Drama
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen
‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’ is perhaps the best description for the content of the show that I can think of.
Good things come in threes, as the saying goes. No one knows that better than Eleanor, Mary and Nancy.
On the surface, these three couldn’t be more different. Eleanor runs a successful nonprofit and is perfectly content bouncing from one romantic fling to another. Mary is a stay-at-home mom raising two young daughters and troubled teen son. And Nancy, a gorgeous socialite with a wealthy husband, is the envy of every woman in town.
But while they seem worlds apart, in reality, these women couldn’t be closer. Since meeting in college 30 years ago, they’ve become virtually inseparable. There’s not a single secret between them.
At least, that’s what they thought. Then, out of nowhere, Nancy is found dead. And suddenly, nothing is certain at all.
The death of their best friend sends Eleanor and Mary reeling—and not just because it’s obvious that she was murdered. The more details come to light, the clearer it becomes that they didn’t know Nancy quite as well as they thought. Was she really having an affair with a local artist? Was her relationship with her husband quite as picture-perfect as she let on? What did she tell Eleanor that she hid from Mary—and what did she tell Mary that she hid from Eleanor?
As fascination with Nancy’s murder spreads like wildfire, Eleanor and Mary must confront the skeletons that they thought were locked away for good. And as it turns out, Nancy may have had more skeletons in her own closet than both of them combined.
For all of its failings, Imperfect Women is, admittedly, very honest. The titular women are definitely imperfect.
Of course, none of us lead flawless lives, but the problem with Eleanor, Mary and Nancy is their inability to recognize those flaws. When Nancy confides in Eleanor about her infidelity, Eleanor advises her to ask her husband for an open marriage. Eleanor is hardly monogamous herself; she flits from casual relationship to casual relationship (her current paramour is a subordinate at work), and she doesn’t mind if they happen to overlap.
Imperfect Women may not be as explicit as you might expect: Sexual content is heavily implied, but mostly happens offscreen. However, that certainly doesn’t make it clean. Extramarital affairs and casual sexuality are cornerstones of this thriller series. Foul language is also a constant problem. And Nancy’s husband, who has a history of alcoholism, creates a looming threat of domestic violence. And based on previews of future episodes, it’s possible things could get more explicit down the line.
Between the deception, backstabbing and romantic drama, Imperfect Women often feels more like a soap opera than a murder mystery. It’s certainly just as vapid as a soap opera. While Eleanor and Mary may be consumed with the question of who killed their friend, the only question the viewer is left with—and that the show struggles to answer—is why we should care at all.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When their best friend Nancy is suddenly killed, Eleanor and Mary deal with the shock of her death while realizing that they may not have known Nancy as well as they thought.
Nancy’s extramarital affair and Eleanor’s sexual relationship with a coworker are both key points in the episode. In a flashback, Eleanor encourages Nancy to either end her affair or ask her husband for an open marriage. Eleanor herself prefers to sleep around (she calls them “connections”) rather than settle down. We see her wake up next to a coworker, but no nudity is shown. Nancy has a painting of a nude woman on her wall, though intimate anatomy is strategically covered.
While being questioned by the police, Eleanor asks if Nancy was raped; the police decline to answer. Eleanor and Mary discuss Robert’s history with alcoholism and his increased temper when he drinks.
Mary tells her friends that she was offered cocaine in a restaurant bathroom but declined. She later smokes a cigarette and hides it from her husband. The friends drink champagne at dinner. Eleanor offers Nancy’s husband, Robert, a drink, but then she learns that he’s now sober.
The f-word is used nine times, while the s-word is used five. God’s name is taken in vain thirteen times. “H—” and “a– “ are each used once.
Lauren Cook is serving as a 2021 summer intern for the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family. She is studying film and screenwriting at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. You can get her talking for hours about anything from Star Wars to her family to how Inception was the best movie of the 2010s. But more than anything, she’s passionate about showing how every form of art in some way reflects the Gospel. Coffee is a close second.
‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’ is perhaps the best description for the content of the show that I can think of.
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