Take Three: Undone

Undone: Season 1, Episode 3 “Handheld Blackjack” (B+)

I’m continually astounded by this show, and so appreciate of the animated format that allows it to provide transcendent visuals to explain how Alma is experiencing time and reality. Opening and closing the episode with Alma having her hearing aids out adds another dimension to it, and the way that things around her are changing, like the photos on the wall or the placement of the couch, is appropriately haunting since she’s no longer able to stay grounded in her own life. Jacob giving her the electronic blackjack game to play continuously so that she’d be able to stay tethered to the physical plane is a fascinating notion, though the game, with its loud sounds, seems to be far too distracting to everyone else to feel like a legitimate option. Tunde is rightfully concerned about her being around kids, though calling her boyfriend to express concern about the state of her “emotional recovery” doesn’t feel like the right thing for him to have done. Asking her mother questions about her father’s death and his student Farnaz feels like the start of her going down a rabbit hole, and I’d hope that Jacob is able to warn her from becoming entirely disconnected from her world in a way that will trap her in the same state as him, unable to help because she can’t get back to where she was. Bringing her back to a class he was teaching about time travel adds a scientific element to it, one that makes this fantastical show and concept even more appealing.