If there is one thing Netflix’s new Godbit to its viewers, The perfect couplemanage to do right from the jump, it makes you a binge-watcher if you are not already one. It’s almost a challenge: Can you get through all six episodes in a single meeting? The answer is yes. It is addictive from get-go with the glorious, out of the place Bollywood-style dance sequence in the opening credit. If the whole six hours were just that sequence at repetition, I would still be shamelessly glued on the screen.

Money, money, money

Right from bats, the head player is introduced: money. It’s not just a background – it’s practically a character that draws life in the motifs for each of the glorious dysfunctional ensemble. Like the smoothness of an Agatha Christie Whodunit crossed with the dark hilarity of The white lotusMoney is the invisible hand that controls every secret, power struggle and of course murder. Of course, it doesn’t have a face, but it’s ubiquitous – like a perfectly well -groomed puppet in the shadows that pull all the strings.

The setup is real estate on its finest: a mansion (which has at least 50 bedrooms) located on the Nantucket coast. It hosts an event bridges than a royal wedding where Nicole Kidman, who plays Greer Garrison Winbury, takes his role as a matriarch very seriously. Greer is the epitome of rich, icy perfection, smiling through broken teeth by the impending marriage with his second son, Benji (Billy Howle), to Amelia (Eve Hewson), a girl who, in polite conditions, “in Greer’s eyes. But much to her joy does not go completely off the ground because of the dead body washing up on the beach morning. And in classic murder mystery fashion, everyone is a suspect. No one is off the hook here and they all have a motif.

Susanne Bier who gave us the blank Hugh Grant and Kidman-Starrer The descendantreturning with another luxe offering. This time, the effort feels even higher thanks to her effortless command of the narrative that gives us a murder mystery where you have somehow suspected everyone, but none at the same time. And although some of the same genre has guessed you correctly about the half -way mark, this one does not allow it.

Cracks in the facade

Kidman, like Greer, is back in his favorite role: Rich Woman in Peril. She is an insanely successful mystical writer whose most important claim of fame is the adventures of her fictional couple dash and dolly. Dash is of course modeled on her ridiculously wealthy man, Tag (Liev Schreiber). But here are things that are spicy – Greer’s external perfect marriage is anything but. Her empire, built on stories of love and mystery, begins to crack when secrets bubble to the surface.

It’s not just Greer’s cool perfection that keeps you connected. We are introduced to the rest of the figures in quick order. There is her eldest son Thomas (Jack Reynor), a walking precaution of what happens when you are raised in dysfunction. He is married to Abby (Dakota Fanning) who finds joy in seeing others swirling – a battle made in the sky. Then there is the forgotten youngest son, Will (Sam Nivola) who, if you flash, you can miss his entire story. And let’s not forget the selection of family friends: Merritt (Meghann Fahy), Shooter (Ishaan Khatter) and Isabel (Isabelle Adjani). Together they form a perfectly poisonous blend of suspects, all with different degrees of secrets and lies that keep you guessing.

Insider and Sleuth

But the real winner of hearts? Gosia, the frighteningly effective long -time housekeeper. Gosia’s discomfort for everyone outside Winbury Inner Circle is tangible, especially when Amelia’s parents, Karen (Dendrie Taylor) and Bruce (Michael McGrady), Waltz in with their store -bought fruit basket (gasp!). Her comment is brutal – she is as quick to reject a character to “make their bed as a poor person” as she has to roll her eyes on Karen’s convenient “dying” illness that forced the wedding to be re -planned. She is also a special admirer of Greer’s tight reins everywhere. “Without fear, there can be no control,” she says the police. And Greer is doing well to fit fear – into her family and in the audience. Her Steely stare and saving comments carry through the screen where viewers want them to never end up with a mother -in -law as such.

The real excitement kicks in when the police get involved, and it is not the flashy mansion or kidman’s glorious wardrobe that steals the show. No, the star is Donna Lynne Champlin as Detective Nikki Henry, the police detective, whose expression always changes so little with any new absurdity she is forced to endure from this bizarre privileged crowd. Nikki’s interactions with local police chief Dan (Michael Beach) are a masterclass in professional frustration. She knows that she is up to a system rigged by the wealthy – and although she may be rolling her eyes secretly, she is sharp as a tack and more than willing to outmanoeuvre any rich weasel on her way.

While The perfect couple Delivering lots of cashmere-coated decadence, snow markings and family drama, the mystery itself is just okay. The big disclosure is not the jaw-covering VRI, you might expect-it is more of a slow combustion that eventually swirls out. It works, determined, but in the large schedule with murder mysties it does not reinvent the wheel. That said, given the general horror of all characters you don’t care with being with, they deserve everyone to be in prison for their pure regrets.

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