When you decide to adapt a book, making changes can be a hugely risky thing.
As successful as the movies were, there will always be Harry Potter fans who simply won’t shut up about the smallest changes or omissions from the book.
The change the showrunners of The Perfect Couple made from the book, however, is not minor.
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The show, which is the biggest on Netflix at the time of writing in both the UK and the world, features a who-dunnit at its core.
Whilst the show does not change the ‘who’ from the book, they change the ‘how’, the ‘why’, and with it the entire complexion of the story.
Though the series has been (mostly) a massive hit with viewers, the ending has brought about a great deal of controversy.
Underneath the comment of a post on Netflix bangers Facebook group, one viewer commented: “The Perfect Couple rated 5.3/10 on Rotten Tomatoes - and not surprisingly - the ending is illogical and utter nonsense.”
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Another posted on Twitter saying: “Just me or did the ending suck. It wasn't clear what happened. I had to get an explanation online of what happened. It seemed rushed and vague.”
A third said: “Rubbish ending!!!!! Loved the show but the end was crap”.
Spoilers ahead for The Perfect Couple. Do not yell at me if you keep reading past this point.
In both the books and the show, Abby Winbury (played by Dakota Fanning in the show) kills the maid-of-honour, Merritt Monaco.
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In the books, Merritt dies as a result of an accident, with Abby slipping a sleeping pill in the drink of her husband’s mistress, which mistakenly gets in Merritt’s hands.
The secretly pregnant maid-of-honour proceeds to then drown after collapsing at the beach.
In the show, it is a far more insidious matter.
Abby purposely kills the maid-of-honour after finding out she is pregnant, drugging her then forcibly drowning her in the water.
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Merritt is engaging in an affair with the family’s patriarch, Tag Winbury, Abby’s father-in-law.
A trust worth millions, to which her husband Thomas would be beneficiary, can only be accessed once Tag’s youngest son turns 18.
With this set to happen in mere months, Merritt giving birth to Tag’s child would reset the clock – preventing them accessing it for another 18 months.
When discussing the change with Netflix’s TUDUM, the producers said this was decided at some of their earliest meetings with Netflix.
They said they: “All agreed right then and there, there needed to be a murderer, and there needed to be a motive for that murder”.
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It may have been abrupt, but if you ask me that’s a massive step up from the books.
The Perfect Couple is available to watch on Netflix now
Topics: Netflix, TV, TV and Film, Facebook, Twitter
Michael Slavin