🔊 Alexa, play Folie à Deux 🎶
Yes, shared delusions are the name of the game in season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers and the indomitable wellness guru Masha puts on quite the show with her triumphant return to the scheme screen. One of my new favorite micro-genres is Nicole Kidman in a c**ty blonde wig causing psychological turmoil, so I was locked in and ready to go with this one.
In the second season, we open with the fallout of the first. Masha is holding her own in the sea of lawsuits and internet judgment—but that doesn’t stop her from attracting new clients, now does it? (It never does.) She takes her fresh brand of devious psychedelic manipulation to the frigid climate of the Austrian Alps, setting up her latest wellness retreat in a beautiful Bavarian castle, which is as remote as one can possibly get without the wealthy clientele raising their perfectly plucked eyebrows.
Meet the Guests:
- Imogen (Annie Murphy), a neurotic 30-something who has more degrees than she has clues about where her life went wrong;
- Her mother Victoria (Christine Baranski), an obstinate woman who’d much rather be anywhere else than with her daughter;
- Victoria’s much younger boyfriend Matteo (Aras Aydin) who’s just happy to be there;
- David (Mark Strong), a billionaire intelligence mogul who’s ruthless in business and has a score to settle;
- His son Peter (Henry Golding), a charming man looking to gain approval and figure out what he wants;
- Brian (Murray Bartlett), a former children’s TV host who once helped kids cope with their mental health, until his very-public exit;
- Sister Agnes (Dolly de Leon), a retired nun looking for redemption;
- Tina (King Princess), a former child prodigy who’s lost her ability to play piano;
- Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), Tina’s partner who thinks time at this retreat will help fix everything.
Masha presides over them all with a strong and clinical hand, pushing their boundaries and manipulating everyone she meets. Kidman steals every scene she’s in, keeping your focus on Masha with a coiled poise that threatens to unleash at any moment. Helping Masha is the ever-present Martin (Lucas Englander), head of research and protocol, and Helena (Lena Olin), whose partnership with Masha is deep-rooted and twisted in its history.
Of course, these strangers aren’t really strangers at all—they all have tenuous connections primed to flare up and create fireworks. And the new connections they make with one another serve to create even more tension, which Masha uses to great effect. She must revisit the past to heal her old wounds, all while forcing her patients on journeys of their own…whether they want to or not.
Season 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers builds on the unhinged drama of the first season but this time, you’re more in the know of just what Masha is up to. It adds a wink of shared mischief to the viewer, even if the story holds just enough unknowns offscreen to keep you interested. That also doesn’t mean Masha won’t surprise you—although why mess with a winning formula?
The season doesn’t reinvent the wheel nor does the plot seem to feel the need for much progression; instead, it revels in the chaos created by each person’s own undoing, that spiral out like loosely connected vignettes. One can only imagine each episode is what a psychedelic-induced trip might feel like (I wouldn’t know, I’ve yet to receive my invite from the wellness guru herself).
The new all-star cast are what makes the season feel fresh; with new characters to get stuck into, the actors have plenty of scenery to chew. Shoutout to Murphy and Barinski for selling Imogen and Victoria’s strained mother-daughter relationship so hard you’ll feel it in the grit of your teeth. Bartlett is brilliant in portraying Brian’s unsettling friendliness that constantly teeters on the brink of overwhelm. And Strong is having a ball as David, lending a menacing gravitas to the role, paralleled by Golding’s disarming and endearing charm as his son Peter.
Princess and Richardson-Sellers have a frenetic yet taught chemistry that keeps on pulling you in; Tina and Wolfie’s journey is perhaps the most enthralling. Dolly de Leon plays Sister Agnes with a quiet and unassuming grace and you’ll find yourself drawn to her. And Matteo cannot be discounted for his importance in bringing a more lighthearted and nuanced touch to the series; Aras Aydin shines here.
The serene backdrop of the Alps almost becomes its own character too; from the looming mountains cutting off all means of communication (and escape), to its freezing temperatures that force the characters to work harder to survive, its calming surface doesn’t seem to care if its inhabitants fail. Such is the wildness of nature, I suppose.
And it provides a contrast to the claustrophobic scenes held within the retreat as each character gets deeper into a hell of their own mind’s making. When the camera fixes on their faces with a dizzying close-up effect, it makes you feel as unbalanced as they do, while the classical score creeps in and out to ramp up the chill-factor.
Swinging wildly between dark thrills and surreal absurdity like a pendulum off its axis, Nine Perfect Strangers S2 is a melodramatic romp in the snow that doesn’t hold much plot but the cast make it a good time regardless. If you’re missing your White Lotus fix, or you simply feel like indulging in your messy side, head to the Alps for a heady tonic of psychological shenanigans—you just might enjoy the taste.