The Undoing

[Unique Name]

A high society who dunnit..

Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland. On Binge, Foxtel and the high seas.

4 episodes in so far and it's good. Kidman and Sutherland just knocking it out of the park.

 

[drd23]

I've watched all 4 episodes and I'm still not sure what to make of it

I know everyone says Kidman and Grant put in great performances but the stilted nature of almost every scene (I assume some sort of directorial/creative choice) makes it hard for me to see that. Plus Kidman's Aussie accent slips through way too much.

I'm also not a fan of all the random "flashbacks" (for lack of a better term) of all the things Grace imagines

Also all the stupid things the main duo do is baffling

 

[Gasometer]

I am sitting through it with my partner but otherwise it’s garbage

 

[JamisonRun40]

Really didn't like the ending. I didn' think the two main actors gelled together. Sutherland was pretty good.

 

[Gak Attack]

Definitely a show that should have not completely followed the book. Ending was poor. Setup for the show was good and could have worked a lot better in another direction. A lot of it was very far fetched though, especially the court stuff.

 

[drd23]

Watched it all but didn't really like any of it

It seemed to benefit from great timing in the US (between various lockdowns and the beginning of the holiday season), which led to it becoming a bit of a cultural phenomenon beyond what it deserved. IMO the acting wasn't as good as it was made out to be, the cacophony of accents was really off-putting and constant throwing out of red herrings made it only an okay show to kill time. The grandfather (Donald Sutherland) and the best friend Sofia (Lily Rabe) were given far too much airtime given their actual influence on the story too - probably to be red herrings on their own.

If it was intended to be a character study about a woman slowly coming to grips with the fact that her world view has been wrong all along (as I've seen/heard people argue since the finale aired), then it went about it all wrong imo. Instead its just a shitty whodunnit

 

[WireHawk]

I don't think Nicole Kidman does a very good American accent.
Her Aussie accent slips through quite often.

She's no Cate Blanchett.

 

[DaveyBoy123]

Just finished this. It's definitely not the series of the year or anything, but I think it was still pretty good.

If it was intended to be a character study about a woman slowly coming to grips with the fact that her world view has been wrong all along (as I've seen/heard people argue since the finale aired), then it went about it all wrong imo.

I think this is what they were going for and it didn't quite work for whatever reason. My opinion is that it was because it was set amongst people who were just too damn rich. It was difficult to (pardon the kinda pun) empathise with Kidman's character (even though I think she played it well enough as written). I think if they were all a little more upper middle class (or maybe if Kidman didn't have a billionaire father), it would have worked better from that p.o.v. I actually think other issues with the series (EG: Kidman & Grant's chemistry) were down to that as well.

The grandfather (Donald Sutherland) and the best friend Sofia (Lily Rabe) were given far too much airtime given their actual influence on the story too - probably to be red herrings on their own.

Gotta disagree with you on this drd. I didn't think either were given too much airtime and at no stage were they used as red herrings.

Definitely a show that should have not completely followed the book. Ending was poor. Setup for the show was good and could have worked a lot better in another direction. A lot of it was very far fetched though, especially the court stuff.

I didn't think the ending was necessarily poor, just not as effective as it should have been because of the character study not being entirely successful.

 

[drd23]

Gotta disagree with you on this drd. I didn't think either were given too much airtime and at no stage were they used as red herrings.

Take the grandfather out of the story and does it change? No. Which, if one was considering the show as a whodunnit (as it was advertised), left his presence in basically every episode to lead many people to believe that he was the culprit.

And the best friend got a lot of air time just to set up the fact that she knew the prosecutor and was ultimately the go-between to enable Grace to destroy her husband.

The airtime given to both could have been better spent on the character study this was apparently supposed to be

 

[DaveyBoy123]

Take the grandfather out of the story and does it change? No. Which, if one was considering the show as a whodunnit (as it was advertised), left his presence in basically every episode to lead many people to believe that he was the culprit.

And the best friend got a lot of air time just to set up the fact that she knew the prosecutor and was ultimately the go-between to enable Grace to destroy her husband.

The airtime given to both could have been better spent on the character study this was apparently supposed to be

I don't necessarily disagree with you on your last statement, but if you cut out those 2 characters, it begins to border on being a play (with so few characters). You're basically suggesting that there were too many characters, which I disagree with. Personally, I saw nothing to suggest Sutherland's character was the culprit, so I don't know what the so-called "many people" were seeing. I actually suspected the son more (even before the ep 5 conclusion).

Kidman's character had to go somewhere when all the crap was going down. It was either to her best friends, or her parent. So 1 of those characters, at least, had to be included. I think Sutherland's character was there to lead Grace into cutting off ties with her hubby whether he was guilty or not. As you state, the best friend was mainly there for the conclusion. I disagree she got too much airtime. In a time like this, a person has to receive support from someone.

Anyway, if they had nailed the character study, all this would be moot.

 

[drd23]

Personally, I saw nothing to suggest Sutherland's character was the culprit, so I don't know what the so-called "many people" were seeing.

Me either, but my understanding is that it was more of a "why else would they cast such a well known actor if he wasn't going to be a big part of the story" type thing.

I actually suspected the son more (even before the ep 5 conclusion)

As did I

Anyway, if they had nailed the character study, all this would be moot.

Agreed

 

[checkraiseulite]

I don't think Nicole Kidman does a very good American accent.
Her Aussie accent slips through quite often.

She's no Cate Blanchett.

nicole kidman >>>>>> cate blanchett