The Undoing is a 6-episode miniseries aired on HBO (here in Malaysia and I believe in most Asian countries) starting in the end of October until end of November 2020. It starred Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser, a therapist who found herself intertwined in a murder case of an acquaintance which unbeknown to her involved her family members as well. As the murder case begins to unravel, so do her personal life as she tries to make sense her connection to it and the impact it has on her family.
Overall, this is a really good miniseries. I've been a fan of many HBO miniseries before and I must say this is another one from them that they delivers. The story is very compelling and engaging. It also gave an interesting insight into the life of an elite New Yorker family dealing with a murder, and the attention and spotlight that comes with it.
The miniseries has a very strong cast with Nicole Kidman taking the lead as Dr. Grace Fraser, dealing with the emotional stress from not just her husband's affair but also the possibility of being married to a killer. Her husband, Dr. Jonathan Fraser played by Hugh Grant, is the prime suspect to a brutal murder. Their son Henry Fraser, played by Noah Jupe, is also suffering from all the attention that they suddenly got from this murder case. Supporting her from behind is Grace's father, Franklin Reinhart, played by Donald Sutherland, who tries to control the situation in his own way. The miniseries is heavily focused on this family and the dynamic of their relationship as the story unfold. I enjoyed watching the family every time they were on screen and I thought all of them were wonderful in their performance. Before we move to other characters, I would like to highlight how fabulous the wardrobe for Grace in this miniseries were, the clothes that she wore were gorgeous! Ehem, okay, back to the characters.
The other actors did great as well, and two of them that I want to highlight here are Noma Dumezweni (who played the defense attorney, Hayley Fitzgerald, who represents Jonathan) and Lily Rabe (who played Grace's best friend, Sylvia Steinetz). Hayley is a fierce, no-nonsense character and I love how Noma Dumezweni portrayed her. As for Sylvia, although she is just a supporting character that didn't really get much screen time, I like the fact that she stayed by her friend's side and support her in any way that she can. Lily Rabe's performance was great and she managed to make an impact on me even with so little screen time.
Sofie Gråbøl, who played prosecutor Catherine Stamper, only appeared around halfway through the series, but she really played her character well against the fierce Hayley. Let's also not forget another important character, the murder victim herself, Elena Alves played by Matilda De Angelis, who only appeared in the first episode and then through flashbacks in the rest of the miniseries. She captured my attention whenever she's on screen and with little screen time that she had, she still managed to exude sympathy from audience. Her final moments that was shown, it was truly heart-breaking to watch.
There are two characters that I wish were more fleshed out and developed; Detective Joe Mendoza (played by Édgar Ramírez) and Fernando Alves (played by Ismael Cruz Córdova). As a fan of TV series such as Law and Order, you can imagine my disappointment with so little investigation shown in this miniseries, but then again this is not that type of show, so it's understandable why the show didn't go with that route. I still wish they show more of the detective. As for Fernando, I wish his character background would be explored more for audience to relate to him especially in regards to his relationship with Elena.
I really love this miniseries, and although it has ended, I believe they will have a repeat of the show on HBO so make sure to check it out if you haven't already. If you're in the US, I'm pretty sure it's available in HBO Max for you to stream.
Images source: The Undoing official site
No comments:
Post a Comment