Never Gonna Give You Up – As the fifth episode of The Perfect Couple begins, Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) gets up and says good morning to Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson). Amelia says they’re going to get a motel, but Greer doubts they’ll be able to. Greer says mothers sometimes feel like they’re being replaced when their sons get married. No one wants to be in second place. Greer says Benji (Billy Howle) thought she walked on water. Now, she’s tethered to terra firma just like the rest of them. Greer reveals that Tag Winbury (Live Schreiber) had to spend the night at the police station so they must’ve had a reason to keep him. That’s unfortunate since today is Greer’s book launch.

Greer says everyone is going even though Amelia doubts Benji will want her to be there. Tag sings in an interview room. In the past, Tag speaks to Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) alone. He asks if she knows who Eric Carmen is. Tag says he wrote a song that everyone thinks is a Celine Dion song. He sings it to Merritt. They share a drink to the future. Merritt admits she cannot have this because she’s pregnant. Tag seems happy and he says that’s beautiful. In the present, Tag continues waiting in the interview room. He tells Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin) and Dan Carter (Michael Beach) that they had a connection. He insists he didn’t kill her. The connection lasted for a couple of months. Merritt wanted more. Nikki asks about his kayak being left out by the water.

Tag seems surprised that Nikki spoke to his staff. He says his son was getting married the next day. Tag argues he didn’t take Merritt out on the boat. When he last saw her, she was with Isabel (Isabelle Adjani) and Thomas (Jack Reynor). Tag threatens to call his lawyer if they insist on this line of questioning. He points out that his lawyer helped pay for his uniform. They talk about Isabel who is considered a family friend. Amelia finds Abby (Dakota Fanning) packing up her things. Abby isn’t worried about being arrested for that. She can tell that Amelia really loved her. Abby admits she thought Amelia would be leaving today. Amelia says Greer wants her to go to the book party. Abby thinks she should go and show them they cannot break her. She’ll even be Amelia’s wing woman. Enid Collins (Adina Porter) meets Greer at the book event.

They speak to Hyacinth (Jeanine Mason) and Brad (Troy Iwata). Greer tells Enid that she’s going to announce the new direction today. She thought this could be Dash and Dolly’s going away party. Roger Pelton (Tim Bagley) has a cardboard cutout of Tag, but Greer immediately tells him to put it away. Will (Sam Nivola) speaks to Chloe Carter (Mia Isaac). He asks if she wants to hang out after the event. Chloe admits she can’t because she’s been grounded. Abby arrives with Amelia. Abby tells Amelia that she doesn’t blame her because Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khattar) is just so rich. At Deerfield, he had bodyguards. Shooter likes to play it down though. Meanwhile, Tag tries to convince Dan that he’s been telling the truth. Isabel tells Benji that they don’t let this kind of thing get them down in France.

Benji insists this isn’t helping. Tag tells Dan and Nikki about the last time she saw Merritt. Dan suggests drinking rum was the perfect opportunity for Tag to dose Merritt’s drink. Nikki warns him he’s criminally liable for not helping them find out who did even if he didn’t do it. In a flashback, Tag listens to Roger talk with others. Tag asks if anyone is up for a paddle. He gives Merritt his jacket before stepping outside. Gosia (Irina Dubova) keeps an eye on them. Merritt goes outside and joins Tag who is smoking. She says she needs to talk to him. Merritt says he has to tell her. She asks him to be honest. Tag admits it’s a question of timing for him. He has some inconvenient truths he’ll have to confront and that might take some time. Merritt asks how long it’ll take.

Merritt admits she’s not having a good night. She believes Tag wants her to get rid of the baby. Merritt walks out into the water. Tag walks out and tries to pull her out of the water. In the present, Tag gets tired of waiting in the interview room. When Dan returns, Tag reminds him that the body was found at 6 a.m. Tag admits he lied about going to sleep at 1:30. He and Merritt had an argument down by the beach. Tag says his watch doesn’t lie. It can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was in bed by 2:30. Isabel approaches Amelia to say she’s beautiful, but that’s not why Greer hates her. Greer hates them both because they’re real. Amelia doesn’t think Greer hates Isabel who says she really liked Merritt. Isabel admits talking to her. In a flashback, a distraught Merritt asks Isabel if she’s seen a phone anywhere.

Isabel invites her to join her for a drink. In the present, Merritt says she looks so upset. In the past, Merritt returns and joins Isabel. She admits she doesn’t know why she keeps picking the wrong guy. Isabel warns her that the men never leave so you have to make the women leave them one way or another. When they try to share a toast, the glasses end up breaking. Isabel supposedly left after that. In the present, Shooter approaches Benji to apologize. He says the kiss was the first thing anything like that happened. Benji punches him in the stomach. Shooter walks away. Amelia comes over to tell Benji that he can’t do that. She pulls him into the back. Amelia wants to take him home. Benji keeps drinking though. He begins causing a scene. Benji says she doesn’t want to party with him anymore because she wants to sleep with someone else.

Amelia insists it isn’t about that. Benji says she’s the best laid he’s ever had. They kiss. They have sex in the kitchen. Tag arrives at the venue just as Greer takes the stage. Greer reveals that this will be the last Dash and Dolly novel. She’s working on something new. Greer says they’re there to celebrate Death in Dubai. Chloe gives Will a drink and a note saying he’s cute. Tag notices Broderick Graham (Tommy Flanagan) nearby. Greer asks Roger to call security. They arrive to deal with Broderick who throws a book toward Greer. He warns her not to ignore him. They’re all surprised to see Dash or Tag. People begin recording him as he takes the stage and speaks about his wife. Tag says he’d kill for Greer although he hasn’t. He mentions that their marriage is screwed. Tag begins cursing the paperback industry. He admits they’re not the perfect couple.

Tag tells Greer that he’s never going to give her up. They sing Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up together. Tag falls off the stage. Deputy Carl (Nick Searcy) talks to Nikki about Tag’s watch. Nikki admits she thinks Tag is telling the truth. She notices that on the other nights there were two sleepers. On the night in question, there is only one sleeper from 3 to 4:30 a.m.. There was no one else in the room for an hour and a half. Shooter approaches Amelia to make sure she’s okay. She talks to him about being rich. Amelia complains that everyone is lying. She tells Shooter that she had sex with Benji at the party. He was drunk but she wasn’t. Amelia suggests she’s just as messed up as everyone else. She’s glad they realized this was impossible before they did anything stupid.

Dan finds Greer at the bar again. Carl tells Nikki that there was a call to Broderick Graham at 3:08 a.m.. He’s a rough customer. Greer tells Dan about Isabel who has been in love with Tag for years. They talk about Greer possibly being responsible. Dan asks if there’s something she wants to tell him. Carl and Nikki call Dan to tell him Greer was on the phone with someone at the Sand Dollar on the night of Merritt’s death. She was talking to Broderick Graham who flew in from London that day. Graham is some low-level errand boy for a gang with ties to the Turkish mafia. Graham has been calling the house every night since Merritt died. They also found a wire transfer of $300,000 to Graham from Shooter Dival. In a flashback, Greer remembers seeing Merritt alone on the beach.

Merritt steps in the glass shards. She turns around and says hi to someone.

 

The Perfect Couple Review

The fifth episode of The Perfect Couple didn’t do a lot to build up interest for the finale and the final reveal. The performances remain hit-or-miss with only a couple of cast members doing well throughout. There are no likable characters here at all. As a result, there’s really no reason to care about any of them going down.

Pretty much every character is bad in some fashion, including Amelia and Shooter. The cops are as corny as could be and even annoying at times. Much of the episode could’ve been eliminated so this obviously never needed to be six episodes. The pacing is so slow causing the story to move forward at a snail’s pace.

There are tons of plot holes and things that just don’t make any sense. Really, this feels like so many clichés from past works crammed together to try to create something interesting. In reality, it’s really just cheap and unoriginal. With one episode left, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to feign interest in uncovering the truth.

The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Perfect Couple can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying here.