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Author Elin Hilderbrand wasn't bothered by any changes showrunner Jenna Lamia made to her novel The Perfect Couple while adapting the story for Netflix. "The book exists," she says. "People can go buy the book. Anybody can buy the book and read it—that's an experience. I watched so much prestige TV and I know what's good, and I know that directly translating the novels to the screen may not be the best way to do it. And so they changed some characters, they added some characters. I was just so good with it. I'm like, just make the show great."
Working with Hilderbrand, for Lamia, was a "dream." She says, "Elin is so trusting of me, which is rare and insanely valuable. She really trusted me. She's a fan of the show, rather than having a tight steel grip on it and needing it to be exactly the book. Because in spirit, it's the book." Over the development process, the show's relationship with the source material evolved. "Early versions of the show contained more of the book than the final product does," Lamia tells T&C. "I think some of that is what happens naturally over a five year development process."
Adaptations, Hilderbrand adds, require changes. "Especially in something like The Perfect Couple where it's a murder mystery and you need to have cliffhangers," she says. "The family structure changed a little bit, and I'm aware of that, but if people are upset because it changed from the book, I just say, 'I'm sorry, you need to just get over it because you're looking at it as television and it's close enough.' The spirit of The Perfect Couple will be alive. That's the most important thing."
Key Changes From The Book to The Show
Here, the 11 key changes between Hilderbrand's novel and the Netflix drama (spoilers ahead!):
The Addition of Will
One of the biggest differences between Hilderbrand's novel and the Netflix show is the introduction of Will, a younger brother to Benji and Thomas, played by Sam Nivola. "I knew I wanted to add the character of Will the teenage son," Lamia says. "I was young enough when I watched the first season of Homeland, and I related the most to the daughter. That show is incredible, and I think it's nice to have a way into the show for a different audience members."
She adds, "I also just tend to be interested in younger people and their perspective on what's going on with the screwed up adults. I knew [Will] would be fun to write and for a lot of people, important to make it a fun show to watch. I knew I wanted there to be a teenage child, and for that teenage child to have some kind of love interest. I did spend many years writing Awkward on MTV, and 90210 on the CW, so I come by those things honestly, and I do find them to be something that enhances the show. So that was the thought behind Will."
Name Changes
Four main characters had name changes in the Netflix show: Celeste Otis becomes Amelia Sacks, Featherington Dale, who is British, becomes Isabel Nallet, who is French, Shooter Uxley becomes Shooter Dival, and Chief Ed Kapenash becomes Chief Dan Carter. While these may be confusing for book readers, the core characterizations of Celeste/Amelia, Featherington/Isabel, and Chief Ed/Chief Dan, remain the same.
Physical Changes
There are also some physical changes: in the book, Abby describes Celeste and Merritt as follows: "Celeste is blond and fair, and Merritt had dark hair and olive skin. Celeste goes to bed early and Merritt likes to stay up late. Merritt has a second job—had, sorry—a second job as an influencer." In the show, Celeste/Amelia has dark hair and tan skin, whereas Merritt is blonde.
Celeste's Stutter
Losing Celeste's stutter, Lamia explains, was something that happened about halfway through the development process. "I don't know that it is necessary for the screen version, but [losing the stutter] became necessary for who the character of Amelia became. Because in the book, Celeste is a bit fragile and uncertain, and it works incredibly well in the book," she says. "We only have six episodes, and we only really have one episode to win the audience over to rooting for the character that became Amelia."
Lamia continues, saying that Amelia "does make some choices that could make you not really like her—she's waffling between her fiancé and his best friend. It was important that the audience stayed on her side and understood her motivations and what was influencing her. And doing that alone was tricky. If you add another thing that she's dealing with, something that she's vulnerable to, it threatened to make her a victim, which I don't find rootable. I think it was important to quickly get the audience on her side, and doing away with one of the elements that was holding her back helped us to do that and root for her quickly."
Merritt's Bracelet
In the book, Tag gifts Merritt a thumb ring. After he ends things with her on the eve of the wedding, she takes the ring off and throws it into the water. (This ring, from Jessica Hicks, is what Hilderbrand imagined it looking like.) In the show, Tag gives her a gold bracelet with pavé diamonds from Island Jewelers, which Greer discovers the jeweler asks her about it. She then goes searching for a receipt, and finds out he spent over $18,000 on the bracelet.
Bruce's Backstory
A large part of Celeste's story in the novel revolves around her parents, including her father, Bruce, who is implied to be a closeted gay man. Karen overhears him telling Tag about how he once had feelings for another woman, Robin Swain. Yet, Karen knows the truth: Robin was a man. "It was a confusing time in my life," Bruce tells Tag. "I can't tell you how much it turned my whole world upside down. I had spent my entire life feeling like one person and then suddenly I felt like someone else."
Karen narrates, "It's a nuclear confession. Her husband, her state champion wrestler, her hungry wolf in bed had had feelings for another man, feelings he obviously isn't comfortable acknowledging because to Tag, he changed Robin's gender to female.... Bruce had a secret, intense crush. He never acted on it; this, Karen believes... Karen issues Bruce a silent pardon—it had been a confusing time. And, as Karen had wanted to tell Celeste, there is no such thing as a perfect couple."
In the show, there's none of this backstory for Bruce—instead, he is shown to be just a typical, working class dad, not caring about his appearance or having worked at a department store.
The Detective
In the novel, Detective Nick Diamantopolous works with the Chief of Police to solve the murder. Much is made of his good looks: "Nick's father is Greek and his mother is Cape Verdean; Nick has brown skin, a shaved head, and a jet-black goatee. He's so good-looking that people joke he should quit the job and play a cop on TV—better hours and more money—but Nick is content being a damn good detective and a notorious ladies' man." His charm is how he gets various women to open up.
In the show, however, the detective becomes Nikki Henry, who doesn't take any crap from anybody, and isn't as likeable.
Karen's Death
In the book, one of the key storylines is how Karen, who is dying of cancer, plans to end her own life. This plotline doesn't appear until the very final episode, but it's woven throughout the novel.
In the book, Karen narrates, "She hasn't told Bruce about the three pearlescent ovoid pills mixed in with her oxy. The pill is an unpronounceable compound that she bought illegally off the internet from a website she stumbled across when she Googled euthanasia. She e-mailed with a person named Dr. Tang who used to be an anesthesiologist, licensed in the state of Utah, who now provides terminally ill patients with drugs—for a price—so that people like Karen can end their lives with a dignity."
Later, the narration continues: "These pills will put her down instantly, saving both Bruce and Celeste the anguish, mess, and expense of her natural demise. If she told Bruce, he would understand, she thinks. In thirty-two years of marriage, they have always viewed the world the same way. But what if he doesn't understand?"
In the book, Bruce and Celeste never find out, but in the show, Karen tells Bruce, who tells Celeste. Karen tells her husband, and then the cops, because one of the pills goes missing, and she's worried Merritt somehow died because of it. "They were kind of like a security blanket for me," Karen says of the pills, "in case things got worse, quickly." She also says a young man in her cancer support group got them for her, another change from the book.
Chloe Carter
Another change in the show is Chloe Carter, the daughter of Chief Dan Carter. Chloe works as a waiter, and has a blossoming relationship with Will. In the book, the Chief and his wife, Andrea, care for twins Chloe and Finn—the kids of Andrea's cousin who died in a boating accident. Finn has a girlfriend, and Chloe works as a waitress for a caterer, as does show Chloe. In the Netflix drama, it seems as if the twins have been combined into one character.
Greer's Brother
A mysterious British man appears at Greer's launch party, and that man is revealed in the finale to be Greer's brother—another character that is new for the show.
Greer's Past
In the show, over the course of the investigation, the detectives also learn that Shooter (who is wealthy, as in the book) lent $300,000 to Greer, which she gave to Roderick to pay off his gambling addiction. "I've been paying off his debts for years," she tells the cops. Her family doesn't know he exists, until he appears in Nantucket.
In the finale, it comes out that Greer worked as an escort, and that's how she met Tag. "I worked to support my entire family...I was an escort. I had sex with men for money. My brother organized the clientele and your father was one of those men," Greer says in a scene with her family in the final episode.
She continues, yelling at Tag, "I'm not living like this. I'm not living in fear of exposure anymore: Do you hear me? I'm not living with your goddamn mess, I'm not cleaning everything up for you. I'm done with your ego, I'm done with your bullshit. I am done, do you hear me? Done. I'm not taking care of everything everyone anymore. I'm done! I'm done with living the lie." Greer also says she's been working on a book, and it's "going to be fantastic."
None of this backstory appears in Hilderbrand's novel.
Merritt's Murder
In the novel, Abby steals the sleeping pills from Greer, trying to knock out Featherington to prevent her from sleeping with her husband, Tom. The police rule Merritt's death an accident, never being able to prove who drugged Merritt, but the book ends with Greer realizing what happened.
Greer narrates, "Tag is the plotter, not Greer, but after twenty-one murder mysteries, she has learned a thing or two about motivation. Greer saw Abby last night when she went to the kitchen to pour herself the final glass of Veuve and left her pills on the counter. Abby had either snatched the pills up then or noted their existence. Much later, she went down to see if Featherleigh had left. She overheard Featherleigh humming in the powder room and must have decided to put the old girl to sleep… to keep her from fooling around with Thomas. And who could blame her? Abby dropped a pill in Featherleigh’s drink, only the drink had gone to the wrong person. It had somehow gone to Merritt. The police have ruled Merritt’s death accidental — and an accident it indeed was. Abby may not even realize she’s to blame, and Thomas will never put two and two together. The secret resides with Greer, and with Greer it will remain until her death."
In the show, it goes down very differently. Detective Nikki realizes that Abby was washing a glass the morning Merritt's body was discovered, and "seemed very nervous." Soon after, she is arrested. "I can't go to jail, I'm pregnant!" she yells as she's taken away by police.
A different sequence of events cause Merritt's death, too, as viewers see in a flashback: Abby takes a pill from Tom, and puts it in a glass of juice for Merritt, knowingly drugging her. The motive is different from the book, too: Tom is supposed to get access to his trust fund when his younger brother, Will, turns 18. But if Merritt gave birth to Tag's son, that would delay all the Winbury siblings to getting their trust fund for another 18 years. "You can't trust [men] to get the job done," Abby says, "it's true if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." Abby suggests going for a swim with Merritt, and then she drowns her. Merritt's murder is much more intentional in the show than the book.
The Perfect Couple: Still a Hit
Despite the differences, both the novel and the Netflix show of The Perfect Couple have received positive reviews. And with its dramatic twists and turns, the show is sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats until the very end.
