Nine Perfect Strangers: Is Helena Dead? Was Masha Hallucinating Her?

Hulu’s ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ begins with the promise of healing for a group of people who are dealing with different traumas that have dictated their lives. When they enter the retreat, it is with the thought of finally finding some closure or a way to move forward through the cutting-edge methods used by Masha Dmitrichenko, even though they don’t fully understand how her methods are supposed to work. What throws a wrench in this journey is the fact that Masha herself seems to be dealing with a lot of trauma, and by the end of the sixth episode, it turns out that her situation is much worse than previously imagined. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Masha’s Mentor, Helen, Had Been Dead All This Time

At the end of Episode 6, after a chaotic day, Masha has a chat with Helen, who tells her that perhaps she has taken things too far, and it would be wise to take a pause now rather than go forward with the grand finale that Masha has planned for the guests. Her mentor’s words don’t faze her as she counters that this is the time to go ahead full steam, and then, the camera pans to the glass behind Helen’s chair, which does not show her reflection, revealing that Masha has been talking to a hallucination. What makes things worse is that this isn’t the only conversation that Masha has been having in her head with Helen. Since the arrival of the guests, every time we have seen Masha and Helen interact, it has been a hallucination because Helen died back in 2022.

In a previous episode, a flashback revealed that Helen was sick before she sent Martin to find Masha and ask her to come back and run the retreat. At the time, it seemed that Helen is still ill but alive, and it is her desire to secure Zauberwald’s future and perhaps a way to find a cure for herself that led her to send for Masha. This means that she was still alive when Masha returned, but her health worsened pretty fast, and she passed away, leaving everything to Masha and Martin, hoping that they would work together to get Zauberwald to its previous glory. This also explains why she never formally introduced herself to the guests, and despite her being the owner of the place, she never really interacted with anyone, even Martin, unless it was in flashbacks.

Masha’s Hallucination of Helen Points Towards a Deeper Problem for Her

While the revelation about Helen’s death is shocking, the fact that Masha has been hallucinating is not a surprise. The show set up this point at the beginning of the season, or rather in the first season itself, when Masha started seeing her dead daughter, Tatiana. When we meet Masha in Season 2, she is on the stage, discussing a new drug and technique she is working on to help people deal with their trauma by helping them see their loved ones again, which is also what she tried to do with the Marconi family last season. While the Marconis may have healed through that experience, Masha is still stuck, seeing her daughter, whose presence has become more of a haunting over time.

This proves that not only has Masha not dealt with her own trauma, but she is also getting worse, now that she has another ghost haunting her. We know that after Tatiana’s death, Masha found reprieve under Helen’s care in Zauberwald, where she learnt everything about the psychoactive drugs that she later used on her guests in Tranquillum House. Because Helen helped her find a purpose, she holds her mentor and friend in high esteem, and it is because of her that she agrees to return to Zauberwald after all these years, while also being motivated by the fact that the American authorities are onto her.

What she thought would be a happy reunion soon turned into cause for another grief when Helen succumbed to her illness and passed away, leaving Masha to continue her work, with Martin by her side. Helen’s death makes Masha feel untethered once again, as she doesn’t have a trusted person to fall back on. Her already fractured state of mind looks for stability and comfort, and because she is already prone to hallucinations, most likely brought on by her continued use of drugs, it turns towards Helen and brings out a construct of her to give a voice to Masha’s conscience.

Whenever she is plagued with doubts about her plans for the guests, especially David, and whenever she needs to talk out her feelings about how reuniting with her dead daughter’s father is affecting her, her mind brings out Helen to help her through it. This doesn’t mean that she is not aware of Helen’s death. Masha knows that the Helen she sees is a mere figment of her imagination, much like Tatiana, yet still, it is the only thing that keeps her tethered to reality, which is why she is desperate to keep Helen around, even if that means talking to her ghost.