When Hulu decided to take the New York Times best-selling book “Nine Perfect Strangers,” written by Liane Moriarty and make it a television show, they had no idea how fans would react. They were hopeful the reaction would be a good one, but it’s been mixed at best. It stars the likes of Nicole Kidman and Mellissa McCarthy just to name a few, but fans are wondering exactly what is going on here. What is this all about? What is the point? And, more importantly, is this place that the show filmed a real place? Let’s get to it.
The Premise
The entire premise of this new show-made-from-a-book is that nine strangers – as in people who have never met one another in their entire lives – show up together at a retreat. The idea is that it’s a spa and wellness retreat. They are there to relax, to unwind, to find some inner peace. It all sounds great, right? These nine people sign up to go to Tranquillum, a wellness spa and retreat, and they hope that while they are there they might meet some new people, they might make some new friends, they might find some peace, and they might relax a bit. However, Nicole Kidman has other ideas. Her beautiful spa and wellness retreat might look good from the outside, but her character, Masha, is a hot mess who is looking to manipulate her guests and her employees, and she’s not all that…sane, if we can pick a word we think applies. Her character does all the horrible things. She’s manipulative, she’s unlikable, and she’s just not a nice person. While people are at the spa getting their lives together, she’s there being sneaky, underhanded, and as shady as they come. She treats her guests and employees with the same manipulation tactics, and people are a little confused about this.
Is this Place Real?
So, let’s get to it. While Nicole Kidman’s character is hand-selecting people to come to her spa – a feat that makes them all feel so special – her fans are wondering if the spa is a real place. Well, it is a real place in terms of the fact that the production crew actually uses a real place to film. The place they filmed the series is a real wellness retreat. The cast and crew spent their time in Soman, which is in Byron Bay, which is in New South Wales. They filmed there while they were working on the show. That answers your first question – yes; the show was filmed at a real wellness retreat.
Is the Show Based on a True Story?
In short, no; the show is not based on a real spa. Things that are used at the wellness retreat and the spa are absolutely based on real treatments and things that go on in various wellness retreats around the world, but the show is absolutely fictional and not based on the events, stories, or experiences the author or anyone else had at a wellness spa and retreat. As you continue to watch the show or you realize quickly that it’s not a place you want to be, you can keep in mind that this is a fictional story that has nothing to do with anything that happened in the real world. The author of this book just had a good idea, it works, and now it’s on television.
Do Fans Like it?
That remains to be seen at the moment. There are some critics who are wildly disappointed in the show after seeing how much magic Nicole Kidman worked on her other recent shows (Big Little Lies, anyone?) and they might have expected a bit more from this one. Of course, this is not the same show, it’s not the same premise, and it is meant to be out there and not that realistic. She’s not the same character she was before in her other shows, but she is a phenomenal actress. While we have not seen any of the work she has done on this show yet, we can assure you that she is good at what she does. She has a cast of people working alongside her on this show who are also so good at what they do. The show might not be what people expected when they were tuning in, but she is not someone who does anything without the professionalism and complete talent. We say give it a try. Get lost in this fictional show and see where it takes you.
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