Spoilers are ahead from Imperfect Women episode 4!
The third episode of Imperfect Women ended with Eleanor reeling. Cora discovered her secret affair with Robert and wasted no time exposing it to the media. However, Eleanor thought she and Robert would remain a united front. That's until Robert coldly dismissed her and made it seem like what they had didn't matter.
This was Eleanor's last straw, and she decided that enough was enough. After talking to her lawyers about the night of Nancy's murder, she headed home where she would receive a visit from Mary. But Mary didn't come just to have a friendly chat. She arrives, stating that she knows who the real David is. Let's move on to the fourth episode to see what happens next in the Apple TV thriller series!
Nancy's last New Year's Day party
The fourth episode of Imperfect Women does not pick up where the third episode left off. Instead, this episode is pretty much all flashbacks to when Nancy was still alive. Most of the episode is set during Nancy's last big New Year's Day party that she threw before she was murdered. However, we also see a few flashbacks of her troubled childhood.
Episode 4 opens with a flashback of a teen Nancy walking down the street, while her mom's voiceover plays in the background. In the voiceover, her mom seems angry. Why? That's something we'll find out later in the episode. We're then shown another flashback of Nancy as an adult. She and Robert seem to be more in love than ever as they prepare for their first New Year's party. However, this is a short flashback.
The episode then cuts to the main flashback, which is of Nancy's last New Year's party. Nancy is excited about hosting everyone, but Robert seems distant. He even makes a comment about how expensive everything will be before telling Nancy that he's going to be in his office. His sister, Kit, is on her way to discuss business matters. This surprises Nancy because their family's company just had a big meeting before the holidays. She doesn't understand why anything business-related needs to be discussed so soon. However, Robert doesn't provide her with any answers.
Nancy meets David
As Nancy gets things ready for the party, she approaches the hired bartender and points out that he’s set up in the wrong spot. The bartender dismisses her, saying she’ll need to take it up with the event coordinator. To make matters worse, he makes a disrespectful remark about the Hennessy family, not realizing he’s speaking directly to one of them. However, Nancy wastes no time letting him know who she is. But instead of firing him, she introduces herself.
The bartender then introduces himself as well, saying that his name is David. Oh no! Could this be the same David suspected of Nancy’s murder? Their brief exchange is abruptly cut off when the event coordinator calls Nancy’s attention elsewhere. Mary then arrives at Nancy's house. While assisting with party-planning duties, Mary tells Nancy that she and her husband have been struggling financially. It's because the university has cut Howard's class load. Nancy offers to give her some money, but Mary turns her down.
Nancy then goes to Cora’s room, where it becomes clear their relationship is strained. Rather than attending the New Year’s party, Cora tells Nancy she plans to go to a potluck with friends. Nancy later heads to Robert’s office to ask about his conversation with Kit. He brushes it off, claiming his father is simply worried about their recent spending. Nancy then tries to comfort him by sleeping with him, but Robert stops everything just as things start heating up. He apologizes and asks her not to pressure him, admitting he has a lot on his mind.
The episode then cuts to a flashback of when Nancy was a teenager. She's shown sitting in a car with the same guy Eleanor saw in the church at Nancy's funeral in a previous episode. It's Nancy's stepfather, Scott, and he's not a good guy at all. He even touches Nancy inappropriately and kisses her in this flashback. It appears that he was taking advantage of her in exchange for her getting money from him.
The fourth episode then cuts back to the flashback of Nancy's last New Year's party. Nancy speaks briefly with Robert's father, who makes a slick comment about her and Robert's recent spending. Moments later, Eleanor finally arrives. Nancy, Mary, and Eleanor then catch up, since Eleanor had been away on a two-week trip. To Eleanor's surprise, Nancy sets her up with a divorce lawyer at the party. However, that doesn't end up going anywhere because he's boring.
Later on at the party, Nancy speaks with a colleague named Phil. He works for the LA Metropolitan Ballet, and Nancy serves on the organization's board. Although Mary told Nancy she didn't want her to give her any money, Nancy decides to find another way to help her and Howard out. How? By convincing Phil to give Howard a job on their next ballet production.
Nancy discovers what Robert's been hiding
While introducing Phil to Howard and Mary, Nancy notices Robert having a tense conversation with Kit and their father across the room. Now determined to get answers, Nancy confronts the family’s wealth manager, Harlan. But he refuses to reveal anything, instead pointing her back to her husband. The exchange doesn’t go unnoticed, as Kit watches the entire interaction unfold.
After Harlan walks away, David approaches Nancy. They have a light-hearted, slightly flirtatious conversation about his tattoo and discover they're from the same place. Nancy then goes outside to speak with Robert and Eleanor before Kit asks her to get a drink for her dad.
During this scene, Kit confronts Nancy about her conversation with Harlan. She basically warns her to stay out of family business matters before walking away. This conversation leaves Nancy in a weird mental space. To make matters worse, she then has a strange conversation with Robert's father in the restroom. Now, she's curious to see what Robert's been hiding. So, she looks through his emails on his laptop.
What she discovers is that Robert's been in contact with a lawyer about getting a divorce. Oh no! Was this something Robert wanted to do, or something his father was pressuring him to do? Either way, that's why he had been acting so weirdly towards Nancy.
Nancy closes the laptop and heads back to the party. She's pretty frazzled now after everything she just found out. Tensions flare when Cora acts disrespectfully towards her, and Nancy doesn’t hesitate to slap her. The room falls silent, and Nancy quickly steps outside to catch her breath and calm down.
The episode then cuts to a flashback of when Nancy was a teenager. She returns home to find her mother drunk. Her mother's name is Patty. Patty then takes Nancy for a drive, but she's not driving the speed limit. Patty swerves recklessly through the streets, constantly hitting Nancy. She knows that Nancy's been having an inappropriate relationship with Scott, and she blames her for it. As they approach a brick wall, Patty puts her foot on the gas pedal and smashes right into it. While Nancy survives the accident, her mother does not.
The episode then returns to the flashback of Nancy's last New Year's party. Eleanor and Mary rush outside to comfort Nancy. After a moment, Nancy goes back inside to speak to Cora, but Robert blocks her. She returns outdoors and sits lost in thought. David then approaches and asks if she wants to go for coffee one day, but Nancy politely declines and apologizes for any misunderstanding.
He walks away, and Nancy scrolls through Scott’s social media page on her phone. That’s when Howard appears to thank her for the job opportunity. During their conversation, Howard tells Nancy that Phil offered him the job but called him David instead of his actual name. Nancy then explains that Phil always messes up names, including hers. She explains that he sometimes calls her Louise.
They share a playful conversation, ending with Howard teasingly calling Nancy “Louise” as he walks off. Nancy then smiles and calls him "David." This is where the fourth episode comes to a close. So, it looks like we might have just found our murderer.
Right now, it looks like it's between bartender David and Howard. Why Howard, you ask? Well, we just learned that he and Nancy had fun nicknames to call each other. David being one of them. Perhaps the person Nancy had been secretly having an affair with is Howard, which would suck because that's her best friend's husband. However, I wouldn't put it past Nancy.
Their friend group is toxic altogether. Eleanor just got through hooking up with Robert in the last episode, and we also learned in episode 3 that Mary and Howard's marriage started in an affair. When it comes to bartender David, he could potentially be Nancy's murderer as well.
He was already mad that she turned him down at the New Year's party. Maybe Nancy ended up giving him a chance, but when she turned him down that second time at the park, he snapped and killed her. But I guess we'll just have to continue watching Imperfect Women to find out the truth!
Imperfect Women is streaming on Apple TV.