The Ambiguous Ending of Apple TV+'s 'Imperfect Women,' Explained

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Imperfect Women Season 1.

The finale of Apple TV+'s Imperfect Women finally revealed some of the secrets the characters had been carrying. We learned who killed Nancy(Kate Mara) and what happened leading up to her death.

The Imperfect Women Season 1 finale also presented some new questions and left them open-ended. Here's what we know — and what we don't — after the season wrapped up.

Viewers finally learn that Howard(Corey Stoll) is the man Nancy had been having an affair with. On the night of Mary's birthday, Howard asks Nancy to meet him under a bridge. Nancy is planning to break things off with Howard, so she reaches out to Scott (Wilson Bethel), with whom she has a deeply complicated relationship.

She thinks she'll need backup in case something goes wrong.

When Nancy and Howard meet, Howard confesses that he loves her and says that he wants to leave his marriage with Mary(Elisabeth Moss). However, Nancy tells him that she's done with the affair. She threatens to tell Mary everything, and Howard accuses her of not actually caring about her friend.

Nancy slaps him for the comment, and Howard counters with a powerful blow that sends her into a wall and kills her, per Elle.

Scott arrives on the scene with a gun in tow, but he's too late. He sees Howard dragging Nancy's lifeless body away.

Later, when Howard realizes that Mary is onto him, he kidnaps her and attempts to stage her suicide in the same spot where he killed Nancy. Thankfully, Eleanor(Kerry Washington) arrives just as Howard is overpowering Mary. Eleanor hits him with her car, and then Mary stabs him to death, per TV Insider.

Corey Stoll said that his character, Robert, wasn't planning on murdering Nancy. He told TV Insider, "He thought they were going to run off together. He was swept up in this romantic fervor. He really thought that they were living out some story from ancient Roman literature or something. That part of it was a pure act of passion."

In a flash-forward, Eleanor is enjoying a day on a yacht with her new love interest, Jordan. Mary is happy and celebrating her daughter's birthday. Surprisingly, Robert appears and brings out the birthday cake. Mary and Robert share a mysterious look.

Elisabeth Moss told TV Insider that they wanted to raise the question, "What is going on here?" and not give away too much until the following season.

Kerry Washington agreed that they wanted to leave things open-ended.

She said, "A lot of the spirit of the show is rooted in the paradigm of the book, which is you think you know what’s happening, but it’s important to remember that until you understand somebody else’s point of view or live in somebody else’s shoes, you may not understand the full story."

Kerry added that the women in the show live with uncertainties, so they wanted to carry that quality into the finale. "I think that’s why murder mysteries are so satisfying because we get to have resolve, but we just wanted to check/balance that with … well, also, you might not know everything," she told TV Insider.

The show creator, Annie Weisman, said, "I think in the end, there’s something she’s not telling us and we’re left having to guess." Both Annie and Robert's actor, Joel Kinnaman, said they could see potential for a romantic relationship between Mary and Robert. However, they didn't confirm anything.

Viewers will have to tune in to Season 2 to find out what's really going on between them.