NINE PERFECT STRANGERS on Hulu starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Michael Shannon and Bobby Cannavale

Join us at Tranquillium!

Has Nicole’s most recent fax work settled? She looked odd in her last Netflix movie.

She was always so pretty she could just leave her face alone and go natural. She was the most sultry and beautiful actress in Hollywood for a good run. I hope it all settles out because I like Nic and have always routed for her going back to her ordeal with trying to escape Tom and the clams.

*face

How does Kidman do so many projects? She must have a staff rivalling Biden's.

Though I've often thought she was a clone.

I’m excited about Melissa being in a drama, I like her as that of actress over comedy where she seems to rely on a bag of tics and tricks for her humorous performance.

Reviews are not good for this.

Initial reviews for White Lotus weren’t very laudatory as well, and I think this has a camp factor, which will work to its advantage for us here.

Does Nicole never go home?

R8 This was actually filmed in Australia standing in for Northern California. I’m sure the production was pretty much built around her.

Mostly favorable review, though bizarrely it seems to be playing on Amazon Prime in the UK and a few days later. How Hulu and Prime can share shows is a conundrum to me.

Nicole has always been prolific and it’s one of the things I like about her.

We can't wait.

Nicole has the coldness to pull something like this off. She is practically a human refrigerator.

Bad wig . Again

I wonder if it will be like the undoing. You keep waiting for some twist but it turns out the whole mystery was solved in the first episode.

The photoshop in that promo picture. They could have just draw them.

R10 it's on Amazon Prime here too as we don't have Hulu in Australia.

The trailer makes it feel very ... countryside. Like any of the British murder mystery shows that have their obligatory murder investigation at a resort type of episode. I mean, it features big star names, but it feels less grand and lux when the actors walk besides common, unmaintained shrubbery.

What look is Nicole going for? Cowardly Lion? Fur face? Beastial?

There are going to be 8 episodes a week, OP?

It's a pity that Kidman wasn't available to replace Spencer in the McCarthy fun fest, Thunder Force.

Asher Keddie? I'm in.

Anything with Canivale is now suspect.

Did they make Nicole Kidman an M2F in the OP?

Luke Evans playing a guy on vacation at a luxurious resort, wearing very little, and getting a tan.

It's a stretch, but I'm sure he'll be adequate in the role.

R17 No Hulu in England or Australia, how did Disney the most powerful media company in the world slip up and not get in those two markets? Do you have Disney+ or is that channeled through other platforms as well? And a general question for everyone, could an American subscribe to Amazon Prime UK or Netflix Latin America or whatever? How’s about if you had that proxy type internet, I forget what it’s called.

Nicole Kidman looks trans. That’s on purpose.

R26 yes, we have Disney+ in Australia.

The first three episodes dropped. Luke does play a snarky gay man. Michael Shannon is playing surprisingly against type, which is refreshing. Melissa is relying to heavily on humor, not drama as I had hoped. Regina Hall and Regina King are apparently not the same person, nor are Samara Weaving and Samira Wiley, so that kind of threw me off.

Are all the episodes released at once to binge watch or is it one episode a week?

8 episodes a week?!

Three episodes at once? Someone's trying to make viewers fill their heads with NPS and push HBO's The White Lotus out of their minds.

I would definitely choose to stay here over the White Lotus, but then again I’m not really an ocean person.

I just watched Nicole's interview with Carrie Bickmore. I don't remember much of what she said because her cheeks are so distracting.

Michael Shannon in the hot tub scene is an all-time cringe fest. I can’t handle personality types like that.

Watching it now. First 3 episodes dropped today then 1 every week thereafter. I can't help but compare it with White Lotus.

Kidman looks like a creepy Lord of the Rings elf.

I like Nicole a lot but she's creeping into Meg Ryan territory with all the facework. That didn't work out so well for Meg.

[quote]Nine Perfect Strangers: Where You've Seen The Cast Before

I knew I had seen the lead actress before!

Her accent is more distracting. Russian's a hard accent for a non-Russian to pull off without it sounding phony.

R40 I really think it’s purposely not on point, as she will be revealed to have lied about her back story.

Okay, I’ll watch. I love Kidman, but hate what she’s done to her exquisite and unique face.

Luke Evans being the one to stalk Masha is just a red herring right, it couldn’t be that easy.

I was trying to watch Ocean’s 8 the other day (my mistake) and turned it off because the plastic surgery faces were so distracting. Kidman’s not quite as bad, but she’s getting there.

The parts of Nicole Kidman’s face that struggle to emote are truly an inspiration to us all.

This show is slop compared to White Lotus!

Sounds like the kind of premise a computer would spit out.

[Quote] I was trying to watch Ocean’s 8 the other day (my mistake) and turned it off because the plastic surgery faces were so distracting.

Lol someone on another thread was saying how great Sandra looked in Ocean's 8. But i found her nose really distracting, like she's gone into MJ territory.

Just started watching and the Asian guy who works there is gorgeous

I thought Melissa McCarthy had lost weight but it looks like she found it again

This is the third streaming collab between Kidman and Kelley. The first one (Big Little Lies) was good, even great at time. The second one (The Undoing) was trashy fun. This third one is downright horrible. The first three episodes were just bad, especially having just followed The White Lotus. I cringed at the writing during some of the scenes and felt bad for the actors trying to make these characters believable/interesting/complex.

Regina Hall is one breath of fresh air and Michael Shannon would be another. But, they can't save this show. I laughed when Hall got angry and then stopped herself towards the end of Episode 3.

Mike White can see the whole picture, whereas David E. Kelley can't get out of his own bubble.

I’ve seen 2 episodes, and I like it much better than White Lotus, probably because the characters aren’t as eccentric. I hate-watched White Lotus after episode 3.

Kidman’s wig is pretty bad, but I think the comments about her face are overdone. She looks fine.

Also, I wonder if David E. Kelley and Michelle Pfeiffer made an agreement to mostly never collaborate. They had that one little seen movie from 25 years ago where she wasn't even the star. And he has worked with Nicole Kidman three times now in the last four years. Pfeiffer clearly has a renewed interest in acting. I would think that a major screenwriter like Kelley would want to do some kind of special project with his wife. But, maybe it's a boundary for them.

Is this in the genres of "all cringe characters doing cringe things"? Because I gave up on that genre early in COVID. Why add more negative energy and cringe to life?

Primarily because it's not my negative energy or cringe r54.

Or my life, for that matter.

WTF is up with her ridiculous Joker mouth?

Stop getting pulled, Nicole!

You're one surgery away from turning into a freakishly deformed Kim Novak, unemployable.

When Kidman shows herself at McCarthey's bedroom door, she is about 7 foot tall and rail thin looking. That was a special effect, right?

The young couple are the weakest link and bad actors. He is fug and her face is not pretty.

I disagree. Samara Weaving is the chick with the bolt on boobs. I think this is a competent performance. The actress isn't that character and the character is fleshed out to me.

Initially, I thought it's a sci-fi thriller with Nicole as an alien, well she look like one and also she received a message saying she's 'leaving earth this week'. I managed to watch all 3 episodes and still not really sure what to make of it.

Seeing the one character’s “Instagram face” in motion is really startling (the teeth!). I hope that’s makeup special effects, not anything permanent for her. I imagine walking around parts of LA is a parade of twig-like starved people with either this type of face or Kidman’s stretched plastic surgery face.

The daughter/twin looks so much like Shailene Woodley.

R49, that is Manny Jacinto from The Good Place.

Bobby is not in shape, and unshaved, and he is still hot at fuck.

Always thought Bobby Cannavale was a lousy actor. His voice annoys me. Love Michael Shannon though.

Hmm Bobby's voice is part of his appeal. Each to his own I guess.

At least he didn’t drag that horse faced bitch of a wife into this production.

You're a charmer, you are R66.

So, apparently Kidman went completely method during this and remained ethereal and aloof during the whole production.

I’m 100% confident Nicole is trolling us at this point! Wearing a ratty Korean wig in every project has become her signature! Her wig in The Undoing represented a new low….but this one…yikes.

But the scene where her hair was floating under water looked strikingly real, was it a CGI effect?

R66 Rose has her own show. Physical is getting a second season.

Average critics score of 55 on Metacritic.

R72 Is that out of 60?

So Melissa and Bobby will fuck, and Michael and Regina will fuck?

[quote]Samara Weaving is the chick with the bolt on boobs. I think this is a competent performance. The actress isn't that character and the character is fleshed out to me.

In episode 2, during her pool scene with Melissa McCarthy's character, she was doing a complete rip-off of the Alexis mannerisms and voice from Schitts Creek.

It’s nothing like White Lotus, and White Lotus was shit.

R75 my experience also, kept waiting for her to break into Lil Bit O’ ‘Lexis.

Samara Weaving is an awful actress.

R78 don't tell Hugo that.

This is very different to White Lotus and all the comparisons seem very facile to me.

The Aussie trans man medic is very amateurish.

When you ask people, the first adjective to describe Nicole is "creepy."

It is interesting how this role leans into that. And for once her over operated-on face seems on point for her character.

I'm 2/3 through the second episode and I am enjoying it.

I LOVED The White Orchid and someone in the thread about it said that Nine Perfect Strangers is terrible by comparison, but aside from both of them being at expensive resorts, there's no real comparison. This show is a little ridiculous and barely a millimeter deep, but it's fun and strange enough to be interesting. Nicole Kidman has morphed into a...one-of-a-kind creature. But I always appreciate her, even when she looks like an extraterrestrial with a stone face and when she speaks with accents that sound like extraterrestrials trying to speak English.

Also, Melissa McCarthy is just a funny person. I enjoy her.

The only weak link I see so far is the mother. The actress just isn't up to par.

That’s interesting; I’ve really liked the mother’s performance but it feels like she’s beaming in from a different, better show. I also like what Michael Shannon is doing but it’s almost painfully realistic if you’ve ever known a guy like that. The rest of the characters seem to better fit this middling show.

So bitchy Luke Evans appears to be a in undercover journalist, or podcaster, or WebSleuther, or perhaps a relative of the person who previously died at the wellness centre and was suing Masha?

The black guy is the only guest character who seems to have no story or motivation to be there, and the actress who plays his girlfriend/wife is impersonating the mannerisms and expressions of Alexis from Schitt's Creek.

So, those swim outfits of Melissa’s are they a real thing or were they something created especially for the show?

R22 - I'm with you. I'll watch because of Asher Keddie. I'm so glad I watched Offspring on Netflix - probably the best show I've seen in years and Keddie is terrific. I'm watching it now for the second time. It often makes me laugh out loud and cry in the same episode.

R88 I’ve seen patterned wetsuits like that from a few middle-fashion brands recently (maybe DVF?).

R86 I couldn’t tell if we’re supposed to doubt his story of being a lottery winner, or whether he was just reluctant to share with the group.

the flashbacks are lazy narrative devices

Regina King seems to be over acting or is it that the character is doing that on purpose to fake the others out? She started as little miss sunshine and the next moment was strangling the uppity gay guy.

Oh shit this actress is Regina but not King.

I don't know any spoiler but I am calling it now that the Luke Evans character is a cop or private detective.

Ugh. Why does Nicole have to accept every available job, good or bad? Take a break.

Perhaps she enjoys the work. So far this isn't embarrassing, but it is campy.

[quote] So far this isn't embarrassing, but it is campy.

A bit like Nicky K herself

exactly

If I was married to Keith Urban I would be taking every job offered to get out of the house and away from him and the kids I could get. Australian Country Music, how is that even a thing, and I don’t think she has any real maternal instinct beyond trying to keep those Other children away from the light, that’s why it was so easy to leave the kids with the Scientologists.

Kidman looks like a tranny.

Nicole's upper arms, especially from the back, are that crepe-y texture you see with anorexics. The Horror Genre works for her current appearance.

When Suckmara Weaving talked about how hot Masha is, I shook my head and cursed David E Kelley.

On what planet is Samara Weaving beautiful? She looks like she's wearing dentures made for a giant.

Her father made a prettier girl then she does and he was already the ugly one in the Priscilla trio.

Kidman does not have plastic surgery. She has absolute state of the art fillers and Botox from the best aestheticians in the world who know her face. She’s always looked preternatural. All I can say is I was auditioning next door to a press event she was having with Jennifer Jason Leigh for some Weinstein movie they were doing together at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and she walked in the room and all eyes immediately went to her. She’s absolutely gigantic in person. She towered over everyone. She’s intimidatingly gorgeous and flawless. I was genuinely shocked, and I don’t really give a shit about celebrities I’ve seen in person. She looked alien, like a Vogue model. I felt stupid because I couldn’t stop staring. She was MUCH more beautiful in person than on screen. I saw why Cruise chose her. She is a star.

Nicole used to go to my gym. Without makeup, she could have been any woman… nothing particular notable about her.

Her fillers are Botox are way over the top. She looks nothing like the Nicole from Dead Calm and other early movies.

I haven't read this entire thread yet, so maybe it's already been mentioned but Samara Weaving has ENORMOUS teeth. It's completely distracting.

I’m hoping they are fake? I’m imagining she used her husband’s lottery winnings to buy herself a new face, but because she’s new to having money, she didn’t know what doctors to avoid.

Nicole’s state-of-the-art fillers are grotesque. Give me a syringe; I could do a better job.

I remember how she looked in profile in unfiltered natural light on board the helicopter in the final episode of her last HBO series (THE UNDOING) and it was frightening to see a face pumped full of fillers like that.

Is 9 perfect strangers as consistently illogical as the undoing? It seemed that nobody in that show behaved like anyone would in real life. My favorite unrealistic detail was the uber rich and connected Kidman repeatedly speaking to cops without a lawyer.

These are her real teeth. I guess they thought her metal fangs weren’t in keeping with the character.

Those are most certainly not Samara's original or real teeth. Here is a still from a previous movie called Ready or Not.

I believe she's deliberately made up on the show to look like a fake, plastic instahoe.

In an interview Weaving just revealed... “I had wire pulling my face up to help give me that face lift kind of look, and fake teeth. And the makeup team did an incredible job. [Makeup artist] Sian Howard really gave my lips that puffy look,” she said.

And the Emmy goes to… Nicole Kidman’s ratty Korean wig!

R116 to be outdone only by her slipping, unconvincing eastern euro accent.

They are both going to be major plot points!!! Shesssh!

Someone should make a TV character starring Nicole's Virginia Woolf nose and Samara's Hulu teeth. Maybe some Spock ears.

Nicole, Kylie and Catherine Deneuve have the same visage specialist/aesthete - no surgery, no scalpels whatsoever.

Luke is soooo hot

Hugo Weaving is not her father. I remember her from Ryan Murphy's 'Hollywood', she was pretty in that.

R120 oh honey.

They made Samara Weaving look like Alyssa Edwards.

Alyssa Edwards would have upstaged Nicole Kidman in every scene.

Masha: Today, we are going out in nature to forage on the land. All of you may end the day illuminated. Some of you may not return.

Alyssa: What the fuck is going on up in here on this day? This is some spooky ass horror movie shit bitch looking like Botoxed Galadriel from Lord of the Rings with some crazy killer eyes looking at us like Wiley Coyote seeing a goddamned roast beef or some shit. Uh uh. Somebody better call my motherfucking agent and get me up outta here from this bitch right here right now. Anybody? No? Well [tongue pop] at least I'll look good when y'all crazy ass motherfuckers Donner Party my ass.

Spotted the clams at R100 and R101

R105 Hugo is her uncle.

R108 she looked better back in the Home and Away days. I don't know why so many of them get that buccal fat removal.

What is this Home and Away that ever Australian actor seems to need to be an apprentice on before going on to bigger things, it’s in like ALL their bios?

R127, it’s their version of “Law & Order”.

R127 it's either that or Neighbours. Those are our 2 big soap operas.

With all of the hot young black actors out there, this Melvin Gregg person was the best they could do?

Melissa McCarthy appears to have been directed to study Rosie O'Donnell's screen ouevre.

If nothing else, The White Lotus was brilliantly cast with known and unknown actors. This cast is awful.

Is Home and Away like Hollyoaks?

I don't know if the cast is awful but the acting is closer to sitcom level than anything else, which is strange for 'prestige television' with Nicole Kidman.

I really feel like this Samara person is doing an impression of Annie Murphy from Schitt's Creek. It's distracting how much she acts like her.

The black actress got terrible as it went on. I didn't mind her original peppy personality for the one note it is, but the 'angry' persona is cartoonish and I can't figure out if we're supposed to take it seriously.

The dad is annoying but I get what he's about. I thought the mother's acting at the beginning was poor but she has gotten better over the episodes or else she has grown on me. Part of what distracts me about her is that her manner of speaking sounds off somehow—but now I see that she's Australian. Maybe she's not at good at American accents as the other Australians.

Speaking of which:

Nicole—Australian

Luke Evans—Welsh

Samara Weaving—Australian

Asher Keddie—Australian

It's getting hard for American actors get jobs these days!

I had high hopes for this show, but between the awful directing, the scene-chewing of these mediocre actors, and the mishandling of the actual talent on set is just too much to handle. Why does everyone just fly off the handle at every twist and turn? I'm getting whiplash from these assholes going from zero to 60 in two fucking seconds.

^^^"my son died like five years ago, and I just can't cope or talk or hear the word death. I am the only family this has ever happened to!"

R112, when did Nicole's character speak to cops?

This series is awful but I’ll keep watching.

It's meant to be new age suspense camp, right?

It can't possibly be meant to be taken seriously. I don't think it's a smart satire like The White Lotus but more of a superficial summertime spectacle sort of thing.

[quote] She’s absolutely gigantic in person. She towered over everyone

Only with heels. She’s my height, a shade over 5’9” and I’m on the short for a side for a man. I walked past her in the Sydney suburb where her sister used to live when when they walked out of a kids store. We glanced at each other’s shoes and we were wearing identical Docs. She gave a bit of a giggle. She’s tall for a woman for not some gangly freak like Karlie Kloss.

[quote] It's meant to be new age suspense camp, right? It can't possibly be meant to be taken seriously. I don't think it's a smart satire like The White Lotus but more of a superficial summertime spectacle sort of thing.

Agreed. Liane Moriarty writes juicy domestic thrillers and David E. Kelley is, well, David E. Kelley.

But I found White Lotus obvious. Datalounge - the We Are Liberals But Hate All Things Woke! gay central - earnestly eating up all its too-obvious-to-be-subtext racial and class pronouncements in endless threads was hilarious.

[quote] Nicole, Kylie and Catherine Deneuve have the same visage specialist/aesthete - no surgery, no scalpels whatsoever

Very impressive that they managed Nic’s rhinoplasty and chin implant without it.

R135, reread his post, he’s talking about The Undoing.

R131 yes???

R126 Maybe she’s going for that Chrissy Teigen look

Between this and The Undoing, Nicole is 0 for 2.

R144 Brace yourself for Being the Ricardos.

Unless it's filmed in grainy black and white from a distance, there's no way Nicole's cement face and voice are going to be convincing as Lucille Ball even if it is a drama.

I think Nicole Kidman is a brilliant actor, but the Michael Jackson effect is devastating to look at, and she seems to have lost her magic ability to choose great roles. Her other recent projects are The Prom and Aquaman. What is she thinking?

Nicole as Lucy will be the end of a long run for Nic. Even for TV projects.

Just watch me wiggle my nose and change your mind, R146

R146 Eh, she survived Bewitched and Stepford Wives, she’ll be fine.

Life is a mystery!

R149 I don’t understand what those elaborate numbers mean under the picture.

R150 That's the Botox Blend™️ formulation number in case you want to take it to your go-to skincare professional to reproduce her spectacular results.

Why didn't they hire ageless beauty Miss Joan Van Ark?

McCarthy looks like Oprah in that promo illustration.

[quote]I don't know if the cast is awful but the acting is closer to sitcom level than anything else, which is strange for 'prestige television' with Nicole Kidman

Hulu and Netflix aren't prestige. Although The Crown is.

These movies & tv shows on Hulu and Netflix are a tiny step up from a Lifetime movie. Amy Adams was in "Woman in the Window" and it was such poor quality. it wasn't even on par with a Lifetime movie

HBO, Showtime and AMC have prestige shows

Between NPS, Brand New Cherry Flavor, and Trese, Jacinto is all over everything I am watching right now. He was adorable in The Good Place as Jason. I’m glad he is doing well for himself.

The black lady looks like Eep Crood

I wonder of the animosity between Carmel and Lars is just an act and their real agenda is to investigate the death that has been mentioned by Masha and Delilah? Hall's character seems way too eager to share and establish her backstory (why she's at the resort).

Regina Hall is Brenda from Scary Movie

Regina Hall's character is wearing the whitest lady clothes a black lady has ever worn on network TV since Isabel Sandford.

And The Melissa McCarthy character driving all that way in her car wearing an ankle length chiffon dress under an ankle length white silk coat? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Sometimes I judge these shows by their costume design.

I’m assuming at some point soon they start being murdered off?

I already did that. Years ago.

R157 why would their animosity be fake if they were acting that way at the gas station? Lars was insulting and dismissive to her there. Why would they bother trying to deceive the gas station attendant who they're not going to see again?

I like how Luke Evans has a nice THICC man look in this series with a great chest! I liked when Michael Shannon's character walks up behind Evans, who is sitting down, and squeezes his shoulders, whispers in his ear, and slaps his thick chest. And I like how they have him wearing little tight short shorts when they go outdoors that show off his ass and bulge.

I wish Masha used funnier broken "Boris Russian" to talk.

After having watched The Good Place it's weird seeing Manny Jacinto playing the complete opposite type of character.

They all look like trans in the OP’s pic.

[quote] [R157] why would their animosity be fake if they were acting that way at the gas station?

Test run, putting on a show for people who might be tied to the resort. That sort of thing.

I'm gonna guess Masha is styled and lit like Galadriel from Lord of the Rings because she is an otherworldly beings who will take the guests souls' through their dark nights to bright new days.

R165, but a completely similar setting

R169 Are you giving a plot point away that the 9 Perfect Strangers are all actually dead and in some waiting room in hell? Speaking of which, does anybody remember a TV movie from the 70s or very early 80s where a small group of people are on an island trying to survive, but eventually they all realize they died at earlier points in their lives?

I guess Luke Evans doesn't care about the gay thing anymore right? I feel like even a few years ago he was more hush-hush about it.

R170 That premise would make this show more entertaining to be honest. Not if it were going to drag on like Lost, but if it is really limited to eight episodes, I could roll along with that idea. Particularly interesting would be the family of three arriving together distraught over the son's suicide.

But I don't think it's going to be dark like that. The whole welcome emphasized healing and being whole too sincerely. "Is everyone here beautiful?" "Yes—including you! You can't see it yet, but you will!" I can't imagine this ending in a dark place. Instead, l think it's going to be an eccentric version of an ayahuasca-type retreat where people go through emotionally devastating experiences together with strangers and come out healed in the end.

The show is called "Nine Perfect Strangers," which I think is a giveaway. Most people are probably reading that as "nine strangers who don't know one another at all," but I'm pretty sure the point is hiding in plain sight: they're all flawed and they're all "perfect" human beings who are broken and will help one another to become whole.

I'm assuming this will end with Kidman's inevitable showdown with the Batman?

NOPE, R172. Because Masha is filled with intrigue, danger, and dishonesty. It won't be that simple.

And who's the dingbat who thinks this is "quality TV" because Kidman is in it. She does glossy pulp all the time. One of the queens of the genre.

Spoiler: In the end, Masha walks into the lake and drowns before re-emerging with a prosthetic nose, and we learn that she is Virginia Woolf and this is the alternate universe she walked herself into when she drowned herself at the end of The Hours. From frumpy self-published author to all-powerful healer after crossing over!

R171 He hasn't been in the closet for years. He's a lot more open again now.

It's always Masha, Masha, Masha!

R170 Haunts of the Very Rich starring Lloyd Bridges and Cloris Leachman

I'm thinking of starting a teleplay for a new show called Moody People at an Expensive Resort to pitch to Netflix. Think they'll buy?

R178 Thank you, thank you thank you!! You don’t know how long I’ve been trying to find this movie and the times I almost believed I made it up in my mind! I would have been seven when it aired, but it profoundly effected me, especially Ed Asner’s late in the game reveal of his drunken stumble down the stairs. And what a dream gay boy cast! Robert Reed the priest, Lou Grant (Ed Asner) and Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) before MTM, Donna Mills, and shirtless Lloyd Bridges! It seems like the antecedent to many other works, Fantasy Island, Lost, Places in the Heart, it could easily have inspired White Lotus and I could see Mike White totally having it buried in the back of his subconscious from childhood, and of course I made the connection with this show. I think I could never find it because of the twist ending not being revealed 8n descriptions. How was it that you recalled it and got it from my meager description? Thanks again!

Michael Shannon's character is just one big cringe. He is doing a good job with it though.

r143 wow that is ugly. I saw some pictures recently of back from her Sports Illustrated days and her face was prettier then, she shouldn't have messed with it.

Halfway through the first episode. Someone please tell me we get some sort of naked Bobby? He just gets hotter as he ages. I even like the beard.

he'll be in the pool soon with the other fatty. He looks juicy floating around on a lounge.

In episode two, when Bobby cannonballs Melissa in the pool?

No lie: I wished that was me in Melissa's place. I'd even get fat and wear that weird wetsuit thing and mock him with heavy flirtation bubbling under every cutting remark.

Just to have Bobby cannonball me.

McCarthy's weird wetsuits reminded me of Nigella Lawson's burkini from a long time ago.

Melissa McCarthy gets a lot of jobs for her husband, I noticed he played the grifter ex.

R187 yea she is Executive Producer of this show that's why.

Fuck yea.

R187 He doesn’t seem to have much talent, other then knowing who to marry.

The final eight episodes of Wentworth are airing in Australian on Foxtel in two days time. I really wish that Nicole, or maybe Kylie Minogue, or another 80s tv glamourpuss like Rebecca Gibney had been in the last couple of episodes.

Apart from Bobby Canavale, the characters are all boring and/or annoying. But Bobby is hilarious, the way he delivers his lines. I can't say I loved how he killed the pet goat, however.

r192 didn't the dad actually kill the goat? I thought they showed him doing that during his speech at the end of the episode, or is he hallucinating or drugged?

I feel like White Lotus had better and more focused writing, and better dialogue. Here, the writing seems all over the place and the dialogue is cringe.

The White Lotus had the advantage of the initial hook of at least one person being dead at the end of the season (who's in the casket????). That one little scene at the beginning kept viewers interested and invested the first few episodes and then slowly moved into the background (until the final episode, of course) to make room for viewers appreciating the characters with their flaws.

Without a gimmick like that, NPS viewers are left to wonder what exactly (and why) are they watching. Of course, guys like Michael Shannon (especially in episode three) deliver. But you have to stick with the show for some time in order to get there and get hooked.

All the actors are adequate to very good EXCEPT the black guy married to the Insta-girl with big teeth. He really drags the story.

Is Bobby's slutty son Jake playing young Bobby in those football flashbacks?

R187 let's just be grateful he isn’t writing or directing.

R190 I think he’s fine as the straight man, but in small doses. He was funny as the air marshall in Bridesmaids.

Who is MelissaMcCarthy's husband? Is he on the show, or why is there so much chatter about him?

No, it’s not up to the quality of THE WHITE LOTUS, but it’s enjoyable. TWL made me think and analyze; this show certainly does not.

I love McCarthy, Cannavale, and Hall, so just watching them is enough for me to be interested. I also think Kidman is an excellent actress, I just wish she’d stopped fucking with her face after the first season of BIG LITTLE LIES. She could still pass as somewhat human in that first season, but there were some unfortunate “tweaks” after that.

I guess there’s no chance of Luke Evans having a gay sex scene on this…I can’t think of anyone his character could hook up with— but I wouldn’t be mad at a Luke/Bobby rimming scene.

Why don't people like Kidman and Michael Jackson just stop with the disfigurement at some point? Is it physiologically impossible now for Kidman to let it go and allow herself to age on top of all the butchery? Like, is her face in need of continued maintenance in order not to collapse or something? Or does she just really think she is winning the war against time and more doctoring will attain her goal of looking 20 again by the time she reaches age 70? I just can't understand it.

Maybe I do, though. What she has done to herself makes me feel sad for her and unnerved when the camera zooms in and I can see how hard and immovable surfaces under her skin are. But her acting impresses me anyway, and she gets a lot of acting jobs. Despite being bizarre looking, maybe it's still easier to get a job looking so strange than it would be if she looked 54. She could play this one, but would she be cast as a peer of Reese Witherspoon and Lenny Kravitz's daughter if she looked her age? I don't know. Probably not since producers are all fucked up assholes who are still stuck on casting emaciated 20-something women as love interests of saggy 60-something male actors who chase people around with guns and beat down a dozen Middle Eastern bad guys with kung fu.

Wasn't Haunts of the Very Rich a remake of Outward Bound? But on dry land?

R199 Ben Falcone

R200 Would love to see Luke hook up with Manny's character

I am so sick of mouthy fat actresses. I know too many of these women in real life. They compensate for feeling inadequate and knowing they are judged for their weight by being strident and over bearing. It never works.

How does someone like Bobby marry someone like Rose Byrne? Not saying she's better, but he's from Union City, NJ?

This is not very good. Can't see watching one a week for the next five weeks.

Hopefully this will end up being better than the book it's based on

It was a good idea to post multiple episodes at once, but this is the kind of silly show that really warrants a one-viewing-and-done binge. The whole series should have been put up at once.

I must admit, I'm interested how Masha will keep the guests on the premise after they have realized they've been drugged without their consent. And for Masha, it's apparently vital that all of them stay.

No one would leave. They're all damaged and have been told she has magical healing powers, and we've seen her magical powers of persuasion in action already when she did the locked-eyes mind meld with the one guy and he immediately fell under her spell and agreed with her. All she has to do to get them over the drugging thing is tell them they came to her to heal them, and look at all the progress they have made, look how far they've come, how could they go back now, they're halfway changed already, yada yada. Cults are very good at what they do because most people, not a few people, are vulnerable to cultish manipulations. (Everyone who thinks they're not one of the stupid ones is probably the most likely to be swayed because they see things in black and white ways, and that helps in programming.)

I am a big fan of Moriarty after watching BLL. I've read all her books after watching the series. Her books are all about realistic upper middle class white people problems. The characters are all flawed (especially the men), but in the end all have good heart and are good people - this is a theme in all her books. I love being in their world in Australia.

I have read NPS a few times and it inspired me to go to a nude, tantric gay retreat after I read it. What I like about her books is that they all take place in Oz and with Aussie characters, their edges are not quite as sharp or harsh as the American recreations - they are more likable. All her books paint a world that feels warm and cozy yet moderately intriguing. She's a master at creating well rounded character studies that make you care and invested.

Luke Evans is hot but looks like gristle for 42, but I love the casting. I actually thought this was one of the rare times in a series where the casting and plot are extremely faithful to the book. Each cast member is exactly how I pictured the characters on paper. Even if they are another race, they still are exactly the character Lars is meant to be a "been there, done that" bitchy gay who, like Masha, is supposed to have an "stop them dead in their tracks" beauty/handsomeness that appeals to men and women. He is a wellness resort junky. In the book, his partner Ray is meant to be the warm hearted, understanding family loving perfect spouse who loves Lars, flaws and all. So much so that he wants more than anything to have a baby with Lars. This is the inciting incident in the book that sends Lars to the retreat. He picks on Carmel, because like many a DLer and other guests at the resort, he thinks she's a boring house frau with no style or substance.

Carmel was Armenian in the book, but I laughed at the poster upthread. They have styled Regina Hall (I like many here, was expecting Regina King for some reason) like the black woman in a Tide commercial geared towards housewives. The hair, the clothes, but she's exactly described in the book. I like her.

The Marconi family is perfectly cast and the women who plays Heather is spot on in every detail. Melissa McCarthy is playing Frances exactly as written. The staff Yaw and Delilah are also exactly as pictured.

I didn't know what to expect with Masha. Masha in the book was a fat, chain-smoking business exec who had a near death heart attack, saw G-d, and then made a total life change. She has skeletons in the closet and there are some big surprises in the book, but they aren't sinister really. The texts are the one thing that deviate from the book, but I am guessing I know who they are from.

I am loving this much more than White Lotus.I made it through episode 1 before aborting. I am just a boring basic, I've decided. The characters were too eccentric and offbeat to get into for me. NPS is more my speed. I haven't seen the 3rd episode yet, but I think they did a good job and I can't wait to watch it today.

Moriarty's books are awesome on audible and they are perfectly written for a Reese Witherspoon or Nicole to produce. I recommend "The Husband's Secret" (fantastic) and "What Alice Forgot".

[quote] What I like about her books is that they all take place in Oz and with Aussie characters, their edges are not quite as sharp or harsh as the American recreations - they are more likable.

Well that's weird. Hulu cast three Aussie actors who have to speak with American accents.

r211, Frances (McCarthy) already told Masha that she's leaving and Masha begged her to stay for one more day. Heather and Napoleon don't seem too pleased (Napoleon killed a goat while being high on drugs) and Tony must be pissed that he got the wrong kind of drugs.

From an armchair psychology perspective people may claim they want change in their lives, but use any excuse to either not take a step in that direction or blame some external condition for the failure of any attempt. Finding out you've been drugged without your consent is a pretty great excuse for people, terrified to face their issues, to drop that treatment. And from that perspective, it will be interesting or hilarious how Masha can convice her guests to stay and continue the treatment.

This sucks. I'll wait to read what happens and tune in if it's amusing. I'd love to see some animal karmic retribution, perhaps a rattlesnake bite or killer bees. I hate the smarmy math teacher.

r206- Funny, Rose's is descended from criminal stock. Her mother is a school teacher and her father is semi-retired marketer (hands out flyers on the corner), not exactly blue bloods.

She could always just deny having drugged them. The characters don't get to see the blended druggie smoothies between scenes like we do.

I believe it was Yao who said that guests should under no circumstances drink other guest's cocktails. That they were specifically created for the individual guest. I'm sure Masha has a difficult time to explain that now.

I feel like the fan of the writer is on the brink of telling us what is going to happen.

Don't do that.

I know people online have a compulsion of giving plots away when they know they have a chance to spoil the story. Please be better than that.

R218 - I won't give anything away. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in this adaptation w/ everyone else. Enjoy!

Thank you, R219.

Melissa McCarthy shares a unique talent with Will Farrell--put them in a movie and you know it will stink. Yeah, I know there are exceptions to the rule but this isn't one of them.

I half watched the three episodes last night. It’s not good enough to be good and it’s not bad enough to be camp - it’s somewhere in a kind of disengaging middle.

The scene with the grape was verrrry funny. Most of the characters seem to have no motivation for anything I think that’s my main issue.

Re Nicole I think she looks great despite the awful wig. It looked crazy in the pool!

Another flop for Nicole, the busiest yet most floppy actress in Hollywood.

Asher Keddie seems to be going for an Annette Bening thing.

R219 You gave away a LOT, dumbass showoff. Masha has been filmed and directed to be highly suspect. Then we get your fucking cliff notes. Quite the dick move, your missive. Although you might be the type of person who doesn't even realize what a dick he is.

After listening to the well crafted and curated music of White Lotus, the music in this show sucks. It's just a random playlist of different songs that doesn't seem to fit particularly well into any scene, but someone decided, "eh... good enough."

r199 see r187

Stop with White Lotus. Partner and I got through ep 2 of WL last evening and vowed it was our last. Some mildly amusing moments but that’s about it. A slog.

White Lotus is my favorite TV show in many years.

But it's a different show with superficial similarities. This is like comparing The Sopranos with Married with Children because they're both offbeat comedies about families who live in suburban houses—not enough basis for comparing the two. Obviously, The Sopranos is superior, but it's not intended to be the same story as the other. Why does this whole thread have to be dedicated to comparing it to the White Lotus? It's not that show. It's not going to turn into that show. It is its own thing. White Lotus is literary fiction; this is a summer beach read. It's not that serious.

r229, TWL and NPS share the same targeted demographics. The White Lotus is fresh in people's minds, because it just finished its first season.

Right, R230, but the stories are different. The tones of the shows are different. They're not versions of the same thing in the way people are comparing them.

For those bitchin’ about the comparison and saying they’re aren’t alike, here’s a list of show’s that are supposed to be and they are the strangest collections of shows on one list together.

[quote] Right, [R230], but the stories are different. The tones of the shows are different. They're not versions of the same thing in the way people are comparing them.

They are close enough (taking place on a resort) for people who saw The White Lotus to compare it to Nine Perfect Strangers. Just bad timing, I guess.

And, r231, DLers will not take kindly to hall monitors who tell them what to do or what to discuss.

[quote] White Lotus is my favorite TV show in many years. But it's a different show with superficial similarities. This is like comparing The Sopranos with Married with Children

Do not use White “rich white people and fake and bad and poor brown people are real and good” Lotus as The Sopranos in an analogy before I Clockwork Orange you to binge of Days Of Thunder, The Stepford Wives, Grace of Monaco and The Undoing.

Man! Adam Scott has thick lush hair you could run a hand through.

No one would be comparing this to Lotus if they had aired a year apart.

I thoroughly disagree, r236. And what's so reprehensible about comparing the 2 series, anyway?

It's just annoying because they were created separately by separate people and they're different stories with different tones. Why does everything have to be compared unfavorably to somethingelse instead of considered on its own terms.

[quote]She looks nothing like the Nicole from Dead Calm and other early movies.

You're kidding right? Dude, that was 32 years ago, half a life time.

[quote] It's just annoying because they were created separately by separate people and they're different stories with different tones. Why does everything have to be compared unfavorably to somethingelse instead of considered on its own terms.

Because that's not how discussions about movies or TV show work. They always get compared to something else. Same as an actor's performance in one movie or TV show getting compared to previous performances.

Honestly don't know where this is going.

Most Hulu productions feel like they're missing something.

There is a class of low-brow gays who understand the world in simple binaries. Gaga GOOD, Madonna BAD.

R242 I agree and I feel the same way about Amazon and especially Netflix.

And yes, je ne sais quoi—I don't know/can't articulate what it is in all cases.

I like Maisel, I liked The Man in the High Castle, but they're missing something. They don't feel fully formed.

Same feeling about The Great and Mrs. America on Hulu.

Same feeling about Netflix going all the way back to House of Cards. It just felt off somehow. I did love The OA by the second season, and I got into Kimmie Schmidt and Sabrina, but I feel like the strengths of all of these series was their experimentalism, which excepts them from feeling fully formed.

I kind of hold the streaming services in disdain because of this, and especially Netflix, which seems to fund every single idea anyone who has ever made a student film presents to them, and then they just dump them all into the swirl and expect viewers to pull any random thing out of the dumpster and watch it.

Then along comes HBO Max and gives us something that's 'missing something'—The Undoing—something a little disjointed but enjoyable—The Flight Attendant—and then the great The White Lotus and very-good-for-what-it-is Mare of Easttown.

I think, generally speaking, lots of streaming shows have great ideas and great concepts at the beginning, but lack in their execution and maintaining the momentum for its (usually three season) entire run. Just look at Stranger Things. Surprise hit that managed to tickle the 80s nostalgia demand. That surprise element was replaced with high expectations for the second season, and it underwhelmed with each new season.

The good, fresh ideas come from new people who, I believe, lack the experience to properly run shows efficiently and to explore the show's premise to its full potential.

WL is not great by any measure.

Stranger Things is the epitome of "missing something" for me.

Someone told me when it first came out that I would like it because it involves a plot of secret government experiments...I tuned in to find a pastiche of 1980s Spielberg movies where the reveal was a silly looking monster.

Everyone has personal tastes and to each their own, but Stranger Things to me is the primary example of what's off about streaming services and expecially Netflix. It feels to me like a film student's project, emulating Steven Spielberg's "childhood wonder" ambiance with a "big reveal" that packed no punch.

But millions of people disagree with me and think it's one of the best shows ever, so so be it.

Everything Nicole is in I just think that’s Nicole Kidman on my screen with weird face work

Back to the comparison:

If these two productions were years apart, the elevator pitch would it “It’s just like White Lotus, but…” or “It’s just like 9 Perfect People, but…”

No, it would be, "It's The White Lotus meets Lost, set in Jonestown."

Nine Perfect Strangers cannot overcome the bad casting of Nicole "What the hell has she done with her face now? " Kidman, Melissa "I'm fat and funny" McCarthy," and Bobby "Watch me play a stereotypical Goomba" Cannavale.

Michael Shannon and Regina Hall could be exceptional if they had something to work with.

When I watch glossy summer pulp, I WANT

-- Nicole "What the hell has she done with her face now? " Kidman, Melissa "I'm fat and funny" McCarthy," and Bobby "Watch me play a stereotypical Goomba" Cannavale --

especially the Goomba

I would say that the problem with many of these miniseries is that they're forced to commit to 6 or 8 episodes to fulfill the "product" requirement yet they can't sustain themselves for that many hours. Many would be better with fewer episodes. THE CROWN seems to have (somewhat) avoided this issue by making each episode a separate self-standing story, even if they're all about the same family of characters.

R242 Dollface was fun.

R244 Sabrina went downhill very quickly. I enjoyed the first half of season 1, but i don't know what happened in the writing room after that.

R254 I agree. I liked the whole first season and a lot about the second. Once she went to hell, and hell was just some other place that was not at all hellish, I lost interest. It's the same failure as American Horror Story's: too little sense of what makes a good story.

When (AHS) you kill off 3/4 of your characters throughout the season and yet they all remain alive despite having died, you have obliterated dramatic tension. When death itself has no stakes, then there are no dramatic stakes.

When (Sabrina) your character sells her soul to Satan and then ventures into hell, and her life doesn't change and hell is just like a bad part of town in a city, then there are no dramatic stakes left. If that's as bad as it gets, why not just go ahead and be totally evil?

This is what makes some stories like The White Lotus and Gosford Park so compelling: despite the stakes being low—most people are not in danger of death or damnation—they are real and can devastate lives. And so, there's dramatic tension and good stories.

Whether Nine Perfect Strangers has a good story in it or not remains to be seen. The characters appear to have been drugged. If they were, what are the stakes? And will the stakes be respected or will they turn out not to matter at all? That's when the audience checks out, when the writer teases consequences and then backs out.

No one wants to hear details of someone else's dreams. No matter what happens in those dreams, no matter how wild, they are boring to other people. Why is that? Because there are no limits in dreams: anything at all can happen with no bounds, and so they are boring unless you're the one having the dream. Writing is the same. You can go on a wild ride as a writer and want to share your amazing story, but if you back out on your duty of enforcing limits with consequences, your audience will hate the story.

Did some bimbo in this thread just compare White Lotus to Gosford Park?! Downton Abbry, more like,

I hate to break it to you, but Mike White is no Robert Altman.

Anyone who mentions “the stakes” so many times in one post is a failed screenwriter who has never sold a script.

Speaking of screenwriters, that's a hard job to successful in right? A rich lady I work with told me how her son is in his mid-20s, lives with them, and is a screenwriter but hasn't had any success. I was wondering if this kid really is a screenwriter or just says he's a "screenwriter" to his parents so he can avoid getting a more typical job.

R258 Yes, it's incredibly difficult, like becoming a working actor. It's very competitive and a lot of people can write perfectly fine scripts but can't get anyone to look at them. It's like acting in the sense that you have to have an in. Nepotism is your best opportunity, then other personal connections. Sometimes people get assistant jobs and endear themselves to producers as human beings and then get their work looked at.

I wanted to try it after college because why not? I had access to a film and television database. I spent months studying on my own how to write a screenplay. I wrote one in the two weeks after graduation and before I began working full time. I queried 50 agents (by mail; it was 2001). I knew that no one will read an unagented manuscript by a non-WGA writer and so I just took a leap of faith and wrote a tongue in cheek cover letter with a little card and a self-addressed stamp envelope to return with little options to check off like "I don't read unagented manuscripts, but I'm impressed by your creativity and intrigued. Send me your script!" And "I don't know how the hell you got my name, but if you contact me again, I'm taking out a restraining order." About a third replied, all saying "no thanks" or "restraining order," except one, a producer from Miramax who sent a FedEx letter saying he laughed at my letter and wanted to read my script. He rejected it but sent a very flattering personal rejection and told me he'd read anything else I have. I didn't have anything else ready to go and ended up studying fiction writing instead—and I have been wholly unsuccessful with that. Turns out getting a novel published is about as hard as getting a screenplay optioned.

R255 what the fuck does the 2001 MOVIE Gosford Park have to do with a discussion of today's streaming series?

Interesting R259, thank you for explaining it.

R259 you make things all about you. Your screenwriting performance was all about you, not your script itself.

Maybe I missed it, but are we to assume this is the first set of guests who are getting the microdosing, or has it been going on for awhile?

Do you think Melissa McCarthy is afraid if she loses weight she will lose her career and purposely doesn’t reduce because of that? It’s not like she’s on the show and has to play fat Molly anymore?

I’m assuming the daughters is a Lesbian and that’s why she drawn to Luke Evans character?

Waiting for the next episode I started "The White Lotus" ,halfway thru and what's with theses mini series that feature an entire group of unlikeable characters? In both, there is no one to root for.

R266 There's one person to root for in Lotus.

Anyway, we're in a post-Trump world now. We can no longer deny that most people are monsters. So let's call it realism.

[Quote] Turns out getting a novel published is about as hard as getting a screenplay optioned.

Well if it doesn't contain smutty nonsense then it can make things more difficult.

Had NINE PERFECT STRANGERS preceded THE WHITE LOTUS on our screens no one would be comparing them. I’m not sure what that means.

Why can't you root for a few of these characters? I have empathy for instagram Barbie, the mother-father-daughter, and a bit for obese Melissa's character. She hasn't done anything awful, has she?

[quote] Had NINE PERFECT STRANGERS preceded THE WHITE LOTUS on our screens no one would be comparing them.

Can someone explain to me why the poster is so desperate to convince us that he sucks at life? Is it some life or death situation?

R268 I like the phrase "smutty nonsense." I need to use that more in casual conversation.

So Masha is going to kill one person every week?

I didn't expect that twist this week.

And I really wouldn't have thought she'd start with the young girl whose brother died. And on her birthday!

It’s been slow going without a murder beyond the goat, they should have wised up and re-edited it to have one even if there wasn’t originally.

I really don't mind that it turned into an educational series about the benefits of psychedelics to personal well being.

Should someone now link the magic mushroom thread to this one?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I really like the relationship between Luke and Zoe. I also like Regina Hall - she is giving a good performance. This episode felt a little slower than the others. It's a good summer show.

Out of the things I was looking forward to this summer: Gossip Girl, NPS, Cruel Summer was the unexpected best thing that I have watched this summer. That was a fantastic show with a jaw dropping premise/ending and completely not on my radar. Everything else is watchable but it just feels like "content" - big actors phoning it in for big paychecks.

R278 Have you seen The White Lotus?

Nicole showed off her ass and titties. Not bad for a 50-something woman. I think she looks pretty good. Pulled tight, but not a surgery freak show, Great body.

[quote] I have empathy for instagram Barbie

You’re one sick puppy, r270.

I have empathy for all of them. The guests, so mean. I don’t love any of the characters, but the only one I dislike is Luke Evans’ bitchy queen.

Yao also showed ass.

So who is threatening Nicole's character?

They want us to think it's the female worker who is dating Yao but that seems a bit too obvious.

I couldn't stand Regina Hall's character, especially when she bared her teeth and snarled.

Is Regina Hall's character going to have a makeover? I assume they will get rid of her frumpy hairstyle and clothes.

I'm not getting the love for Hall's character. Based on this show alone, I would not call her a good actress unless something exceptional happens to make sense of the gollygosh hamminess, like in Mulholland Drive. I can imagine reading the character as having low self-esteem suddenly snapping and becoming angry and violent would read well, but the 'snarl' in particular was almost comical and I am pretty sure it wasn't intended to be. I don't think the switching back and forth from sweet and self-depricating to violent eruptions is being believably depicted. Not that all the acting on the show is believable, and it may not be intended to be believable.

Someone earlier said the traumatized mother seems to be acting for a different, heavier show, and I also get that sense from Yao. He seems heavy, serious and realistic, where Nicole is beaming in high camp crazy from the as a Nordic alien from the Alpha Centurai galaxy trying to fool us into believing her accent is Siberian, Melissa McCarthy is giving us quality broadcast network dramedy material, Samara Weaving is doing an extended impersonation of Alexis Rose, Delilah is written to have a more contextually believable reason to act menacing, and Ben appears to have no real story or personality, which makes it seem like he's there to fill a basic diversity quota, which is pretty sad.

They're certainly not all meshing well as an ensemble when I'm busy thinking about the actors' different approaches to their performances.

R278 Cruel Summer was pretty good for a teen show. I wasn't surprised it's getting a second season.

More Froy. Shirtless, drunken, slutty FROY. 🙄

R287 Froy's character was a piece of shit.

All the more reason to improve it by removing clothing.

R285 You forgot Lars (Luke Evans)!!!

R280, her body may not be a surgery freak show, but her face is.

She really no longer can play an ordinary human being.

I'm sad she did that to her face. I love her as an actress otherwise. She's one of the best living actresses despite the strange recent choices.

Seriously, whose cock is she sucking? She’s so distracting on screen. That face doesn’t move.

Tell me your secrets....

I could never picture Nicole during human things like walking a dog or having dinner with her family.

R295 what about fingering herself at brunch and squirting everywhere?

R278, Cruel Summer has truly been the surprise show of the year for me. I don't usually watch tween stuff or YA. But, man, did I love that show.

We all expected White Lotus to be good (or at least water cooler worthy), but Cruel Summer was just as good, IMO.

As for a NPS, I am only watching for Bobby and this thread. It's a pretty shitty show so far.

Oh burn! But they’re not wrong.

Nicole looked fine in "The Prom" and "The Undoing", I have a feeling this so over the top frozen look is a character choice. Obviously her near murder shows she has money. I'll wait to see.

So did Melissa McCarthy agree to do it if her husband could make an appearance?

R300 That and the Producer credit.

You could watch something else if this is such a dud. There are eleventytreetousand shows to watch.

I really like MM as an overall actress. I will always love her for Meghan in Bridesmaids, which was when I was first introduced to her. I don't like her portrayal in this, even though I think she is doing a fine job. Her ass has a zip code of it's own. It's so odd and huge. I thought I had seen photos relatively recently where she was like Adele style thing. Maybe I am thinking Rebel Wilson.

Tom Cruise is only a couple of years from looking as crazy as his ex does.

Oy! Tammy. Those fillers. Men with those swollen plumped up boy faces on 60 year old bodies. Although I saw shots of him at Wimbledon and he looked good. Maybe it just needs to settle.

The Russian accent is dreadful.

I think Nine Imperfect Strangers would have been a more eye catching and accurate title, as is I’m wait every episode for cousin Balki to make an entrance.

Balki is on a strict enema cleanse regime at the resort next door. Masha didn't want her white outfits to get muddied.

[quote]The Russian accent is dreadful.

How do you know it's Russian? She's been deceitful since day one.

Further to R309, there were also several instances where her character has little to no accent at all… always when she’s alone: talking to the goat. In the garage in her flashback.

The White Lotus had an absolutely spectacular and disgusting beyond words gay male character. That's why we love it. Luke Evans is a bore,

r58 The young influencer girl is an amazing actress. She's the daughter of the actor who played the bad guy in The Matrix. Watch her in THE BABYSITTER on Netflix. Great coming of age / horror film. or just watch a few mins to see what shes capable of. She also starred in the hit movie READY OR NOT

She will be around forever.

Moriarty's books are for fraus, no? Nicole Kidman is just playing her cold. fake, aloof , frozen self. The black woman is fuckin annoying. Samara Weaving looks like a rodent or a gazelle or something, or her uncle in a wig. Luke Evans is a boring burnt sausage who sounds like Richard Burton, Asher Keddie is smug, McCarthy is a fat funny girl typecast cliche, and no one is buying Australia as California, that's why they blur landscape scenes. No one is really sufficiently fucked up either.

[quote]She's the daughter of the actor who played the bad guy in The Matrix.

Hugo Weaving is Samara Weaving's uncle, not her father.

And she *is* very good.

R314, maybe in other stuff, but not this.

She has the look of those models or actresses that we are told are beautiful, but who just look odd. But her choice to use physicality of another actress in a broad comedy, does not work in a more serious drama.

I feel like I’m watching a 70s expose on self help seminars, but it’s not the 70s. It’s 2021, so it should be satire, but it’s not. It seems to be taking itself seriously.

Now if you’ll excuse me it’s 8:49 am here in New York. Time for my drug laced smoothie.

[quote]Moriarty's books are for fraus, no? Nicole Kidman is just playing her cold. fake, aloof , frozen self. The black woman is fuckin annoying. Samara Weaving looks like a rodent or a gazelle or something, or her uncle in a wig. Luke Evans is a boring burnt sausage who sounds like Richard Burton, Asher Keddie is smug, McCarthy is a fat funny girl typecast cliche, and no one is buying Australia as California, that's why they blur landscape scenes. No one is really sufficiently fucked up either.

You hate it so much I'm sure you've stopped watching which means we don't have to subjected to your bitching about it anymore, right?

[quoute]She has the look of those models or actresses that we are told are beautiful, but who just look odd. But her choice to use physicality of another actress in a broad comedy, does not work in a more serious drama.

She is made up to look odd. She has fake teeth and she has those tape and wire contraptions older actresses use to pull the skin tight and hide in the hair.

r317you know where you are, right?

What I don’t like about how Samara is playing her character is it reminds me of how Annie Murphy played Alexis Rose, and Annie did it better. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but it feels like she’s playing a caricature of Alexis Rose.

R320, I totally agree. I've had that thought several times an episode.

r318 thx for the observations, i thought the teeth might be fake and that she looked funny. the character she plays is annoying. shes still a great actress.

[quote]r317you know where you are, right?

You don't understand sarcasm, right?

Holy shit. That's the same actress, R318?

She's stunning in that pic. In NPS? Alien looking.

....

Nicole looked like a frozen freak in “Big Little Lies” and “The Undoing”, too. Like Madonna, she crossed over at some point.

It’s a shame, because I love her.

r325 meh, give it a few years and she'll turn into her character

So did everyone stop watching?

Yes. Got boring pretty fast.

Christ, another Home and Away actor, does every one in Australia have to star in this before they have a career?

Nine Perfect Stranglers would have been an interesting, but different show.

I'm enjoying this quite a bit. And we finally get to see Manny's fanny. That is one sexy boy.

[quote]So did everyone stop watching?

Waiting for the new episodes which are released on Weds.

R330 yes.

Episode #5 drops tomorrow!

How was the show pitched?

"Australians playing Americans, magic mushroom smoothies and a model with big fake teeth told to act like Alexis Rose all come together as NINE PERFECT STRANGERS find themselves under the instruction of cult leader Nicole Kidman and one of her unforgettably confounding accents. Audiences will be moved, even if Nicole's face won't."

At the end of the third episode, what prompted the suicidal wife to ask, "Are we being medicated?" I don't see a clear trigger other than her husband getting emotional.

R337 Everyone was acting crazy. Her husband wasn't only emotional; he cut a goat's throat. She was acting bizarre herself. She stripped naked in front of her daughter and talked about sex. The black woman flipped out and choked someone. She recognized that people were not behaving normally.

R338 oh I see! I thought it was meant to be something in that very moment at the dinner party that I was missing. Thank you R338.

[quote]At the end of the third episode, what prompted the suicidal wife to ask, "Are we being medicated?"

It was in the script.

R339 Yeah, the guests' increasingly out-of-character behaviors from the time they entered are influenced by being drugged. The camera has shown many bug-eyed reactions from people, and especially from the family members, as they behaved oddly.

Bobby Cannavale's footback injury flashbacks are probably also meant to be PTSD flashbacks being brought on by psilocybin or MDMA and whatever else she's giving them, since they are used for PTSD-associated anxiety.

The problem is, most of the characters are not very interesting, ie the family (cannot stand the chirpy dad), the black woman, fat Frances, Lars. I just don't care what happens to them.

Whoever is giving Nicole Kidman roles with foreign accents, please stop.

This doctor is from Siberia and she has an accent that seems a little more like the one Nicole Kidman is doing than the typical Boris and Natasha accent everyone thinks of as Russian.

[quote]No Hulu in England or Australia, how did Disney the most powerful media company in the world slip up and not get in those two markets? Do you have Disney+ or is that channeled through other platforms as well? And a general question for everyone, could an American subscribe to Amazon Prime UK or Netflix Latin America or whatever? How’s about if you had that proxy type internet, I forget what it’s called.

R26: In Spain it's available through Amazon Prime as well. Disney+ or whatever it is is available here but not a huge thing; I've never heard anyone mention it.

VPN. A Google search will turn up cheap VPN services to let people in Spain watch UK TV, etc. VPN can disguise your location, suggesting you are in Devon instead of Seattle so that you could watch UK series from the U.S., or to set up accounts for Netflix, HBO, etc and circumvent their country-specific licensing deals and restrictions. It's something of a pain in the ass if you asked me.

I'm digging this, far more than the languid White Lotus. It's more of a mystery and moves more quickly. And I dont like Kidman.

Melissa McCarthy's character must have packed a lot of clothes, she has the right plus sized outfit for every occastion.

The problem with this show is there is nobody to root for. Speaking of The White Lotus, even some of the bad characters I still rooted for.

"You're the one that I want". No just no.

Hasn't Nicole played a Russian before?? Was it Birthday Girl??

R347 That strikes me as a Melissa McCarthy actress/producer thing then a character thing. She probably has it in the contract that she gets to take it home with her, she strikes me as an actress who’s closet is made up mainly with clothes from her films and TV appearances.

Such a try hard show. Painful to watch, almost embarrassing. Not fit to lick The White Lotus' boots. The actor playing the ex-football player is hot, I'll give it that. Michael Shannon is a great actor. Everyone else sucks. Fucking Kidman...must have made a deal with Satan..I will never understand her success.

r351 that's how I felt about Renee Zelweger, she must have made a deal with Satan (Harvey?) because for awhile there she was cast in everything when I really only liked her in the first Bridget Jones movie. Nicole Kidman must be very ambitious/ruthless to have lasted this long.

Renee and Nicole may be ruthlessly ambitious (How else does one make it to the top in Hollywood?), but both are extremely talented in my view, certainly among the best of their generation.

R351, do you feel as passionately about anything that matters?

[quote]A friend of mine in high school (tall, blonde, recovering from a eating disorder at the time) was plucked from the street by a Home And Away producer and begged to audition. She was at the beach and this woman comes running up to her and gave her her business card. She thought it was a joke, but it was for real.

She auditioned and appeared in a 3 week arc a year later. She was invited to sign a longer contract but declined, not being interested in acting before or since.

She’s an out lesbian and a maths teacher now.

[quote] Speaking of The White Lotus, even some of the bad characters I still rooted for.

I’m the opposite, I rooted for no one in The White Lotus, then again I’m not white, middle class, nor working in hospitality.

This show has a lot of run of the mill, miserable people which seems more true to life for me.

I'm the same way... nobody in WL seemed engaging. Just a bunch of unhappy, mentally ill or odd people complaining or withdrawing. They all seemed passive, listless. I guess 9PS appeals because everybody's pissed off.

Also, nice ass on Yao.

After the latest episode, I think I'm out. So cringe-y. I actually turned the volume off when the goofy dad was singing.

I’m going with my first theory, they are all already dead and at some way station in the afterlife.

Jesus H Christ who's pointing a gun a yer head making you watch either show. Are you hate watching? If not, and these are garbage, turn the channel and shut the fuck up why don't cha!

I'm liking the episodes more as they go on. I thought Nicole looked really good tonight. The work looks more settled and she seemed more natural. I love that she lezzed out. Tonight was good. I think it is ramping up.

I'm with you r360. I can see hanging in there watching if you have invested years in a show and you know the show is wrapping up soon so you keep watching it because you have already invested so much time into it. But if you don't like a new show quit while you are ahead.

It just gets worse each episode. Sick of Kidman and her icy bitch persona she's been wheeling out for decades now. None of the characters are remotely fun. Even McCarthy is a bore. And Evans is a super bore. Fuck this shit show. Wasted my time.

I also think it is becoming more involving as it goes along, but it's still just a summer trifle. I don't really care all that much about the characters because they don't seem realistic at all. Almost all are stock types. I did wonder when we found out Melissa McCarthy's character worries her novel characters are flat if the writer of this show/its source novel got the irony. But I don't say that as a condemnation. I can take different stories on their own terms.

I hope they're not in limbo as someone keeps suggesting, just because that would seem like a kind of lame reveal, and also because why would people's departed souls need to be drugged with mushroom smoothies in order to make the emotional transition? That would be a weak concept.

I noticed Masha noticed the teen girl looking at her brother and then said to her, 'He's here, isn't he? You're the key.' The show was full of apparitions—the brother appeared to the mother and the daughter, and McCarthy's catfisher appeared to her. I wonder whether they could all be part of an experiment in which the drugging breaks down dimensional barriers or something, and Masha is trying to get rich off that discovery or something. I dunno.

I have a feeling it the final reveal is going to feel disappointing, but only time will tell.

I don't care at all about who is stalking Masha. That's supposed to add suspense but it annoys me every time it comes up. We don't know enough about her personally to care.

I'm still really enjoying it, I like the cool, ethereal Kidman. I want to go wherever it is they filmed this, it's an extraordinarily beautiful campus.

What day of the week do the new episodes drop?

Wednesdays, R366

Thx. ^

Filmed in Australia

I don't have an interest in the Masha story (where did Masha come from, why was she shot, who shot her, etc.) but I like the other individual character's stories. I especially like Melissa McCarthy in this.

Now that the Kidman storyline is heating up, it may get more interesting but so far it's a non-starter for me.

Wasn't it filmed in Byron Bay?

Why does Melissa's character think her whole career is over because her publisher doesn't like he new book. They would give her a good editor and they would go to work, or she could shop it around or self publish. Seems a bit over the top.

You missed a point. They want to buy out her contract. The message to her and to market is: you're past your sell by date. So she's panicking.

[quote]I have a feeling it the final reveal is going to feel disappointing, but only time will tell. - R364

I have a feeling it will be a group orgy on that fantastic butcher-block platform.

I thought the latest episode was the weakest. Not a lot happened.

I also find it odd how they're supposedly paying a lot of money for this retreat, yet often seem to be left to their own devices for most of the day.

Melissa McCarthy fits the part, but Frances in the novel was more of a fat and happy character. She was much more likable. With some adaptations, there is a lot of inner dialogue in the novel which makes the "show not tell" of TV more tricky. This has totally deviated from the book. I have no idea what to expect.

I really liked 'What Alice Forgot' and at one time Aniston had been attached to starring in it.

That was really good, R376. That could actually make an interesting series. Blake Lively was attached to The Husbands Secret which I can't picture.

Without spoiling if there is, please, is there a reason she's called Francis? That's the masculine spelling of the name.

^^^trenchant

I think actresses should go back to traditional facelifts as Jane Fonda did. She looks like herself and she looks great. Botox makes people look like monsters whose faces are made of stone.

Glenn Close, too. She looks her age but she also looks great.

Glenn Close clearly opted for an old-fashioned (superior and riskier) surgical facelift years ago instead of disfiguring needlework.

It's really crazy that these people have half a gallon of filler and Botox sloshing around under their skin and look like their faces are full of infection that's about to explode from under the surface and go around bragging that the surgeon's knife has never touched them. Mass delusion.

Do those medical shows that have people getting plastic surgery have many black people on? I ask because generally, black people do have better skin into old age as far as wrinkles and such. For example, Regina Hall on NPS is 50 but has the skin of a 30 year old white woman. I know black people whose parents are 70 and they're barely getting wrinkles!

Side note, makes me wonder if plastic surgery is even a big industry in a lot of African countries if this is the case.

the bespoke dermatology and hi technique skin processing, fillers, botox, lasers, works well for 30-50 year old women which is why they get so into it. They achieve the "flawless ageless" look that makeup and cameras and photoshop enhances. The basic challenge is the 45 to 60 year old woman should think about how she wants to look from 60 on, not how she looked at 30. Keep the skin care, accept some wrinkles, avoid the buckets of fillers and embrace THE KNIFE!

Jacinto's back and especially ass looked awesome fucking Nicole. Why aren't we talking about that?

I liked the first few episodes.

Now that I have one more left, I just don’t care anymore

Aren't there 8 episodes. Is it only 6?

I'm from NY. No one I know throws "fuck" into every sentence. Lazy writing.

8 episodes.

I'm really enjoying it. It's intriguing.

I want Bobby to impregnate me and then weep as I give birth to our son.

Does that make me trans?

R392 I’d watch out, that Rose Byrne looks like she’d cut a bitch.

Isn’t each episode basically one day and they are there for ten? Does that mean something shuts it down before the end of their stay?

And Jacinto's tits in the latest episode are remarkable too

I can't even finish episode 4. Tried to watch it 3 times already, but I get bored and go off and do other things.

So, was the Luke Evans character in the book actually gay and had that bullying past or is that something they adapted for the actor?

Who’s playing the suicide son, he seems familiar from a big recent project.

I liked this week's episode. I'm glad the series has turned out to be earnest instead of cynical. Comparisons with White Lotus (my favorite show in many years) have been rendered irrelevant.

Am I the only one who found the idea of Bobby fucking Luke, who then has their baby, wildly hot?

R381, have you seen the new episodes of "Grace and Frankie"? If not, you'll probably take that back when you see them. Jane's face looks like a plastic mask now. To me, she looked very unnatural (but kind of great) before, but now she's moved into uncanny-valley territory.

while Lily is still Lily. Couldn't love her more.

I just watched the opening of Episode 6. All of a sudden, very reminiscent of The White Lotus. I almost expected Molly Shannon to appear.... (what am I referring to???)

Luke/Lars was a ruthless divorce lawyer in the book. His dad walked out him when he was young, leaving him and his mom penniless. He was like an avenging angel for suffering, divorced women.

Since you bitches wouldn’t tell me I had to look it up myself. The suicide son is played by an actor on the most recent spin off series of the Walking Dead universe.

Zach was fat, ugly, and annoying

^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^

Why no nude scene from Luke Evans?

It's really not very good, is it?

I wouldn't call this a great, quality show but I'm enjoying it. I wish there was more of Nic and Melissa, though.

So did they make Lars gay to add some diversity or did they feel Luke has gone to far and can’t play straight anymore? And weren’t the mad divorcée and the Lottery winner made Black for diversity as well? I just get the sense when casting the daughter Nicole said “just get me a young Shailene Woodley” and left it at that.

Lars was gay in the book, Carmel (black Frau) was Armenian, and the lottery couple were white. The diversity is pretty organic to the book. The characters are a lot less likable on the show,

I can’t stand the Instagram couple and they are hard to look at.

I thought the latest episode was boring.

I've never read the book, but a lot of people say the first half is good, but the second half less so. Seems the TV series might be the same.

It would be nice if there were ANY plot to speak of on this show - and plot, besides various shades of drug hallucinations manipulated by Kidman's character.

There's no real mystery (Kidman's stalker? Who cares? There's been no forward momentum on it), and no real developments. It's very much a collection of episodes caught in an endless loop of tedium.

ITA, R415. It’s slow as fuck. What they’ve shown in six episodes could have been stuffed into two.

I think the whole thing is leading up to a final episode pun with the guests leaving and five Balkis and four Larry Appletons checking in.

I appreciate you, R417.

I have NO idea, I didn't read the book but it would be hilarious if they were all trying to kill Masha, Masha, Masha like Agatha Christie.

Masha has a very good twist, although it might be different.

Most of the cast could use a vicious slap. I know I am supposed to sympathize with the parents whose son died but they irritate the shit out of me. The only one I like is the asian dude and he is probably shady too. I know nobody is forcing me to watch but I am the type once I start I want to finish it out since I assume this is a limited series.

Michael Shannon should never appear shirtless on camera.

Michael Shannon has gone down in my opinion because this character is pure cringe.

I’m just happy Shannon is playing against type for once in his life, so that’s refreshing and he’s supposed to be the ultimate cringe dad.

I decided to reread Big Little Lies and I had rewatched the adaptation over quarantine last year. What content creators want to do is find a formula and constantly try to make lightning strike twice or recreate magic. BLL was so different, with an amazing cast of actors and it was fantastic, something special. By trying to do it over and over again, it's not something different or special anymore. BLL2 was awful (although I was guilty of hoping for a second season prior to release) and Reese tried to recreate her own magic with Little Fires Everywhere which was another Hulu adaptation last March. While not amazing, it was OK and there were some decent performances but no BLL. As much as I kept wanting to enjoy NPS and was thrilled when I heard they were making a series, it is really a huge letdown. I have not watched TWL, so I am judging it on its own merits.

I'm no longer wanting sequels to things I really enjoy, that have a neat final conclusion.

R425, I was late to the party regarding BLL, so I'd read that the second season wasn't great. That's why I stopped watching at the conclusion of season one. Same thing with Stranger Things. I stopped after season one with no regrets. I've also never seen Part 2 & 3 of the Matrix films. When the creators had a specific, limited vision, I trust that. Oftentimes success can turn a good thing bad pretty quickly.

I thought BLL2 was worth watching. It was a wonderful premise for the sequel; and casting Streep made all the difference. She was great as always, and Kidman, Dern and the others continued giving excellent performances. It just wasn't nearly as good as the first one.

I'd have given Part 1 a solid "A", and part 2 a "B-".

[quote]I know nobody is forcing me to watch but I am the type once I start I want to finish it out since I assume this is a limited series.

It's not very good but not bad enough to give up yet.

When Bobby made out with Melissa, my love for him was tested. Sure, I wanted to throw up in my mouth. But, thankfully, our internet love was stronger than my ephemeral disgust.

He is still going to be my future husband.

You can all rest easy.

In real life an ex football player is not going to be attracted to somebody that out of shape.

Apart from Bobby Cannavale, none of the characters are interesting or evoke any curiosity or sympathy. A couple are annoying - the dad and the black woman - and the rest are just boring.

Melissa McCarthy is one of the show's producers so she gets to pretend she's attractive to Bobby Cannavale and get a gig for her untalented husband.

McCarthy's ass has it's own zip code, but I will say she dresses well for it. I need a bathing suit that covers my whole body too. :)

I watched To Die For yesterday, and there were a few shots of young Nicole Kidman where she looked just like Samara Weaving’s character in this—especially around the mouth and teeth.

Nicole looks like a totally different person now.

R431 why is Luke Evans' character the "bitchy gay?" They could have made his character at least more clever and amusing, but he is boring also.

"Get yourself a vibrator!" Haha Luke, what acerbic witty repartee you have.

[quote] "Get yourself a vibrator!" Haha Luke, what acerbic witty repartee you have.

(He's an actor. It's not his repartee. He is performing what is written in a script, Dear.)

[quote] I watched To Die For yesterday, and there were a few shots of young Nicole Kidman where she looked just like Samara Weaving’s character in this—especially around the mouth and teeth. Nicole looks like a totally different person now.

That was 1995. Here is Mel Gibson in 1995.

....

Nicole has rearranged her face in very distracting ways, but people do forget that aging also changes facial features remarkably, not only plastic surgery. I feel like because of the prevalence of cosmetic surgery, people are under the misguided notion that natural aging only involves lines and wrinkles and sagging. It doesn't. The nose grows, the ears grow, lips thin, the chin and jaw and cheekbones wear away, changing the whole scaffolding of the face and therefore changing facial features. So everyone would look dramatically different between age 30 and age 60 without any cosmetic intervention. The combination of these natural changes and terrible procedures to try to replace deflated lips, etc., can really fuck up a face. But even without any interventions, many people would look remarkably different in their later years. Madonna looks like a freak because she has tried to make herself look like a sex doll at 63, but she'd look like a little old Italian lady from a jar of pata sauce without it and still would barely resemble the young version of herself.

I saw the most recent episode last night. It... meandered a bit to me but I still find these characters far more intriguing than White Lotus. White Lotus strikes me as a show for the people who insisted they understood the Twin Peaks reboot, which was actually David Lynch having a laugh at the expense of his network and his audience.

No chatter about the latest episode, lots happened. What was in divorced woman’s eye at the end?

THIS COMMENT DISCUSSES PLOT POINTS FROM EPISODE 7, SO DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

R441 Carmel revealed that she has one white (blind?) eye, just like the (apparently black) person who shot and almost killed Masha in a parking garage. So this suggests a couple of possibilities: 1) Carmel is that man (sex change?) and is the person who has been stalking and threatening Masha; or 2) Masha's drug has kicked in and she is hallucinating that Carmel is the man who almost killed her.

#2, obviously R442.

When is Carmel getting a makeover? I am surprised they have avoided that trope (so far anyway).

I like the music, I kept the end credits on to hear Xanadu.

That rabid black woman - Caramel? - is getting old.

I’m ready for it to end. The music is the best part.

The unresolved questions are whether Carmel will kill Masha, whether the Marconi family will flip out, whether Lars will expose Masha and whether Delilah will bring in the cops. Lots of foreshadowing that Masha wants to be dead to join her daughter and that Carmel is beyond help. I guess the cops could carry Masha out on a stretcher and arrest Carmel and the rest would conclude they got their money's worth. None of this will come as a surprise.

R448 That would be a terrible tone shift. This show hasn't been cynical at all so far. Quite the opposite. It keeps presenting scenarios that anyone would assume should be dangerous and showing them to work out in the guests' favors psychologically. To have the leader hauled off to jail in the end would subvert the whole emotional feel of the story. I can't imagine Carmel will kill her. That would be tragic for Carmel. I expect everything will work out for everyone in some way in the end. Otherwise, the whole story will have felt like misdirection.

Go back to the 80s, please, for prime Gibson.

[quote]The unresolved questions are whether Carmel will kill Masha, whether the Marconi family will flip out, whether Lars will expose Masha and whether Delilah will bring in the cops. Lots of foreshadowing that Masha wants to be dead to join her daughter and that Carmel is beyond help. I guess the cops could carry Masha out on a stretcher and arrest Carmel and the rest would conclude they got their money's worth. None of this will come as a surprise.

The unresolved question is will there be a payoff worthy of our taking eight hours to watch.

As the fan of the book who has posted on this thread and was really looking forward to this series, I have almost aborted watching the it. I have't seen the last two episodes. When MM was tripping out with her shrunken husband IRL in the beginning of ep 4 or 5, I was like, I am done! I don't know how this turned out so shitty based on such a solid cast, write, director, and story. Does it get better? Should I continue?

You tell us. You read the book, are they following it or did they really veer off?

They really veered off. This is not a spoiler, but none of the guests knew they were being drugged until the final portion of the book. In the show, they all treat it like a druggie holiday and it's revealed they are being dosed by the second episode and they all want more. They are really hyping the Tony/Frances relationship as a central theme in the show, but that wasn't really a main plot point, but more of an epilogue. Perhaps this is due to MM being an executive producer, although she doesn't strike me as a vanity actress. I am 2 episodes behind as I had posted, so we will see where Masha's storyline goes. Based on what I have seen, it could potentially go the way of the book or it could totally veer or be somewhere in the middle.

I have grown to like Nicole and have enjoyed many of her performances. For someone who apparently went method acting and stayed in the "Masha" character for months during and prior to filming, this really is a campy, shit performance. I do think some of the content produced during 2020 isn't as good as it could have been. I'm sure shooting in Oz, Covid restrictions, etc might take away from performances with all these distractions.

I like trashy TV but after the last two episodes I am not sure if I will go further.

This is just too dull.

Well, I'm still watching

Dumb to have Luke playing a gay man but not giving him any love or sex scenes.

Can’t he at least rim Yao, White Lotus style?

May as well stick it out, the finale is this week

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Just saw the finale. Confusing. A series of events and you can't tell whether they're real or not, which is probably the point of the movie. A drugged or imaginary experience can be more fulfilling than real ones.

See, I haven't given anything away.

SPOILER SPOILER TOO

I thought all the endings were in real life. They wrapped it up pretty good, I was really skeptical.

r459 did you think that was the endings in the book she was writing and not reality?

I think they had those happy endings with the exception of Masha. Stolen car and imaginary daughter.

PS: it pretty much sucked

I really liked the ending. Masha was happy too, r462. She got to be with her daughter.

Only in one of the two final scenes R463.

I have barely paid attention to the last two episodes.

I might turn on the last episode while do the laundry.

This was not good. I can't even imagine how it could have been a good book. It was just a mess.

Masha's ending was sentimental and unmoving, unfortunately. The rest...meh.

I missed it when I watched it but later read in a recap that the book McCarthy's character wrote in the end was...Nine Perfect Strangers. I mean...I'm not even going to comment on that.

I also take issue with the way the show associated psychedelic use and violence. That's an old, outdated and debunked trope. It's great that the series did show some therapeutic potential, but I don't think people generally become violent while taking psychedelics, and in this show, the father killed a goat with his bare hands, the black woman became ultra-violent, the mother contemplated suicide, the football player had violent inclinations. Really irresponsible depictions, IMO, that belong in a 1980s Afterschool Special, not in 2021.

I enjoyed the first seven episodes but was disappointed in the finale -- it felt like a big build up to... not much.

And, throughout the series, I was COMPLETELY distracted by Nicole Kidman's ENORMOUS earlobes! They're covered by her wig a lot of the time, but there were several long close-ups during which the massive lobes were all I could see.

OK I took it that Mash went to jail and was nutz imagining driving with her daughter and my friend thought she didn't go to jail and really took off in the yellow car. How did the book end?

If the show ended with the author writing the book, the the book must have ended with the author writing the HBO show and proving she is a poor writer after all!

It certainly ended with a whimper and not a bang and the couple was completely underused especially the guy, who I’m to assume found purpose by becoming the new owner of the spa?

Was that really the endings? I assumed the endings were what she made up for her book since they were all saccharine.

the ending is ambiguous when it comes to kidman's character. Whatever she's up to, she is happy though.

BOOK SPOLIERS, STOP, NO BUENO, STAND BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am the Liane Morality stan who loved the book, but aborted the series after the 4th episode.

Here is how it ends in the book. Masha takes too much LSD and leaves the group locked in the yoga studio. She plays the sound of a firing crackling on youtube and puts a trash can on fire outside the door, but leaves it unlocked so they had the power to leave the whole time. When Yowel tries to stop her, she jabs him with a syringe and he passes out.

It is revealed that Masha wasn't paying attention when her baby boy was playing and he dies, strangling himself with the cord that pulls blinds up. Masha then gets pregnant with a second child with her husband. She is so shattered that she tells the husband to take the child, never contact her, and she will pay alimony to support the kid. She moves to tranqullim house. Ultimately, Masha quietly does time and then continues her retreats on the DL in different locations, everyone wanting to take part in the LSD experience. This is shown when Yowl comes across her on daytime TV show.

Lars decides he is ready to have a baby with his partner. The Marconi family heals the wounds of losing the twin. Francis and Tony become a couple and get married, but that is a footnote in the epilogue. The lottery winners end up having an amicable divorce, orchestrated by Lars, who is a divorce attorney in the book, avenging wayward husbands, like his dad who left he and his mom penniless after divorcing them for a hot song side piece..

The lottery winners husband ends up befriending Zoe after his sister finally dies of a drug overdose, which she has been struggling throughout the book. Carmel ends up realizing she just needs "me time", goes back to her career, and comes to peace with letting her husbands new wife take more of the responsibilities of the children. They all live happily ever after.

Delilah ditches the whole fiasco, takes lottery winners Lambo to the airport to take the next flight to anywhere. She saved up money during her time as a wellness consultant and wants to travel the world for a year. Yowl had some legal repercussions, knocks up some random chick and ends up being a resentful househusband incel who has to take care of their billigererent little girl.

Masha and Francis end up being the real winners of the book.

Did feel rushed in the last few episodes.

I'll take a Cannavale .

I just started watching this. I'm entertained/intrigued so far. Nicole just made her entrance, and she's compelling as always. But the wig bothers me, it has that little *space* between hair and neck that always tells you it's a wig. Why can't wigmakers fix that?

Heather is played by an actress I don't know, named Asher Keddie. I did know, however, that she was Australian the minute I read her name. That is such an Australian name.

R476 Asher is known for a aussie TV show called Offspring. And she also had a small part in the Wolverine movie.

I'm starting to get bored. I'm at the point where they found out about the microdosing. Should I stick with it?

R478, it never gets more exciting. The show keeps hinting that something BIG is about to happen and it never does.

but is she 'very wealthy'

The premiere is intriguing, but not much happens and the characters are not very compelling. What a waste of a solid concept and cast.

Stop trying to make Nicole happen, R481.