The Undoing
By Marty Brown,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Slow psychological thriller has nudity, sexual content.
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The Undoing
Community Reviews
Based on 2 parent reviews
Too much too soon
Fun miniseries
What's the Story?
THE UNDOING takes place among a circle of parents whose children all attend the prestigious Reardon School in Manhattan. Grace (Nicole Kidman) is a therapist who is helping the other mothers plan a fancy auction fundraiser for the school. Another mother, Elena (Matilda De Angelis), shows up to a planning meeting to help, but seems awkward and doesn't quite fit in with the others. When Elena is found dead the day after the fundraiser, Grace finds out her husband (Hugh Grant) is a suspect in her killing.
Is It Any Good?
It's tough for a psychological thriller to be good when the characters don't actually have inner lives. The Undoing -- which attempts to follow in the footsteps of recent successful HBO miniseries Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects (but feels incredibly shallow in comparison) -- hinges upon the relationship between Grace (Nicole Kidman) and Jonathan (Hugh Grant), but there's nothing especially interesting about them. Instead, it becomes clear that Grace is the nicest person in a group of snooty socialites, which is maybe one of the least dramatic things for a show to be about. Among other things, Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects made the most of their coastal California and rural Missouri settings. The Undoing, on the other hand, makes upper Manhattan look like an anonymous collection of parking structures and crosswalks. If it were aiming for style over substance that would be one thing, but The Undoing doesn't have much of either.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the murder. Who is Elena? How do the other characters feel about her? Is there something mysterious about her? How is the relationship between Grace and Elena different from the relationships between Grace and the other mothers?
What do we know about Grace and her family? How does Grace's work affect how she relates to her family and friends? What do we learn about Grace and her family as the show evolves? How does that change how you feel about them?
What do we know about the Reardon School? How does the school inform the characters' relationships? Do you think the show has a point-of-view about the school and the parents? What might it be?
TV Details
- Premiere date: October 25, 2020
- Cast: Nicole Kidman , Hugh Grant , Noah Jupe , Donald Sutherland
- Network: HBO
- Genre: Drama
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: January 25, 2023
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