All ‘The Perfect Couple’s episodes ranked by entertainment value
You may have guessed who the killer is on The Perfect Couple, but one mystery will require a seriously keen eye. Which is the best episode of the series?
What’s The Perfect Couple on Netflix about?
The Winburys are a rich and affluent family headed by Greer (Nicole Kidman), a successful novelist, and her husband Tag (Liev Schreiber). They have three sons—Thomas (Jack Reynor), who is married to a very pregnant Abby (Dakota Fanning), Benji (Billy Howle), and Will (Sam Nivola). The family and their friends have gathered in Nantucket for the wedding of Benji and Amelia (Eve Hewson), a zoologist from a much humbler background. When the body of Amelia’s maid of honor, Merritt (Meghann Fahy) is found at the beach the morning after the rehearsal dinner, the wedding party is shaken up and the skeletons in their closet—and they each have quite a few—come crashing down.
Ranking The Perfect Couple episodes from worst to best
The Perfect Couple, based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand, spans six episodes and can be described as the Emily In Paris of rich-people murder mysteries. Now, we’ll solve the case of which one of the show’s episodes was the most killer!
Major spoilers ahead for The Perfect Couple.
6. Episode 2, “She Would Never Do That”
There’s no denying that a lot happens in The Perfect Couple episode 2. We find out about Merritt’s pregnancy and that Greer and Amelia knew about the affair between Tag and Merritt. This episode also provides a major clue for shrewd viewers to figure out who the killer is, because they do something quite uncharacteristic. When you compare it to the other episodes that pack a lot more punch, however, this one falls short. That whole business with Shooter (Ishaan Khatter) trying to escape the island and acting all naïve and confused? That felt a bit silly!
5. Episode 5, “Never Gonna Give You Up”
I like to call this episode the awkward child of the series because some truly bonkers stuff was going down at Greer’s book launch party. NGL, there were some genuinely entertaining moments with a drunk Tag getting up on stage and exposing the lies about his and Greer’s “happy marriage,” and that atrocious singing performance that Greer reluctantly joined to keep up the farce. It’s a great look at the titular perfect couple on paper unraveling while the mistakes of the other couples are also highlighted.
But IMO, what brings the episode down is the Shooter-Amelia-Benji triangle, which turns out to be quite unconvincing because it’s barely given space to develop and cause more friction. So when Amelia has hot, passionate sex with her (former) fiancé Benji, and tells Shooter about it, leaving both her relationships in the lurch, it’s unsatisfactory. I’d rather be focused on the murder investigation instead.
4. Episode 4, “Someone Could Get Hurt”
Sigh! This episode held such promise, even if in hindsight, the episode that followed didn’t deliver on it. The thing about The Perfect Couple is that when the series makes someone look like an obvious red herring, they almost always are exactly that. That whole Will Winbury as a suspect arc, because he had Merritt’s bracelet, was something you could easily see through.
However, we also got Shooter and Amelia’s backstory. I was hoping they’d had a sexual affair rather than merely an emotional one to make this more scandalous, but as it turns out, they hadn’t even kissed. Amelia had second thoughts about her marriage based on one fireside chat and her belief that Shooter wasn’t wealthy, like her (which was eventually revealed as a lie). Despite not being sold on their romance, having them act on their attraction and Benji catching them red-handed set up some exciting drama. Unfortunately, it was never really followed up on.
3. Episode 3, “The Perfect Family”
This packed episode reveals a lot of juicy tidbits about the Winburys and opens new possibilities for suspects, including the youngest Winbury, whose fingerprints are found on the oyster knife. From Tag’s nauseatingly romantic behavior during Greer’s People magazine interview to Abby turning Amelia on to Mae Pratt, Will’s tutor, and Amelia catching Greer’s conversation with Shooter about the money, there are plenty of new plot threads to follow in this episode.
What truly makes this a top-three episode is, hands down, the dinner table scene where all hell breaks loose and the carefully crafted image of the perfect family completely falls apart. This was a tricky comedic moment and the actors pulled it off well.
2. Episode 1, “Happy Wedding Eve”
With our short attention spans and the constant need for instant gratification, the first episode can make or break a series. Luckily, The Perfect Couple had a perfect, well-paced opener on its hands, as we were introduced to the Winbury family and given time to make up our minds about this dysfunctional family’s dynamic. Detective Nikki Henry’s (Donna Lynne Champlin) no-nonsense introduction and the scenes with the characters being interrogated were especially juicy.
It’s not revealed until the end of the episode which character is the murder victim, and this was a great narrative decision. It’s also the first time we see the opening credits, and let’s be honest, we were all instantly hooked. It’s so catchy!
1. Episode 6, “That Feels Better”
This is easily the best episode of the series because the revelation about Greer’s past and the way Nicole Kidman delivers the news to her family is quite the hilarious curveball, and the family’s reaction makes it all the better. While it’s relatively easy to guess who the killer is, Thomas’s testimony is pretty memorable too. The Perfect Couple deviates from the ending of Hilderbrand’s novel by having the killer arrested, and it is one of the many improvements it makes compared to the original plot. Additionally, the killer’s motivations aren’t flimsy and make total sense.
While I did wish for a better sense of closure after the killer’s arrest, the epilogue featuring Greer and Amelia was a nice way to tie things up!
So, does your ranking of the episodes match ours?
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