The Perfect Couple: The Perfect Series

So, the family and I spend a lot of time on Cape Cod, and have been loving it for decades.  The Perfect Couple takes place in nearby Nantucket, and the shots of the water and the sand and those wind-blown weathered wooden fences look so much like those on the Cape I felt like I was back there again, and it was still the summer.  Hey, for all I know, those scenes were shot on the Cape.  How could I not love this series?

And the lead actors, Nicole Kidman as Greer and Liev Schreiber as her husband Tag, top-notch any time, were especially outstanding in this scenic murder mystery adapted from Elin Hilderbrand's novel (which I haven't read), so well plotted, with so many nearly convincing suspects, that this novel could have been written by Agatha Christie.

The supporting actors, most of who I haven't seen on the screen before, were excellent as well.  Here are some of my favorite scenes and characters:

[And there may be spoilers ahead ...]

• Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks, half of the imperfect couple, was perfectly convincing in her combination of almost sultry and deeply vulnerable.
• Schreiber as Tag, when he tells Merritt (pregnant with his baby) that having a baby is the most beautiful thing a man and woman can do, as prelude to his telling her he doesn't want her to have it, is a truly memorable scene of repulsive personal betrayal.  Schreiber as Tag is also noteworthy when he bursts in and deconstructs Greer's book launch.  (Greer being an author is something else I identified with -- here's a video of my most recent event. Note a bit of the tribulations at the end of the introduction.)
• I also got a kick out of Donna Lynne Champlin's gruff, Rosie O'Donnell kind of police detective, and her interaction with Michael Beach (whom I have seen a lot of over the years) as her de facto partner in the murder investigation was a fine piece of police repartee.
• Ishaan Khatter as Shooter Dival was the most tempting of the false leads (he wasn't the shooter and indeed the murder victim wasn't shot), and his relationship with Amelia gave rise to one of the best lines in the series, "the girl on the B train," which come to think of it would make a good title for any novel, short story, movie, or TV series (Irwin Shaw certainly would've liked it).
  
• Back to Dan Carter, my favorite relationship in the series -- maybe the closest to the perfect couple -- was Carter's daughter Chloe (not Zoey!) and her shared feelings with Will, the youngest Winbury. After she's told by her father to stay away from Will -- Dan's understandably worried that the Winbury family is connected to the murder -- she leaves Will a note on a napkin, "you're cute". Hey, a little sweetness goes a long way in a story like this. (Will is also key to figuring out who the killer is, but I'm not going to drop any more spoilers.)

Anyway, I defy anyone who hasn't read the book to identify the killer before the ending, and I highly recommend this Netflix short series, especially if you've just returned from Cape Cod to the big city and its B train.

Truth Be Told: An Excellent Telling

I saw Truth Be Told on Apple TV+ over the past few nights.  It received a lukewarm response from critics but was much enjoyed by the general public.  I'm with the general public on this one, not the myopic critics, what else is new.  I'm really glad it was renewed for a second season, which should be up sometime this year.

The eight-episode mini-series rings a bell on a bunch of levels: 

• It's a first-class whodunnit, with at least a handful of plausible suspects, and a resolution which is both surprising,  yet makes good sense in retrospect, or just want you want in this kind of murder mystery.
• Poppy is a reporter now podcaster, who revisits in her podcast a murder she reported on in The New York Times twenty years ago.  Truth Be Told offers a compelling tableau of the relationship of traditional and newer media, in particular the pressures that a podcaster faces.  This series is not the first to have a podcaster at the center of the narrative, but it's one of the best.
• Poppy is African-American, and Truth Be Told provides a well-furnished view of Black culture in America, ranging from family life to life in prison.
• The acting is really good.  Octavia Spencer is just right as Poppy, combining head and heart, and struggling to keep her marriage sound as she devotes increasing time to finding the killer.  Aaron Paul is great as the guy behind bars, whom Poppy is trying to exonerate and free -- I'd say this is his best performance since Breaking Bad (yeah, he was more effective in Truth Be Told than in Westworld). Lizzy Caplan is impressive as the Buhrman twins, convincingly portraying two different yet intersecting personalities.   And the other characters were well played.  Always good to see Mekhi Phifer (former detective helping Poppy) and Michael Beach (Poppy' husband) on the screen.

If I had to cite one problem with the narrative, it would be Poppy's tendency to immediately go to the next most-likely suspect, each time a suspect is eliminated.  I think Poppy is subtler and more intelligent than that.  But this is a relatively small quibble.  The series is based on a novel (Are You Sleeping by Karen Barber) which I haven't read, so I don't know where this problem originated, or who is responsible for all the sharp turns of events in the series which will keep you up late into the night.  Hats off to Nichelle D. Tramble, creator of this series.

And I'll see you back here later this year, with a review of the second season.