The Undoing Review: The Bloody Truth (Season 1 Episode 6)
Occam’s Razor, while hard to discount, doesn’t always amount to the most entertaining of climaxes.
The simplest explanation turns out to be the right one on The Undoing Season 1 Episode 6, “The Bloody Truth,” and while the trial itself is a source of acting masterclasses and bright hot drama, the pieces around it suffer as a result.
The explanation for the sculpting hammer comes fast and furious, thankfully, and leaves pretty much nothing up to chance. Jonathan can gaslight us and his family all he wants with passing the blame onto Fernando, but it’s quite clear what the truth is by this point.
The moment Jonathan passes blame onto Henry, though, even as a defense mechanism in the moment, his undoing is set in stone. He may not realize it yet, but the feeling is palpable. His need to deflect knows no bounds, and that scene, and his justification to Henry that that’s “not him,” a line he uses several times, says so much about him.
The trial turns out to be that chance for Grace to take back her urgency, and Nicole Kidman nails every single beat of it. This feeling of entrapment breaks way to realization as Catherine questions her rather pointedly about a private conversation, and Grace’s endgame is fully revealed.
This is no longer about protecting the family as a whole, but solely about protecting Henry. Grace makes sure to massage the defense testimony so that she appears friendly before the big bomb is dropped, and this is where The Undoing does great work, with the gradual reveal of the truth.
It’s also the best moment for Hugh Grant, as the same realization dawns over Jonathan and he has nothing he can do but watch.
It’s wonderfully gripping how barely any words are spoken by Jonathan during this scene or even by Grace once Catherine takes over to hammer it home, but their performances still tower just in their faces as the marriage is effectively annulled in real-time.
The car drive that ends up feeling a little like O. J. Simpson’s Bronco ride gives credence to the hardened narcissism devouring Jonathan, but it also leaves this strange aura over this moment that should be painful and terrifying.
Instead we’re left with singing and occasional outbursts, which may work and speak to Jonathan’s character as he realizes it’s all over, but for us as the audience, it feels a little out of place. He’s trying to put a happy spin on a hopeless situation, but there’s this disconnect to these traumatic events transpiring.
Noah Jupe does great here, however, as the desperation of the situation and the realization that his father is now too far gone dawns on him. Jupe has been outstanding on all six episodes, and hopefully has a bright future ahead as more projects come his way.
The ending, where it basically just ends, does leave a bit of a sour taste. There’s resolution, sure, but it immediately cuts off at that resolution. We don’t see Henry after this severely traumatic event, we don’t see Grace and how she feels nearly losing her son, and we don’t see what comes of Jonathan now that he’s captured.
In the moment, it’s a resolution as the horror has now come to a close, but emotionally, it feels like we’re cut off and not given the chance to breathe in the story. It’s a little disappointing, but doesn’t end up hurting the overall series.
We know Jonathan kills Elena, and we see the act itself in its violent truth. That’s the ending, one can suppose, as we know who the killer is, and he’s now arrested. But a little more could go a long way, even though the episode is running longer than usual.
The Undoing, as a whole, is a very solid limited series, and another win for the Kidman/Kelley team-up that hopefully becomes a continuous thing into the future. Even if there are moments that come off as rushed or ill-prepared, there are those powerhouse performers at the forefront, lending so much to the twists and turns of this murder mystery.
Hopefully Susanne Bier comes along for the ride again, too, as her recent limited series work both here and on The Night Manager has been utterly fantastic. There’s a crispness and a hard honesty to her direction that really goes a long way with these episodes, and she helps make The Undoing a very successful follow-up to Big Little Lies, even with the bumpy ending.
What did you think of this episode of The Undoing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Undoing airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.
2 comments
Overall very entertaining mini-series. Kidman is a goddess, Grant deserves an Emmy and Sutherland makes the most of his limited screen time. Yes, the finale seems a bit Seinfeld-ish in its inability to match its predecessor episodes in quality, but hey, controversy never hurts the water-cooler factor.
Acting masterclasses??? Mothers don’t talk to and behave with their children the way Nicole Kidman did in this series. The same could be said about how she reacts to her husband. As an actress, she is incapable of portraying the quirks and oddities of close interpersonal relationships. She acts like an automaton. In episode five, she had to smile briefly. They had to use a face double.
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