By ASHLEY CHEN
*SPOILERS BELOW*
This past fall, HBO released “The Undoing,” a mystery thriller series, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.
Featuring 6 episodes, “The Undoing” follows successful therapist Grace Fraser as her life unravels after a violent murder of a woman named Elena, which her husband, Jonathan, is suspected of committing. The suspenseful mystery follows the marital drama that is stirred up as her husband’s secrets come to light.
In the COVID-era, more people are participating in binging culture, but “The Undoing” was a reminder of the television viewing experience pre-COVID. Having to wait a week before the next episode was released, the audience was left in suspense as each episode ended with a cliffhanger.
Nicole Kidman did a good job at portraying Grace, but I do feel like her skills weren’t able to shine because of the way Grace is presented. Hugh Grant, as usual, shows his charm but adds a twist to depict the somewhat unsettling characteristics of his character Jonathan. Grant’s shift from his usual romantic comedies to this darker plot is a bit unexpected, but I believe this allowed him to hone in on a different, but still impressive skill set.
The series is slightly confusing because the viewer never truly knows whether Grace Fraser is supporting her husband. In a seemingly ironic way, Grace, a Harvard-educated psychotherapist, failed to notice her own husband had been harboring secrets from her. Her perceived notions of her husband had affected her view, as she is constantly reassuring everyone around her that she knows her husband. The series explores how well she knows her husband. In the end, it becomes clear she doesn’t, as it is revealed that Jonathan murdered Elena, whom he also had an affair with, both of which Grace did not believe he had the capability of doing.
Although I feel the ending was obvious, I think the concept of the show demonstrates a deeper understanding of the idea of perceived notions versus reality. I, like many others, expected to witness a shocking twist in the end because that’s the common perception of mystery shows. In most, the real murderer is the person no one expects, not the obvious suspect. “The Undoing” is an exception to this widely accepted rule.
I felt as though I was looking through the eyes of Grace Fraser, whose perception of her husband caused her to ignore the facts of the murder and the obvious killer, just as I did. My perceived notion of what occurs in murder mysteries made me ignore the obvious killer. The other suspects presented in the plot are simply a distraction from what Grace and the audience both knew, but perhaps did not want to admit.