Summary
The mystery deepens in episode 4 as Masha turns the screw on her guests.
This recap of the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers Season 1 Episode 4 contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
Well, Nine Perfect Strangers has definitely grabbed our attention. The cast helps, but there’s so much to unpeel in this intriguing thriller. Is it as complex as it looks? I guess we will find out.
Nine Perfect Strangers Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
The fourth episode begins with a flashback. Businesswoman and CEO Masha is handling multiple calls while walking through a car park. Suddenly, someone shoots her, and then it brings us to the present; Heather asks Masha again if she’s been medicating them at the banquet. Masha admits she has been micro-dosing them with mushrooms and states it is “perfectly safe.” The table is shocked that she has done this without their consent, but Masha states that they live in unprecedented times, and they should be thankful — she gives them the freedom to “stay or go” because the protocol can cure them. And then, Mash reveals that Lars is an investigative journalist, but she tells the man that she welcomes his exposé. What a start!
While having sex with Yao, Masha receives a call from an anonymous number. She knows it is the person who is threatening her. Yao queries her paranoia, but Masha cannot rule out that it is one of the guests. And then, Yao tells Masha that she took a huge risk telling them about the micro-dosing, but she disagrees and feels she got constructive consent. Afterward, Delilah is irritated at Yao, sensing that he’s just had sex with Masha. She tells him to sleep on the couch. This is certainly a strange dynamic.
The drugs appear to have worked for Heather — in her high state, she gets intimate with her husband, Napoleon. The next day, Napoleon is struggling with the drug use but also the grief over their son. Heather tells him there’s nothing he could have done, and he cries.
At breakfast, the group of city dwellers seems to be okay with the micro-dosing. Even Frances seems okay with it now, and she tells Tony that she came here for desperate measures. She also marks that Tony has become less of a “jackass” since arriving, so it may be worth giving the place a shot.
Carmel has her 1-on-1 with Masha. It’s relaxing at first, but Masha wants to discuss why she wants to punch Jessica in the face and wonders if she is violent. Carmel talks about how her husband left her for a younger woman and that the kids love this new woman. She ponders over her ex-husband and then shows a scar on her breast — she states he bit her in an act of passion because he couldn’t get enough of her. She decided to keep the scar as a reminder of what she used to have.
In a group session, the participants have to take out their anger on a dummy with a stick; Frances does well to take out her anger. When it is Carmel’s turn, Masha and Delilah come out with sentences that sound like what her ex-husband would say. Carmel gets extremely angry with the dummy and smashes it up. Afterward, Napoleon is frightened and asks Heather if they should leave. However, their daughter Zoe wants to stay despite it being her 21st birthday the next day.
Unknowingly, Tony has been weened off his drugs, and instead, he has been micro-dosed mushrooms in the form of pills. During his cold turkey, he starts to remember what he has done in the past. Frances talks to him as she sees he is upset. Tony says he knows what he has been capable of in the past, and Masha reminds him of that — he once punched a drunk fan at a bar and gave him brain bleeding; the man died a week later. Tony wasn’t convicted because witnesses saw it as self-defense. He opens up about this to Frances, and it is clear the guilt is eating him up.
The ending
Masha wants to go to the next stage of the protocol by upping the dosage; Delilah is disgusted by this, but Masha tells her to calm down — she doesn’t believe she’s increasing the dosage too quickly. Masha asks Delilah why she isn’t taking her smoothies and keeping her bipolarity under control. She tells her to take her medicine. It feels like Masha has everyone under control, albeit subtly.
Masha makes a toast with all the participants; it’s immediately obvious the dose has increased. As the episode ends, Masha walks through the forest, and she notices something is off. Someone has been in her lodge, and there’s a smashed vase on the floor. On the wall, there’s a message that says, “It’s Good To Die.” Masha seems to recognize the words and says, “Oh shit!” It looks like she’s not in complete control as much as we thought. .”
Additional points
- Jessica is irked that Mash hasn’t micro-dosed her and her husband, Ben.
- Zoe tells Lars that she and her deceased brother were not close — Lars tells her he doesn’t believe her and feels she is depressed.
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