'Nine Perfect Strangers' Recap: Everything To Know Before Season 2

Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers is a mystery drama where 9 strangers show up at a wellness retreat, only to be drugged and encounter their inner demons in the most intrusive way possible. The 8-part series stars Nicole Kidman as the Russian woman at the center of this retreat. A woman who believes she can heal all of these people through psychedelics and a little bit of talk. In the series, 9 strangers find themselves at Tranquillum, a wellness retreat, with Yao and Delilah as their “healers.” What they expect to be a silent week and a half to get away from the rush of the city and work ends up turning into a nightmare. So, without further ado, let’s jump straight into the recap of season 1.

Spoiler Alert

Who Are The Nine Guests?

The first season of Nine Perfect Strangers begins with an introduction to the 9 guests who are trying to find peace at Tranquillum. The Marconis (Napoleon, Heather, and Zoe) are a family of 3 trying to heal after they’ve lost their 4th member, Zach, to suicide. Frances is a romance author who got catfished and who gets ditched by her publishing company on her way to the retreat. Carmel is an insecure woman who is dealing with anxiety and anger issues because of a cheating ex. Ben and Jessica are a married couple who won the lottery but are now struggling in the love department because they’re influencers with no actual life. Tony is an ex-athlete with a busted knee and a drug addiction. And finally, there’s Lars Lee, a gay investigative journalist who is estranged from his partner, seeing as he doesn’t want children but his partner does. At the center of this retreat is ghostly Masha, always dressed in white, with long blonde hair and a (terrible) Russian accent. The guests immediately start feeling uneasy as their phones are taken away, and their sanity starts to fade when they’re handed special smoothies, all catering to the individual…hmm, that’s a bit sus. 

What Is Masha Looking For?

While it all seems like a cult situation, in truth, Masha is not trying to be a god in that she wants everyone to follow her, she’s just trying to ascend into the unknown and meet her dead daughter Tatiana. Masha was enlightened when she was revived, and Yao, the paramedic at the time, had saved her and brought her back to life from the dead. Masha used to be a businesswoman who would do anything to be successful, but after her near-death experience, she realized she wanted to help people heal. When the guests first arrive, she tells them that she saw a younger version of herself, free and biking away in bliss, but in truth, this little girl is Tatiana, and all Masha really needs here is closure for her daughter’s death. 

What Happens With Carmel? 

Throughout Nine Perfect Strangers, Masha receives strange death threats via texts. It is revealed near the end of the show that it’s Carmel who was sending these threats, because she was the person who shot Masha back in the day. Turns out Masha was one of the women Carmel’s husband cheated with, and she was the reason he left her for good and ended up with a much younger woman. This left Carmel, a makeup artist on Broadway, devastated, so she dressed like a man and tried to threaten businesswoman Masha. However, Masha dismissed her and threw some money at her feet, so in a fit of rage, Carmel shot her. But Masha forgives Carmel, because the reason Tranquillum exists is that she got shot, so she thanks Carmel for the big revelation. 

Do Tony and Frances End Up Together? 

At the beginning of the show, Tony and Frances hate each other because they have completely opposing ideologies. However, as the show progresses, and possibly because of the drugs, Tony and Frances start to bond and form a sweet friendship, which later blossoms into love. Tony’s estranged from his family because of his drug addiction, but after some days at Tranquillum, he’s drug-free. Meanwhile, Frances, who always looked at everything from a writer’s lens, is finally able to separate fiction from reality and see Tony for who he really is, believing that he actually likes her, unlike the guy who basically scammed her online. 

What Happens During the Fire Simulation? 

While Masha is with the Marconis, chaos ensues, because Carmel is isolated in a sensory deprivation pod so that she can calm her nerves and stop raging. She sees a younger version of herself and feels free, but when she tries to get out of the room, she realizes it’s locked, and she starts to feel claustrophobic. The rest of the gang, except for the Marconis and Lars, who wants evidence against Masha, show up to help Carmel. However, Yao puts them all inside and locks them up. At this time, they think there’s a fire, but it’s not real. It’s a form of therapy to get people to reveal their innermost desires. It seems this actually works because each one of them admits to wanting something better for themselves. 

What Happens With The Marconis? 

The Marconis are at the retreat because it would’ve been Zach and Zoe’s 21st birthday the same week, but Zoe is, of course, in no mood to celebrate. Each of the family member blames themselves for Zach’s tragic death. Zoe, because they were fighting, and if she had spoken to him, she might’ve understood what went wrong. Heather thinks she ignored the fact that the label on Zach’s asthma medication said one of the side effects was suicidal ideation, and Napoleon thinks if he hadn’t hit snooze on his alarm that fateful morning and had woken his son up, he’d still be around. Through Masha’s special psychedelic medication, which she ups the dosage of, the Marconis are able to see Zach, because Zoe acts as a medium. Now, Zach is not actually there; this seems like a shared psychosis situation. Zach then tells all 3 of them that he died because of no fault of theirs or his own; it was an irrational decision that can’t be reasoned with. The family gets their closure, and then Masha joins them so she can meet her daughter one last time. Masha finally sees Tatiana, holds her in the same way she did on the day of the accident, but this time Tatiana’s not bleeding; she’s smiling up at her mother. 

Delilah realizes that Masha is going too far with the Marconis, so she heads out to bring the police. Just as Masha’s done holding onto her daughter, Delilah brings the cops, but Masha goes to them with open hands, unbothered by the situation; her purpose is fulfilled. Meanwhile, nobody speaks against Masha to the cops because, as much as they hated being in the retreat in the beginning, they’ve now all “healed.” 

How Does Season 1 End?

At the end of Nine Perfect Strangers season 1, we see Frances writing in a notebook as the scenes from the near future flash on the screen. It’s not certain if the strangers moved ahead in their lives like this or if this is the happy ending Frances made up for a book that would obviously make her loads of money. Lars goes back to his husband and has a baby while writing a story on Masha. Frances and Tony get that golden retriever, and Tony is close to his family again, drug-free, of course. Ben and Jessica now run the wellness center, Carmel is a therapist helping women, and the Marconis are happy again. Yao and Delilah end up working with the Peace Corps. In this vision, Masha drives away with her daughter, free, meaning that there was no incriminating evidence against her. While we can’t be sure how much of this is true, we can imagine that Masha was left free because she’s returning for a second season, bringing nine new strangers and trying something different with them. Will she get caught this time? Or will she succeed in scamming a bunch of rich people? We’ll find out in season 2. 

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