# The Undoing -HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [November 2, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585 "2020-11-02T20:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/21 "2020-11-18T13:22:58Z")
General thoughts: -I like Nicole Kidman enough, and I can’t imagine what it’s like to work in Hollywood, but she’s got to stop with the work. She looks like a sci-fi robot for goodness sake. It’s truly off putting at this point. -My wife and I (in our 40’s and 50’s) have reached a point in our lives that when we try nd figure out the mystery, can determine if we are using the clues in the show we are watching, or between hundreds of TV shows, books and films we are using that experience to go on. To that end (and it’s not a spoiler as I haven’t seen the entire show nor have I read the book) I’d look to the son as a potential killer. And that has nothing to do with the show itself but on previous entertainment experience. - I think this will end up being two episodes too long. I’m ready for a wrap up already at the end of episode 3. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/22 "2020-11-18T13:57:12Z")
looks like final 2 episodes are the trial . possibly last episode could be post trial ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/23 "2020-11-18T20:24:19Z")
We are still watching but I don’t know why. What man is going to invite who he believes to be his wife’s killer into his house and have a normal conversation? And then hand over the baby and ask if he wants to feed her? Hugh Grant’s character says at the end of the interview (paraphrasing) “Don’t forget, I lost something I Iove, too”. Kidman takes him to mean that he loved the dead woman but I think that he was referring to his family. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/24 "2020-11-18T21:28:11Z")
I thought he said “someone.” ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/25 "2020-11-19T18:02:04Z")
Still, its an ambiguous statement. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/26 "2020-11-20T00:25:22Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > What man is going to invite who he believes to be his wife’s killer into his house and have a normal conversation? And then hand over the baby and ask if he wants to feed her? Yeah, that is either really bad writing or there was more going on that has not been revealed yet. Maybe they had some kind of open relationship or more likely some kind of illegal scheme among the three of them. Insurance fraud maybe? The father followed Grace and wanted to tell her something. The line about losing someone/thing he loved line was odd too. His lawyer should have tried to steer that since the whole point of giving the interview was to make him look sympathetic in the eyes of the public. Assuming we have already met the killer who else could it be? One of the auction committee mothers was deadly jealous of her breasts? The school principal? The doorman (no, I am not serious)? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/27 "2020-11-20T00:29:07Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Nicole Kidman still looks good, though. Wait, Nicole Post-Botox looks good? I strongly disagree. (Oh, wait, do you think the ladies at Madame Tussaud’s are cute? If so, hey, you do you, keep watching.) I kind of look somewhere else when she’s onscreen. Like at Hugh Grant’s character… he’s aging gracefully. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/28 "2020-11-20T00:36:06Z")
But there is a very different perception of aging gracefully for men vs. women. Women can’t win. They either get criticized for looking unnatural or for looking old. I think Kidman looks fine. I think Grant just looks old, which is also fine because he is not a kid anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/29 "2020-11-20T00:50:06Z")
Now that I think about it the doctor Grace went to see at the hospital, the one who worked with her husband seemed more nervous than he should be over an NDA. Wonder if he was caught up in some shenanigans involving Elena or was possibly involved in her murder. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/30 "2020-11-20T00:57:53Z")
> [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](#): > > Now that I think about it the doctor Grace went to see at the hospital, the one who worked with her husband seemed more nervous than he should be over an NDA. . That’s a very good point. He was a bit overly-freaked. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/31 "2020-11-20T19:59:29Z")
I finished the book just prior to this airing in the UK and on reading the description of Grace as dark haired, 5’ 2" early 40’s, native New Yorker jewish woman, I remember thinking - “Nicole Kidman!” The show has already diverged massively from the book, so I don’t think I have spoilers. Hugh Grant makes me truly believe Domonic West was unavailable. The latino cop is mentioned by Elindel\_s Heir is played by Edgar Ramirez who played Versace in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. MiM ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/32 "2020-11-21T21:42:03Z")
> [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](#): > > But there is a very different perception of aging gracefully for men vs. women. Women can’t win. They either get criticized for looking unnatural or for looking old. I think Kidman looks fine. I think Grant just looks old, which is also fine because he is not a kid anymore. I think they both look OK, although Kidman looks a bit too… plasticky for my taste. Personally, I would always rather a woman age naturally rather than desperately try, through surgery, botox, makeup, lens trickery, etc., to hang onto her youthful looks. It’s impossible and the result is almost always either scary or pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/33 "2020-11-21T22:11:44Z")
I don’t think casting directors take the same view. Anyway, I would rather talk about the show instead of Kidman’s appearance so won’t comment on it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/34 "2020-11-23T16:10:12Z")
**Ep 5:** Well, I didn’t see _that_ coming! The only non-guilty explanation I can come up with is he found the mallet in the home, left there by dad or mom, and he cleaned and hid it to protect them. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/35 "2020-11-23T17:25:07Z")
or mom, dad, grandad or someone else planted it in the kids room. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/36 "2020-11-23T21:41:30Z")
Possible, but if you were going to plant it (with the intent of incriminating someone), why pick the least likely plausible suspect? Why not plant it in Alvez’ home/property? One thing they are giving us that, for me, really stretches believability (if they _want_ us to believe it), is that Grace, a successful, experienced psychologist and therapist, didn’t notice in 20 years of marriage that her husband is a sociopath (ref sister’s death) ? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/37 "2020-11-24T01:10:44Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > One thing they are giving us that, for me, really stretches believability (if they _want_ us to believe it), is that Grace, a successful, experienced psychologist and therapist, didn’t notice in 20 years of marriage that her husband is a sociopath (ref sister’s death) ? . Well, recall that the title of the novel on which this is based is _You Should Have Known_. So… ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/38 "2020-11-24T14:31:16Z")
they certainly are making various people seem to be guilty. Don’t care who it is as long as the ending is good ---
**Author:** ![icantdraw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3ec8ea/32.png) [@icantdraw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icantdraw)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/39 "2020-11-25T17:53:01Z")
I had really thought that he had hypnotized Grace, and she had done it, but didn’t know it. When he went to her in the hospital, he did some things like “watch my finger…” that seemed a bit like a hypnotic ritual. Anyway, I’m moving away from that theory. I’m enjoying it, even though some of the actions are implausible. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585/40 "2020-11-26T04:43:06Z")
I anticipated the reveal of the hammer about 20 seconds before she actually found it. And why would she be tidying her son’s room while he’s asleep? Typically implausible courtroom scenes, too. The prosecutor’s opening statement to the jury sucked, and her abrupt display of the gruesome crime-scene photos would be more likely get the jury upset at _her_ than at the defendant. She also should’ve been objecting a lot more - and actually getting rulings from the judge - than she was during the cross examination of the victim’s seething husband. And the blonde lawyer friend of Grace’s is actually going to stand there and wave to her before sitting down? Yeesh. And all those questions about who was or is getting psych help would almost certainly have been handled by motion before the jury was ever seated. That’s Hollywood for you. The plot has unfolded in such a way that just about anyone could semi-plausibly be the killer. But will we ever hear Connie Chung’s inevitable followup question and the doctor’s reveal of who _he_ thinks killed the young mom…? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-undoing-hbo/924585.md?page=3)