What a season finale! It kept us on the edge of our seats with all those twists and turns.
Nine Perfect Strangers Season 1 Episode 8 proved that this cast deserved to be nominated for the Emmy Awards, especially Nicole Kidman and Regina Hall. They have blown these emotional scenes away.
Carmel had issues with being dismissed. It was one of her main anger triggers. We’ve seen it throughout the series, but I never expected her to be the shooter that harmed Masha in the past.
Masha: Is that why you came here? To scare me again? It was you with the texts.
Carmel: I wanted you to feel what it was like to lose control.
In the end, Masha proved to be more understanding than anyone I know. She chose to forgive Carmel and get her to forgive herself, but Carmel also had many other mental problems.
They expanded Carmel’s character from the book, and Regina Hall played the layers and nuances beautifully. Besides her anger issues, Carmel struggled with dissociative and anxiety issues too. She often didn’t know where she was, causing her to become anxious.
It’s hard to know how much these issues were hers and how many worsened from the drugs they gave her at Tranquillum House. Carmel looked so confused when they submerged her in water, trying to purge everything out of her.
I felt for her. They kept putting her in isolation, which only made Carmel’s symptoms worse and scared her.
Nicole Kidman shined as a grieving mom. Masha tried to convince the Marconi family she wanted to travel to the past to help them reach Zach, but no one believed her.
Zoe: Why didn’t you just tell us about your daughter?
Masha: It’s not acceptable for a therapist to be talking about her life.
It was obvious that both the Marconi family and Masha were lost in their grief and needed closure to move on, especially the Marconi’s. Unfortunately, they were so stuck blaming themselves and each other that no one had really moved on.
You guys are trying to attach a reason to an irrational act. There’s no logic and no blame. It wasn’t any of you. It wasn’t even me. It’s something that just happened. If I could take it back, I would.
Zach
All of them were so bitter and angry. Napoleon was convinced that the incessant ringing he kept hearing was a signal symbolizing Zach. Zach implied that it was time for the family to stop grieving him and move on.
I hope the Marconi gamily can grieve Zach as a family together and forgive each other and finally move on. So many hurtful things were said at Tranquillum, but grief can do that to you. Hopefully, their love is strong enough to prevail.
Once Zoe realized what joy it brought her to see Zach again, she decided to help Masha find Tatiana in their reality.
Nicole Kidman shined in that scene as Masha when she saw her little girl again. It’s what every mother who loses a child dreams of –to reunite and hold her child again.
I teared up. It was such an emotional scene.
Masha must have taken a stronger dose than the Marconi family. She saw Tatiana a lot longer than they saw Zach.
I had the most fun watching Tony and Frances’ relationship evolve throughout the series.
They didn’t like each other much initially, but soon they became each other’s most preferred confidants.
While Frances admitted she was afraid to jump into another relationship, she still did agree to go on a date with Tony.
8 days ago I didn’t even know you, and seven days ago, I met you and really disliked you, and today I think there’s a pretty good shot in the near future of me giving you my house key.
Frances
It was a mature relationship that evolved slowly from friends into romance, which made it unexpected and fun to watch,
We hadn’t had an actual scene from the book in a while, but I was intrigued by how they handled the near-death fire scene. In the book, the guests had to work together to figure out a way out before they starved or perished.
I preferred this version, where they discussed the people and goals that meant the most to them, and we saw how they accomplished them in the epilogue. Finally, each of the guests got their hard-earned happy ending.
I was relieved that Ben and Jessica learned to communicate and got their second chance in the Hulu adaptation as well.
I hated that while they cared about each other that they still got divorced in the book.
I’m still confused about the aftermath of the police and Delilah coming and questioning everyone. What happened to Masha? Was the only punishment that she had to get rid of Tranquillum House?
Yao looked apologetic to Delilah when she arrived and as they were packing up stuff. Are they back together?
I really enjoyed Nine Perfect Strangers. I think that ending felt like the ideal ending to a limited series. In my opinion, that should be the end. I don’t think we need a season two
. If we have another season, it should be an anthology type with all new characters since these guests all had happy endings.
That may prove difficult, though, since there is no more source material. While Hulu’s adaptation only loosely followed Liane Moriarty’s novel, it did cover the entire book in these eight episodes.
What do you think, TV Fanatics? Were you pleased with how the finale ended? Were you surprised about the reveal of Masha’s stalker? Are you a fan of Tony and Frances’s relationship?
Would you like to see another season of Nine Perfect Strangers? Chime in below in the comments.
Nine Perfect Strangers is currently streaming on Hulu.
Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.