The Undoing

A murder story so full of plot twists and turns, so many characters shedding snakish skins, that it's nearly impossible to write about with scattering spoilers around like confetti. Yet in no way does it turn on plot gimmickry. It's about trust and relationships, authenticity and appearances, verisimilitude and veneers.

Initially it lacked the bitchy bite of Big Little Lies. Kidman's character seemed too bland and nicey-nicey to intrigue. Grant's performance outshone hers. ... Then it started to ripen. ... Kidman's eyeswivelling was off the charts as Grace's perfect life looked to be unravelling. Tasty. Again we seem to be gazing at the dark, maggoty underbelly of wealth and privilege. I'm definitely in.

The Undoing is beautiful — the people, the locations, the coats! — and we’re all apt to cut beautiful things a little slack. Through all of the misdirects, the characters’ dumb decisions, the dreamy detours, The Undoing kept me guessing — and, of course, gloating over everyone’s misfortune.

Early on “The Undoing” seems like it may cast a spell, too, but that feeling wears off.

Despite Kidman’s and Grant’s performances, we couldn’t muster up enough energy to care about anyone in The Undoing, at least not enough to spend six hours unraveling its central mystery. It’s certainly watchable, but having this show come so soon after BLL makes it feel like we’ve seen it all before.

The new HBO limited series is, to no one’s surprise, ably acted and handsomely made. ... It’s just a shame that it couldn’t resist those [true crime] clichés to become something much more powerful than just another case of the week.

Shot like a pulpy ’90s erotic thriller by Susanne Bier and stretched thinner than the Netflix version it echoes (remember “Gypsy”?), there’s very little entertainment to be had here, and even less of a purpose.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Having finished with the last episode today, I must say that this adaptation could've been easily a movie instead of a miniseries. I say this because the mystery is not that intriguing and to a certain extent it's too obvious and I can't help but feel that the writers tried to extend it as much as possible, although I don't understand why. Of the cast, the big names like: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Edgar Ramírez and Donald Sutherland, they hardly even try. Who in my opinion leaves a real impression is Noma Dumezweni as the lawyer Haley Fitzgerald, and that says a lot. Susanne Bier delivers an elegant but very cold work. Like I said, the mystery is simple and therefore the suspense is only effective in the first two episodes, after that it dissolves into a kind of Law & Order of rich people **** themselves over. Especially when you consider how simple if feels the way it reveals the murderer and murder. I always say: never judge something by your expectations but by what it is, but frankly I expected much, much more.

The performances are great. The directing- great. The plot- interesting. Scenography, costumes, soundtrack fine. Everything seems to be working and yet it's not. Script is unbearably pretentious. Writers were trying to make the show so 'intellectual' and 'smart' and 'wow so many deep speeches' that it's hard to watch. It's sad because it had so much potential. Well, next time HBO.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Pros: clearly money went into this: all technical aspects are super pro, esp. the photography, sets are lavish, and the actors are expensive Cons: After 1 episode even if we don't know where this is going (whodunnit, dun dun dun), we know this is not going to be very satisfying what with the hamfisted whole haves/have nots trope, on-the-nose upper middle-class clichés and Hugh Grant playing basically himself (and not believeble as a neurosurgeon at all). I'm just glad I'm pirating this and not paying a subscription! Argh!