Fanning), Thomas’ pregnant wife, smiles with strength at her husband’s loud and obnoxious shenanigans.

This scene of overindulgent voluptuousness and nuts does not last long. The perfect Couple Cleverly and subtly highlights the strained relationships between the characters before diving head first into the murder mystery that cuts the seemingly plain ties to shreds. Lamia and Co. wait until the end of the first episode to even reveal who died, which keeps us on our toes. Several characters are interviewed by local police chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and astute detective Nicky Henry (Danna Lynn Champlin) immediately after the body is found, offering further insight into the layered dynamics.

The perfect couple doesn’t take themselves too seriously

It is the need to keep us entertained by the characters that makes it watchable

Almost everyone has a motive for the murder, and so The perfect couple Swings back and forth between its characters as it explores the details of what happened the night before the wedding. To keep us entertained beyond that, the series has a sense of humor and a lightness about it. It’s occasionally trying to poke fun at its own characters, as if to say, “See how silly everyone is?” Winbury’s maid, Gosia (Irina Dubova), their French family friend Isabella (Isabelle Adjani), who freely speaks her mind, and Thomas are especially funny.

They are unhinged in a way that the rest of the characters are not, accentuating the apt masks and perfect personas that the family upholds. This is especially true of Greer and Tag, whose relationship is fraught with dismissive affection, annoyances and plastered smiles that fade away. They have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship that isn’t quite what it seems, and that’s something I was quite surprised about because the series doesn’t portray their interactions as based solely on an unhappy marriage.

While the series dips at times, especially as it zigs and zags its way through the whodunit mystery, it never loses its sense of engagement and fun. Tonally, it is not entirely consistent, caught between the dramatic elements and the zany entertainment, but it does not completely fall, either. The perfect couple Is, for the most part, just trying to have a good time, and is happy to take us along for the ride. By the end of the series, I was more than satisfied with the story and the way it played out. One major twist involving Greer even had me chuckling.

The themes of the perfect couple go hand-in-hand with the central mystery

From the beginning, Greer had a problem with Amelia. A large part of this is because she feels that she is not completely in love with her son; Another is Amelia, who comes from a working-class family and whose mother has cancer, doesn’t pretend like Greer and her family do. Unlike everyone around her, Amelia wears her heart on her sleeve, even if that means not fitting into the mold swept by the Winbury’s wealth. Amelia is real and honest in a way Greer feels she can’t be. It makes for a variety of intriguing conversations and tension between them.

If anything, I would have liked the Netflix miniseries to explore their dynamic further over some others, like Amelia’s relationship with Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar), whose history with Amelia is treated as its own, somewhat unnecessary mystery. Amelia pines for Shooter a bit, but theirs is an underdeveloped relationship, and Shooter, a fascinating character in his own right, functions as more of a red herring. The perfect coupleThe class topics are a little more shaky.

The series is too preoccupied with over-the-top wealth and the way it makes the Winburys behave to properly examine the class differences it presents and how it shapes the dynamic. But the story is enough that it didn’t bother me that much. The series knows what it is at least trying to be and that is enough for such a short series.

In just six episodes, it manages to set the stage and give most of the characters enough dimension for the plot to be believable. And while some questions remain unanswered – minor, in the grand scheme of things – The perfect couple Holds our attention with quippy dialogue and memorable, and sometimes outrageous, characters.

The perfect couple is now streaming on Netflix.