The creative team of Nicole Kidman, HBO, David E. Kelley, and Academy Award-winning director Susanne Bier (also an Emmy winner) screams high-end prestige TV project. The limited series, “The Undoing,” a pulpy melodrama mélange of ‘90s sex thriller intrigue and nail-biting courtroom drama, is decidedly not high end in the prestige-y, awards-winning sense. Granted, it’s not campy or necessarily too silly (mostly), but theatrically soap-opera-ish and bingeable in the same way Kelley’s “Big Little Lies” was. Exploring similar ideas of privileged social strata, wealth, and deceit through a female lens, “The Undoing” simply doesn’t have the cast, soundtrack, or woozy directorial style to match the overall confident élan of “Big Little Lies.” That said, this new series’ aims are different and Kidman, her co-star Hugh Grant, and Bier’s sturdy craft make for an entertaining, compelling show even when the writing veers towards the melodramatic and, in the penultimate episode twist, the ridiculous.
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“The Undoing” centers on the cracks in the façade, but mostly the smooth, opulent veneer at first. The Fraser family— Grace, a successful therapist (Kidman), devoted husband Jonathan, a well-regarded and beloved pediatric oncologist (Grant)—live a perfectly manicured life in the Upper echelons of New York City, complete with their young son (Noah Jupe) who attends an elite Manhattan private school. Teasing the statement of intent, a little, all of Grace’s patients are those that are lying to themselves and can’t see the forest for their trees.
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From affluence, the Fraser’s are generally unbothered by the vagaries of life—the biggest of their concerns is deciding whether to attend a fancy benefit fundraiser for their son’s school (Grace’s father Franklin Reinhardt [Donald Sutherland]: a retired financier and loving grandfather donates f*ck-you money to the school, so it behooves them to put in an appearance). There, a young mother (a ridiculously attractive Matilda De Angelis, who appears in scenes of noticeably gratuitous HBO-mandated nudity that feel out of step with 2020, until you remember this is cable TV)—who has already created some mommy-drama at a PTA meeting and intrigued Grace— becomes the thirst trap du jour.
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But semi-spoiler that you can smell a mile away, a great tragedy occurs that evening. A horribly brutal murder that sends a shockwave down the spines of the affluent prep-school community. Embroiled in the very public PR disaster and scandal is Jonathan, the seemingly perfect father and compassionate doctor who goes missing in the heat of it all and who is not the symbol of benevolence—a caring cancer doctor for children—everyone thought he was. Grace’s world implodes in all the news media hysteria and she seeks refuge in her protective and wealthy father. As much as she and her world unravel before her eyes, it’s the blinders she’s realized she’s willingly worn for too long that dismay her the most (and it’s perhaps this self-betrayal that gives Kidman the best internalized acting meat to stew in).
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“It’s what rich entitled people do when threatened, they conceal the ugly truths to protect themselves,” says Jonathan’s high-priced attorney (Noma Dumezweni) in a self-serious, but deliciously dumb series thesis statement.
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Every layer of intrigue that unfolds through the probing detectives on the case that don’t trust Grace either— Detective Joe Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), being the lead—is just more terrible revelations into how much this seemingly self-aware therapist has self-deluded herself. But it’s either fight or flight in Grace’s come-to-Jesus turning point moment, and eventually, protecting the family name from more tabloid fodder and gossip seems to be the only hope for long term survival. “The Undoing,” which mostly resembles an intriguing, ‘90s throwback erotic thriller in its first few episodes eventually settles into the familiar courtroom drama territory writer David E. Kelley built his name on but peppered with crime flashbacks and horrified-by-the-ways-in-which-she-has-failed-to-heed-her-own-advice moments of self-reflection and self-recrimination.
“The Undoing” wants to say something about the way some women delude themselves in the name of their men and also how the cocoon of privilege can foster ignorance-is-bliss contentment built on a stack of lies. But it arguably doesn’t say anything new or with much depth which is the real rub of the series and results may vary for those looking for meat beyond what slick surface the show offers.
And yet, still, Bier’s handsomely crafted show, and the way the mystery unfolds, is beguilingly watchable. “The Undoing” is easy on the eyes, visually—through cinematography, costumes, production design, and quality of faces—and thus may be easy on the brain despite some of the risible lines of dialogue and inane twists of deception and maneuvering. There’s also a terrific cast here that sells most of the drama, including Kidman, even as her character has an icy distance to her that keeps her emotionally at bay from the audience. Sutherland is effortlessly perfect, as the hammy, scene-chewing father that meets her daughter for aloof conversations in Manhattan museums where they don’t actually sit face to face or acknowledge each other (a conceit that is amusingly clichéd). And even Grant gets points by subverting his rakish charms, while still ultimately embracing the typecasting of it all.
As a follow-up to Bier’s excellent limited-series “The Night Manager,” for AMC—which was so celebrated in its elegant intrigue, many suggested her for the next ‘Bond’ director—“The Undoing is a decided step down (though less so compared to Bier’s middling “Bird Box”). But it will have high value for those seeking an absorbing sensational distraction and airport novel ala something like “Gone Girl,” minus the acerbic wit and cutting irony. “The Undoing” doesn’t have much to offer in its ideas of dismantling one life in order to create a new one, but as a brief, sometimes delectable, stylish, sexy B-movie thriller that one can’t take too seriously, but can’t decry too much either, it may provide some much-needed disruption from our own lives. [C+/B-]
“The Undoing” premieres on HBO on October 23.