In the beginning of Episode 5 of Imperfect Women, Nancy thinks about her past. She remembers starting ballet when she was nine and quickly becoming obsessed with it. She was able to be disciplined because she had a high tolerance for pain, which had been a part of her life for a long time. She learned how to use that pain in her performance, keeping a calm and graceful exterior even though she was having a hard time inside.
Nancy’s home life is tense two months before she dies. Robert is distant and clearly stressed out at work. He has a lot of late meetings that keep them from spending time together. Nancy gets more and more angry, especially because she thinks he doesn’t care about her work as a creative consultant. His heavy drinking makes things even worse.
Nancy tells Mary all about her problems and gets them off her chest. Mary tries to calm Nancy down, but she is still too worried about her own problems. Later, she goes out with Howard, whom she calls a “underemployed husband” in a dismissive way.
They go to La Metro Ballet, where Nancy is working on a show called Ariadne. Howard writes program notes to make the piece more historically accurate, but when he tries to share his thoughts, Phil, the director, cuts him off. Even so, Nancy is sure that her marriage is falling apart. Ellie tells her to follow her gut and think that Robert isn’t going to leave.
Nancy also tells Davide that she is hiring someone to make an anniversary gift for Robert. During this time, she blocks Scott because he keeps trying to get in touch with her. At the same time, her relationship with Howard grows stronger. At first, she didn’t like him, but over time she comes to appreciate his kindness and value what he has to say.
Nancy and Howard spend more time together in the four weeks before she dies. They even take a half day off to watch a movie. Howard openly praises her work at the ballet, implying that it is more important than Robert’s successes. Howard hears the awkward conversation between Scott and Nancy when Scott tries to get in touch with her again. They agree to keep it to themselves.
There is tension at a dinner that Mary hosts. Marcus has a court date coming up, and Robert offers to help by recommending a criminal defense lawyer who could work for free. Howard says no because he doesn’t want to depend on other people. Howard steps in to comfort Nancy when Robert ignores her request to respect their boundaries.
Later, at the ballet, Nancy tells Howard about her past, including a car accident and her relationship with Scott. She says that she likes the thrill of keeping things secret. This confession marks a turning point, as the two kiss and then start having an affair.
Nancy’s actions are getting more and more strange. She tells Ellie about the “mystery man” and then confronts Robert before he leaves for a week-long business trip. He kisses her and tells her he loves her when she asks if he plans to divorce her. Once he leaves, Nancy calls Howard to make their relationship stronger.
At a party, she continues to go downhill. She flirts openly and acts carelessly, even climbing onto Davide’s lap. Robert reminds her of a family dinner that is already planned when he gets back, which puts off any confrontation.
The source of Robert’s stress comes out at the dinner. The SEC was looking into his company, and they narrowly avoided disaster because of strategic intervention. Robert, on the other hand, had made a risky investment choice by convincing his father to put a large part of their money into a failing business. Robert used his own trust funds to pay back investors in order to fix the problem.
Robert breaks down at home, admitting his mistakes and his fear that Nancy will leave him when the money runs out. He says that the idea of divorce was really meant to protect her money by getting money that his father couldn’t get. Nancy says she only wants him, and Robert says he’s sorry for everything, even his drinking.
Howard confronts Nancy on the first night of the ballet and threatens to tell everyone about their affair. Robert looks at her phone before she can tell him the truth and sees messages and pictures that back up what he thinks. He is so angry that he breaks things in anger. Nancy runs away, and Mary follows closely behind.
Review of the Episode
This episode makes Nancy look worse and worse. Her actions make it hard for people to feel sorry for her instead of helping her. Robert is not perfect and should have talked to his family better, but he is clearly under a lot of stress and is really trying to keep them safe.
Nancy, on the other hand, not only has an affair but also with her best friend’s husband, which makes the betrayal even worse. It’s hard to feel sorry for her because she doesn’t take responsibility for her actions and is careless.
Howard doesn’t do any better, which makes the list of characters we like even shorter. At this point, only Robert and Davide seem like people we can relate to.
The episode also brings up some story problems, especially when it comes to Ellie knowing about the commissioned painting and how she acted during the investigation. Overall, the writing still doesn’t feel right, and the series doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
