Nancy and Howard’s Affair, Explained by Elisabeth Moss and More Stars (Exclusive)

Episode 5 of Imperfect Women finally gave viewers the backstory of Nancy’s (Kate Mara) affair with the previously-unidentified David, who was now confirmed to be her best friend Mary’s (Elisabeth Moss) husband, Howard (Corey Stoll). The unexpected relationship began after Nancy helped Howard get a job behind the scenes of the experimental ballet she was working on. Warning: Spoilers for Imperfect Women Episode 5 ahead!

At first, Nancy wants nothing to do with Howard and only hooked him up with the job as a favor to Mary. But then things start to fall apart in her marriage to Robert (Joel Kinnaman). After seeing an email on his computer about setting up a division of assets, she also notices that his drinking has started to get out of control.

To make matters worse, Nancy also starts getting inundated with messages from Scott (Wilson Bethel), her former stepfather who sexually abused her when she was a teenager. She was the one who reached out to Scott first, but blocks him after he continues to send her messages.

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With Nancy and Howard spending a lot of time together at work, they begin to develop a friendship. He comforts her when she realizes that their boss threw out a lookbook she made for the show, and they hang out outside of the theater when rehearsals end early one day. Howard is also there for Nancy after Robert yells at her while they’re having dinner at Mary and Howard’s home.

The most vulnerable moment, though, is when Nancy opens up to Howard about Scott. She admits that she liked the attention she got from him, which leads Howard to kiss her so he can be the one to give her that attention. The affair continues from there.

“I think it totally took Howard by surprise,” Stoll tells TV Insider. “I don’t think he went into that expecting any of this to happen, but he really fell in love. That was the way I played it.” Moss agrees that “there’s no way” the Howard/Nancy relationship won’t be a shocker to Mary if she were to find out.

The series’ creator Annie Weisman says “the real highwire act of writing the show” was to keep the affair “really surprising, but once it’s revealed, totally believable.” She adds, “That’s something that happened in the book that was a real gasp moment and I thought … how could this happen? So laying that in is the pleasure of suspenseful, thrilling storytelling, is to have something really surprising and then own it emotionally. I think [Mary’s going to be] as shocked as we are and then I think we have to kind of learn with her how it came to be.”

Nancy ends up having a change of heart after Robert finally comes clean about a mistake he made at work, which was fixed at the expense of their assets now being controlled by his father. Robert explains the only reason he was looking into a division of assets with Nancy was to protect her from his father. They both agree that a divorce isn’t what they want.

Nancy begins ignoring Howard’s calls, and he confronts her about it at the opening night of the ballet. Nancy lets him know she wants to end the affair, and Howard threatens to tell Robert. “You think he would believe I would sleep with you?” Nancy asks. “No one ever would.”

Later that night, Nancy’s phone blows up with messages from “David,” including very revealing photos of her. Robert sees the messages and explodes, although his wife still won’t tell him who the pictures are from. When Nancy runs out of the house and drives off, Mary is waiting in her car outside and follows her, but it’s unclear what she knows at this point.

Imperfect Women, Wednesdays, Apple TV