At one point or another over the course of this season, Apple TV’s Imperfect Women has had us questioning just about every character as a potential suspect in Nancy’s murder. After so many fakeouts, code names, and lies, we finally get the story straight in Episode 8, the series finale titled “The Bridge”.
**This article contains spoilers for Imperfect Women Season 1 Finale, “The Bridge”, now streaming on Apple TV+**
As a recap, going into the final episode, Mary (Elisabeth Moss) and Eleanor (Kerry Washington) are pretty confident that Howard (Corey Stoll) and Nancy (Kate Mara) were having a secret affair that then led to him murdering her. The audience, of course, knows for certain that the former is true, but, despite his psychotic behavior and actions, there is still no solid evidence that Howard was responsible for Nancy’s death. Mentally exhausted and traumatized, Mary chooses to ignore the possibility that the father of her children could be a murderer in order to keep her family together. This, rightfully so, infuriates Eleanor.
At the end of episode 7, new video evidence is acquired by the investigative team on Nancy’s case that places Scott Reid, Nancy’s missing childhood abuser, at the scene of the crime, making him the prime suspect. This throws a wrench in Mary and Eleanor’s theory about Howard and totally confuses us.
So, who really killed Nancy? Did Eleanor and Mary’s friendship survive? Did they survive? Was justice served? We finally got answers to all of these questions in the series finale, but in case you missed anything, we’ve laid it all out for you.
What was Scott Reid doing at the scene of the crime that night?
After Howard continues to pursue Nancy while threatening to tell Robert about their affair, Nancy resorts to enlisting Scott for help. When Eleanor and Mary visit Scott in jail, he tells them that Nancy asked for his protection. “She wanted me to scare him, rough him up a bit, get him to back off. I was going to do it too. I owed her that much.” He was there the night of Nancy’s murder to carry out their plan, but when he showed up at the meeting spot, Nancy was already dead, and Howard was leaning over her body. He fled.
So, what really happened that night? Did Howard kill Nancy?
Yes, but not on purpose. Still unable to take no for an answer, Howard asked Nancy to meet him at the bridge in an attempt to charm her and win back her affection. He tells Nancy that he’s in love with her and that he has a plan for them to be together, but Nancy gives him a reality check. She calls Howard delusional, makes it clear that she does not want to be with him, and tells him that she plans to confess to Mary. When Howard responds, “You don’t give a fuck about Mary,” Nancy slaps him, and he retaliates by shoving her. Nancy slams into the cement wall behind her with full force, hits her head, and dies. Howard attempted to hide the evidence by dragging her lifeless body into the water and taking the ring off her finger.
If it was all an accident, then is Howard innocent?
Although Nancy’s death was an accident, everything that Howard does after her death cancels out any shred of innocence that may have once existed. To evade the consequences of his actions, Howard goes as far as to drug his young daughter and break up their whole family by calling Child Protective Services on his wife.
After already putting her through court and separating her from her children, Howard also kidnaps Mary, brings her to the same location where he killed Nancy, and tries to murder her and stage it as a suicide.
He is anything but innocent.
Does Mary survive Howard?
With the help of Eleanor, Mary escapes Howard. While being held at knifepoint, Mary convinces Howard to let her call Eleanor by appealing to his weaknesses and fears. She hints at her location while Eleanor listens over the phone, and then throws sand at Howard’s eyes to temporarily blind him and run away. He catches up to her and starts to choke her, but luckily, before he can finish the job, Eleanor arrives and hits him with her car. When he turns his aggression toward Eleanor, Mary stabs and kills Howard with a knife to the back. The two friends ride away from the bridge in an ambulance together.
Where does everyone end up after all is said and done?
With the mystery of Nancy’s murder closed and justice served, everyone is finally able to move on and start anew. Eleanor finds a romantic partner (who isn’t her dead best friend’s husband) and names a boat in Nancy’s honor, Mary reunites with her children, and the whole gang (everyone who’s still alive at least) celebrates her daughter’s birthday together in the backyard where Nancy used to host her parties.
A happy ending to a perfectly imperfect story.
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