A swanky wedding, a tiny island, and a murder — this is how Netflix’s The Perfect Couple begins, and it unfurls in the tense and white-knuckle manner you’d expect of an all-star whodunit. Every episode (there are six) reveals new clues, suspects, and victims, and for the discerning viewer, I’ve laid out the entire case and cast of characters in a complete recap. You’re welcome.
There’s a lot to keep track of here, so I’ve done my best to compile everything in the most easily navigable way possible. Again, you’re welcome. Also, if you’ve come here by accident and wanted a spoiler-free take on the show, my review explains why The Perfect Couple is pretty great.
Table of Contents
The Suspects
In The Perfect Couple, everyone is a suspect by design. But the cast is pretty big, so here’s a rundown of who’s who.
The Winburys
- Greer Garrison Winbury — Mother. Matriarch. Potentially a stick in an important orifice.
- Tag Winbury — Greer’s husband. DILF. Drinks.
- Benji Winbury — The groom.
- Will Winbury — Just broke up with his girlfriend.
- Abby Winbury — Pregnant.
- Thomas Winbury — Abby’s husband. In debt. Awful.
The Cops
- Detective Nikki Henry — Out-of-town cop, sent by the D.A.
- Chief Dan Carter — Local Nantucket police chief.
The Guests
- Roger Pelton — Wedding planner.
- Amelia Sacks — Bride. Not from money.
- Merritt Monaco — Maid of honor.
- Shooter Dival — Best Man.
- Gosia — Housekeeper.
- Bruce Sacks — Amelia’s father.
- Karen Sacks — Amelia’s mother.
Episode 1 — “Happy Wedding Eve”
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Sam Nivola as Will Winbury, Meghann Fahy as Merritt Monaco in episode 101 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Welcome, one and all, to the wedding rehearsal at Summerland, the sprawling Nantucket estate of the mega-wealthy Winbury family. Someone’s dead.
The premiere of the Netflix series is all table setting. It’s a huge cast, after all. So, there are a lot of obvious upstairs/downstairs dynamics, lots of introductions, and lots of subtle suggestions about what might really be going on with certain characters.
“Happy Wedding Eve” does frontload the fact that someone has been killed at the rehearsal but takes ages to reveal who it is, and even longer to tease out some potential circumstances for it. We mostly get a lot of hints about stuff that might come up again down the line, such as Amelia not being totally sure she’s in love with Benji, her mother having cancer, and Thomas being in debt.
Some of these hints build out into more dramatic sequences later, like Thomas being incredibly passive-aggressive with Benji because he’s annoyed that Abby is basically extorting his family to fund her lifestyle.
It isn’t until the end of the episode that the victim is revealed to be Merritt, Amelia’s Maid of Honor.
Episode 2 — “She Would Never Do That”
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Mia Isaac as Chloe, Michael Beach as Dan Carter in episode 102 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024
At the start of “She Would Never Do That”, Amelia’s flashback memories suggest she had an argument with Merritt on the night of the rehearsal, and the contents of this argument form this episode’s key micro mystery.
Meanwhile, several other theories are floated — a tragic late-night swim, suicide (which is where the episode’s title comes from), and a dalliance with a guest — that paint Merritt in various unsavory lights and give us suggestions about some of the other characters. Abby, for instance, implies that Merritt is promiscuous. Tag is keen on the accident theory. Greer wants Amelia to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Investigating proves difficult for Nikki and Dan. The former thinks the latter is pussyfooting around the case so as not to upset the rich folk, which he is, but for valid reasons, since he’s worried about pushing too hard and summoning an army of lawyers who’ll tangle the whole thing up in so much red tape that nobody will ever find out what happened.
In this episode, we learn that Thomas lost all his money messing around with crypto — what else? — and is having an affair with Isabel. Speaking of affairs, the big reveal here is that Merritt was having one with Tag. This is what Amelia and Merritt were arguing about on the night of the rehearsal and — dun, dun, dun — Merritt was pregnant with his child.
Greer also knows about the affair because she spotted Merritt wearing a very expensive bracelet that she had found a receipt for in the previous episode. Yikes.
Just to keep track of the forensic evidence at this point: Merritt’s body was found on the shore with an oyster shucker nearby, her belongings were dry-bagged and washed up separately, and Shooter’s fingerprints were found on her phone. Shooter also attempts to flee in this episode but is apprehended.
That gives us two suspects and counting.
Episode 3 — “The Perfect Family”
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Jack Reynor as Thomas Winbury, Dakota Fanning as Abby Winbury in episode 103 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Aptly titled, “The Perfect Family” is about keeping up appearances, even in the worst of circumstances. Reputation is, after all, a powerful thing. Greer has a magazine interview coming up, and it’s important to play the game.
But along with this, Episode 3 puts forward a new suspect in the form of the baby Winbury, Will, who has a bit of a relationship with Chief Carter’s daughter, Chloe, who was tending bar on the night of the rehearsal, and also a cut on his hand sustained that night. Uh-oh.
Related to Will, we learn that he had a French tutor named Mae Pratt who worked on the island for a summer and then mysteriously disappeared. Later, Amelia raises this at the dinner table and Thomas, who is rapidly spiraling, reveals that Tag had an affair with her and she threatened to commit suicide when he broke it off. It seems like he has a pattern.
Will blamed himself for Mae’s disappearance because he sent her a childish love note that he thought scared her off. The revelation only makes him despise his father further. But what was he up to on the night of Merritt’s death? Let’s turn to the evidence…
So we now know that someone was repeatedly calling Merritt’s phone on the day she died, and also that she had a weird voicemail from Benji. We know she was definitely pregnant, and that the blood on the oyster shucking knife found near her body, and in the sand, belongs to Will Winbury. At the very end of the episode, Amelia finds Merritt’s bracelet among Will’s things and takes it to Nikki.
But it’s worth mentioning that even with a new suspect, the previous one hasn’t been exonerated. Shooter is released from custody but he clearly has some kind of financial arrangement going on with Greer. Something to keep an eye on.
Episode 4 — “Someone Could Get Hurt”
The Perfect Couple. (L to R) Nicole Kidman as Greer Winbury, Liev Schreiber as Tag Winbury in episode 104 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Episode 4 is a little slower and less revelatory than the previous ones, focusing primarily on two angles — the relationship between Tag and Greer (and the latter’s ongoing and various infidelities), and the more surprising relationship between Amelia and Shooter.
First, though, we mostly exonerate Will. After the Coast Guard picks up him and Chloe, Chief Carter angrily interviews him, and Will has good explanations for all the evidence pointing at him. He knew about his father’s affair with Merritt, and he had warned her that Tag would never leave Greer under any circumstances. He even offered to use his trust fund to help Merritt care for the baby, which was nice of him.
Will’s simping continues. He saw Merritt drop her bracelet on the beach and picked it up so he could give it back to her later. The kid’s extremely naive, but he doesn’t seem like a murderer.
In the meanwhile, multiple flashbacks and present-day sequences show a burgeoning connection between Amelia and Shooter. Now, we still don’t know much about Shooter, and it seems like nobody else has knowledge of him either, least of all why he has so many powerful connections on tap. However, he does have a good physique, which is enough for Amelia.
“Someone Could Get Hurt” ends with Shooter and Amelia finally acting on their sexual tension, right in time for Benji to catch them in the act. Oh, and Tag is taken to the station for questioning.
Episode 5 — “Never Gonna Give You Up”
The Perfect Couple. Isabelle Adjani as Isabel Nallet in episode 105 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
Things begin to unravel for the Winburys in “Never Gonna Give You Up”, and right at the wrong time — Greer has a book launch that she’d very much like to go swimmingly, but the chances of that happening turn out to be nil.
Tag gets a big focus in this episode since he’s still in custody in the present day, and in flashbacks, we see some of his interactions with Merritt. When she initially told him about being pregnant, he seemed happy, but that quickly changed. They had an argument on the night he died because Merritt got the sense that he wanted her to abort the baby, and they ended up wrestling in the water.
However, Tag hands the police an alibi and a source of a few more clues — his smartwatch, which contains an app proving he was in bed at 2.30 am on the night of Merritt’s death. That’s earlier than the drugs were administered, exonerating him. The same app also reveals that he has spent a few nights alone.
Greer’s book launch reveals the identity of a new player — Broderick Graham. When the police eventually trace Greer’s 3 am call on the night of Merritt’s death, they discover it was to this guy’s room. He’s a runner for a gang with ties to the Turkish Mafia and has been calling the house ever since Merritt died. He was also paid three hundred grand via wire transfer by… Shooter Dival.
Amelia also learns that Shooter is rich in this episode, which puts her off him a bit. His wealth is mysterious, and so she reconciles with a very drunk Benji instead, but one suspects the love triangle subplot isn’t over. There’s also a very funny sequence during the book launch when Tag, fresh out of custody and very drunk, gives a hilarious speech about the state of his marriage to Greer, offhandedly mentions their occasional threesomes, accuses her of framing him for murder, and falls over.
At the end of the penultimate episode, Greer watches Merrit out of a window as she steps in some glass left on the sand from earlier when her toast with Isabel broke a tumbler. Someone approaches Merritt from behind, but we don’t get to see who before we cut to the credits.
Episode 6 — “That Feels Better”
The Perfect Couple. Nicole Kidman as Greer Winbury in episode 106 of The Perfect Couple. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
For your pleasure, we have an in-depth article that breaks down the ending of The Perfect Couple specifically, but for the sake of this recap here’s the tl;dr version:
- Broderick is really Greer’s brother and the money was to pay off his gambling debts. She had borrowed the funds from Shooter, but he didn’t know what they were for.
- Greer takes the opportunity to tell her family that her entire life has been a lie. She met Tag when she was working as an escort. Broderick organized the clientele, and Tag was one of her customers.
- Abby murdered Merritt by drugging and drowning her to ensure Thomas got his trust fund. The fund is only released when the youngest Winbury sibling turns 18. If Merritt had given birth to Tag’s baby, she would have had to wait another 18 years.
- Abby is arrested, and in her absence, Thomas ends up with Isabel — more or less. Tag and Greer stay together, and Will and Chloe get together.
- Amelia and Benji separate amicably, and six months later, Amelia is back working in the zoo where they met. A much softer Greer approaches her with a new manuscript, which is at least in part about her. She hopes they can see each other soon.
