‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Season 2 Cast Reacts to Their Characters’ Finale Endings

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Nine Perfect Strangers‘ Season 2 finale, “Batsh*t.”]

Masha (Nicole Kidman) promised that the “grand finale” of her Zauberwald retreat experience would be a painful one for David Sharpe (Mark Strong), and she certainly delivers on that pledge… even if he isn’t the only one who suffered in the process.

The Season 2 finale of Nine Perfect Strangers sees the eccentric host bring all of the guests together to confront their shared detractor in the ballroom. She then walks through exactly how he has wronged each of the patrons — with some reacting more aggressively than others — and gives him a chance to atone for his wrongs at long last.

So how does the story end for each of the retreaters? And how did the cast feel about their characters’ fates?

Brian decided to move on to a new entertainment adventure

David was partly to blame for Brian’s (Murray Bartlett) depression because he pushed for his TV network to do wall-to-wall coverage of his on-set meltdown, ruining his reputation as a children’s program host. To help himself, Brian finally says goodbye to his puppet Jesse (who talked to Brian in his daily delusions) and leaves it at the retreat.

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“I think Brian, in my own imagined backstory for him, had a terrible childhood and has just thrown himself into this sort of world of children’s television to try and, with this sort of deep care for young people, offer them something that he never got,” Murray Bartlett told TV Insider of his character’s journey in Season 2. “In doing that, he kind of isolates himself, and that’s where he gets his connection. That’s where all his kind of passion goes, and in my mind, he just hasn’t really found a way to connect to adults and to other people. And so during the course of the show, he does that, he finds connection, he finds friendship. He realizes that he’s got this sort of part of himself that is just berating him, but he’s also kind of his best friend, and so, I think he kind of manages to kind of step into the world and find what it’s like to have connection, so hopefully he continues on that path.”

Agnes also took up a new cause

Though her faith is forever shaken, Agnes (Dolly de Leon) realizes that she wasn’t able to save certain patients due to the strictures of convent practice, not her own mistakes. In the end, she decides to return to service helping others once again and invites Brian to join her in the noble pursuit, too, entertaining children in schools, hospitals, and refugee centers.

“Agnes also went through her entire life having a relationship with God. And she thought that that was her end all, be all. And when that ended, she felt incomplete, and hopefully, at the end of it, and I think it happens … she finds peace and tranquility and happiness just by herself and by her own agency,” Dolly de Leon said of her character’s ending.

Disney / Reiner Bajo

Wolfie decided to call it quits with Tina

After six years of Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) feeling like a tag-along in her relationship with the child prodigy pianist Tina (King Princess), Masha reveals the opposite was true at Zauberwald; it was actually Tina who is the plus-one for Wolfie.

“She’s lived in Tina’s shadow for the last six years, and she’s kind of okay with that because Tina is a genius, and she’s investing herself in getting this genius as far and wide as possible. But it means that she’s always put herself second best. She doesn’t have this sort of sense of entitlement, or any sense of identity outside of Tina. So to finally be seen and realize this whole thing was actually she’s the reason they’re there, it kind of broke open something within her and ripped off some of the layers, and I don’t think she could unsee that now. So it’s a chance for her to look in the mirror for the first time,” Maisie Richardson-Sellers said of the impact of that revelation.

After she makes that discovery, she also makes a choice — she decides to leave ahead of Tina and call off their unhappy relationship. At first, Tina is distraught, but then she feels like she can play music again for the first time in who knows how long. Also, Masha encourages her to remember who she was when she was a little space-loving girl guesting on Brian’s TV show.

“We didn’t know up until, I think, we were shooting the penultimate episode… if they were gonna make it or not, and that was wonderful because that’s life,” the actress said. “During the flashbacks in Episode 4, I fell in love with them again, and I was hoping and rooting for them, and then when it’s so toxic and nasty, you think, ‘How can they ever get through this?’ But that’s a real relationship, and I hope people will identify with that. And I hope people will think that we made the right choice.”

King Princess said of her character’s perspective, “For Tina, I think the biggest thing is she has equated her self-worth her entire life with her abilities… Music is a metaphor for the relationship. It’s like, she can’t hear the music, she can’t really feel the love either. She’s lost sight of herself completely and doesn’t really know what she likes anymore. So what I hope for her is that she finds some hobbies… And I think that she does get to a place where she thought she was gonna get nothing out of this, and she got something, and I think that was enough for her. I don’t think it’s a full healing, but I think it’s like she’s actually at the beginning now, which is cool.”

Victoria and Imogen made a deal

After Imogen (Annie Murphy) learned that her father died by suicide and that her mother was dying of ALS complications — with her lover Matteo (Aras Aydin) actually her caretaker — she vowed to strengthen her relationship with Victoria (Christine Baranski). Imogen also made a deal with Peter (Henry Golding) to visit each other in their respective New York and London homes, but will they stick to the deal?

“I don’t know about Peter and Imogen, but I do know about Imogen and Victoria. I really do think that that is kind of the happy ending to their story,” Annie Murphy said. “I think that the therapy — whether it was the therapy or something else, they got through what they needed to get through. And I do think that the time that they haven’t spent will be made up for going forward.”

Christine Baranski agreed, saying, “Yeah, I love our final walk down the hall together… It’s just that they’re really two women who are very similar. It seems like they’re so far apart when it starts, but they kind of really dig each other, and our senses of humor are similar. And so I think they’re going to have whatever time left Victoria has, I think it’s going to be happy, and I think it’s going to be a happy trio, too, when we drive off in that car together.”

Disney / Reiner Bajo

David got his comeuppance… and gave some back, too

In the end, Peter finally gave up his lifelong pursuit of love from his emotionally unavailable father, and Masha also gave up trying to connect him with the ghost of their daughter. He lost more than that, though — he actually lost $1 billion on the deal after Masha published footage of him in a mushroom haze promising to cancel his company’s most malign investments, like weapons-making. By blasting that footage on national television everywhere, Masha forced his hand, and in the epilogue, he revealed he was not happy about it.

He got his revenge by paying off Martin (Lucas Englander), who was apparently still sour with Masha, for footage of illegal activities occurring under her watch, forcing her into a contract to oversee psychedelic experiments for his company in the future. She was undeterred by the betrayal, though, and sealed their deal with a kiss.

Nine Perfect Strangers, Streaming Now, Hulu