Imperfect Women TV show: Humdrum glossy mystery is more of the same

Imperfect Women is a handsome series.

What is “handsome” when it comes to a TV show? Well, it’s slickly produced, it looks expensive, and it ticks a lot of boxes of what you expect a series should be, especially within a conventional genre.

Adapted by Annie Weisman from a novel by Araminta Hall, Imperfect Women does a lot of things well, but it is also, for the most part, dreadfully dull. It’s the perfect example of something that did everything correctly except be interesting.

Perhaps that’s a tad harsh, and there is always subjectivity in these matters. If you’re someone who loves nothing more than a glossy American murder mystery set in a milieu of privilege and wealth, then you might soak this up with wide eyes and glee.

But if you know you’ve seen 74 versions of almost this exact story, then Imperfect Women offers just more of the same because the show itself is only half the problem, the other half is that this genre is just so tired.

How many more hours must we watch of a logline that is “a shock murder stirs up old secrets that many want to stay buried”. Snooze. Unfortunately, we seem to be in this never-ending wave of TV adaptations of books that are just variations of one format.

Imperfect Women is really not that different, especially in that bland prestige-but-not-really tone and style of the likes of All Her Fault, His & Hers, Apples Never Fall and Surface.

Some are better crafted than others, but they’re all trying to recapture something of the spirit of Big Little Lies, which even BLL couldn’t do with its second season.

It’s time to give this uninspired genre a rest, see if someone can come up with a clever evolution of it.

The conflict though is that its greatest value is to give talented female actors a meaty role although that in itself cannot be a reason to keep churning out boring, faded carbon copies.

Imperfect Women’s strength is that it is anchored by three central performances from three impressive actors – Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara.

They’re all better than this material, but, at least, if you’re forced to watch this, they’re giving you something to chew on.

Eleanor (Washington), Mary (Moss) and Nancy (Mara) have been friends since their university days. They profess to be the very best of friends, but when Nancy turns up dead, there are obviously each have been holding back from the others.

Through their grief and confusion, Eleanor and Mary try to unravel what really happened to Nancy, and are confronted with their own complicity in what may have led to her death.

Joel Kinnaman plays Nancy’s husband, Robert, who comes from a very wealthy, waspy family who will do whatever they can to protect their power and reputation.

Eleanor too is from an extremely rich family, and Leslie Odom Jr has a recurring part as her brother Donovan while Sheryl Lee Ralph turns up in one episode as her mother.

So, the show spends a lot of time in very lush spaces, whether it’s Nancy and Robert’s palatial Pasadena mansion with its perfectly manicured and expansive backyard, or Eleanor’s tastefully decorated city loft.

Mary and husband Howard (Corey Stoll) are supposed to be struggling middle class but their house is a large California craftsman, so no one is ever slumming it.

The eight episodes are structured so that the first three are told from Eleanor’s perspective, the next two from Nancy in flashbacks, and then the final three from Mary’s, which is supposed to function like puzzle pieces as the answers to the mystery are assembled.

There are some “oh, OK” revelations, but it’s also predictable in both plot – the show telegraphed it with the casting – and themes. The red herrings are flashing neon.

The broad strokes are so humdrum that you have to rely on the small details (which are appreciated) to trigger interest, such as, for example, the costume department often puts Nancy in outfits with a slimline silhouette on top paired with a more voluminous skirt, because she had wanted to be a ballerina when she was young.

If Imperfect Women was a unique series, then there would be more to recommend it, but it’s not. It’s just another serving of a meal for which we no longer have an appetite.

Imperfect Women is streaming on Apple TV