‘Imperfect Women’ Review: Kerry Washington’s Slapdash Murder-Mystery Isn’t Even Bad in a Fun Way

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The first quarter of 2026 TV has offered a number of excellent, earnest friendship stories, two of which — like “Imperfect Women” — are even nestled within murder-mysteries: “DTF St. Louis” sees Jason Bateman cuckolding his coworker played by David Harbour, but even a callous secret can’t tamp down their avid camaraderie. “How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” tracks a group of grown ex-schoolmates as they search for answers regarding the sudden death of their fourth musketeer.

“Imperfect Women,” the new Apple TV series starring Kerry Washington and Elisabeth Moss, aligns with the latter on paper: Eleanor (Washington), Mary (Moss), and Nancy (Kate Mara) have been friends since college and remain close now that they’re all forty-something adults living in Los Angeles. But when Nancy turns up dead, Eleanor and Mary need to know what happened, and to find out, they’ll have to reveal secrets they never knew — or never intended to share.

Sound familiar? It should, and I don’t just mean in comparison to “How to Get to Heaven.” Murder-mysteries are everywhere, as are murder-mysteries about rich folks who are forced to reassess their friends and families when disaster strikes. Blame “The White Lotus,” or “Only Murders in the Building,” or any number of successful spins on the genre that have emerged in the last half-decade or so.

“Imperfect Women” is the latest example, and showrunner Annie Weisman tries to distinguish her murder-mystery by leaning into her leading ladies and their complicated, heartfelt friendships. But one of the many reasons it doesn’t work is because the titular women aren’t friends.

Sure, they say they’re friends — “soulmates,” even. But their words and behavior say otherwise, and the disconnect severs any connection the audience could make to their protagonists’ shared plight. Then, just to flub any chance for enjoying some dumb fun with a skilled cast hamming it up, the sloppy story grinds the all-too-predictable, all-too-lame whodunit to a halt, as well.

“What we had was powerful and essential, and it was supposed to last forever. But that’s not what happened.” So intones Eleanor in the opening moments of “Imperfect Women,” right before the narrative jumps back in time to, uh, not support that assertion.

Was this a “powerful” friendship? Hardly. Eleanor, Mary, and Nancy lead separate lives that only collide on special occasions, like one of their birthdays or one of their deaths. The latter is alluded to before the former is shown (would it be a streaming-era murder-mystery without beginning in media res?), but let’s focus on one of the few times the three stars share a scene together: Mary’s birthday dinner.

A wife and mother of two, Mary is just excited to get out of the house, where her bald, boring husband, Howard (Corey Stoll), is watching the kids, while her older son definitely isn’t accruing more gambling debts (she hopes, anyway). Her trad-wife routine (complete with a closet full of kaftans) quickly stands in contrast to Eleanor, who enjoys her freedom so much she’s sleeping with one of her employees, and Nancy, who’s married to Robert (Joel Kinnaman), the son of a billionaire hedgefund founder.

Joel Kinnaman and Kate Mara in 'Imperfect Women'

Their continued connection despite their lives taking them in different directions post-college is meant to reinforce the idea that they’re super-duper dedicated to one another, but in the words of a great American scholar: “You sure about that?” At dinner, Nancy confesses to continuing an ill-advised affair she’s repeatedly promised to break off, and Eleanor comes down on her with a fury that goes well beyond concern for her buddy’s well-being. She’s angry, even aggrieved… but why?

Huh! She’s also not allowed to tell Mary about Nancy’s affair, because all “essential” friendships require people to keep secrets from their fellow soulmates. Right? Wrong. This is not what real, honest-to-goodness, ride-or-die friends do. This is what fake TV “friends” do when they’re thrust together to act out a silly whodunit. I mean, come on. Before they’ve even finished their fancy tater tot appetizer, there’s a secret for every friend: Mary doesn’t know about Nancy’s affair, Nancy doesn’t know why Eleanor’s so upset about the affair, and Eleanor doesn’t know who Nancy’s sleeping with or why she won’t share any details.

Of course, secrets are essential to a good mystery, but “Imperfect Women” is not a good mystery. Perhaps it could’ve been a decent acting showpiece about complicated adult relationships whose bonds are tested by extraordinary circumstances, except once the secrets are exposed, the explanations actually work against the show’s attempts at relatable human drama. I’m not going to spoil anything, but I wrote down “these people are not friends” five times before I stopped taking notes entirely, all because of things the three of them say and do to each other that no real friend would say or do.

So why can’t it work as a mystery? For one, it’s clunky and obvious about introducing suspects. There’s Robert and Howard, naturally, because in shows like this, men are bad. The former is a rich nepo baby played by Joel Kinnaman, meaning he has daddy issues and anger issues. The latter is a professor of Ancient Greece played by an actor of note, so he can’t be ruled out either. I already mentioned Mary’s son and his criminal history, which is slipped in just as subtly during the show, but there’s also Leslie Odom Jr., seen sitting in the back of a black SUV at the end of Episode 1, a grungy guy glaring at Eleanor in the middle of Nancy’s funeral, and, of course, whoever Nancy was having an affair with.

The ensuing seven episodes focus on one of these men at a time (Odom is having fun, it must be said), narrowing the suspect list until you can guess the murderer based on the person of interest who’s yet to be featured. But well before that, “Imperfect Women” is riddled in plot holes. Characters contradict themselves in the same sentence meant to explain their thinking. The cops are rendered so clueless and so steadfast in their stupidity, the series accidentally endorses ACAB. At one point, a private investigator (not a cop) explains why the killer has to be a certain height, and then the show keeps hinting at suspects who don’t fit the description. What? Why introduce a piece of hard evidence and then just ignore it? It’s maddening!

The limited series feels equally foolish, down to its last line of narration. “Imperfect Women” is so inept as a human drama and a murder-mystery that it renders its award-winning cast irrelevant. Washington stares blankly at the ceiling, over and over. Moss berates bad men just like she did in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Mara looks aptly frightened and confused, or maybe that was just my own face reflected in the screen.

With little to say and so many problems saying it, Weisman’s adaptation can’t bring all its popular elements together to muster much more than an impression of what viewers want. Whether you’re looking for a good mystery or a good friendship, you should demand better than this.