Too often, the most obvious answer to a question turns out to be the one right under your nose as this might occasionally hold true in investigations as well. Netflix’s crime drama The Perfect Couple has put almost all the members of the Winbury family in the crosshairs as possible suspects in Merritt Monaco’s murder investigation, but without strong motives or circumstantial evidence, the cops were merely firing blanks so far. The penultimate episode of the first season of the series ties the narrative threads together to hint at the possible culprit’s identity, which feels too obvious to be true at the moment, but it paves the ground for an interesting finale.
Spoilers Ahead
Tag and Merritt’s Final Conversation
Picking up from where the last episode ended, Tag is brought to the Nantucket police station on suspicion of him having a role in Merritt’s murder, and Detective Henry and Chief Carter start grilling him with uncomfortable questions. Tag is in his usual lackadaisical state, not taking much importance to the situation he has found himself in, due to the financial control he holds over the local law-enforcement organization, and possibly also because despite his promiscuous nature ruining others lives, he indeed didn’t kill Merritt. The first time Tag became aware of Merritt’s pregnancy, he seemed happy, and whether he was pretending or not, it was a huge relief for Merritt, who was in doubt whether Tag was ever going to give their relationship any recognition. However, the night Merritt passed away, she was going through a series of troublesome situations. Following her conversation with Will, who warned her about Tag’s irresponsible personality, Merritt was warned by Greer of the same as well, and when she decided to approach Amelia to confess the truth, instead of support or counsel, she received brutal judgment and humiliation in return. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize what was going through Merritt’s mind—as she had approached Tag late at night to get at least an assurance that he would be by her side; instead, Tag’s silence made her aware that he indirectly wanted her to get rid of the baby. The duo had a heated argument by the shore, which Tag acknowledges to the cops while maintaining his stance that he was not responsible for her murder. Contrary to Carter’s suspicions, Tag claims he didn’t spike Merrritt’s drink with barbiturates, despite being high himself.
To prove that he indeed was not present with Merritt during the assumed timeframe when she breathed her last, Tag provides Henry and Carter with his activity tracker/smartwatch device—to get readings from it, which can prove his claim that he had gone to bed at that point in time. For now, Tag is released until his claims are verified.
Greer’s Book Launch Gets Rickrolled By Tag
The news of Amelia cheating on Benji with Shooter spreads among the Winburys pretty rapidly, and Greer takes her moment to sneer at Amelia for her momentary lapse, perhaps taking delight in the fact that her son will no longer be associated with someone who doesn’t quite live up to their status, or mindset that is. Greer’s 29th book launch is quite a big event on the island, and ignoring Amelia’s wishes of not attending it, she implores her to do so. Amelia finds an unexpected ally in Abby, who motivates her to attend the event to get back at the control freak matriarch of the family. At the event, Amelia learns from Isabel that, in her troubled state, Merritt had spent some time with her, vaguely mentioning her love-related problems—and it was a broken glass that resulted in cuts in her arms. Amelia gets surprised after learning from Abby that Shooter belongs to an immensely rich family like the Winburys themselves, the only difference being he knows to stay grounded anyway. A major reason why Amelia started finding Shooter amicable and related to him is because she assumed that he belonged from a common background like herself, and the news comes as a shock to her. As Shooter tries to make amends with a drunk Benji, he receives a literal low blow from him. Amelia takes Benji away for his own and others safety, and the duo end up making love in the kitchen.
A drunk, high Tag arrives during the book launch event, seemingly infuriated at Greer for trying to frame him as a murderer. Greer is already having a tough time with the event as Broderick Graham barges in all of a sudden and tries to make a scene, and now Tag decides to let his zany, goofy drunk self loose, deliberately so—to cause massive embarrassment to his wife. Demolishing the established notion of a perfect couple, which he and Greer never really were, Tag lets the skeleton out of the closet in a crazed rant, which ends with his attempt at singing Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Greer’s cringe-worthy attempt to try to sell even tis fiasco as a loony act of Tag, and Tag knocking himself out by falling over.
Later, as Shooter tries to make amends with Amelia, she berates him for not being transparent with her about his background and reveals that she had sex with Benji—just to spite him in turn. It’s a confusing state of affairs between these two, but one thing is quite clear: Amelia is coping really hard trying to fit in with the Winburys.
Why Did The Cops Start Suspecting Greer?
Interesting developments start taking place at the Nantucket PD, which takes the investigation down an altogether different route. The readings taken from Tag’s smartwatch thingy indicate that even though Tag’s alibi checked out about him staying in his bed during Merritt’s final moments, Greer was not present with him—even though she had mentioned that she went to bed early. Greer’s call log reveals a number of calls received from Broderick Graham, the same person who tried to foil her book release event, and on the night of Merritt’s murder, she had called him half an hour before the fateful event. It is also revealed that a hefty amount of three hundred thousand dollars has been credited to Broderick by Shooter, and a background check on Broderick reveals that he was part of a gang that had ties with the Turkish mafia and ran a drug and arms business from Mumbai. Chief Carter, who was having a witty speculative investigation play with Greer at the bar, is alarmed after learning all this from Detective Henry, and it seems in the final episode Greer will have to defend herself from the heavy-handed accusations of murder. In a flashback scene, which concludes the episode, it is revealed that Greer had indeed taken notice of Merritt late at night, while she was at her office—but it remains unknown who approached Merritt at last, possibly the real culprit, who is confirmed to be well acquainted with her as well.
