Plot Summary

The Perfect Couple is an ensemble Netflix thriller/drama/mystery mini-series led by Nicole Kidman. Kidman plays Greer Garrison Winbury, a famous and prolific novelist married into the rich Winbury family. She and her husband Tag (Liev Schreiber) are seen as the perfect couple: They’ve been married 29 years and raised three children, the youngest not yet 18. Even the male protagonist in her series was inspired by Tag.

But the meticulously crafted and maintained illusion comes crashing down right before their son Benji’s wedding. When his fiancée Amelia’s best friend Meritt is found dead, the police are certain of foul play. Everyone’s a suspect, though motives aren’t always clear. Can Greer salvage her career before it’s too late?

The Dangers of Building A Career on False Premises

From this point on, I’ll include spoilers so I recommend checking out The Perfect Couple if you haven’t seen it. It’s fun to watch, and the cast’s impressive.

The problem with marketing yourself is the novelist with the perfect relationship is obvious. No relationship is perfect. But some are arguably worse than others, and Greer’s is a total shitshow. To the outsiders, she married into money. Despite their 40-million-dollar home and the kids’ upcoming trust funds, Tag’s broke. It’s Greer’s career that keeps them rich, hence her desperation to maintain the image despite the murder of a young woman.

And while Tag seems obsessed with his wife, he’s a frequent cheater whose latest affair was with the victim. This makes both Greer and Tag prime suspects. But as the show goes on, we learn that pretty much everyone has a secret, some darker than others.

This puts way too much pressure on Greer. To manage, she micro-manages everyone and no one’s happy. NDAs are signed, and secrets are kept.

How Greer Pivots Her Career by Coming Clean and Rebranding (as Her True Self)

Major spoilers ahead:

While I’m not going to name the killer, I’ll spoil the series’ even more explosive secret:

Greer’d been rejecting calls from the mysterious Broderick Graham, a man about her age. Cops believe she’s the murderer when they discover the three hundred grand she paid to him. With his ties to the Turkish mob and criminal record, surely, he’s a hitman she hired to kill her husband’s pregnant mistress. But the joke is on them: Broderick’s not his real name. Greer only paid his gambling debt because he’s her brother!

There’s more: She used to be an escort, and he found the clients. And this is how she met Tag! She comes clean to her media team, as well as her kids. She’d already announced she was done with her series. She dumps Tag, and she gives her manuscript to her son’s now ex Amelia. The book is about her after all  and she’ll publish if she approves…

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After Greer comes clean, she’s happier. She’s free to write whatever she wants. She no longer needs to pretend or put up with crap.

Now, did she really have to in the first place? We can only speculate since Greer’s not my character but Elin Hilderbrand’s, the author of the novel (aff.link) this series was based on.

No doubt being a socialite expanded her reach and resources. It made her productivity newsworthy, and her author events more engaging. But did she have to keep at it so long? Probably not. But hey, she now has an even more interesting story: her real life.

I’d honestly watch a sequel just to see what she writes next. But then again, I’m obsessed with writer characters as I have a whole category dedicated to them on this blog. I also have a pivotal writer character (a thriller novelist) in my romcom novel Making A Difference (M.A.D.) as well as another supporting writer character – a rock music journalist.

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Did you watch The Perfect Couple? What did you think of Greer? Who are your favorite fictional writers? Let me know in the comments!