THE UNDOING: AN HBO LIMITED SERIES follows Grace (Kidman) and Jonathan Fraser (Grant), who are living the only lives they ever wanted for themselves. Overnight, a chasm opens in their lives: a violent death and a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and her family.
The show critique portion of this review was written by my colleague Jessica Gonzales.
Do you know who you’re lying next to while you sleep at night? In relationships, humans trust each other which allow them to form bonds. With this trust, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable physically and mentally because we feel safe, and of course, our partners would never hurt us, or would they? Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star in The Undoing, a mystery, thriller, that examines the question: what if your significant other isn’t the person you thought they were when you fell in love with them?
Both Kidman and Grant’s performances are sufficient enough, but ultimately, this drama does fall flat. The mystery is enough to keep you hooked to see what happens in the end, and luckily, things are wrapped up cleanly without too much ambiguity. The execution is just a little weak. There are plenty of jokes going around about Nicole Kidman wearing the same coat over and over in many scenes and going for walks, and I get that. She does take walks and wears that coat a lot, but jokes aside, her character wasn’t the strongest. She was lost in paranoia and resentment towards her husband for the entire series, and we never really know who she is. When did she start taking these late night city walks? Who knows. I only barely remember that she is a therapist herself, and she doesn’t seem to be a great one at that actually. She almost seems like a bystander in her own life.
Despite Hugh Grant playing many affable, charming, and quirky bordering on neurotic love interests in movies, he is quite good at playing a total creep. Even in the first episode of the series, there is something that feels off about him. He’s empathetic and present with his wife and child, and he deeply cares about his sick pediatric patients–so much so that sometimes he brings his losses home with him, but there is a dark edge there that seeps through. It left me feeling uncomfortable when he was interacting with his family and friends. Much of the things he does seem a bit unrealistic as well. Is he just a sociopath?
The Undoing is worth a watch. It’s a quick binge, but it isn’t a fresh take on the “whodunnit?” genre. The characters’ choices seem a bit strange at times, and some of their “ticks” can get repetitive, but if you need something that answers your questions (most of them) and is wrapped up neatly, The Undoing is a decent choice.
Video Quality
The Undoing comes to Blu-Ray with an excellent 1080p presentation in 2.00:1 that handles all of the various darker settings with ease. This is a very dark show, both thematically and visually, which allows the show to build tension within the mystery. This presentation provides incredibly deep black levels that handle subtle details really well. With a quick comparison to the streaming option, the Blu-Ray disc holds up slightly better in the depth of field during these scenes, and a quite a bit better in digital artifacting. One of the most impressive aspects of this series is the opulent production design. Clothing and other elements of the impressive visuals show off a pleasing amount of texture all around. There does not appear to be any issues with compression artifacts, digital noise or any nuisances of the sort on the disc. There are not many instances of intense color, but brightly lit sequences during the day reveal nice shades of green and orange within nature. Skin tones likewise look quite natural with subtle features easily distinguishable. This presentation really does the show justice.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that delivers an enveloping journey into this upper crust world. The show features loads of classical music along with an appropriately mysterious score that permeates the channels in a really pleasing way that flows through you at all the right moments. Dialogue primarily stays in the center channel, and is crisp and clear without ever being clipped by sound effects or music. The track has a defined sense of directionality that accurately places the sound in the mix. There is some impressive engagement in the low end, mostly in the urban downtown setting. The show does employ some panning effects when necessary, and ambient details are an essential part of every episode that allows the world to feel more lived-in. Overall, the audio mix is a fantastic part of the package.
Special Features
- Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant Introduce The Undoing: A four-minute conversation between the two leads of the series that is quite playful while discussing how the series came to be, working with Susanne Bier, the camerawork, their connection through Paddington and much more. For what is essentially a promotional video, it is quite enjoyable.
- Creating The Undoing: A three-minute featurette in which the cast and crew discuss the project as a whole.
- The Undoing Revelations: Eleven short featurettes totaling nearly 25 minutes are provided here in which the cast and crew break down various characters and aspects of the series. These thoughts are quite brief but insightful enough to be worth watching. The included segments are as follows:
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- The Fraser Family
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- Elena Alves
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- Jonathan Fraser
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- Sylvia Steinetz
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- Detective Joe Mendoza
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- Grace Reinhart Fraser
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- Haley Fitzgerald
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- Fernando Alves
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- Franklin Reinhart
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- Henry Fraser
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- The Bridge Scene
Final Thoughts
The Undoing does not live up to the magic of the previous David E. Kelley and Nicole Kidman collaboration, Big Little Lies, but it does offer a mystery that keeps you coming back episode after episode. The resolution leans a bit toward the underwhelming side of the spectrum, but overall the journey should offer enough for fans of these types of mysteries. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray package that sports an A+ audio and video presentation along with an assortment of special features that are an enjoyable time. It is a decent time waster, but do not expect greatness.
The Undoing: An HBO Limited Series is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
