'Nine Perfect Strangers' director says they planted a line in episode 2 to hint at Carmel's big reveal

• An early detail in "Nine Perfect Strangers" hints at Carmel's big twist, the director told Insider.
• In episode two, Carmel mentions that she worked on Broadway doing "wardrobe, hair, makeup, props."
• Thanks to her stage-costuming skills, she can disguise herself as the one-eyed man in the garage.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Nine Perfect Strangers."

While guests at the boutique luxury retreat Tranquillum House wade through the forest in episode two of Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers," Carmel Schneider (Regina Hall) strikes up a conversation with those around her.

"I used to work on Broadway so I've met stars, real stars. I met Alan Cumming," Carmel tells fellow retreat-goers Ben Chandler (Melvin Gregg) and Jessica Chandler (Samara Weaving). She continues, "I did wardrobe, hair, makeup, props. I kind of actually - I did it all."

The moment seems inconsequential, one of the many minor contextual details about the nine Tranquillum House guests interspersed throughout the show's early episodes.

But Jonathan Levine, the director of all eight episodes of the Hulu limited series, recently told Insider that creator David E. Kelley purposely inserted the line of dialogue to hint at Carmel's underlying secret: Long before she checked into the retreat, she disguised herself as a one-eyed man and shot Masha, the Tranquillum House guru played by Nicole Kidman, as revenge for having an affair with her husband.

"He plants it really nicely in episode two, when he talks about how she did makeup on Broadway and did makeup for Alan Cumming," Levine said. "That was the long reveal of that."

Because of Carmel's professional expertise in stage costuming, she's able to render herself unrecognizable to commit the crime, deflecting any suspicion from herself.

"The idea was that if the shooter only had one eye and it was a man, that's who everyone would be looking for," Levine said. "It's certainly a very specific way to shoot someone. There's something very soapy and fun about it for me."

He added: "As much as Carmel's MO is unorthodox, it was a clever way to do it for her."

In order to keep Hall's face concealed while she's incognito, Levine was adamant about color-correcting the flashback scenes between Carmel and Masha during editing.

"I didn't want people to be looking for something," he said, explaining that he toyed around with the contrast to make the scenes "a little bit darker, a little bit lighter" until he landed on the perfect composition.

"Figuring out how to parse out those flashbacks and how to make it so it was not something you would be looking for, but it still didn't feel like a total cheat when you reveal it at the end was complicated."