Emmy Interviews: Hugh Grant

I’m delighted to share some of the interviews I’ve been able to conduct with Emmy nominees.

For HBO’s “The Undoing,” here’s actor Hugh Grant. Click through to read the conversation we had for AwardsWatch.

What I’m Watching: The Undoing (Series Finale)

The Undoing: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Bloody Truth” (B)

I think I was expecting a big surprise to happen here that would reveal an unknown culprit or something that we never would have thought to consider, but instead it just turned out that Jonathan snapped and was guilty. Grace offering to testify on his behalf felt like a trap from the start, and Haley was only concerned about her apathy rather than her deliberate self-sabotage so that she could be deemed unreliable and make Jonathan look guilty in the process. That came after Haley succeeded in triggering Fernando into exploding and looking like a suspect, but no one even had to go there since, after all, he didn’t do it, and he was just being fiercely protective of his own son. Both Haley and Catherine, the prosecutor, were cutthroat and happy to employ tricks to sway the jury, and Catherine obviously managed to get a better handle on the judge’s temperament and to have him continually side with her. Jonathan not showing up for court was a dramatic development, and I do like that he didn’t just become a completely different person now that it was clear that he was guilty, but that he instead presented a lack of connection with the reality of his circumstances, eager to spend time with his son when he knew that his fate was sealed. The scene on the bridge was indeed powerful, and an emphatic end to this show, but there wasn’t anything overly transformative that compelled me to think differently about these characters, which I had hoped for and to a degree expected. This was still a good effort featuring some very solid and memorable performances, and I suspect it will be a significant player during awards season.

Series grade: B
Series MVP: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant

What I’m Watching: The Undoing (Penultimate Episode)

The Undoing: Season 1, Episode 5 “Trial by Fury” (B)

A good twist only works if it makes sense, and especially since we don’t know all the information yet about just what it means. Henry has always been polite and sympathetic, aware enough of what adults do without having lost any of his innocence. Now, it seems that he might be the one who bludgeoned Elena to death, or at the very least that he hid the hammer his father used to protect him. I’m not sure I buy either of those theories since it would have made much more sense to, for instance, toss it into the river, though maybe if it was him, he wouldn’t have thought about that as a preteen without too much life experience. What’s abundantly clear is that Grace knew absolutely nothing about the man she married, and you’d think that the existence of a sister whose death happened on his watch at a young age would have come up at some point and not just casually years into their marriage at a restaurant. It also feels like this information should have come out during the prosecution’s research into the way they were trying to convict of murder since it’s likely available with minimal research and could have painted him in a negative light. The courtroom antics weren’t nearly as compelling as I might have expected from a David E. Kelley show, with lawyers hesitating to object and presenting gruesome images without any warning. I’m still intrigued but hopeful that the upcoming finale will be stronger and more even than some of this series has been so far.

What I’m Watching: The Undoing

The Undoing: Season 1, Episode 4 “See No Evil” (B+)

I’m glad to see that this show is making strong use of its supporting cast, giving a superb spotlight in this episode to Donald Sutherland, who demonstrated his contempt for Jonathan, his unyielding support for his daughter, and his ability to make others understand how determined he is to have his will fulfilled. The look that he gave Jonathan when he showed up to the hospital to play affable doctor was extremely intense, and he was intent on making Grace understand that her image of her parents’ marriage as idyllic was deeply flawed. Grace was officially cleared as a suspect, but the fact that the police found the remarkably detailed oil painting of her that Elena made certainly serves to cast more doubt on them having no relationship. Haley is very good at her job, though her clients are making it very difficult. Going to see Fernando was a bold move on Jonathan’s part, and I forgot for a moment that they knew each other because Jonathan had been Miguel’s doctor. Bringing Jonathan on television was an even more daring and potentially reckless move, though Haley seemed to know what Jonathan was going to say, which absolutely creates the muck she promised she could deliver. The sadness he felt seemed forced, but Grace definitely did not expect him to say to the world that he should be viewed as a victim because he still felt like he was in love with a woman who wasn’t his wife. The second chance she was giving him is surely over now, and it’s hard to imagine that approach will play well with the public either.

Take Three: The Undoing

The Undoing: Season 1, Episode 3 “Do No Harm” (B)

While the story here continues to be interesting, I’m noting that much of the dialogue, particularly the interviews involving Detective Mendoza, feels clunky and less than realistic. I do like that there’s a focus on all aspects of this, including the lawyers involved. I would never have recognized actor Douglas Hodge, who played the Badger, from another role of his that I really enjoyed, as military commander General Velementov on “The Great.” His approach to his case was a relatively unfriendly one, but even though he indicated unhelpfulness with Jonathan, he nailed it with Grace, expressing that he didn’t think Jonathan had done it either but that he wasn’t terribly likeable, which wouldn’t be good for his case. Hayley Fitzgerald was just as direct, promising Grace that this trial wouldn’t help her marriage at all and would simply serve to create muck to cloud the prosecution’s case. Henry is experiencing a wave of complicated emotions, and his anger at his father when they went to go see him in jail was replaced by a sadness when he had to leave. Henry’s experience in prison isn’t going well at all, and his best hope is to be placed in solitary for his own protection given how little time it took for him to get into a serious fight. After being confronted by Fernando, Grace thought she was doing the right thing by going to talk to the police, but now she has an entirely new startling reality to contend with: that she may be a person of interest because she walked near the studio where Elena was murdered. It’s unlikely that she was indeed involved and is complicit in something that she’s repressed, but she’s sure to be tried in the court of public opinion before any of that is proven.

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.

Pilot Review: The Undoing

Check out my one-minute take on every new pilot, which is embedded below and you can also watch by subscribing to movieswithabe on YouTube.