Nine Perfect Strangers
released 2021
www.ink2quill.com

“Nine Perfect Strangers” is an American mystery, suspense, drama streaming series produced by Nicole Kidman, Molly Allen, Gillian Bohrer, John-Henry Butterworth, T. Rafael Cimino, Steve Hutensky, David E. Kelley, Jonathan Levine, Jodi Matterson, Melissa McCarthy, Liane Moriarty, Bruna Papandrea, Mark Rodgers, Per Saari, Jessica Sharzer, Lori Slomka, Samantha Strauss, Mathew Tinker, Anthony Byrne, Sarah Suterland, Casey Haver among others. It was written by John-Henry Butterworth, David E. Kelley, Liane Moriarty, Sarah Sutherland, Jonathan Levine, Jessica Sharzer and Samantha Strauss. It was directed by Jonathan Levine and Anthony Byrne and stars Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Asher Keddie, Samara Weaving, Melvin Gregg, Tiffany Boone, Manny Jacinto, Grace Van Patten, Zoe Terakes, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale, Alyla Browne, Isabelle Cornish, Hal Cumpston, Ben Falcone, Blake McFarlane, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Lucas Englander, King Princess, Angie Diaz, Matt Okine, Mark Strong, Craig Ingham, Murran Kain and many more. The cast of this series is gigantic and they did such a good job. It’s nice to see so many people in the Creative Arts working hard at their crafts. So, hats off.

Nine Perfect Strangers IMDb webpage

“Nine Perfect Strangers” is the story of nine perfect strangers, as the title suggests, who spend a ten day retreat a fictional health and wellness resort in the fictional town of Cabrillo, CA. In countries like France these are called Sanitariums and are common and somewhat a source of controversy for some people because they are entirely founded by tax payer money. The resort in the story is called the Tranquilium House and a stay there promises to heal its guest and make them better people. But things are not quite what they seem at Tranquilium House as aspects of a cult like system emerge. Firstly, the host Masha Dmitrichenko, played by Nicole Kidman, is not entirely who she claims to be and has secret ulterior motives. Also, they are given the psychoactive drug Psilocybin in small doses without their knowledge or consent. And thirdly, they are kind of cut off from the outside world. This lets for very nefarious possibilities but the story swerves in unexpected directions. The story is unpredictable. I won’ t give away spoilers but this could easily have ended up a horror series but it didn’t and I think it’s a better movie for it. This is a series that avoided the the trap of being “trite”.

I have to start by saying that I loved what the writers did to the story. Watching the characters has you rediscover that people, all people, have problems to work out and ways they can better themselves and that so many people have way bigger problems than what you might think looking at them. It also reveals that a lot of self fixing is looking within and taking an honest look at oneself. I wise person once told me that looking into oneself is the hardest thing a person can do and that it takes decades if not a lifetime to do it right because we have layers upon layers of false ideas, false beliefs, wishful thinking, delusional thinking and such to clear out the way.

One controversial topic in the series is the environment of the characters. There is a cult like feel in the Tranquilium House, for the reasons stated above. I’m not so sure that that’s a good environment for healing and betterment. It can lead to bad situations. In most cases at least. This story is very different though and that’s where the controversy is. Is it right to tell someone that they need to enter such an environment in order to be healed? Is it ok to give up certain freedoms in order to be healed or become better? I don’t know. I really don’t know that world. But in this story it works. I don’t know if it would work in real life though.

Another controversial topic is the medical, positive use of drugs, in this case Psilocybin, for various types of health, body and mind issues. There is still so much debate on the use of what could be called recreational drugs in the psychiatric, addiction, self help fields. Some say that certain drugs if used carefully and responsibly can help people with various health, emotional and psychological problems to heal. Others say that using drugs to heal people or even better themselves opens a Pandora’s box to let the demon of addiction into society. They say that once addiction gets a firm hold in our society and companies and people can earn money from it we are all doomed as a society. In truth both these sides are right and I do not have an answer to this issue. Furthermore, I do not know enough about the issue to contribute a positive opinion in the debate. Maybe one day I will and I’ll share it with the world.

So, check out this series. You’re probably gonna want to binge watch it because one episode at a time will not do. So, clear a Saturday on the calendar and enjoy. It’s great fun.

John Ink2Quill

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