Spoilers below for The Perfect Couple, so be direly warned if you haven't yet watched!
One of Netflix's best shows at the moment is the twisty-turny killer thriller The Perfect Couple, which is winning over critics and viewers with its "which of these rich assholes is guilty?" mystery. The six-episode arc, which may or may not get a second season, will keep viewers guessing throughout, so long as they don't get spoiled on all the answers ahead of time.
Timing is everything, though, which many of this show's characters can attest to, and Netflix's social media team is probably that much more aware of it now. The streaming giant posted a video on Instagram featuring interviews with the two stars most relevant to the major character death talking about it over scene clips. Despite the "Spoiler Alert" noted at the front of the video and in the written caption, however, the replies are rife with people railing hard against Netflix for spoiling things.
But who's actually to blame here, assuming there is a legitimate reason to throw blame around?
Angry Fans Blame Netflix For Ruining The Perfect Couple's Reveal
Netflix's IG post (seen lower) does technically seem to give away a major spoiler for anyone who knows nothing about The Perfect Couple, simply by mentioning star Meghann Fahy's name in this caption:
🚨SPOILER ALERT🚨 how meghann fahy and [redacted] played the killer reveal in THE PERFECT COUPLE
But those words and Fahy's boxed-out appearance on the video don't automatically confirm or spoil anything specific, and only combine to heavily imply that Fahy plays the show's key victim. As such, it's not the most egregiously revealing way to word it, so it's technically okay.
Ideally, things would get worse from there, but the myriad negative comments applied to the post would suggest otherwise. Here's a smattering of reactions from those who were none too pleased to see this post popping up.
- This is so annoying! Haven’t watched the whole show yet and I probably don’t have to now. Why would you spoil the ending? There’s a lot of other content you could’ve posted without spoiling it! 😕 - @eeeefff
- it used to be on My List now i have to get rid of it because i am not as excited anymore. thanks netflix! - @alrienza
- Love that I wasn’t able to scroll away fast enough. Thanks for saving me the time! Now I don’t have to spend all those hrs watching the show. 😂😂😂 - @that1duude
- Why would you post it doe??? Like literally no warning - @ruvashokoofficial
- You shouldn't have😢😢😢😢 just got to episode 2 now I got to stop watching thanks and no thanks - @urchubby_highness
- This is completely unnecessary and unacceptable @netflix ! What were you thinking? - @noeliaxo
- Who’s doing your social media? The show JUST came out and you’re spoiling the whole thing. You all still have time to take this down. - @breachforthestars
That's the tip of the iceberg, really, with a large majority of the comments on the post skewing negative. To be fair, there definitely are posts directly commenting on what's said in the video, with some viewers sharing their thoughts on what the twist was going to be ahead of the reveal, and some just randomly giving the show praise. But by and large, the replies were filled with grievances.
Seriously, though, no one should stop watching even if the mystery is spoiled, since Michael Beach and Donna Lynne Champlin are aces as The Perfect Couple's police chief and visiting detective, respectively. Nothing can spoil their on-screen chemistry.
Sorry, Fans, But I Kinda Think This One's On You
While I'm certainly into the general concept of spoiling potential viewers on major breakthroughs in current TV shows and movies, and if this conversation were somehow being had 20 years ago (before streaming and IG, somehow), then I'd probably be more on the side of those complaining. But here in the 2024 portion of the Netflix Era, things have changed.
For one, The Perfect Couple was released on Friday, September 5, and so it didn't "JUST" come out, as one commenter stated, though I get what the person meant. Still, though, we're talking about a six-episode series geared for binge-watching, and one that has remained atop the Top 10 since its arrival.
So for its part, Netflix is firmly aware of exactly how many people are zooming through this show, both in regards to who's already finished and who's still in the middle of the wedding-stalling investigation. And I can only hope that if the company's data showed that 90% of audience members had not yet made it through the six episodes, that social post would not have been shared.
At this point, though, after two full weekends have passed since The Perfect Couple debuted, the onus is on viewers to avoid spoiling things for themselves. It's sill to think about a billion-dollar corporation sitting on interview footage for an extended period just because a few thousand people were late to a party that millions already attended.
In any case, this is all somewhat irrelevant anyway, since Netflix 100% had a
"Spoiler Alert" message on both the video and the caption. Turning off audio and autoplay isn't so hard, especially for those who know they're watching something of a spoilery nature.
Before ending things, I do want to give a shout out to the one comment I saw that spun a positive takeaway out of the idea of Netflix spoiling its star-studded thriller.
- You spoil the ending? 👏 Very clever, so everyone can now watch Dead Boy Detectives instead, thank you ❤️ #savedeadboydetectives - @sfhvn.all.the.as
Obviously this is the kind of entertainment debate that doesn't have any hard right or wrong answers, but the main thing is that people will hopefully learn from this experience and will be wary about delving into social media scrolling while whodunnits are afoot.
