THE PERFECT COUPLE Ep. 1.1

Name: THE PERFECT COUPLE Ep. 1.1
Item: THE PERFECT COUPLE Ep. 1.1
Author: Review

"Witty, Fast-Paced Crime Drama, Riddled with Excessive Immorality"

Content: -3 Excessive sex, violence, immorality, and/or worldview problems. (Sometimes excessive content such as violence is in otherwise redemptive movies.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

The first episode of the Netflix TV mini-series THE PERFECT COUPLE sets the stage as wedding guests arrive on Nantucket for an expensive rehearsal dinner. Tensions are high the day before Amelia and Benji's wedding day. Benji's family, the Winburys, are the wealthy hosts of the lavish weekend and are far from supportive of the couple. Even more profound than the judgment across families is the family dynamics between the Winbury siblings and their parents, ready to boil over. Despite their plain distaste, the Winburys put on a great show at the rehearsal dinner. However, chaos ensues after the discovery of a dead body on the morning of the wedding.

Episode 1 of Season 1 of THE PERFECT COUPLE offers an intriguing start to a crime drama. It features witty dialogue and a gradual rise in tension throughout the show, masterfully executed by focusing on the various family social class dynamics. Unfortunately, the first episode contains excessive foul language, drug and alcohol abuse, and some lewd content. MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for all audiences.

Content:

( Ro, LLL, VV, A, S, NN, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Romantic worldview depicting the Winbury parents guided by their emphasis on class, money, success and fitting into their mold, as a result they look down upon anyone and everyone, even their future daughter-in-law and son,

Foul Language:

Strong, excessive language throughout the first episode, including over 15 uses of the f-word, four uses of the b-word, and two uses of the s-word, there are also several profanities such as one GD and, OMG and “Jesus” used as a expletive, there are also many crass and crude conversations about fantasizing about infidelity, and some anatomical jokes;

Violence:

Despite being focused around a suspected murder, the event itself is never shown in full detail, we do see a dead body floating face down in the water, it is later revealed that the victim was stabbed with an oyster shucker, but minimal blood is shown, a woman has a deep gash on her foot, the Winbury’s are constantly verbally abusing each other; Alcohol Use/Abuse: Alcohol throughout, at wedding rehearsals, in the morning after working out, and offered to guests when they arrive, while not explicit, it is clear in some scenes that members of the wedding party are drunk;

Sex:

No depicted sex, the couple who are going to be married begin to undress and are in the underwear, but they do not continue, there are many gross conversations about people accusing others of sexual acts, while these are never that graphic, they are a frequent rhythm in the show;

Nudity:

A woman wears revealing underwear in several scenes, other characters wear bikinis;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

A woman with cancer has multiple drugs, including ones that are alluded to being able to kill her if she desires, characters smoke weed throughout, they also joke about meth in one scene;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

As its central tension building tactic, it shows the flaws of every character, which means there is a rare moral character, this is redeemed by the fact that the police charged with investigating the dead body are portrayed in a good light in the first episode.

More Detail:

THE PERFECT COUPLE is a mini-series on Netflix starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber as Mr. and Mrs. Winbury, an extremely wealthy couple who are particular about everything in their lives: their children’s occupations, their current relationships and who they want to marry.

The first episode of the six-part series sets the stage for Amelia to marry Benji Winbury. The episode begins during the rehearsal dinner, where everyone is in good spirits. However, the underlying tension is palpable, especially between the Winbury family members, parents Greer (Kidman) and Tag (Schreiber), their three sons, Thomas and Benji, and their youngest, Will.

On her wedding day, Amelia discovers a dead body. Enter the head detective and the police force to investigate what they presume to be murder. Everyone at the rehearsal dinner is a suspect, and they bring them all in for questioning.

Throughout their interrogations, the episode fills in essential details from the day before the rehearsal dinner and the events leading up to the death of one of the guests. The perfect, wealthy family introduced at the rehearsal dinner has some internal strife, whether they admit it or not.

THE PERFECT COUPLE is a well-shot, edited, and acted crime drama. The first episode does a fantastic job of building the tension between all the characters. The dialogue is witty and fast-paced but marred by excessive foul language. The first episode asks, “Does real love exist.” From the outside perspective, every character doubts who they love or hates those they claim to love. This marred view of love plays a significant role in the rising tension but leaves the show’s morality ambiguous, with few redeemable characters.

Overall, THE PERFECT COUPLE has a romantic, twisted worldview of what a family can and should be. But that’s the series’ goal, which passes with flying colors. However, the series contains unnecessary immorality, such as excessive foul language and sexual content. From the first episode, it’s difficult to tell which characters may find redemption, which adds intrigue to the show. MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution for viewers.

Watch THE PERFECT COUPLE Ep. 1.1 →

Quality:

- Content: -3