When “Nine Perfect Strangers” first premiered on Hulu, it set a record for the most watched Hulu original, but that strong start has not translated into critical success as it ended up with a 59% RT score with fans only placing it slightly higher at 61%. With the season 2 finale now in the books, their RT score is even worse at a 44% with fans grading it over at 38%. The show has failed to secure any real majored awards after a handful of nods aside from Regina Hall’s Best Supprting Actress win at the NAACP awards.
Right now, the series is in limbo, waiting for either a cancellation or renewal from Hulu, but the team at BR feels there is some definite magic in this series and the show itself is largely misunderstood. Season 1 had a powerful combination of veteran high profile actors, which was a formula for psychedelic success, especially due to learning Masha’s true plans on the go. This may have been disorienting to a lot of viewers, but others appreciated the realistic dive into drug culture mixed with everyday people. Season. 2 was a different beast, with more lesser known actors carrying the mantle from the first season, and a deeper connection than before between the so-called ‘perfect strangers’ who ended up mostly not being strangers at all. Warning, beyond this point there are spoilers for the “Nine Perfect Strangers” season 2 finale.
With the season 2 finale now in the books, their RT score is even worse at a 44% with fans grading it over at 38%.”
It’s undeniable that season 2 did not contain the unfiltered magic of the series first outing, but there is still plenty of mystical moments embedded in the show the second time around. Masha has assembled people who were seemingly strangers but throughout the series we start to find out that there did seem to be some deeper connections there that went beyond coincidence. The last episode finally revealed that almost all of the guest were connected to stoic billionaire David (Mark Strong), who was completely clueless about all the different ways his questionable businesses deeply hurt the other guests.
All of the connections were very negative and brought up powerful feelings amongst the guests up to the point where it almost seemed like David would be lynched, but he managed to talk his way out of yet another sticky situation. The wild card that Masha didn’t count on almost ended up as her undoing. The son of her mentor, Martin (Lucas Englander) went off the deep end after trying to cope with the fact that his mother left everything to Masha in his will. Masha was in her own drug fueled hallucinatory mindstate of seeing her daughter and former mentor, which blinded her to the real danger of Martin. As a viewer, Martin’s resentment was easily telegraphed, but it was also surprising how far off the deep end that his character went.
The first season was based off a book of the same name by Australian Author Liane Moriarty, but the second season was penned by the series writers. The fact that the story twists only had shock value in season 1 definitely gave the writers a much tougher job to do, but they did make the series sing in new ways than a before. Although this series will likely end up as niche viewing for the ‘Fear and Loathing’ crowd, there is still plenty of entertainment value in both seasons. We recommend Binging them all at once if you haven’t seen the show yet to really help you feel the impact of the chaotic environment in which Masha conducts her experiments.
The ending sets up a conflicted Masha who is now beholden to David, but has her dream realized of making her psychedelic therapy a worldwide phenomenon. How Masha handles this new level of notoriety and how she c an keep surprising guest who will undoubtedly learn her playbook is a major question for season 3…if there ever is one. If not, the series can stand well on it’s own and we predict it will ages well for the niche audience that it will most appeal to. Will average middle class people ever really embrace a show about damaged people taking drugs and trapping out? Most likely no, but we still applaud the series for making an original piece of work in a sea of franchises and regurgitated ideas.
What do you think? Was season 2 the nail in the coffin of one of Nicole Kidman’s pet projects? Or will Hulu double down on the actress and give her one last shot to make the mushrooms mainstream? How will Masha cope with her contract with David? Who will be the next set of strangers?
Let us know your thoughts about season 2 in the comments below!
