I recently hate-watched the HBO limited series “The Undoing,” with Nicole Kidman in an assortment of glorious coats and execrable wigs, and with Hugh Grant as her husband. This travesty was written by David E. Kelley, who wrote “The Practice,” which I quite liked, and “Big Little Lies,” same.
There were a lot of things wrong with the series. It centered boring, entitled rich white people. It was victim-blamey, and it played into really awful stereotypes of “hot” Latinx tempers and sexuality (yuck). It was ridiculous in its representation of prison. It stole a trope from Bugs Bunny, wherein a weapon is concealed in a violin case. One of its worst offenses: it cast a wonderful Black actor as the defense attorney, and then presented this character making very stupid mistakes and choices. It also managed to insert a family helicopter into the finale (wtf).
The show made itself out to be a mystery, and then pulled the rug out from under the audience at the last minute. This would not be awful in itself, but it did so in a clumsy, clunky way. I have read the guess that this was to make us feel like Grace, Nicole Kidman’s character. But that cannot have been the case, since Grace was 100% passive until the very last minute. She never tried to figure out who did the crime. She just wandered around at night in New York, fainting occasionally, and sleeping with her murderer husband.
We never got the chance to see her understand the truth, which is problematic. Because of this, the show’s denouement came out of nowhere. Except it didn’t … because Grace’s volunteering to take the stand set off alarm bells for me, at home, though apparently not at all for the supposedly whip-smart defense attorney. This is AFTER the murder weapon was found, which pointed to Hugh, and BEFORE the defense attorney hissed at him, “You didn’t get rid of the murder weapon!” So, hey, she knew Hugh did it, and she knew Grace knew. The exchange went something like this:
Defense Attorney: I think we’re in a really good place. I’ll rest here.
Grace: Well … I could take the stand and testify.
Defense Attorney: You. Why?
Grace: I could tell the jury he couldn’t have done it. You said I’m relatable.
Defense Attorney: (like a bumbling fool) Okay!
This was as plausible as an appearance by the tooth fairy, and removed any surprise at what was coming next.
In all, a very unsatisfying show, and quite a waste of time. The angst of rich white asshats is not really fodder for great drama, certainly not at this moment, during a pandemic.