While one would think that the combination of Kerry Washington, Kate Mara, and Elizabeth Moss alone would be enough to sustain a pulpy murder-mystery, their newest Apple TV+ miniseries, “Imperfect Women,” is something of an odd artifact. Blending together almost every Nicole Kidman show from the past ten years into a soapy, sloppy, frothy mixture seems like a good idea on paper. You’ve got an in media res beginning, a dead body, fractured chronology, friends sleeping with other friends’ husbands, Elizabeth Moss playing crazy, and enough star power to convince you maybe that this eight-episode Annie Weisman-created show (from an Araminta Hall novel) isn’t as bad as it initially seems.
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Yet, despite some interesting shifts in point of view that dominate the middle episodes, “Imperfect Women” unfortunately feels like nothing more than expired leftovers. A bad mystery, wrapped in bad acting, all packaged with the prestige of an HBO series, it’s unfortunately one of the worst things that the three leads have been a part of, and one of the worst shows that Apple TV has released. This also comes from someone who remembers “Defending Jacob.”
The problems start almost immediately, as we are shown Washington’s Eleanor, Mara’s Nancy, and Moss’s Mary dancing together, when we quickly learn that the three are the type of best friends who describe each other as soulmates. Eleanor is the single girl-boss. Nancy is trapped in a stagnant marriage to an arrested alcoholic man-child (Joel Kinnaman), while Mary is balancing a pretentious academic husband (Corey Stall) and three kids. Despite their differences, we’re told in voice-over and grating, on-the-nose dialogue, that the three are besties. Why? Who knows, considering that the show spends the next eight hours deconstructing that idea. But we are just meant to buy it.
Because, immediately, we learn that Mara’s Nancy has been killed. By whom is left as a mystery until the back-half of the season, but if you’re wondering why semi-famous people are playing supporting characters, then it’s not exactly the mystery that the creator and stars probably hope it is. Instead, the murder is seemingly brought about when Nancy tries to end an extramarital affair with someone named David. Who is David, and how much did Eleanor and Nancy know, provides most of the narrative tension throughout.
Of course, Eleanor and Mary have secrets of their own related to Nancy, which are doled out in compact flashbacks. The season is essentially split into a tripartite structure, beginning with Eleanor, before moving to Nancy, and ending with Mary. If the Eleanor-centric episodes are the least interesting — perhaps because Washington is just playing a variation of her “Scandal” character and cannot do much with the mass amounts of expository dialogue — then Mara’s episodes are the most polished. An interloper in a rich family, with a beta husband who will never please his father (Keith Carradine), Mara milks her rich-wife malaise for all it’s worth.
Then, finally, comes Moss’s episodes, which might tie up the murder mystery, but also feel teleported in from another soap opera, as she balances her Adderall addiction, gambling-addicted son, douchey Classics professor husband, and the fact that she is TV show poor (meaning she lives in a beautiful house with seemingly no money problems except for the fact that all her friends like to remind her that she’s poor).
The only person having fun is Leslie Odom Jr., who plays Eleanor’s brother, Donovan. Teleported in from a different, and better, show, his laissez-faire attitude grates against the overly-serious melancholy that descends on everyone else. It’s a shame he’s only in three episodes. I either wish that “Imperfect Women” were better, or I am interested in the idea of class-based differences between long-time friends. Or even worse: a trashy murder-mystery about friends casually destroying each other with the nuance of a Bravo show. Instead, it’s neither a reheat of better mysteries, better character studies, and much better plotting.
Throughout the eight-episode slog, I couldn’t help but think about Elizabeth Moss’s other Apple TV+ show, “Shining Girls.” A bonkers sci-fi serial killer show co-starring a pre-Oscar nominee, Wagner Moura, it was the type of weird that Apple TV+ was willing to greenlight a few years ago. Did anyone watch it? Nope. Was it a great show? Also, not really. But it was a fascinating, wacky, engrossing swing from a star that has never really been afraid to be in weird stuff. Four years later, I still remember it. “Imperfect Women” will soon be forgotten; a B-level variation of “Big Little Lies.” Here’s hoping that Apple TV+ and Elizabeth Moss return to their niche sometime soon. In the meantime, watch “Shining Girls” instead. [D+]
