Imperfect Women Is, in Fact, Imperfect

Imperfect Women is constantly telling us how close the friendships are between three onetime college friends who are like family as adults. Eleanor (Kerry Washington), Mary (Elisabeth Moss), and Nancy (Kate Mara) mention this, repeatedly, among themselves and in voiceover narrations that attempt to explain their characters' feelings and actions. "It seems cheap to call it a friendship," Eleanor says of her relationship with the other two corners of this insular triangle. "It was like a kinship from deep in our souls."

This largely conventional murder mystery, based on the novel by Araminta Hall and created by Annie Weisman (Physical), immediately suggests that this kinship is not as deep and trusting as Eleanor would have us believe. We learn right away that Nancy has been killed, and that her generationally wealthy husband, Robert (Joel Kinnaman), is a prime suspect in that homicide. All three of these lifelong confidantes are keeping tons of secrets from each other, dirty little details that come out slowly over the course of the eight episodes in this limited series, which starts streaming March 18 on Apple TV. Imperfect Women is technically a whodunit, but, like so many shows within this genre, it's equally a "whydunit." Frequent flashbacks reveal new information about the characters that force us to reconsider our understanding of who these women (and, to a lesser extent, men) really are and how that might explain what happened to Nancy. If this approach reminds you of The Perfect Couple, or Apples Never Fall, or Big Little Lies, or various other TV offerings that focus on upper middle class people living in beautiful houses and trying to figure out why a homicide (or multiple homicides!) occurred, it should. It is very much in that same glossy-meets-gruesome vein.

Unfortunately, Imperfect Women doesn't distinguish itself, in style or substance, from the many, many other streaming entries that attempt to appeal to the Agatha Christie/wine mom demographic. There is no strong sense of atmosphere here like there was in the first season of Big Little Lies, nor does it possess the cheeky, satirical streak that ran through The Perfect Couple. It is, like too many Apple TV entries, deeply and aggressively adequate.

4.0

Imperfect Women

at Apple TV

Like

• Elisabeth Moss and Kerry Washington are excellent

Dislike

• The series is too conventional and lacks the style or substance to overcome that fact

The performances are the biggest selling point and, also, a bit of a misdirect. The caliber of the cast implies that Imperfect Women is a prestige drama when it's more like an elevated, multi-part Lifetime movie. Still, Washington and Moss manage to bring some real emotional depth and texture to their roles as women on the brink of unraveling. Whenever these two go at each other in a scene, particularly in the second half of the season, they raise each other's game and make us wish the rest of the series could be as compelling as those moments are.

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Imperfect Women is so committed to keeping the audience guessing that some figures come across as too enigmatic to qualify as human. Kinnaman's Robert is about as interesting as a blank sheet of letter-sized printer paper. It is baffling that Eleanor and Nancy both share an abiding attraction to this man, the equivalent of an answer left blank on a final exam in a meaningless pass-fail class. When it's not maintaining an air of mystery, Weisman's adaptation is pulling twists out of left, right, and center fields, whether they seem believable or not. This show really, really wants to surprise you but is ultimately too averse to risk-taking to actually do that.

There are multiple subtexts lurking below the basic text of Imperfect Women and screaming out for further exploration. Eleanor is the only Black woman in this friend group, and one who's carried a torch for a white man her whole life, something her brother (Leslie Odom Jr.) makes a point of noting. But race is never really reckoned with on this show. Weisman and her team dig a little more deeply into the economic disparities among these friends. Nancy comes from nothing and married into money, Mary and her family struggle financially, and Eleanor has never had to worry about cash flow a day in her life. Imperfect Women acknowledges the envy and resentment that exists because of these circumstantial differences. But it doesn't have anything meaningful to say about them.

Despite all the deceptions, arguments, and accusations that swirl within this group of dysfunctionally entangled Californians, Imperfect Women wants us to believe that these friendships are meaningful and deep even when it's just spent multiple hours showing us that they're not. Instead of pushing boundaries or raising questions about whether relationships formed at a young age are sustainable, it falls back on platitudes. "Staying available to love is worth the risk," Eleanor says in yet another voiceover late in the season. On a series with such gifted actresses and the apparent desire to authentically explore the dynamics between women, it's disappointing to wind up with observations that aren't even worthy of a Hallmark card.

Premieres: Wednesday, March 18 on Apple TV with two episodes, followed by a new episode each Wednesday
Who's in it: Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington, Kate Mara, Joel Kinnaman, Corey Stoll
Who's behind it: Annie Weisman (creator)
For fans of: The Perfect Couple, wine mom murder mysteries
How many episodes we watched: 8 of 8