The Perfect Couple: The Ending and The Killers, Explained

For those who love the mystery genre, The perfect couple is a good next option to add to the list. The mystery drama doesn't take itself too seriously. It's not as lighthearted as shows like Only murders in the building, but not as dark as those like A Murder at the End of the WorldThe series also has a soap opera feel, similar to shows like Dynasty mixed with the beautiful backdrop of a beach reminiscent of shows like The White Lotus.

Like any good mystery, the Netflix series takes viewers on a twisting, tortuous journey through a murder investigation, as viewers at home and the show's characters try to figure out what happened and who did it. Red herrings and red herrings fly freely. Along with the story of a wealthy, privileged family in the public eye, The perfect couple raises the stakes even further.

There are many suspects and false leads.

The story in The perfect couple begins as the Winbury family is at their gorgeous Cape Cod mansion, preparing for the upcoming nuptials of their son Benji (Billy Howle) and his fiancée Amelia (Eve Hewson). Benji's mother, Greer (Nicole Kidman), a respected romance novelist, is not so thrilled about her son marrying a “plebeian” and lets them know in her best passive-aggressive way.

After a successful pre-wedding party with friends and family, everyone goes to bed. But when Amelia looks out the window after not being able to sleep and notices something floating in the water, she runs outside to see. She is horrified when she discovers it is her childhood best friend Merritt (Meghann Fahy, who also played one of the best characters in The White Lotus) whose lifeless body washed ashore. Thus begins the investigation into who might have killed Merritt.

There is no shortage of options. Amelia discovered shortly before her death that Merritt was having an affair with her future father-in-law Tag (Live Schreiber) and was also pregnant with his child. This would have been the main reason why Tag would have killed Merritt, to hide this secret and be absolved of the responsibility of another child.

The focus shifts to family friend Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khatter) when he sneaks out of the house during the investigation, which immediately makes him look guilty. He was worried about the money he lent Greer shortly before these events and how it would look. What was the money for?

Police Chief Dan Carter's (Michael Beach) daughter, Chloe (Mia Isaac), wakes up with blood on her uniform shirt from her job catering the night before. She's also friends with the youngest Winbury son, Will (Sam Nivola), so fans are curious if the two were up to something or even killed Merritt by accident.

Then there's family friend Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani), who Greer claims is in love with Tag. But most notably, she's also having an affair with Thomas (Jack Reynor), the eldest Winbury son. It seems Thomas's wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning), may suspect something is up, but turns a blind eye.

Finally, Greer, played magnificently by Kidman, known for her many film roles, becomes a suspect. This is once the funds that Shooter sent her are sent to a man named Broderick (Thomas Flanagan) with ties to the Turkish mafia. There is also a trail of phone calls to Greer, suggesting that she may have hired him to kill Merritt. But this theory is refuted when Greer reveals that Broderick is her brother who has a gambling problem. The money was to get him out of debt (and out of danger from those who seek him) and out of the way.

It's when the toxicology report confirms the presence of barbiturates in Merritt's system that the picture begins to emerge. Amelia's mother, Karen (Dendrie Taylor), was at home with her selection of pills she was taking for cancer. Along with those, she had brought with her three pills that could end her life if the symptoms became too much to bear.

Thomas, who had been in and out of rehab and liked to play a game called “pill roulette,” went drug hunting the night of the party and stumbled upon these pills while rummaging through his pill case. He stole one and added it to his secret stash. It was this pill that ended up in Merritt's system, incapacitating her. But the death was far more brutal than accidental drowning.

Who killed Merritt and why?

In the final episode it is revealed that It was Abby Winbury who killed Merritt. The focus was always on Merritt's relationship with Tag. It was implied that this might have made Greer jealous or that others wanted her to leave, especially because of the baby. All the brothers were to receive money as soon as the youngest Winbury son turned 18. That was Will, and he would be 18 in a few months. If Merritt gave birth to another Winbury child, it would reset the entire monetary clock for everyone.

However, it wasn't one of the Winbury brothers who did the deed. And it wasn't Tag or Greer either. She was the pregnant sister-in-law, desperately seeking the money she and her husband needed to live the life they wanted. Apparently Thomas had lost a lot of money in bad deals, and in fact they were poor.

Abby saw Merritt, sad and dejected, alone by the water and recognized the opportunity. He added the pill to the juice and brought it to her as if he were being kind, wanting to help her feel better. Abby even chatted with Merritt on the beach, telling him how much she likes to take a dip in the water when she can't sleep.

The two head into the water to do just that, just as Merritt begins to feel dizzy and lose consciousness. As she struggles to stand, Abby repeatedly holds her face down. Every time Merritt struggles to breathe again, she is held down again. Since her body is weak from the pill, it doesn't take much strength for pregnant Abby to keep her submerged. Eventually, Merritt stops breathing. Abby goes home, changes clothes, and goes back to bed as if nothing had happened.

Fans may have missed these subtle clues

Just like there are clues that everyone has missed in Glass onion and other similar murder mystery movies and shows, there are subtle clues in The perfect couple that fans may have missed and that hinted at the killer's identity at the beginning. The first is when Thomas approaches his father at the water's edge to ask him for a loan. It's clear he's desperate and needs the money. Later, Abby asks Thomas what happened with the conversation, and he assures her that everything is fine. But it's clear she sees that this isn't the case, and she's starting to panic.

This suggests that the couple is in a much more difficult financial situation than they have let on. With Abby pregnant and due to give birth soon and Thomas clearly still suffering from a pill addiction, the couple was putting on a front. This is further reinforced by the revelation that Thomas was sleeping with Isabel and had previously even gotten a loan from herAbby knew that they not only needed the family's money to live, but also to repay Isabel and hopefully be rid of her forever.

The second big clue, and the one that ultimately leads to the killer, is the glass that Abby used to mix Merritt's juice with the drugs. After committing the crime, she took the glass inside and called housekeeper Gosia (Irina Dubova) to clean it. Annoyed by Abby's constant requests, Gosia purposely left the glass in the sink, unaware of its purpose.

The next afternoon, while the investigation is ongoing, Amelia finds Abby in the kitchen, furiously washing a glass and acting nervous. It's weird that Abby washes her dishes or is bothered by a glass hidden in the sink and feels obligated to wash it herself. But Amelia doesn't think much of it. That is, until she realizes the connection between this event and what actually happened.

Abby is arrested and taken away by officers who read her rights as she screams and yells. She angrily pleads with detectives that she can't go to jail because she's pregnant. “Yeah, that's not a thing,” says Detective Nikki Henry, played by Donna Lynne Champlin, who fans may recognize as one of the best things about Crazy ex-girlfriendChamplin seems almost annoyed by Abby's sense of superiority.

From there, everyone can finally try to heal from the trauma of the death and everything that was brought to light during the investigation. Even if Amelia never ends up marrying Benji, there is still a happy ending.

Greer has finally admitted the truth to her family about her past: She worked as a well-paid escort to help her family make ends meetand his brother Broderick was in charge of running the business. It seems the perfect woman isn't so perfect after all. Tag finally agrees to go to rehab after a drunken outburst at a major literary event, hoping to be on the road to recovery and becoming a better version of himself.

Six months after the event, Greer tracks Amelia down to a zoo in England, where she happily works with animals and children. She hands her a manuscript of her latest book, which she claims is written about her almost-daughter-in-law. Greer humbly admits that she has always liked Amelia, but was jealous of her free and carefree attitude. It's a touching moment that finally shows Greer is human beneath the facade she's lived with for so long.