Monday, November 2, 2020

Round Two: The Undoing

The Undoing: Season 1, Episode 2 “The Missing” (B)

Things got very bad very quickly for Grace after the shock of finding Jonathan’s phone in her bedroom. This show’s title really is appropriate since Grace thought that she had everything all together only to discover just how quickly it can fall apart. At almost every point in this hour, everyone around her knew much more than she did, beginning with the detectives, who filled her in on the fact that her husband hadn’t worked at the hospital for months and that he was most definitely a suspect in Elena’s murder. Showing up at the school without any knowledge that his name had been publicly announced was bad, and Sylvia having a cab to spirit her away seemed like a relief until she revealed that she too had information that she could have told her earlier that would have been helpful. This show does do a good job of getting its audience into the mindset of its protagonist, showing her worst thoughts through flashbacks and other images like the one of a naked Elena appearing on an electronic billboard she walked past in the city. Hiding away with an irritated and aware Henry at the beach house didn’t seem like a great idea, and I was somewhat surprised to see that Jonathan decided to show up. Admitting his affair – including the fact that he and Elena had sex after they fought just before she was murdered – felt callous since he wasn’t actually apologizing for anything, and Grace showed just how willing she was to consider what he said by calling the police on him while he was hugging his son. That’s not likely to get her more answers or make her less of a pariah, but whatever comes next is sure to be interesting.

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