The Perfect Couple

The critics have been cruel. The ratings are middling BUT they miss the point.

This is a typical Agatha Christie-esque who-dunnit.... take a group of people at a country house and have a dead body type of whodunnit.

So it becomes a sort of puzzle.

1. Attractive cast - check 2. Attractive locale - check 3. Characters with secrets - check 4. Characters with motive - check 5. Characters with opportunity - check 6. Murder victim who may or may not be a nice person - check 7. Big reveal at the end after assorted red herrings are resolved. - check

Now comes the hard part. Is it well done?

Actually I think it is. It does drag at little in the middle but the resolution works.

As for the cast. I think they all do quite well and Nicole Kidman whom I have never quite taken to actually surprises me. I usually find her cold but in this, at the end, I fully understood her character. Her much maligned accent actually makes sense in the circumstances.

Give it a try. It is not the greatest mystery ever but it is fun if you just go along for the ride.

Great cast but I feel like the show was confused with its identity the entire time. Is it a thriller? A classic whodunnit? A dramedy? The suspense was premature at best and the humor felt misplaced. Some scenes also felt out of place, and left me quite confused as to why they were included in the first place. Take the cake scene between the brothers for example - what was the point of that? Slapstick comedy? I doubt anyone laughed. A cute heartfelt moment showing playfulness between brothers? Lacked that emotion. A moment showing disdain, competition, or genuine anger between the brothers? It completely lacked depth.

Nicole Kidman is a class act but this show was one-dimensional and not well thought out. Felt almost like a high school project. Just compare it to Big Little Lies and you'll see the stark diffeence.

In terms of writing, this series borders on satirical. The script is so unnatural and forced, it's almost comedic, and as a result, I found it hard to take any of the actors seriously. How Kidman and Schreiber got wrangled into this fiasco of a production is a more suspenseful mystery than that on which this entire series is based.

That said, it does keep you engaged. I don't regret watching the series, it's a pretty formulaic production, very predictable, and if you're looking for a lazy weekend show to binge, it will scratch that itch. You're not watching Citizen Kane, but what the hey. Sometimes we all just need to turn our brains off for a bit and be entertained.

I genuinely struggled through most of it to pay attention. Most of the characters seemed lacking something or just too completely Cliche. Nicole Kidman did an excellent job at playing the stuck up/ up tight rich wife that rules every part of the families life. A lot of people said Liev Schreiber just phoned his performance in but I thought he played his roll extremely well. It boils down to a rich family murder mystery where the cops seem completely incompetent. It's only after politely asking each subject and literally taking their word for it do we FINALLY find out who the killer is, which is barely explained what the motive was.

Terrible plot, zero rhythm, police work so absurd it feels like a parody, and enough soap opera-level twists to make even telenovela writers confused. By the end of this "murder mystery," you're expecting Nicole Kidman to rip off her wig and dramatically reveal she's actually the long-lost brother of the bride's father.

By the time the grand finale rolls around and the murderer is revealed, you've stopped caring. So has the police. And the entire family, for that matter. Yet, I'm sure this will be the most-watched series of 2024-because viewers will hang on just to see how much worse it can get.