“The Bear,” “Only Murders,” and more of this summer’s hottest TV series
USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler lists this summer’s must-see TV shows, including the return of “The Bear” and “Only Murders in the Building.”
You know exactly what to expect when you sit down and watch The Perfect Pair.
Netflix’s latest miniseries has a seemingly perfect recipe: Beautiful beaches on Nantucket, an attractive young cast, a snappy 2018 novel by Elin Hilderbrand as a template, a mysterious death to investigate, terribly rich people to boo, and Nicole Kidman in a bad wig. It’s about “Big Little Lies” on the East Coast, or maybe “White Lotus” for New England WASPs. Or maybe “The Undoing” with brighter lighting. Whatever it is, it certainly aspires to be the kind of addictive, soapy crime drama similar to those hit series that have taken over the zeitgeist in recent years.
Perfect Couple (now streaming, ★★½ out of four) feels like it’s been pieced together from a number of different shows, and that’s telling. The series is a bit of a mishmash and at times a very unfocused story that would probably have been better with fewer episodes or simply a movie with all the extraneous bells and whistles removed. Too many modern TV series waste viewers’ time; they’re frustrating slow burners that take ages to get to the good part, if there’s anything good at all. Couple, on the other hand, is good at the beginning and fantastic at the end, but drags painfully in between, a fluffy doughnut with bland filling.
But it’s still a donut: chewy, gooey and fun.
Couple is set in a picturesque Nantucket mansion owned by the blue-blooded Winbury family, led by their icy matriarch and best-selling author Greer (Kidman) and pot-smoking slacker patriarch Tag (Liev Schreiber). They’re throwing a grandiose wedding for their son Benji (Billy Howle) and his very middle-class fiancée Amelia (Eve Hewson from Apple’s excellent Bad Sisters). But the seaside soiree is interrupted when a body is discovered on the beach. Now all the dirty little secrets of this seemingly perfect family (full of perfect-looking couples) are coming to light.
The cast is worth far more than the material it’s given, including “Lotus” star (and Emmy nominee) Meghann Fahy as the party-girl maid of honor and Dakota Fanning as the bride’s clearly terrible future sister-in-law. Fanning sometimes seems to be the only one who realizes what kind of show she’s on, and her frivolous, mean-spirited charisma is a delicious treat. You’ll love to hate her and not love her for her snide comments and the occasional snack of someone else’s wedding cake.
Without giving away who died or how (at Netflix’s request), it’s difficult to speak to the plot other than to say that it often makes little sense. A lot of disparate storylines that could be tied to the central mystery, but are quickly resolved. There aren’t enough red herrings to make this a murder mystery that asks the audience to guess the killer (if there is one). It’s also extremely frustrating that the procedural elements move at a snail’s pace, from the police looking up something as simple as phone records in Episode 5 to the press not becoming interested in a mysterious death on the property of a famous and wealthy family until weeks later.
Still, the ending is juicy and genuinely surprising, part of a final episode that makes for some hilarious entertainment. If only the melodramatic, almost ridiculous tone could have been replicated in each of the episodes. It’s clear that creator Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”) tried, right down to the opening credits, where the cast performs a choreographed dance to Meghan Trainor’s “Criminals.” It’s begging to be a TikTok trend (if the kids don’t find it too “embarrassing”).
Hilderbrand is known for her quick and satisfying “beach reads,” and “Couple” might have been better had it come out on a lazy, hot summer weekend, when watching six hours of a passable, almost good show seemed like the best way to waste time. During a busy September, when dozens of new and returning series are vying for our attention, it might not be worth it.
After all, nothing is really perfect.
