The Perfect Couple ending explained: who killed Merritt?

Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks in The Perfect Couple ending
(Image credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Netflix)

The Perfect Couple is a high-class mystery series on Netflix that follows Amelia Sacks, a bride marrying into one of Nantucket's wealthiest families. But when a dead body appears on the beach just before the big day, secrets are revealed and everyone is a suspect. But after five twisty-turny episodes, who killed Merritt? 

Here is everything that happened in The Perfect Couple episode 6... 

The final episode opens with Greer doing damage control after her disastrous book launch the day before. She calls her PR team, who aren't answering her calls, and tells them that she wants to meet later to work out what they are going to do next. In the background, Tag's drunken singing is playing and Greer looks stressed. Later she is seen researching the drugs found in Merritt's system the night she died. 

Down in the kitchen Amelia and Benji have a slightly awkward but friendly breakfast together after they had sex at the book launch. Greer comes in and is surprised to see them looking happy together again, and asks Amelia if Merritt ever took drugs. Amelia says no, and is surprised when Greer tells her about the toxicology report. 

As they are talking the police arrive and take Greer in for questioning while officers clear her office and take her computer as the rest of the family stand by a watch helplessly. 

Over at the motel, Thomas is in bed with Isabel, who is asking for the money back that she lent him. He says Tag won't give him the cash, but it is okay because his trust fund will be released soon now that Will is almost 18. Isabel comments how this is very convenient for him as his phone rings and it's Abby. He pretends to be running to cover where he really is, but she has bad news and tells him about Greer being taken in by the police. 

Over at the station Dan and Nikki are questioning Greer and trying to pressure her into confessing to hiring Broderick to kill Merritt. They also think that she got Shooter to pay for the hitman to keep her name out of it, however, Greer remains cool as a cucumber and tells them Shooter has nothing to do with Merritt's death and neither does she. 

As Will struggles to get out of the gate for a race because of all the reporters waiting, Thomas arrives home from being with Isabel and Abby is cross with him, knowing he has been having an affair. He denies it, of course, but she knows exactly what he has been up to. 

Meanwhile, Amelia is chatting with her parents about Greer being questioned by the police and she mentions that Merritt had barbiturates in her system. As soon as Amelia mentions the drugs, Karen looks worried but doesn't say anything. 

Donna Lynne Champlin as Nikki Henry, Michael Beach as Dan Carter in The Perfect Couple

The police arrive to question Greer.  (Image credit: Netflix)

At the police station, Dan asks Greer why Broderick has called her house so many times since Merritt's death. She remains stony silent, claiming Broderick is an old associate, and even when they ask why she would be calling an 'associate' at 3am she doesn't reveal anything. 

Meanwhile, Shooter is in the car with an advisor, talking through what he should and shouldn't be telling the police about the money. His phone rings and it is 'B Train' which is what he has Amelia's number saved under. Amelia tells her she is sorry for messing him about and that she needs to get her head straight. Shooter seems sad that their romance isn't going to go anywhere, but smiles when she admits he was right, she is the girl from the B Train the night they helped a woman who dropped her jewelry all those years ago.  

Back at the house, Karen desperately looks in her pill case and is panicked when she sees some of her tablets are missing, Meanwhile, downstairs the PR team arrives and they are in full-on damage control mode... much to Tag's horror, especially when they want him to go to rehab for his drinking, mainly as a PR stunt after the book launch drama.

Getting bored of Greer's refusal to answer anything, the police pull out their trump card by bringing Brodrick into the interview room and sitting him next to Greer. At first, the pair pretend not to know one another well before Greer is finally worn down and she admits Brodrick is her brother and the money she gave him was to pay off a gambling debt, which she has been doing for years. 

Dan and Nikki are stunned, both admitting they didn't see this coming and are annoyed they're both back at square one when it comes to Merritt's death. 

Dendrie Taylor as Karen Sacks in The Perfect Couple

Karen is panicked when she realizes one of her tablets is missing.  (Image credit: Netflix)

Greer gets home and introduces Brodrick to her family... shocking everyone by admitting that he is her brother - which is especially surprising for her kids seeing as she hadn't told them she had a sibling. 

Having got a taste of confessing, Greer sits everyone down and tells them that she has been living a lie. She admits that she and Tag didn't meet in a gallery, but they met in a bar when she was working as a high-class escort and Tag was one of her clients. Her kids are stunned as she reveals that her brother was the one who organized her clients and as her meltdown continues she tells everyone she is done with looking after everyone else and is sick of living a lie and being worried that her secret is going to be exposed. 

As everyone is reeling from the shock of Greer's revelation Bruce tells Amelia he needs to talk to her. He reveals that Karen's just told him that she bought three pills out to Nantucket with her that someone from her cancer group gave her, and she was planning to use them to take her own life if the cancer started advancing too quickly. Amelia is shocked, but that's not all Bruce has got to tell her, because he also says one of the pills is missing.

The police arrive and Karen tells them everything about her pills and that anyone in the house would have access to them. Soon the penny drops that it was Thomas who took the pills as he is known for playing prescription roulette and stealing tablets from people. Karen admits the pills are pentobarbital and that while one wouldn't have killed Merritt, it would have been enough to knock her out. 

Downstairs the police take Thomas in for questioning and while he is being grilled at the station, Abby cleans out his bedside table drawer which had all the pills he had stolen from everyone in it. In a flashback we see him going into Karen's pill case and stealing them from her bedroom, which he then, in the present day, admits to doing to the police, but promises that he didn't give it to Merritt, because he was planning to keep it for himself.  

During his interview with the police, Thomas tells them that he thinks it was Isabel who gave Merritt the drugs. He explains about Merritt being pregnant, and the fact that he and his brothers wouldn't get their trust funds for another 18 years if his dad had another child because they were only released when the youngest child turned 18. 

He then tells the police as a voiceover over a flashback to the night of the wedding rehearsal that he took his grandfather's gun out of the case and to the beach, with the intention of scaring Merritt into getting rid of the baby to sort his trust fund issue, however, he couldn't go through with it and Isabel caught him with the weapon. She told him that it 'wasn't going to end well' for Merritt, leading to him becoming convinced Isabel was the one who killed Merritt. 

The police bring Isabel in for questioning, but she denies everything. She says she didn't ever think she would be paid back by someone like Thomas and has a watertight alibi because she got a taxi back to the motel with Thomas, and the driver of the taxi can vouch for the pair. 

Adina Porter as Enid Collins, Jeanine Mason as Hyacinth, Troy Iwata as Brad in The Perfect Couple

Greer's PR team have a plan for damage control.  (Image credit: Netflix)

Nikki remembers that the Winburys' housemaid, Gosia, talked about how Abby demanded she wash her pajamas, bedding and a water glass the morning of the wedding. Nikki realizes that Isabel's motive to kill Merritt to stop her baby from being born is also the same motive that Abby would have. She also recalls Abby washing a glass in the sink the morning she came to question her at the Winbury house, and soon they realize that this must have been the glass with the drugs in it. They also work out that the tallow found on Merritt's hair shaft in the postmortem could also be explained if Abby is the killer because she has a fondness for a special hand cream that contains the same ingredient. 

After being released, Thomas is back at home with the rest of his family by the pool and they are talking about Isabel's motive for killing Merritt, while Abby sits on a sunlounger not joining in. Suddenly the police arrive and before anyone can process what is happening, Abby is being cuffed and read her rights while she shouts at Thomas to do something. 

We then see what really happened the night Merritt died in another flashback. This time we see Abby putting on some of her fancy hand cream as she spots Merritt sitting alone on the beach. Realizing that she needs to finish the job that her husband failed at, she grabs some pills from Thomas's stash, grinds them into some orange juice and takes it down to Merritt on the beach. They sit and talk as Merritt drinks the juice and Abby cryptically tells Merritt that if you want a job doing, it is better to just do it yourself. She tells Merritt she has been having a cool swim before bed and invites her to join her, which she does, but as the drugs take hold, Merritt goes under the water where Abby holds her until she stops moving. 

Eve Hewson as Amelia Sacks in The Perfect Couple

Amelia is shocked to learn Abby killed Merritt.  (Image credit: Netflix)

Later we learn that Greer and Tag are separating, with her going back to the city to write her next book, while he stays in Nantucket. Meanwhile, Will flirts with Chloe, their budding romance taking off, and Amelia leaves Winbury's home, saying goodbye to Benji so she can go and find the woman that she was before she met him and lost her best friend. Isabel also arrives at the house and is fuming with Thomas for framing her for murder.

The episode then flashes forward six months to London and we see Amelia working at a zoo in the penguin enclosure. Greer has tracked her down and Amelia is shocked to see her. Greer has written a new book and she asks for Amelia's approval because the book is about her. She asks her to read the book and let her know what she thinks, before inviting her for dinner - new friendship on the horizon.

All episodes of The perfect Couple are available to stream worldwide on Netflix now. 

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Claire Crick
Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch

Claire is Assistant Managing Editor at What To Watch and has been a journalist for over 15 years, writing about everything from soaps and TV to beauty, entertainment, and even the Royal Family. After starting her career at a soap magazine, she ended up staying for 13 years, and over that time she’s pulled pints in the Rovers Return, sung karaoke in the Emmerdale village hall, taken a stroll around Albert Square, and visited Summer Bay Surf Club in sunny Australia. 

After learning some tricks of the trade at websites Digital Spy, Entertainment Daily, and Woman & Home, Claire landed a role at What’s On TV and whattowatch.com writing about all things TV and film, with a particular love for Aussie soaps, Strictly Come Dancing and Bake Off

She’s interviewed everyone from June Brown — AKA Dot Cotton — to Michelle Keegan, swapped cooking tips with baking legend Mary Berry backstage at the NTAs, and danced the night away with soap stars at countless awards bashes. There’s not a lot she doesn’t know about soaps and TV and can be very handy when a soapy question comes up in a pub quiz! 

As well as all things soap-related, Claire also loves running, spa breaks, days out with her kids, and getting lost in a good book.