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There is something particularly fascinating about the murder mystery series, from The White Lotus, to Only Murders in the Building, to The Afterparty. Putting a group of people in a relatively isolated place and retracing the steps to figure out a murder mystery is always incredibly entertaining. This concept is even better when it is set up with a comedic tone that plays off of each character’s biggest flaws. The latest installment in these types of shows is Netflix’s The Perfect Couple, based on the book by Elin Hilderbrand.
The Perfect Couple follows the Nantucket wedding of a member of a rich and famous family, to a relatively normal person who works at a zoo. However, everything went off the rails when the Maid of Honor was found murdered the morning of the wedding. Over the course of six episodes, the show told the story of the murder and the investigation, giving all the pieces before finally revealing who killed her, and the ending was stunning, to say the least. The Perfect Couple has already cemented itself as a funny and compelling murder mystery, and there has been a lot of chatter about a potential Season 2, with Nicole Kidman telling USA Today that the series is “ripe for more” storytelling and exploration into the family. While we wait for news of a new season, let’s rank every episode of the first season of The Perfect Couple.
6 “She Would Never Do That”
Season 1, Episode 2
After a fast-paced and compelling first episode, The Perfect Couple slowed things down a bit with its second and weakest installment, “She Would Never Do That.” With Shooter abruptly trying to leave the island, he was the main suspect for Meredith’s murder at that point in the show. However, Shooter was never a particularly likely killer, so this plot line was one of the less engaging ones. There were many other characters who were more believable suspects later on, so this episode was less interesting than the show’s other installments. It was still entertaining to watch, but it did not have as many memorable moments as the other episodes.
“She Would Never Do That” was mostly a transitional episode, setting up more context so that the show’s viewers could better hypothesize about who murdered Merritt. Through flashbacks, viewers learned that both Amelia and Greer knew about Merritt and Tag’s affair before Merritt was killed. The affair was pretty obvious from the first episode, but the big reveal of this episode was that Merritt had been pregnant with Tag’s baby when she was murdered. It was not that shocking based on the previously revealed information, but it led to some much better episodes.
5 “Never Gonna Give You Up
Season 1, Episode 5
The penultimate episode of Season 1 of The Perfect Couple, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” started off with Tag being interrogated at the police station after Greer turned in the receipt for the bracelet that he had bought for Merritt. While Tag was stuck at the police station, the rest of the family took a break from the murder investigation to focus on Greer’s book launch. The drama in this episode was fun but generally less interesting than the murder mystery, mostly just further complicating the love triangle between Amelia, Benji, and Shooter.
Tag is revealed to be innocent, and then he crashes the book launch drunk, giving a speech that ends in a bizarre Rick Roll. The episode was a fun one, opting to focus more on Winbury’s petty drama than on Merritt’s murder. When Tag exposed some of the issues about his marriage with Greer to the public, Greer panicked and tried to cover it up by singing along with him. This was one of the show’s weaker episodes, but it was still very entertaining and full of drama, with a big event that ended in public humiliation.
4 “Someone Could Get Hurt”
Season 1, Episode 4
Each of The Perfect Couple‘s episodes had a different suspect that the show made look guilty at the time. Episode 4, “Someone Could Get Hurt,” began shortly after Amelia found the bracelet that Tag had given Merritt among Will’s things. Will was questioned by the police at the beginning of the episode, and once again, another potential suspect was revealed to be innocent, as Will explained that he had just wanted to help Merritt with the baby. This was relatively compelling, but the flashbacks in the episode were even better.
“Someone Could Get Hurt” took a break from the murder mystery in order to focus on romantic flashbacks of Shooter and Amelia meeting in the past. It was a surprisingly sweet storyline, and it worked very well as a break in the otherwise shallow world of the Winbury family. Another iconic scene was Thomas and Abby trying to eat the wedding cake, and Benji fighting Thomas over this. The episode ends in Amelia and Shooter kissing in the present, only to be caught by Benji.
3 “Happy Wedding Eve”
Season 1, Episode 1
Some murder mysteries only pick up the pace after the murder occurs, but The Perfect Couple was interesting and full of tension from the very first scene. The first episode, “Happy Wedding Eve,” started with the rehearsal dinner, before leading into the reveal that a murder had been committed that very night. The episode moved through the events of that day, before then ending in the twist that Merritt was the victim.
“Happy Wedding Eve” was a fantastic first episode, setting up both the events leading up to the murder, and the tone of the series. It introduced all the characters with just enough mystery as to who the victim and murderer could be, and it expertly showed itself to have a balance of satire and suspense. This was the only episode before Merritt was shown to be the victim, and it was very suspenseful and compelling. Additionally, the episode set up Amelia’s doubts about her relationship with Benji, showing that the wedding might not go through after all.
2 “The Perfect Family”
Season 1, Episode 3
The Perfect Couple is at its best when it puts the Winbury family and everyone involved in their lives into one space, for the reveal of some serious bombshells. This was the case in its third episode, “The Perfect Family,” which put them all together for a very uncomfortable dinner. As Amelia tried to do some of her own investigating into Merritt’s death, Greer worked to make the family continue to look good in spite of everything that had happened. This episode showed just how shaky the Winbury family’s image was, complete with the reveal of some major family secrets.
Will, Benji, Shooter, and Greer were all shown to be keeping separate secrets, setting up multiple potential murderers to leave viewers confused. The highlight of this episode was the big reveal of Mae Pratt, who had been Benji’s friend and Will’s tutor. Abby got Amelia to ask around about the mystery of Mae, which led to an explosive dinner, at which it was revealed that Tag and Mae had had an affair. The dinner scene was especially fantastic as everyone learned that Mae had struggled after the breakup, leading the family to cover it all up. This set the scene for Will to storm out of the dinner.
1 “That Feels Better”
Season 1, Episode 6
The final episode of Season 1, “That Feels Better,” opened with Greer at the center, trying to defuse the humiliation of the book launch while also being the new primary suspect in the investigation of Merritt’s murder. The working theory was that Greer had hired Broderick to kill Merritt, and had gotten Shooter to pay him for her. This episode had, of course, the big reveal of who killed Merritt. Before that, though, was an incredible scene where Greer spilled all the details related to her past, and how she met Tag.
When Thomas tried to make Isabel look guilty, the details started to reveal the truth around Merritt’s death. In an attempt to place the blame on Isabel, Thomas explained the details of the trust, and how their access to the trust would have been delayed another eighteen years if Merritt had ended up giving birth to her and Tag’s baby. Isabel revealed that Thomas was with her when Merritt was killed, which proved that Abby had lied. Combined with the detail of Abby washing her own glass the day after the murder, it became clear that Abby had killed Merritt for money. The reveal of the murderer made so much sense, with Abby essentially having hidden in plain sight for the entire season.
The Perfect Couple is available to stream on Netflix.
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