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The Undoing

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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64

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 58 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	Your Score
6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 58 Ratings

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The Undoing: Creating The Twist-Filled Love Letter To New York

Now Playing: The Undoing: Creating The Twist-Filled Love Letter To New York

The Undoing

Series Details & Credits

HBO | Release Date: October 25, 2020

Summary: Grace Sachs (Kidman) seemingly perfect life unravels when her husband (Hugh Grant) disappears in this limited series from David E. Kelley based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's book You Should Have Known.

Creator: David E. Kelley

Genre(s): Drama, Movie/Mini-Series, Suspense

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Recent Episodes

tbd
S1:E6. The Bloody Truth
Air Date: November 29, 2020
tbd
S1:E5. Trial by Fury
Air Date: November 22, 2020
tbd
S1:E4. See No Evil
Air Date: November 15, 2020

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

64

Positive:

15

Mixed:

15

Negative:

2

Critic Reviews

100

Reason.com

Glenn Garvin

Oct 23, 2020

Season 1 Review: A murder story so full of plot twists and turns, so many characters shedding snakish skins, that it's nearly impossible to write about with scattering spoilers around like confetti. Yet in no way does it turn on plot gimmickry. It's about trust and relationships, authenticity and appearances, verisimilitude and veneers. Read full review

83

Collider Jeff Sneider

Oct 12, 2020

Season 1 Review: This is an entertaining story that’s well-performed by an impressive cast, so here’s hoping the final episodes show me something I haven’t seen before. Read full review

80

New York Magazine (Vulture)

Jen Chaney

Oct 21, 2020

Season 1 Review: It offers a moody sense of atmosphere, a welcome reminder of New York’s pre-pandemic days (the series was shot in 2019), fine acting, and a seductive mystery that will likely lure in even viewers who try to resist it. It is chilly in here, yes. Nevertheless, you’ll still want to stay a while. Read full review

60

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Rob Owen

Oct 22, 2020

Season 1 Review: Early on “The Undoing” seems like it may cast a spell, too, but that feeling wears off. Read full review

50

The New Yorker

Naomi Fry

Nov 12, 2020

Season 1 Review: “The Undoing” is not subtle, which at first I didn’t mind. The pilot episode hit the exact pleasure center between mild critique and life-style porn. ... At least [“Little Fires Everywhere”] makes an attempt to contend with some of the questions of race and class that it raises. In “The Undoing,” such questions are made irrelevant. Read full review

50

Washington Post

Hank Stuever

Oct 22, 2020

Season 1 Review: On the surface it may look similar to “Big Little Lies,” but in the ways that count, it is darker, slower and not as captivating. ... By the fifth episode (HBO provided all but the sixth and final episode for this review), the story feels fully spent and too thinly stretched. Beauty and mood can take things only so far. Read full review

25

IndieWire Ben Travers

Oct 21, 2020

Season 1 Review: Shot like a pulpy ’90s erotic thriller by Susanne Bier and stretched thinner than the Netflix version it echoes (remember “Gypsy”?), there’s very little entertainment to be had here, and even less of a purpose. Read full review

SEE ALL 32 REVIEWS

Write a Review

6.6

User Reviews

10

priyaRai

Feb 27, 2022

I binged watched the entire show in one night. I couldn't stop watching. Every single part is played so incredibly well and when it ends, you're left with your jaw on the ground. I know it's based on a book, but it's so well written. If you're into psychological thriller, you'll love this.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

10

manningn15

Jan 17, 2021

The Undoing was a very interesting and intriguing mystery and one of my favorite miniseries I've seen. The acting from Nicole Kidman and Huge Grant was phenomenal, they gave very strong emotionally powerful performances. Noma Dumezweni, Donald Sutherland, Matilda De Angelis, and Noah JupeThe Undoing was a very interesting and intriguing mystery and one of my favorite miniseries I've seen. The acting from Nicole Kidman and Huge Grant was phenomenal, they gave very strong emotionally powerful performances. Noma Dumezweni, Donald Sutherland, Matilda De Angelis, and Noah Jupe gave outstanding supporting performances. The costumes were spectacular especially ones wore by Nicole Kidman. The makeup and hairstyling was excellent especially on Nicole Kidman. The music was superb. Nicole sounded beautiful performing the opening theme song. The writing was ok but not the best, the story and character development were not the strongest and just not that well developed and they didn't have much depth.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

9

andy24king24

Dec 1, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Be aware there are spoilers. The thing I love about this series is the actors and the cast, the writing, New York. Every episode is full of intrigue and suspense. And as we build up to last nights finale for me I felt somewhat of an anti climax. All the way thru it the suspect is Hugh Grant. Every episode try’s to give you another suspect or something to look at to divert away from Grant. And just to say Hugh Grant is awesome. And by episode 6 it all comes clear in all its bloody glory who the suspect is and it’s Hugh Grant. All the way thru it’s Grant. But for me the star of this series is Nicole Kidman, she is awesome. A brilliant series that builds and builds great suspense and just a bit kind of I told you it was him feeling. Grant and Kidman’s awesome, directing was spot on but it wasn’t perfect but so close.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

6

kingak

Nov 24, 2020

The performances are great. The directing- great. The plot- interesting. Scenography, costumes, soundtrack fine. Everything seems to be working and yet it's not. Script is unbearably pretentious. Writers were trying to make the show so 'intellectual' and 'smart' and 'wow so many deepThe performances are great. The directing- great. The plot- interesting. Scenography, costumes, soundtrack fine. Everything seems to be working and yet it's not. Script is unbearably pretentious. Writers were trying to make the show so 'intellectual' and 'smart' and 'wow so many deep speeches' that it's hard to watch. It's sad because it had so much potential. Well, next time HBO.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

5

Ruabadfsh2

Feb 17, 2021

A great lead up to a disappointing end. Overall the acting and characters are brilliant but I am very disappointed in the unsatisfying conclusion.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

4

Method__Man

Nov 13, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Acting is top notch. But once again, another colour desaturated boring “mystery” thriller with supremely stupid characters. Basically every episode is a slog waiting to see what stupid thing the cast does next.

I am starting to get tires of these grey colour, grey plot, grey drama shows.

And the whole not getting a lawyer thing, in the USA? No one does that.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

2

lipino

Apr 16, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This show accidentally almost became great, then didn’t.

I went into this show fresh, not knowing anything about it. Turned out to be a captivating murder mystery. When it looked like Grace might be the murderer, it was a great Gone Girl-esque twist. But it wasn’t for sure yet - there were still other clues, others with motive. And still the possibility that it was just a random attack, that sucked these people into a whirlwind of attention and suspicion that would expose their secrets. Brilliant!

Then the courtroom scenes started, and I raised an eyebrow. The worst courtroom depiction I’ve ever seen. The bad writing seemed out of place for such a clever show. The show started to drag.

Then the huge twist - it was the son! The one person I didn’t expect. I thought, what a twist, well done. I couldn’t wait to see how they would deal with that. Surely Grace would try to cover it up. They wouldn’t just leave her as a one-dimensional doll-like character - this would really challenge her and her father and reveal their true colors. And how would Jonathan deal with that? He was obviously a sociopath and completely self-interested, but on the other hand it was his son. Could the sociopath throw his son under the bus to save himself? What a dilemma. And then episode 6 happened. It was a possible ending that I had feared, hoped against. I know the trend in Hollywood. I know Gone Girl was an exception. I know it’s always the white man, in the end. I know the white women are perfect and infallible. As a reviewer on Vulture said in her negative review, “…a revenge fantasy…A trio of white women conspired to give a terrible white man his comeuppance.”

People who liked it say the show turned the audience into “the wife who stands by her man” and showed us all how easy it is to be duped. The problem is we don’t relate to Grace at all. There is nothing relatable about her, unless you have a vacation home in the Hamptons. We don’t like Jonathan either. We know he was faking emotion about his sister, we believe that he’s a sociopath. He had a baby with his mistress. We are not rooting for him. We take glee in seeing him go through this - this is his punishment. But just because he’s a sociopath doesn’t mean he’s a killer. I thought the final twist was that the son got the same gene, except he actually got violent.

Instead we got a bizarre ending. Shades of Bill Murray taking the groundhog hostage and driving off a cliff.

What really happened is the show’s creators accidentally stumbled onto something far better than what the show actually was. It was an accidentally great show, for a minute, in a genre it didn’t intend to be in. It almost became Knives Out.
And now the bad writing makes more sense. The worst courtroom scenes ever. A total mistrial. That didn’t make sense when I thought this was a smart show. It makes sense now. That is real twist.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 15 REVIEWS

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Seasons & Episodes

64

Series Overview
Season 1

64
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: October 25, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E6. The Bloody Truth
  Air Date: November 29, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E5. Trial by Fury
  Air Date: November 22, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E4. See No Evil
  Air Date: November 15, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E3. Do No Harm
  Air Date: November 8, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E2. The Missing
  Air Date: November 1, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E1. The Undoing
  Air Date: October 25, 2020