The further we descend down the spiral of Merritt Monaco’s murder investigation, the more of the shoddy history of Winburys and their abuse of power is unearthed, and more members of the well-heeled family find themselves on the list of possible suspects. The second episode of The Perfect Couple revealed that Tag was having an affair with Merritt, and that she was pregnant with his child as well—Greer was well aware of this scandal in her family. With the Winburys busy covering up the murder to maintain their public image, the bride-to-be, Amelia, gets restless in her effort to learn the truth about the death of her best friend and takes it upon herself to reveal Tag and Merritt’s relationship to the authorities. The Winburys are no strangers to scandal and cover-ups, as the third episode, titled “The Perfect Family,” brings forth a mysterious past connection, which could provide vital clues regarding the real perpetrators and their motivation.Â
Spoilers Ahead
Amelia’s Nightly Venture
Chief Carter starts cross-questioning Amelia regarding her revelation about Tag’s affair and Merritt being pregnant with his child—this new bit of intelligence could totally swerve the investigation in a new direction, given the motivation of maintaining family image is strong enough for people like the Winburys to commit such an atrocious act, but to aim for the head—the authorities need more than a statement. For the time being, Amelia returns to Summerland and notices Tag hurriedly searching for something in his office, which immediately amps up Amelia’s curiosity. At midnight, Amelia sneaks out of her bed to go through Tag’s belongings in his office, waking up Greer in the process, who reprimands Amelia in her own passive-aggressive way and warns her against repeating the same mistake ever again. Tag was actually trying to find the receipt of the bracelet he had gifted Merritt, which is now in Greer’s possession.
Mae Pratt Incident
A day has passed since Merritt’s death, and the Winburys have seemingly moved on already. A renowned magazine is scheduled to take an interview of Greer and Tag, and press from the mainland and the UK have arrived to get tidbits regarding Greer’s latest book launch. A tragic death or two doesn’t hold as much importance for the Winburys in this context, and following Greer the mama bear’s commands like an obedient litter of cubs, they start dressing up to make themselves presentable. The odd one out in the bunch is Amelia, whose financial background previously hindered her from fitting in, and now she finds her mental make-up is vastly different from this bunch of apathetic, cold aristocrats.
Later on, Abby tries to strike up a conversation with a dejected Amelia and reveals that she too had to sign an NDA with the Winburys way before her marriage with Thomas. Abby cites a past incident: Will’s French teacher, Mae Pratt, a college student who was living in the Winbury estate during her summer break, had disappeared without a trace. She also reveals that Benji probably went to the same school and apparently they were close as well. Amelia questions Benji about it and wants to know the possible reason as to why he didn’t bother to share something like this with her in the first place. However, Benji remains tight-lipped, simply asking her to go with the flow and adjust to the way things are without questioning too much. The truth is, except for Amelia, no one really cares about Merritt’s death; the sooner she gets used to this fact, the better it is for her.
On the other hand, Shooter, who was put into custody for trying to leave the island in the midst of an ongoing investigation, gets released after his lawyer arrives and Carter/Henry fails to find any strong circumstantial evidence against him. He is instructed by the authorities not to make any further attempts to leave the island for as long as the investigation continues.
What Happens To Will?
The interview sails smoothly until, in his pot-induced high, Tag starts doing silly antics, much to Greer’s dismay and anger. In private, she chastises her husband for his behavior, whose guilty conscience stemming from Merritt’s death seems to have been triggered, as he feels a sudden urge to find acceptance from his wife and promises to leave the messy, deceitful life behind. Greer lashes out at the sorry display of her husband’s conditional love, as she is well aware of the reason for his sudden sentimental change. A certain Broderick Graham relentlessly calls Greer and she continues to ignore them.
Amelia finds a few of Merritt’s photographs in Benji’s drawer but doesn’t question him about it right off. Carter and Henry recover an audio clip from Merritt’s phone, where Benji is heard requesting her not to reveal something to Amelia, as it might break her heart. This kind of indicates an affair-like situation, but there can be multiple other possibilities as well. During discussions, Benji is revealed to be the reserved, mature one among the three Winbury sons, but it is also revealed that he used to get into fights and clashes in his school days and never quite fit in with anyone. The focus also alternatively shifts to Will Winbury, the youngest member of the family, the sheltered, somewhat neurotic son of Greer and Tag. Will sneaks into Chief Carter’s house to visit his daughter, Chloe, whom he was spending time with previously during the wedding events. Carter, who was present at the time, rebukes Will for sneaking in and notices that Will’s hand is wounded. In the flashback scenes, Will is seen hanging out with Chloe in his secret hideout when he suddenly took notice of Merritt and went to talk with her. From footage of the wedding, Henry/Carter duo find out Will was having a tense discussion with Merritt and apparently had followed her on social media for a long time as well.
At Summerland estate, the Winbury family gathers around along with Amelia’s parents for a family dinner, and the overall carefree mood finally cracks Amelia’s patience, who decides to unceremoniously address the Mae Pratt disappearance incident, resulting in more secrets spilling out during the family dinner drama. Much to his parents’ anger, Thomas reveals Tag was having an affair with Will’s house tutor, Mae Pratt, who became suicidal after breaking up with Tag, and the Winbury family buried the case with a financial settlement in court, resulting in Mae’s sudden disappearance. Will, who had believed the lie that Mae left on her own, gets livid with his parents and storms off, leaving the dinner. Later, in his infuriated state of mind, he is seen trying to venture off of the island on a sailboat, and unable to stop him, Chloe decides to accompany him as well. From their conversation, it is revealed that Will had a crush on his tutor, and right after he shared his feelings for her, Mae disappeared from his life—leading him to feel guilty for so long, blaming himself for creating an uncomfortable situation, which he believed was the reason for Mae quitting her summer job.
Greer and Tag are unable to find their son, and Amelia, feeling partially responsible for how things turned out at the end, decides to look for the boy as well—when she stumbles upon Will’s hideout and finds Merritt’s bracelet. As the episode ends with Amelia taking the bracelet to Detective Henry, another possible angle emerges pertaining to the murder mystery. Will’s unstable state of mind might have prompted him to do something rash, and her youngest son being the apple of Greer’s eye, she might have tried to cover up for him. Although that doesn’t answer what secret Benji was confiding in with Merritt or why he had her photos stashed in his drawer—which makes him a possible suspect as well. Detective Henry had revealed that Greer’s royalty from novels is the only major source of wealth for the Winbury family, as their ancestral wealth is stuck in a trust fund, which presents a monetary angle as well, as Thomas, her eldest son, will benefit if his parents are moved out of the equation in suspicion of murder or other problematic crimes they are allegedly trying to cover up for so long.
