Nine Perfect Strangers Review: Random Acts of Mayhem / The Critical Path / Earth Day (Season 1 Episodes 1-3)

Based on the bestselling book by Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers is nothing if not intriguing.

It’s the perfect setup for storytelling, really. Nine very different people from different walks of life wind up at a mysterious health and wellness resort for a 10-day retreat. 

They all want something different out of the experience, but the purpose of the retreat is transformation. For better or worse.

Throwing all of these people together, taking away their phones and many of their usual comforts (wine, chocolate, etc.) is bound to make for interesting conflicts regardless of the setting. These are all fascinating, well-developed characters (played by a remarkable cast) who we can’t help but become invested in quickly.  

The group of nine is also extremely intentional, orchestrated by Nicole Kidman’s Masha in a specific way, and the resort is much more than what it seems.

Each guest is forced to surrender their phones, which on its own, feels fitting for a retreat that’s supposed to be healing. But there’s a lack of privacy and agency that takes it all a step further.

The employees at the resort search everyone’s rooms, confiscating any of their personal belongings that they don’t deem acceptable for the retreat. It’s something each guest agrees to by signing a lengthy amount of paperwork, along with, suspiciously, regular blood draws. 

So many of the details of this place are enticing. It’s a beautiful location with traditional spa treatments available, making it feel like the perfect getaway for the guests.

Even the strenuous activities and various emotional lessons that Masha has in store for them seem to have merit. Within these first three episodes, many of the guests are making progress with their demons already, confronting their emotions in powerful ways.

Perhaps the most significant of those is Napoleon, a father whose son committed suicide just a few years prior. He’s there with his wife and daughter, and while he expresses that he believes his wife is broken, he has his own emotional breakthrough that he didn’t necessarily realize he needed. 

But the clues are there from the beginning, from the blood draws I mentioned already to the personalized smoothies and controlling of medication. Masha and her team have bigger plans for this group than helping them on their wellness journeys.

We as the audience can see trouble coming a mile away. We want to scream at these people to leave before they ever even get set up in their rooms. There’s a reason all of these people are there, though. They wouldn’t be if they weren’t just a little bit desperate. 

The trouble begins to make itself more apparent as the story moves forward. Digging one’s own grave is alarming enough, but then there is a change in “protocol” that Masha deems necessary because of the nature of this particular group. She brings this on sooner than her employees clearly think she should.

The effects of whatever is involved in that protocol reveal themselves slowly and subtly among each guest. The most unsettling of which comes from Carmel’s quick temper — a character who, so far, we’ve seen as simply cheery and open-minded.

These first three episodes introduce all of these characters well, including their weaknesses. And in doing so, there’s an exploration of deep emotions that’s all very thought-provoking. I’m most interested in the realizations everyone has about one another.

That the social media influencer doesn’t realize she’s pretty and has several deep insecurities and that her husband feels as though he doesn’t have purpose because he was handed money he never earned.

Melissa McCarthy’s Frances opens up to Tony, the man she had a confrontation with before anyone ever made it to the wellness center in the first place, and the two already become a bit of unlikely pair. 

Nine Perfect Strangers Season 1 Episode 3, “Earth Day,” is especially pivotal in the way it breaks everyone down. It’s where many of these confessions come out, and everyone is just a little more open than they might have been before.

The guests are not fed, aside from their “morning cocktail,” and they are instead told to live off the land. Presumably, that’s part of it. They can search for berries and nuts, and there’s one avocado tree somewhere, they’re told. Anything on the land is fair game. 

Even the goat.

It’s that moment, when the men spot that goat, that we realize just how twisted this all is. It’s horrifying and brutal — to think, for a moment I thought for sure we’d be spared of seeing the goat killed. And while Masha reacts with approval, we know it hits her hard emotionally.

Speaking of Masha, Nicole Kidman’s performance as the director of this wellness resort is as eerie as it should be, but something about it doesn’t quite ring true. Maybe that’s part of the character herself. We’ll have to see. 

Masha has her own backstory that informs what she’s doing here at this resort in the first place. After nearly dying, she changed her workaholic lifestyle and started over here. Though based on the threatening messages she’s receiving, there’s more to that story as well. What’s obvious, is that this woman is not to be trusted. 

And many of the guests don’t, even though they remain willing to stay in this place. At the same time, many of the guests are starstruck by her, ready to hang on to her every word. But it’s Asher Keddie’s Heather who makes a key realization — that they are all being medicated. 

What did you think of the first three episodes of Nine Perfect Strangers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Nine Perfect Strangers is now streaming on Hulu.

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