Nine Perfect Strangers

There were at least a dozen life lessons taught through the existence and experiences of every character. In my eyes, that makes this series meaningful and gloriously made.

No spoilers just commentary.

A very intriguing tale of lives. The most important thing to me is there isn't one bit of filler in this series, every minute and moment adds something interesting. Each character has their story, their secrets and their vices. As the show progresses and unfolds, the more info is divulged and unraveled, a surreal turn of events makes itself known.

The cinematography and visuals are glorious, views are breathtaking. The contrast of the setting to the unraveling characters.

The fruit smoothies look delicious.

The Russian host (Nicole Kidman) has no need to be Russian, it adds nothing to the plot, and doesn't sound Russian, I am not sure why there needs to be an exotic host from somewhere that isn't the US.. it ends up sounding like a faux, generic European accent and it is annoying. She is very interesting without it, is the perfect ring leader of the ragtag group.

It's hard to not be absorbed in this fascinating, riveting, and captivating series.

Update. My initial review was about half way through the series. After watching the end it's definitely slower as far as pacing goes. Also Nicole Kidman is incredibly hard to watch in this just as she usually is in everything. The bad accent makes it worse.

The momentum just falls off a bit, maybe could have been shortened by an episode? It's worth the watch but it's not groundbreaking by any means.

Four strangers, a family of three, and a couple come to an unconventional wellness center run by a Russian immigrant (Nicole Kidman). She asks them to surrender their phones and be open-minded to a variety of therapies, and as the series plays out, we find out they're dealing with a number of issues, including death, substance abuse, bad relationships, anger, and crippling self-doubt. Kidman's character herself has been traumatized and is on a journey of her own, but as a therapist some of the techniques she employs teeter on the edge of being unethical and possibly harmful to her clients, so that even as they make progress, it's a conflicting, somewhat scary ride.

At the heart of it for me, or at least what I thought was most successful, was the storyline revolving around the parents and their daughter who were trying to come to terms with the suicide of their son/brother. The feelings as they unraveled were truly touching, and the performances from Asher Keddie and Michael Shannon were excellent. Also wonderful were Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Cannavale who play an author and retired NFL athlete who start off detesting one another. It's a little predictable where their story is going, but it has nuance, humor, and a depth of feeling that kept it from becoming sappy.

Less successful was the subplot with the married couple who've lost their sizzle (Samara Weaving and Melvin Gregg). Her self-esteem issues were the most well developed and held some interest, but it just didn't seem like enough was done with this pair. The guests are rounded out with a mother whose husband left her for a younger woman (Regina Hall), and an uncover reporter (Luke Evans). Hall's performance stands out for its intensity, and how her story intersects the therapist's adds a nice little wrinkle.

Overall, it's a well-made production, with great cinematography, trippy effects, and nice soundtrack. The ending is overly rosy, but there was so much pain in the lives of these characters that I forgive the series (or the author) for that. It definitely held my interest and was fun to binge watch.

Ok, obviously I haven't finished the series so there are no spoilers here.

But this show is the one that really sealed in Michael Shannon's incredible range for me. It's astounding how much different he can be from his bad guy persona or his mafia/crime boss characters. Honestly, he makes the whole show for me. I can't believe it's the same guy.

I'm sure the other actors are absolutely killing it. I think Melissa McCartney is also showing some range but Michael Shannon just dominates the screen for me.

Worth watching.

It's not a perfect show, but from the first 3 episodes that have been released it's intriguing- there's an overall uneasy feeling, the acting is very good for the most part (the scenes between Melissa Mcarthy and Bobby Cannavale's characters steal the show) and the scenery is beautiful!! I definitely will be watching the other episodes as they are released.