‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Ep. 7 ‘Wheels on the Bus’ Review: ‘The Wheels Go Falling Off’

Trauma can result in people forming relationships. Sometimes, trauma bonding leads to falling in love with your abuser. Thankfully, there are no signs of that in Nine Perfect Strangers. Although, these are all people that have had traumatic experiences amongst themselves and seem to be bonding through that. This latest episode is a very chaotic one. As they are all on this bus with Masha (Nicole Kidman), the wheels seem to be falling off as Jessica (Samara Weaving) points out throughout the episode.

We see Masha have her usual flashbacks at the beginning of the episode. She’s with her daughter Tatiana (Alyla Browne) walking in the snow and it ends in tragedy. Masha then gets attacked by Carmel (Regina Hall). If you remember last week it was revealed Masha slept with her husband and began the downward spiral of her marriage. This leads Masha and Yao (Manny Jacinto) to isolate Carmel from the other guests. Meanwhile, everybody else is still trying to handle their situations.

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Frances (Melissa McCarthy) and Tony (Bobby Cannavale) try to understand their situation better. Tony keeps expressing his love, and Frances has no clue if he really loves her. She’s dealing with hallucinations from her childhood. After talking to Masha, she expresses the truth to Tony, and things don’t go well. Jessica and Ben (Melvin Gregg) are probably the only people that are experiencing anything good at Tranquillum. Lars (Luke Evans) is trying to make sure he captures everything, especially the Marconis – Napoleon (Michael Shannon), Heather (Asher Keddie), and Zoe (Grace Van Patten).

The Marconis are scheduled to take a trip on Acid and DMT in order to bond and be reunited with Zach. Zoe has her reservations, but her parents and Lars are all on board (maybe). As the day goes on and chaos ensues on the property, things may or may not get crazier than originally planned. Delilah (Tiffany Boone), who we now know is bipolar, either has an episode or has had enough absolutely does something unexpected. Glory (Zoe Terakes) tries to help Masha and Yao as much as she can since Delilah loses it. This episode is pretty intense and leaves you with one of the craziest reveals ever.

Jonathan Levine is the director of this episode of Nine Perfect Strangers. David E. Kelley lends his pen again for the script. This is a very intense episode and Levine gets some incredible work from his cast. Hall is a standout, she completely takes over for this episode along with Kidman. They’re a duo that honestly is a great casting match. Boone delivers in an unimaginable way, and you don’t know who’s side to be on. Yves Berlanger contributes with some great cinematography, yet again. Marco Beltrami and Miles Hankins have almost completely left the spa-like score for something more dramatic, and it fits perfectly.

This episode was about things turning for the worst. The episode title fits perfectly with the concept of the episode. The wheels are falling off, Masha is losing control, and there’s almost nothing she can do about it. The cliffhanger for this episode is incredible, and the pacing at which we go to get there makes it even better. This is the pinnacle of this show. It misses a beat or two, but for the most part, it is very methodical in how it works through several plot points to get us ready for the season finale. – Rascal F. Kennedy

Rating: 9/10

Nine Perfect Strangers premieres every Wednesday on Hulu!