The Perfect Couple 2024 Explaied | Recap & Review
A Detailed Recap, Analysis, and Review
The story centers on the impossibly lavish wedding of Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson), a down-to-earth zoologist, and Benji Winbury (Billy Howle), the sensitive middle son of the fabulously wealthy Winbury clan. The wedding is being held at the family’s sprawling Nantucket estate, meticulously orchestrated by the formidable family matriarch, Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), a famous and wildly successful mystery novelist.
The idyllic scene is shattered on the morning of the wedding when a body is discovered floating in the harbor. The victim is Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy), Amelia’s maid of honor and best friend. As a storm rolls in, trapping everyone on the island, every member of the wedding party becomes a suspect. The investigation, led by the local police chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach), peels back the layers of the seemingly perfect Winbury family, revealing a tangled web of infidelity, financial desperation, and long-buried secrets.
As the investigation progresses, secrets spill out at an alarming rate. We learn about Tag’s affair with Merritt, Thomas’s staggering debt to Isabel, and Greer’s own hidden past as a high-class escort with a gangster brother she still financially supports. Red herrings are thrown about with abandon, pointing the finger at nearly every character at some point.
Character Arcs & Analyses
Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman):
Greer is your classic high-society matriarch , polished, powerful, and unapologetically icy. But Nicole Kidman brings more to the table than just surface-level snobbery. Underneath all that control and manipulation is a woman driven by a fierce, if deeply flawed, desire to protect her family’s image at all costs. Her backstory reveals she’s a survivor, which makes her way more layered than your typical “rich mom with a sharp tongue.”
Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson):
Amelia is basically the “normal” one , our eyes and ears inside this bizarre, privileged world. Eve Hewson plays her with a down-to-earth charm that makes her instantly relatable. She’s fascinated by the glamor, but as the cracks begin to show, her discomfort grows. She’s torn between wanting in and knowing it’s all rotten underneath.
Abby Winbury (Dakota Fanning):
Dakota Fanning absolutely nails it as Abby, who might seem sweet on the outside but is anything but. She’s cool, calculating, and fully fluent in the Winbury way of doing things , which means everything is a transaction. Abby’s the kind of character who smiles while sticking in the knife, making her one of the most chilling and quietly powerful presences in the story.
Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber):
Tag is the textbook definition of checked out. He’s rich, bored, and emotionally AWOL. Liev Schreiber plays him with a kind of effortless detachment , a man who’s handed off the reins of his life to his wife and numbed himself with affairs and booze. He’s not exactly evil, but his apathy makes him complicit in the family’s slow-motion collapse.
Shooter & Amelia Relationship
The main plot would still end with Abby being the killer whether Shooter was there or not. However, his narrative purpose wasn’t to change the whodunit plot, but to justify Amelia’s character arc.
- He’s the “What If?”: Without Shooter, Amelia’s doubts about marrying Benji are just abstract anxieties about joining a dysfunctional family. Shooter makes that doubt tangible. He represents a different path, a life that’s simpler, more authentic, and connected to her genuine passion for zoology (something the Winburys see as a cute, quirky hobby). He is the living, breathing alternative to the gilded cage she’s about to enter.
- He Justifies the Final Decision: Her final choice to walk away from Benji is much more powerful and believable because we’ve seen a glimpse of a world where she’s happier and more herself. Her chemistry with Shooter proves to her (and to us) that her connection with Benji might not be the epic love she thought it was. Without him, her leaving could be seen as just running away from problems. With him, it’s about running towards a more authentic version of herself.
So, while their “romance” was underdeveloped, Shooter’s function was critical for Amelia’s journey. He was less of a love interest and more of a symbol of the life she truly wanted.
Thomas’s Debt to Isabel Explained
This is a point the show handles very subtly, almost too subtly, so it’s easy to miss. It’s never stated explicitly, but it is heavily implied that the debt comes from a failed business venture.
Think about Thomas’s character: he’s the arrogant eldest son desperate to prove he’s more than just a “Winbury.” The most likely scenario is that he tried to launch a startup (a hedge fund, a tech company, etc.) to make his own name. To get the seed money, he went to Isabel, his mother’s wealthy best friend and a powerful player in her own right. The business almost certainly failed spectacularly, leaving him millions of dollars in debt to a woman who is deeply entangled with his family.
Why this matters: This subplot is the engine for the entire murder motive. Without that crushing, time-sensitive debt, Thomas and Abby’s desperation doesn’t land. Merritt’s pregnancy pushes their access to the family trust fund back by 18 years, money they needed now to repay Isabel and avoid total ruin. It’s the ticking clock that makes them capable of murder.
The Ending Explained
The final episode brings all the simmering tensions to a boil. The police initially suspect Greer, believing she hired her brother to deal with Merritt. Then, suspicion shifts to Thomas, who admits he stole a barbiturate pill from Amelia’s terminally ill mother. He intended to scare Merritt into an abortion because her pregnancy would delay his access to the family trust fund for another 18 years, money he desperately needs to pay back Isabel.
However, the true killer is revealed in a chilling flashback: Abby, Thomas’s wife.
Driven by the same financial motive as Thomas, Abby took matters into her own hands. She crushed the stolen barbiturate into a glass of juice and gave it to Merritt on the beach. When a woozy Merritt stumbled into the water, Abby followed her and held her head under the surface until she drowned. Her confession is cold and pragmatic; she saw Merritt’s pregnancy as a direct threat to the luxurious life she felt she was owed and eliminated the problem with ruthless efficiency.
In the aftermath, the “perfect couple” is no more. Amelia and Benji, realizing their relationship was built on a foundation of secrets and dysfunction, break off the engagement and go their separate ways. The Winbury family is left shattered, their perfect facade irrevocably broken.
Why Greer Writes a Book about Amerlia at the end?
Greer’s entire identity is built on two pillars: being a successful mystery novelist and being the controller of her family’s perfect image. The murder of Merritt and the subsequent implosion of her family shatters the second pillar completely. Writing the book is her way of using the first pillar to rebuild the second on her own terms.
- To Control the Narrative: The events at the wedding are a public relations nightmare and a deep personal humiliation. The story of her family’s secrets, infidelity, financial ruin, and murder, will be told by the media, the police, and gossips. As a novelist, Greer’s greatest weapon is storytelling. By writing her own version, she can frame the events, emphasize certain details, omit others, and ultimately have the final word. It’s her way of seizing control back from the chaos.
- Art Imitating Life: For a famous mystery writer, having a real-life whodunit unfold in her own home is twistedly perfect source material. It’s almost a professional obligation for her to write about it. She processes the world through plots, characters, and motives. Turning this tragedy into a novel is the most natural, almost compulsive, way for her to make sense of it all.
- Amelia as the Perfect Protagonist: As the review points out, Amelia is the “audience surrogate”, the innocent outsider who enters a corrupt world and exposes its secrets. From a novelist’s perspective, Amelia is the perfect vehicle for the story. The book wouldn’t necessarily be a biography of Amelia, but rather a story told through a character like her, allowing readers to experience the shock and horror of the Winbury family’s downfall from a relatable point of view.
What her Book Is About
The book would almost certainly be a fictionalized, sensationalized version of the show’s events. It would be a mystery novel that mirrors what happened:
- The Plot: A young, idealistic woman is about to marry into an incredibly wealthy and powerful family at their lavish island estate. On the morning of the wedding, her maid of honor is found murdered.
- The Twist: The investigation unravels the family’s perfect facade, revealing a web of secrets, affairs, and betrayals, proving that any one of them could have been the killer.
Essentially, Greer would take the real-life tragedy and turn it into her next bestseller. It’s the ultimate act of a survivor: taking the ugliest moment of her life and spinning it into gold, ensuring that even in ruin, she comes out on top.
Themes and Real-Life Connections
At first glance, the Winburys seem to have it all , the beautiful home, the designer clothes, the flawless reputation. But peel back the layers, and it’s all smoke and mirrors. What looks perfect on the outside is actually built on lies, and it’s only a matter of time before it all starts to crack.
The show makes it clear , being rich doesn’t fix your problems; it just disguises them behind fancier curtains. In fact, the more money these characters have, the messier things get. Their sense of right and wrong is completely skewed by privilege, and they act like the rules don’t apply to them.
In the Winburys’ world, secrets aren’t just things to hide , they’re a form of currency. People hoard them, trade them, and use them to manipulate each other. The murder investigation doesn’t create chaos; it simply reveals the twisted game that’s already been playing out behind closed doors.
Review
Reception Rundown:
The series has stirred up a mix of opinions, but overall, it’s landing pretty well with audiences. Most people are calling it exactly what it sets out to be — the kind of glossy, addictive escape you want when you’re just looking to unwind.
On Rotten Tomatoes:
Critics have given it a 66% approval rating. The general vibe? It’s a juicy, soap-style mystery with a great cast. Sure, some critics think the plot’s a bit too predictable and the social commentary doesn’t go very deep, but others are here for the ride and enjoying every twist.
On IMDb:
Viewers are rating it around 6.5 out of 10. A lot of fans are loving the performances, especially Nicole Kidman and Dakota Fanning, and say the show feels like a “beach read” — light, fun, and hard to stop watching. That said, some folks aren’t as fond of the characters, and a few were underwhelmed by the big reveal.
Bottom Line:
The Perfect Couple isn’t trying to reinvent the genre — and that’s exactly why it works. It’s slick, entertaining, and packed with drama. If you’re in the mood for a murder mystery that’s more fun than thought-provoking, this one’s an easy binge.
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