Summary
Imperfect Women is built around a painfully obvious development in “Crush”, but it also arms us with more important context.
Episode 2 of Imperfect Women is built around the most obvious “twist” in the history of television, but if we’re being charitable, I’d suggest that the whole thing isn’t intended as a twist as much as a grim inevitability. What seems likeliest right now is that poor Nancy was murdered because of something to do with Eleanor and Robert, but a part of me thinks that might just be a red herring. Sure, what Eleanor and Robert are doing while Nancy’s body is still warm is pretty uncouth, but a motive for murder? After so long? I’m not so sure.
Things are moving in this direction right from the opening scene, which picks up from where we left off, with Robert and Eleanor attending the ballet together. There’s noticeable tension between them. Eleanor’s voiceover provides backstory. She met Robert first and introduced him to Nancy. The implications are pretty clear. They had a connection, but for various reasons – at least one of which comes up later – he ended up with Nancy. But the connection never went away.
Eleanor seems used to getting what she wants, at least as far as men are concerned. You can see it in how she manipulates Jordan, who seems pretty well-meaning, but worryingly points out that there’s a gap of four hours between her text to him on the night Nancy died, and the moment she actually showed up at his place. Despite Eleanor repeatedly trying to keep Jordan at arm’s length, she’s very quick to bed him when it turns out he might contradict her alibi. And it’s pretty obvious what we’re supposed to think about that.
Mary isn’t dealing with Nancy’s death especially well, either. She has essentially turned into an obsessive amateur gumshoe, fixating on Davide’s police report and insisting that the authorities have got the wrong man. Eleanor is inclined to agree, but that doesn’t mean Mary isn’t getting carried away. I’m a little hazy about where Mary stands in the hierarchy, class-wise. Robert comes from a very wealthy family, and so does Eleanor; there’s even a bit where Detective Gantz makes a point of mentioning how rich she is. But Nancy came from nothing, nursing physical and emotional scars from an abusive dad and alcoholic mother. Where Mary fits in the upstairs/downstairs dynamic is anyone’s guess.
Part of the point of Imperfect Women Episode 2 is that having all the money in the world doesn’t prohibit you from making terrible decisions and spiralling out of control. To help make this point, it introduces Eleanor’s brother, Donovan, who is the guy who has been following her around and snapping pictures of her cavorting with Robert. Donovan is very fixated on the idea of Robert being one of these potential bad decisions, and I’m assuming for reasons beyond it simply being disrespectful to Nancy for her to be carrying on with him. It later transpires that way back in the day, Donovan had warned Robert away from Eleanor romantically. For some reason, even 25 years on, she’s fuming about this. Apparently, it was to protect Eleanor from Robert’s shady family.
Anyway, “Crush” also clarifies – or at least very strongly implies – that Davide isn’t guilty of anything. The police release him, and after releasing Mary, who was arrested for harassing the police about not following her own leads, she and Eleanor go to visit the artist in person. According to him, he barely knew Nancy. She reached out to him after discovering some of his artwork at an event. The photo of the two of them together – which Robert was sent earlier – he doesn’t even remember being taken. But he got a few vibes from Nancy all the same. The man she was with at the event – a “white man” is the best he can do, description-wise, so it may or may not have been Robert – didn’t seem to be having a good time, and Nancy also seemed to be spiralling mentally. Davide really sets the cat amongst the pigeons by asking Eleanor and Mary how they couldn’t see how much she was struggling when, to him, a complete stranger, it was blatantly obvious.
Eleanor uses her apparent guilt over this to… seduce Robert. Not that the traffic is one-way in this regard, since Robert also pretends to feel bad… before he jumps on Eleanor and sleeps with her on the couch. As I said at the top, this is the least surprising thing that has ever happened in a TV show. But we’re armed with a bit more context now. Donovan’s assertions about Robert’s family being potentially dangerous are clearly correct, since they hired a PR firm to lean on the police and leak the photo of Nancy and Davide. Davide’s innocence wasn’t of any concern, so they’re clearly not bothered about anything other than their own agenda. That doesn’t bode well for Robert, either, especially since the end of the episode reveals that he already knew Nancy was having an affair, despite having claimed to Eleanor that he didn’t. Why would he lie about that? Unless he has something to hide, obviously…
