Review of 'The Perfect Couple'

So, the family and I spend a lot of time on Cape Cod, and have been loving it for decades. The Perfect Couple takes place in nearby Nantucket, and the shots of the water and the sand and those wind-blown weathered wooden fences look so much like those on the Cape, I felt like I was back there again, and it was still the summer. Hey, for all I know, those scenes were shot on the Cape. How could I not love this series?

And the lead actors, Nicole Kidman as Greer Garrison Winbury and Liev Schreiber as her husband Tag Winbury, top-notch any time, were especially outstanding in this scenic murder mystery adapted from Elin Hilderbrand's novel (which I haven't read), so well plotted, with so many nearly convincing suspects, that this novel could have been written by Agatha Christie.

The supporting actors, most of who I haven't seen on the screen before, were no slouches as well. Here are some of my favorite scenes and characters:

[And, yeah, there may be spoilers ahead ...]

• Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, the beautiful half of the imperfect couple, was perfectly convincing in her combination of almost sultry and deeply vulnerable.

• Schreiber as Tag, when he tells Merritt (pregnant with his baby) that having a baby is the most beautiful thing a man and a woman can do, as prelude to his telling her he doesn't really want her to have it, is a truly memorable scene of repulsive personal betrayal. Schreiber as Tag is also noteworthy when he bursts in and deconstructs Greer's book launch. (Greer being an author is something else I identified with -- here's a video of my most recent book launch. Note a bit of the tribulations at the end of the introduction.)

• I also got a kick out of Donna Lynne Champlin's gruff, Rosie O'Donnell kind of police detective Nikki Henry, and her interaction with Michael Beach's (whom I have seen a lot of over the years) Dan Carter as her de facto partner in the murder investigation was a fine piece of police repartee. (There is definitely something about police in that neck of the woods. They were also a pleasure to see in Hightown, which did take place on Cape Cod, and unfortunately ended too soon after just three seasons

• Ishaan Khatter as Shooter Dival was the most tempting of the false leads (he wasn't the shooter and indeed the murder victim wasn't even shot), and his relationship with Amelia gave rise to one of the most memorable phrases in the series, "the girl on the B train," which come to think of it would make a good title for any novel, short story, movie, or TV series (Irwin Shaw certainly would've liked it).
• Back to Dan Carter, my favorite relationship in the series -- maybe the closest to the perfect couple -- was Carter's daughter Chloe (not Zoey!) and her shared feelings with Will, the youngest Winbury. After she's told by her father to stay away from Will -- Dan's understandably worried that the Winbury family is connected to the murder -- she leaves Will a note on a napkin, "you're cute". Hey, a little sweetness goes a long way in a story like this. (Will is also key to figuring out who the killer is, but I'm not going to drop any more spoilers.)

Anyway, although all the clues are obviously there in retrospect, I defy anyone who hasn't read the book to identify the killer before the ending, and isn't that very essence of an alluring and altogether excellent murder mystery story. I highly recommend this Netflix short series, especially if you've just returned from Cape Cod to the big city and its B train.