‘Imperfect Women’: Elisabeth Moss Explains Mary’s Reaction to Howard’s Betrayal

The aftermath of Howard (Corey Stoll) and Nancy’s (Kate Mara) affair played out in Episode 6 of Imperfect Women, sending his wife, Mary (Elisabeth Moss), into a dangerous spiral. Warning: Spoilers for Imperfect Women Episode 6 ahead!

Prior to finding out about the romance between Howard and Nancy, Mary took a writing class and shared the story of how she and Howard got together while he was married to someone else. But despite knowing about Howard’s history, Moss says the news that Mary’s husband and best friend were sneaking around behind her back was the ultimate betrayal.

“I think the Nancy one is shocking,” Moss tells TV Insider. “She obviously knows about infidelity and betrayal in the past, but as many people do, has looked the other way and has had to kind of keep her family together and keep going. But I think the Nancy one … there’s no way that’s not a shocker, for sure.”

Perhaps just as shocking to the viewer, though, was how Mary dealt with everything going on in her life — by buying pills from the shelf stocker at the grocery store. It wasn’t until a tense conversation with Howard that Mary took one of the pills. The fight stemmed from Howard announcing that he got a job across the country in Ohio and was making plans to move the family without Mary’s input. He also brushed off Mary’s concerns about her fight with Eleanor (Kerry Washington), and although she shrugged off the fight to avoid an explosive argument, she secretly began medicating to cope.

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Meanwhile, Mary was also still invested in helping police figure out who murdered Nancy. As she urged the detectives to look into Nancy’s stepdad Scott (Wilson Bethel) and husband Robert (Joel Kinnaman), she did a deep dive into the scrapbook Nancy left behind. In a back pocket of the book, she discovered a poem that Howard had previously published with one particular phrase underlined. It was the same line he singled out in a copy of the poetry book he’d given Mary years earlier when their own affair began.

Howard tried to play it cool when Mary confronted him with what she found, but he turned it around on her. “Mary, your pupils are like saucers,” he said. “We’ve been down this road before. I thought we were past this.” When Howard pointed out that Mary put the “kids in danger” the last time she was using pills, she let it go, but couldn’t stop turning the evidence over in her mind.

After sneaking down to her kitchen to take more pills, Mary learned from her son Marcus (Jackson Kelly) that Howard was not at home the night Nancy died, even though he had assured the cops that he was. The evidence continued mounting when she found Nancy’s Claddagh ring during a search of Howard’s closet.

Amid her pill-induced spiral, Mary paid a visit to Howard’s first wife Jenny (Sandrine Holt) and was met with another shocking truth. For years, Mary believed Howard’s story that Jenny was suicidal and that he left her when Mary got pregnant. In reality, Jenny was the one who ended the marriage, even though Howard told her he would abandon Mary and their baby if she stayed. She was left with a massive scar on her leg from Howard pushing her down the stairs on the night she walked out.

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Mary turned to Eleanor (Kerry Washington) and filled her in on everything, but just as they were making plans to take Howard down, he called with a terrifying update: His and Mary’s daughter Artemis was in the hospital after swallowing pills. Mary’s pills. And her fate won’t be revealed until next week’s episode.

Imperfect Women, Wednesdays, Apple TV