If there’s one thing Nicole Kidman is going to commit wholeheartedly to in any of her multitude of projects, it’s that her character will indulge in a wig or an accent. In the case of Nine Perfect Strangers, it’s both.
Four years ago, hot off the success of her “Big Little Lies” being transformed into a streaming behemoth, Australian author Liane Moriarty saw another of her best-selling novels, “Nine Perfect Strangers”, similarly updated, with the Hulu/Prime Video show becoming a predicted hit.
Though Moriarty’s novel was standalone, and the first season – which had Kidman overseeing the titular strangers (played by such talent as Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon and Samara Weaving) as Masha Dmitrichenko, a Russian wellness retreat owner who uses hallucinogenic drugs to help her guests reach a mental and psychological balance – was intended as a miniseries initially, its reception and furthered narrative possibilities have led to an anthological temperament.
That first season saw each of her guests reach their mental breaking point before finding ultimate clarity. For Masha, she too had her own awakening of sorts, with the series departing on the reveal of her dead daughter and a vision of the two together. For this second season, Masha’s daughter is still a presence that tethers, but she’s found success after the controversial treatments applied in the first season. So much so that she’s still able to convince a wealth of strangers to travel to the Austrian Alps to undergo another of her drug-induced treatments.
The facility this time around is known as Zauberwald, and Masha’s working under the guidance of her mentor, Helena (Lena Olin), who seems to both understand and slightly fear the work that Masha is putting forward. As was the case with the first, over the series’ 8 episodes it becomes gradually clear as to what Masha is planning, but there’s a lesser sense of fun adhered to here, which may not entice viewers (both returning and new) to want to see this to its end.
Much like the first, which had an expansive ensemble that exceeded the material they were working with, this second coming of Nine Perfect Strangers has an enviable line-up of players that effortlessly embody the troubled patients who are all seeking a sense of clarity. There’s Imogen (Annie Murphy) and Victoria (Christine Baranski), a judgmental woman and her supercilious mother, respectively, who have their unique struggles to contend with, which are only further exacerbated with the arrival of Victoria’s much younger lover, Matteo (Aras Aydın). Peter (Henry Golding), who’s looking for a sense of purpose alongside his wealthy father, David (Mark Strong). Musician couple Tina (King Princess) and Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), who have created a wedge between them off the back of their creative blocking. And former nun Agnes (Dolly de Leon) and television personality Brian (Murray Bartlett), both seeking guidance for personal reasons that, as to expected, garner slow burn reveals that play into the series’ oft-disturbing and highly emotional mentality.
How each of these characters connect to one another gives the series undeniable juice as it slinks from one episode to the next, with worrying, melodramatic reveals that could easily give way to something far campier than what is ultimately put forth on screen. Though she’s clad with a frosty blonde cut and a Russian tone, Kidman never pratfalls into a caricature. Her Masha feels like a lived-in personality. de Leon delivers some truly fine, understated work. And Murphy continues to prove how adept a dramatic actress she is, whilst maintaining her sense of comedic timing that she mastered so on Schitt’s Creek. Really, there isn’t a foot stepped wrong with this ensemble, and it’s their performances that keep us invested, even as the harsher make-up of the show can make it not always the most pleasant viewing.
On their own, each season of Nine Perfect Strangers make for intriguing, entertaining viewing. When watched in comparison to one another, this second season feels significant in its dark nature and overall production value. Despite what it was dealing with thematically, the first is a much lighter affair when looking at the trauma unleashed across the 8 episodes here. That’s not at all a slight on that season, but if this is the leap from one to another, the potential for further stories seem ripe – even if the formula of the show very much means we’re unlikely to see any of these characters again.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The first two episodes of Nine Perfect Strangers will premiere on Prime Video in Australia on May 22nd, 2025 and from May 21st on Hulu in the United States, with new episodes launching weekly until the series finale on July 3rd.
