Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Netflix’s The Perfect Couple.
Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand, The Perfect Couple wouldn’t work if it didn’t happen to resolve the mystery behind the death the entire story revolves around. Starring Nicole Kidman, Eve Hewson, and Dakota Fanning, the Netflix series tracks the investigation that follows after maid-of-honor and best friend of the bride, Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy), is found dead on the day of the wedding of Benji Winbury (Billy Howle) and Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson). Naturally, the list of suspects includes everyone present on the Nantucket property, especially considering everyone on the guest list has dubious morals and questionable intentions. The Perfect Couple keeps the killer’s identity a secret until the very end, despite dropping bits and crumbs for the audience to put the pieces together in this lavishly-styled whodunit.
The List of Suspects Continues to Grow in ‘The Perfect Couple’
Throughout the limited series’ six episodes, the team of investigators, led by Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin), take their time narrowing down the long list of suspects, each of whom has a valid motive to kill Merritt. Episode 2, “She Would Never Do That,” ends with the shocking revelation of Merritt’s relationship with Benji’s father, Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber), as well as the reveal that Merritt told the truth about their affair to her best friend, Amelia, the night before her death. Merritt’s pregnancy as a result of her relationship with Tag makes it obvious why many in the Winbury family could have reason to want her dead. Although Carter and Henry do happen to catch the killer, they achieve the feat only after making a good number of false starts.
Episode 6, “That Feels Better,” opens with the arrest of family matriarch Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) after her ties with a dubious man named Broderick Graham (Thomas Flanagan) are exposed. It turns out that Broderick has connections to the Turkish mafia, and he has been trying to contact Greer for quite some time, even calling her on the night of Merritt’s murder. A wire transfer of $300,000 from the account of Benji’s best friend and best man, Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khatter), to Broderick leads Carter and Henry to conclude that Greer paid Broderick through Shooter to kill Merritt. However, the investigators are shocked when they learn the truth about Broderick’s real identity. Greer reveals that Broderick happens to be her brother, and she had asked for a loan from Shooter to help Broderick repay the money he owed to the Turkish mafia. This revelation leaves Dan and Henry looking in other directions, bringing them to the next suspect: Benji’s older brother, Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor).
Merritt’s Pregnancy Threatens Many Potential Suspects in ‘The Perfect Couple’
When Amelia divulges that barbiturates were found in Merritt’s blood report, Amelia’s mother, Karen Sacks (Dendrie Taylor), goes looking in her travel pill organizer, where she had been keeping three pills, to find one of them missing. Around the same time, Benji reveals to the investigators that his brother Thomas has a habit of stealing other people’s pills for a game he calls “prescription roulette.” Carter and Henry theorize that Thomas may have stolen the pill from Karen and put it in Merritt’s drink. Although Thomas admits to stealing the pill and later trying to scare Merritt on the beach with one of his father’s guns, he directs the investigators toward Winbury family friend and his not-so-secret lover, Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani).
Thomas reveals that Isabel stopped him from shooting Merritt in an attempt to scare her into getting rid of her unborn baby. However, Isabel had also loaned Thomas $2.5 million, and Thomas could only have paid her back after the trust fund money was released on the eighteenth birthday of the youngest Winbury child, Will (Sam Nivola). If Merritt gave birth to Tag’s child, it meant that the trust fund’s release date would be pushed back by another 18 years, until Tag’s fourth child from Merritt came of age. Thomas points out that Isabel could have killed Merritt to ensure that the fund money was released in time and her loan was paid back. But Isabel quickly clears her name from the suspect list by revealing that she was actually with Thomas at the Sand Dollar hotel on the night of Merritt’s murder.
Who Killed Merritt Monaco in Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Couple’?
Isabel’s testimony not only saves her but also provides an alibi for Thomas. However, this revelation alarms Detective Henry, who brings the Chief’s attention to the interview of the Winbury family housekeeper, Gosia (Irina Dubova). According to Gosia, Thomas did not sleep in his bed that night, further corroborating the conclusion that Thomas was not present on the family’s Nantucket property. However, much to Henry’s shock, Thomas’s pregnant wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning), previously lied to her about Thomas sleeping in their bed on the night of the murder. Gosia also suggests that Abby had asked her to wash a glass with hot water on the morning after the murder, a task the housekeeper had not finished. Henry then remembers Abby washing a glass nervously when she had come across her in the house, leaving the detective to wonder whether the glass contained the barbiturate used by the killer.
Once Henry confirms that Abby was lying about Thomas’s whereabouts on the night of Merritt’s murder, it becomes quite easy to pin down Abby as the murderer. At the end of The Perfect Couple, soon after Thomas’s return to the house from the police station, the police arrive to arrest Abby for the murder of Merritt Monaco. Finally, the pieces of the puzzle fit together, and it is established that Abby was the mastermind behind Merritt’s untimely demise. In an earlier episode, Abby is seen telling Henry that her family does not possess the kind of money that the Winburys did. Also, Abby is constantly pressuring Thomas to seek a loan from his father for an apartment she wants him to buy. In addition, Thomas is already suffering from a huge debt and is involved in an affair with Isabel — something Abby is aware of. With all her options exhausted, the Winbury trust fund remained her only way out. Merritt’s pregnancy directly threatened Abby’s aspirations and position.
How Does Merritt Die in ‘The Perfect Couple’?
In a flashback to the moments before Merritt’s death, it is revealed that Abby decides to take matters into her own hands after Thomas fails in the mission she sent him to complete when Isabel interrupted him. Finding the right opportunity, Abby takes some pills from Thomas’s stash and mixes them with a drink that she then offers to Merritt. Once Merritt consumes the drug-laced drink, Abby takes Merritt for a swim and drowns her by pushing her head down in the water. With the effect of the drugs taking over, Merritt fails to resist Abby’s attempts and struggles until her body loses the last bit of breath. By killing Merritt, Abby manages to remove any complications arising from her pregnancy and relationship with Tag — safeguarding Thomas and more importantly, herself.
Although the series never pins down all the evidence hinting at Abby’s crime, it keeps dropping hints, at regular intervals, that incriminate Abby as the culprit early on, only if the audience is eagle-eyed to notice them. Notably, ever since the arrival of Merritt as Amelia’s bridesmaid, Abby can be seen keeping a keen eye over Amelia and her best friend, suggesting that Abby remains in control of everything that goes down in the Winbury household, although she likes to remain on the periphery. Further, Abby lives up to her strategy of staying away from the spotlight, as she tries to manipulate Thomas into getting what she wants. She can also be seen trying to get on Amelia’s good side by suggesting a certain level of relatability between the two — although it’s clear that Abby thinks of herself above Amelia, who is a complete outsider in the world of the Winburys. In Episode 5, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Abby even acknowledges her privilege by suggesting to Amelia that the police won’t arrest her because she is a white woman. Finally, in the finale, when Dan and Henry discuss Merritt’s toxicology report, they talk about the presence of a substance called tallow found in Merritt’s hair shaft. In Episode 3, Abby can be seen using a cosmetic product that contains the same ingredient for her stretch marks. The tallow transferred from her hands to Merritt’s hair when she drowned the maid of honor.
Once the identity of the killer is revealed, The Perfect Couple engages in closing the various storylines. It’s hinted that Tag and Greer will be taking a break, with Greer departing for the city to write her next book. Benji and Amelia part ways and seemingly close the door on their relationship. An angry Isabel comes looking for Thomas after Thomas tries framing her for Merritt’s murder. In a final twist, The Perfect Couple jumps six months forward to London, where Greer pays a visit to Amelia at the zoo where she works. To Amelia’s surprise, Greer reveals that she has chosen to write her next book about Amelia and hands her a copy. In a final moment of reconciliation, it appears that Greer looks forward to forming a friendship with Amelia, even though she had once viewed her potential daughter-in-law with suspicion. This change of heart comes as a result of Greer’s acceptance of her own past, which she had tried avoiding for the longest time. By the end of The Perfect Couple, Kidman’s character comes to terms with herself and her own identity.
All episodes of The Perfect Couple are available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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