‘The Perfect Couple’ Episode 1 Recap: “Happy Wedding Eve”

The Perfect Couple is definitely a murder mystery. There is a murder, as well as some mystery as to whodunnit. Like any enjoyable murder mystery, the story is told out of order, moving fluidly forward and backward in time. It’s easy to become disoriented, unsure of who said what when to the cops about whom, and especially, who the authorities didn’t haul into their interrogation room. (In this murder mystery, we don’t officially find out who actually got murked until the end of episode 1.) And in keeping with the fine literary tradition of murder mysteries, this six-episode limited series is also based on a novel, one by Nantucket-centric author Elin Hilderbrand. So it embraces the hallmarks of the genre. But here’s the thing about The Perfect Couple: just like the emerging inaccuracy of its title, it feels as if it will be way more fun to not try and solve this thing, but instead just enjoy watching its characters be generally despicable, and just maybe eat each other alive. It’s a testament to the unpredictable tone of the series that it hits you with a joyfully incongruous group dance number at the beginning of each installment.

Floating in the rarefied New England air above Nantucket island, titles tell us we’re all invited to the rehearsal dinner of Amelia (Eve Hewson) and Benji (Billy Howle), which is underway in a big seaside tent at Summerland, the sprawling property owned by old money guy Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber) and his famous novelist wife, Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman). As the camera swirls around the event, we take in champagne towers, salmon-hued suits, gaggles of the rich and idle, and more than a few strained moments of joy between the Winburys, for whom Greer is both matriarch and power center. “Happy wedding eve!” Benji shouts, his arm around Amelia. “I love this woman to death!” And maybe he really does. But like all three of the Winbury sons – including the oldest, finance bro Tom (Jack Reynor), and youngest, the mascot-ish Will (Sam Nivola) – Benji ultimately answers to only one woman in his life. And that’s the woman Amelia, attempting a bit of levity, refers to as “GG Dubs.” Ameila, who works for the Central Park Zoo, is not of this wealthy, insular world. And beginning with Greer, everybody in the Winbury fam is happy to let her know it. 

There are other suspects – er, guests. Pregnant Abby (Dakota Fanning) wants husband Tom to secure a loan from Tag to cover his massive crypto losses, and move them into an exclusive apartment building. Wedding party members Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) is Amelia’s best friend, while Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar) is Benji’s. Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani) is the Winburys haughtiest family friend. (“Friend” is doing a lot of work there, as it turns out.) Gosia (Irina Dubova) is the chief housekeeper and snooty opinion-haver – she can’t believe Amelia washes her own dishes – and Roger (Tim Bagley) is the wedding planner and go-to source for literally all of the rich folks tea. 

Everyone in the Winbury orbit seems to maintain a running list of which family member they’d fuck, who they have fucked, or which people in the extended circle fucked each other, and that’s a big part of the deliciously awful fun as The Perfect Couple gets going. “Perfect Couple”? Greer scoffs when Enid (Adina Porter), her literary agent, says it’s what People Magazine wants to title the splashy accompanying feature to her latest novel Death in Dubai, another “Dash & Dolly” mystery. “You’re their Dash and Dolly,” Enid tells her. “It’s part of your mythology.” But Greer knows all too well that myth is not fact. As she ignores insistent phone calls from somebody named “Broderick Graham,” she also discovers that Tag spent over $18,000 on a pavé diamond-inlaid bracelet…for another woman. Duh-duh-duh!

Tag’s got a handcrafted wooden vessel he’s really proud of. His personal boatbuilder “launched his baby into the world, and he knew it would perform. Not, uh, drop to the bottom like a fucking stone.” It’s a non-subtle reference from father to son as Tom asks for a hefty loan beside the watercraft he knows Tag always loved more than him. But hey, at least they share their weed. People in this family love the perch their money provides them, even if it’s clearly corrupted or at least muddied their very souls. It’s a lot easier to ignore hard truths when you’re riotously stoned, popping random pills, or fixing stiff drinks at 9AM. 

When Nantucket police chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) gets the call, he knows the wedding his daughter Chloe (Mia Isaac) was set to work at as a caterer is all but canceled. (He doesn’t notice the bloody shirt in Chloe’s bedroom.) There’s a body in the water out at the Winbury estate, and when he arrives on scene, the coldness between Carter and state police detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynn Champlin) is thicker than the mantle of an oyster. As The Perfect Couple shuttles between police questioning and the events of the rehearsal dinner the night before, what’s most stark is the difference between Amelia as bride-to-be and her disheveled, distraught presence in the interrogation room, her foot sliced open and her wedding dress soaked. Amelia remembers her conversation with Merritt by the pool. “Have you ever loved someone so much you’d kill to be with them? I don’t know if I feel that way about Benji.” And while she’s still too emotional to answer questions from Detective Henry and Chief Carter, we see in her memory the discovery from early that morning. The limp, lifeless, and waterlogged body she saw drifting in the shallows off Summerland? It was her best friend and Maid of Honor, Merritt Monaco.

Let the murder mystery begin.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.