According to Nicole Kidman's portrayal of the groom's mother, Greer Garrison Winbury, in the Netflix series The Perfect Couple, Benji and Amelia Winbury's Nantucket wedding will be the most talked-about event of the year. Regrettably, the ceremony ends prematurely as one of the attendees passes away before it starts. Get off this article immediately if you aren't interested in learning who killed who and how. (Major spoilers ahead!)

The mysterious death of Merritt

The bride's maid of honour and best friend Merritt's (Meghan Fahy) body is found on the beach near the Winbury residence the night before the wedding. Yet, was it a mere coincidence? Call it a homicide?

In The Perfect Couple, a best-selling book by Elin Hilderbrand, Merritt's death is actually a tragic accident. In a sequence that unfolds in the last pages, Merritt drowns while combing the seas for her ring, revealing the reason for her death. 

If it wasn't an accident, who else could have done it in the series? And who else does Amelia end up marrying?

Who could be responsible for Merritt's death in the series?

The first episode reveals the tragic path the wedding took. Unfortunately, the audience remains unaware of the events and Merritt's potential killer until the very end of the show. Dakota Fanning portrays Abby Stokes Winbury, the pregnant wife of Benji (Jack Reynor).

When the youngest son, Will (Sam Nivola), turns 18 weeks after the wedding, he will become one of three sons to receive a huge wealth from the Winbury family's father Tag's (Liev Schreiber) side of the family. Thomas is deeply in debt, and Abby and he are expecting a child, so they could really use the money. However, the arrival of Merritt's baby—Tag's—would divide the fortune into four instead of three, and, more importantly, it would take an additional 18 years to distribute it. That won't satisfy Abby in the slightest.

At first glance, Abby's motives could seem understandable. While she is about to give birth, her husband is involved in an affair with Isabel Nallet, a friend of the Winbury family, played by Isabelle Adjani. Their finances are also a mess. However, a murderous streak emerges from those thoughts of abandonment. At one point, Abby starts prioritising herself to an unhealthy degree.

The prescription roulette and fatal poisoning

The truth is that Amelia's mother, who is terminally ill with cancer, secretly brought three pills to end her life to the Summerland estate. Because Thomas enjoys playing "prescription roulette," or taking other people's medicines for himself, he plundered one of the containers and stashed it away in his nightstand drawer. While Merritt enjoys a nightcap on the beach, Abby discovers it and crushes it into an orange juice glass.

In the midst of their conversation, Abby remarks, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself," just before she enquires about Merritt's interest in going for a night swim. As they go deeper into the water, Abby finally convinces Merritt to submerge her head. Because she is too weak to resist the medicine, she drowns. The next morning, Amelia discovers Merritt's lifeless body in the sea after she left it there on her wedding day.

Furthermore, Hilderbrand's book unintentionally attributes Merritt's death to Abby's actions. In an effort to put her husband's mistress (Featherleigh in the book, Isabel in the series) to sleep before they sleep together, she mixes a barbiturate with water.

Greer's personal journey and transformation

While Tag stays in Summerland on Nantucket, Greer returns to New York to write her manuscript. Greer reveals to her agency that she had every intention of penning a memoir about her escort years as a young woman. Bier concurs that Greer, who has perpetually put her own needs before those of the others around her, finds Amelia's honesty irritating.

By coming to this realisation, Greer changes the course of the novel. Seeing Amelia deal with tragedy, loss, treachery, and disappointment has helped Greer grow in her own resilience, and she realises how much she admires Amelia as a result.

Meanwhile, in the book, the protagonist Amelia and her best man, Benji's friend Shooter (Ishaan Khattar), plan to elope on the day of the wedding. However, in the series, after the wedding is cancelled, they share a passionate kiss onscreen.

Amelia's journey of self-discovery

Since Amelia is a confused 30-year-old, it seemed fitting to end the character's journey with Amelia alone on a quest for self-discovery and to make her more naive and bewildered throughout the series.

Greer recommends they have dinner together after running into Amelia at the London Zoo while she is caring for her beloved penguins. She then asks Amelia to examine the manuscript. The book's title, Your Move, is apt, and now Amelia must take the initiative.

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