This article contains spoilers for Imperfect Women Episode 5
Imperfect Women Episode Five arrives on Apple TV on April 8 with “Louise”, an instalment that continues its focus on Nancy (Kate Mara). Last week’s episode marked a shift from the series circling her from a distance to moving inward, delving into the past and the façade she works so hard to maintain. Episode Four revealed that Mary’s (Elisabeth Moss) husband, Howard (Corey Stoll), could be linked to David, the man Eleanor (Kerry Washington) told police Nancy was having an affair with and was ending it with the night she was murdered.
Episode Five moves between the weeks leading up to her death, tightening its focus on the choices that begin to fracture her already fragile sense of control. Nancy’s relationship with dance remains a key focus. Introduced as a childhood obsession, it becomes a lens through which the episode understands her relationship with pain. She learned early on to push through discomfort in pursuit of something controlled. That discipline carries into her adult life, though here it manifests less as strength and more as a pattern she cannot break.
Two months before her death, that pattern begins to falter. Her marriage to Robert (Joel Kinnaman) has grown increasingly strained. He drinks heavily, deflects her attempts at meaningful conversation, and offers vague reassurances when she requests an hour to sit with a therapist to confront what is happening between them. The effect on Nancy remains the same, and she feels increasingly isolated in a marriage that once defined her sense of escape. While not morally right, it is no wonder she seeks connection elsewhere.
Her professional life offers little reassurance. As a board member and creative consultant for the Metro Ballet’s production of Ariadne, Nancy occupies a role that should carry influence. Instead, her ideas are sidelined or, as her lookbook, thrown into the trash without prior discussion. It reinforces a recurring theme within the series: Nancy is valued for what she brings financially, but not necessarily for who she is or what she contributes. Mara portrays Nancy’s isolation profoundly, capturing a woman lost and at a standstill.
It is within this context that her connection with Howard begins to shift. Nancy initially has not yet spent time alone with him and believes she has not missed much. Despite loving Mary, she is not in the headspace to babysit anyone’s underemployed husband. Howard, a classics scholar, assists the Ariadne production by writing program notes that provide the audience with essential historical context. However, they find common ground in unexpected places, discussing art, ambition, and the compromises both have made. Howard recognises Nancy’s achievements in a way others do not; she revels in his attention. Mara and Stoll certainly have the chemistry required for where Imperfect Women takes them.
The episode deepens Nancy’s internal conflict through her conversations with Eleanor. Nancy, worried about Robert’s wish to separate their assets, goes to Eleanor for advice. Eleanor tells Nancy that wealthy families divide assets for many reasons. She needs to talk to Robert about it.
Each empty bottle and every instance of Robert passed out on the sofa pulls her back into the patterns of her childhood, replaying a history she has never fully escaped. Part of her believes they will find a way through it; the louder instinct pushes her towards relinquishing control altogether. Eleanor encourages her to listen to the quieter voice, insisting Robert worships her and will not leave. The advice, though well-intentioned, reinforces how much of Eleanor’s values remain connected to him.
That tension carries into her interaction with Davide (Theo Bongani Ndyalvane). Nancy commissions a new piece for their anniversary, the very same piece Robert destroys after Nancy’s body is found. She claims to want something less safe, yet hesitates when confronted with what that entails. Davide’s focus on her scars reframes them as part of her story rather than something to conceal. Nancy resists his perspective. She lives with them daily and does not need them captured for posterity. For all her talk of risk, she still gravitates towards safety.
“Louise” explores this contradiction. Messages from her stepfather, Scott, begin to surface again, a connection she actively returns to despite knowing the damage it causes. There is a self-destructive impulse at play, a willingness to return to something that harmed her before. She blocks him, attempting to reassert control. When she resumes posing for Davide with her scars exposed, it suggests a continued oscillation between the person Nancy presents and the one she cannot fully suppress despite her efforts.
The narrative then shifts its timeline to four weeks before Nancy’s death. At Mary’s dinner, the fractures in Nancy’s life become harder to ignore as Robert drinks heavily. When the conversation turns to Marcus’s (Jackson Kelly) upcoming court date, he offers a solution through his friend Jay Michaels, a criminal defence attorney who owes him. Howard declines, unwilling to take up the offer. Nancy supports that decision, wanting Robert to respect their boundaries.
Robert questions whether Nancy realises how “stupid” she sounds, reducing her to her sensitivity while stripping her of any authority she attempts to assert. Nancy removes herself from the room, humiliated, though that plays in Howard’s favour.
When Mary later shares that the judge has agreed to place Marcus in an aversion programme, contingent on his commitment to Gamblers Anonymous and community service, Nancy remains visibly unsettled. Unable to join the conversation, she leaves, citing that she feels unwell, though the explanation convinces no one. Eleanor follows her.
Away from Mary, Nancy admits she has done something “so stupid”. She confesses she has slept with someone. She pleads with Eleanor not to tell Mary, insisting she would not understand. Even here, Nancy creates distance between her two selves. She claims it’s no one Eleanor knows – a lie – offering the name “David” as a placeholder rather than the truth. The moment encapsulates the episode’s central tension. Nancy seeks connection, yet instinctively retreats into concealment, maintaining the very façade that continues to unravel behind her.
Imperfect Women delivers an impressive fifth outing, amplifying the mess Nancy has found herself in. It leans into discomfort rather than resolution, allowing its characters to sit in the consequences of their choices without offering easy reprieve. As the series moves closer to the inevitability of Nancy’s fate, “Louise” ensures the emotional groundwork is firmly in place, making what lies ahead feel all the more inescapable.
