The mystery surrounding David and Masha’s one night stand — and who killed their daughter — came to light in the latest Nine Perfect Strangers episode.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 2, episode 5 of Nine Perfect Strangers.
During the Wednesday, June 11, episode of the Hulu series, Masha (Nicole Kidman) transports David (Mark Strong) back to their first meeting in Prague in 2001 using her experimental psychedelic tool.
As David’s trip unfolds, viewers learn that they crossed paths while he was doing a segment on a local news station where Masha (then called Mila) was working. After she calls him out for his work being all about profit, David is hooked and asks her out.
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Masha agrees, but decides to take him to a seedy bar where they do shots to knock him off his game. They eventually go back to his hotel and have a one-night stand, which David reveals has never been far from his mind.
David is in awe of the drug’s power and agrees to let Masha take him to a second location, where he learns he is the father of her late daughter, Tatiana (Emílie Páclová). While still under the influence, David asks if he can meet Tatiana, which is when Masha reveals how her little girl died.
Masha claims she went to see David when he was in Prague again years later, but he looked right through her. David insists he never saw her, but Masha says the brush off led her down a dark path as she set out to investigate who David was with that fateful day — a Russian military contractor involved in weapon production — in hopes of bringing the man down and staying close to David.
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Through the psychedelic trip, Masha shows David that she did discover the Russian man’s identity and his illegal doings, which made her a target. After being followed by the shady man, Masha and Tatiana went on the run and despite reaching out to David for help, she was alone.
David claims he never got Masha’s letters or threats and tells her he cut ties with the man she was investigating after realizing what he was into. For Masha, however, it was too little too late, because the corrupt Russian caught up with her and was responsible for the car that hit and killed Tatiana when she was a child.
“I’m so sorry,” David tells Masha, revealing he can feel her pain through the drug-induced trip. “I failed her, not you,” he says, which prompts Masha to forgive him — much to his surprise.
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After David comes out of the trip without any real side effects, he and Masha hook up. Their night of bliss — and shared journey to the past — however, doesn’t go unnoticed. Martin (Lucas Englander) is listening to the whole thing from a hidden device in the room and he doesn’t appear to be happy with Masha’s tactics.
Masha, meanwhile, seems to be getting exactly what she wants — David knows the truth, her daughter’s story has been told and David wants to invest in the Austrian retreat, which is facing money problems.
Nine Perfect Strangers airs on Hulu Wednesdays.
