What You Need to Know About ‘The Perfect Couple’s 6 Key Relationships
Preview
Life is good for the Winburys. Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) is a best-selling author with the kind of unattainable life that graces the cover of magazines. She has a handsome and submissive husband in Tag (Liev Schreiber), three appropriately preppy sons, and a Nantucket existence that reeks of privilege and money to burn.
Of course, there is more to the story though, as viewers will learn in Netflix’s new limited series The Perfect Couple, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling novel. The night before the wedding between their middle son Benji (Billy Howle) and Amelia (Eve Hewson), a sudden death threatens to unleash the Winburys’ secrets and grudges, and shatter the image of perfection they project to the outside world.
But before the chaos begins, showrunner and writer Jenna Lamia is taking TV Insider through the couples on the guest list to see if there is such a thing as the “perfect couple.”
The Perfect Couple, Series Premiere, September 5, Netflix
Greer & Tag
When audiences meet Greer and Tag Winbury, their well-manicured existence barely hides the taut strings holding their marriage, family, and sanity together, Lamia says.
“I think we meet them when they are still putting quite a bit of energy into presenting the facade of perfection,” she says. “Tag goes along with it all because Greer is the alpha. Not only in this marriage, but also this family. Everything is according to what she has decreed.”
Where Greer lives and breathes her Type A personality, Tag enjoys leisurely strolling the property and smoking hand-rolled joints to pass the time. They could not be more different, which is what they tell people has been the pillar to their long-lasting marriage. But Lamia says the catalyst of the show’s major death unleashes that aforementioned performative energy in other potentially destructive directions. In particular, she teases a big scene in Episode 5 between Greer and Tag as among her favorite to write because she got to embrace just how easily things can “fall apart in spectacular fashion.”
Amelia & Benji
The happy couple who have gathered their near and dear on Nantucket Island for a Fourth of July wedding should be the no-brainer contenders for the title of The Perfect Couple. Beautiful, young, and not wanting for anything, they have it all. But Lamia says the nagging imbalance in their relationship doesn’t work as well as it has for Greer and Tag.
“Amelia is really doing for others in ways that aren’t always serving her,” she says. “A lot of women fall into that trap, especially young women who haven’t had a ton of relationships.”
But does she actually want to get married? That’s a question the show will attempt to answer, though Lamia teases Amelia may be torn between two worlds.
On the other hand, Benji is head over heels for his bride to be, especially as he’s grown to see that he wasn’t raised in the most nurturing of homes. “I think he loves for all the right reasons,” Lamia says. “For how independent she is, for how authentic she is. He’s craving that in his life because he has a sense that there is some inauthenticity at the core of his family.”
Abby & Thomas
Somewhere between the expertly crafted marriage of Greer and Tag, and the naive youthfulness of Amelia and Benji, there’s the almost-comedic coupling of Abby (Dakota Fanning) and Thomas (Jack Reynor). The latter is the eldest Winbury son, who doesn’t always get the same undying affection from his parents that his brothers do. It’s why he married Abby, a natural born socialite who he thinks will blend right in.
“They were so fun to write because they are the id — and the ego, actually — of this show,” Lamia says. “They are cut from the same cloth and care a lot about having nice things, living in the right place and wearing the right clothes. But one of them is a lot more willing to do whatever it takes to get those things.”
As for which one that is, Abby and Thomas will battle it out as the series goes on. But at the beginning, Fanning will have a ball playing into the shameless, almost gleefully conniving way in which Abby basks in the wealth and status of the Winburys. If Thomas married her for the image, she married him for the money.
Amelia & Merritt
Lamia believes the “truest love in the whole show” isn’t a romantic one, but rather the friendship between Amelia and Merritt (Meghann Fahy). “I don’t think either of them entered this friendship to get anything other than absolute honesty and support, and that’s a rare thing in any friendship but specifically between two women,” she says.
Fully entrenched in the waspy lifestyle of her future in-laws on the eve of her wedding, Amelia seizes on her maid of honor’s presence maybe more than ever before. Merritt is the person she can trust amid a sea of conflicting agendas.
“I think it is really important to write female friendships in an authentic way that shows how healthy they can be,” Lamia tells TV Insider. “They aren’t always competitive, and when they are deep and long lasting, I just can’t think of a better love.”
Conversely, Benji and his best friend, Shooter (Ishaan Khattar), can’t quite find the words for their friendship. They have been as close as brothers for years, and Shooter has been treated as a member of the Winbury family. “There is no less love there, they just don’t express their love quite as openly,” Lamia says.
Carter & Henry
Perhaps the most important and reluctant partnership on the show is between Police Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin). Tasked with investigating a death, they are diametrically opposed — and that’s why Lamia added the character of Det. Henry for the series.
“It’s just really important to have someone to talk to when you are looking into a mystery,” she says. “It is just nice to have a confessor character to report your findings back to.”
But their partnership is tense from day one. Carter is from the island and knows how to navigate the delicate relationship between law and privilege. Henry, meanwhile, doesn’t care about the customs of the island. She cares about finding the truth, no matter how many designer feathers she ruffles.
Lamia crafted their dynamic after Jaws, which heavily influenced the series in her mind. She sees Henry as Richard Dreyfuss’ off-island character sparring with Roy Scheider’s aquaphobic police chief. In other words, they will grow to trust each other under the worst circumstances.
Be on the lookout for some surprising lingering glances from both Carter and Henry, even if they aren’t directed at each other. Speaking of surprises…
Amelia & Greer
Lamia says the relationship that surprised her the most in writing the series was the dynamic between Greer and Amelia. While Greer welcomes Amelia and her parents into her home with open arms, she is increasingly irritated and intrigued by her future daughter-in-law. Amelia walks around in a bra and underwear, and she openly dismisses what people think about her.
“Amelia is authentic at all times, and to be around someone like that for Greer is incredibly irksome and threatening,” Lamia says. “I think Greer grows to really respect Amelia, even as she is examining her own feelings for her. They just have to go through a lot of stuff to get there.”
Lamia wonders if Greer and Amelia might actually be friends under different circumstances. You know, if it wasn’t for their in-law tension, Greer’s snide remarks and the murder on the Winburys waterfront lawn.
“I think their story is just beginning by the end of this series,” she says.
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