The wig is better. Everything else is worse. The second series of Nine Perfect Strangers – which was so clearly set up by the open-ended finale of the original, starring Nicole Kidman in a blond hairpiece that would disgrace a four-year-old’s Frozen birthday party – is here.
Mad/bad/traumatised wellness guru/cult leader/visionary genius Masha (Kidman) was last seen driving to freedom after experimenting on the stupid, affluent guests at her California health retreat for the stupid and affluent. Tranquillum House was the name, microdosing subjects with psychotics and without consent so they hallucinated dead children and fires was the game. Plus, constant surveillance by hidden cameras feeding private information back to Masha at all times. Let me stop you there and say – well, yes, quite. But Melissa McCarthy as Frances, an ebullient novelist with writer’s block, and Bobby Cannavale as Tony, a former football player, now drug addict who bonds with her, just about kept things afloat.
