Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Noah Jupe, Donald Sutherland, Edgar Ramirez, Lily Rabe, Matilda De Angelis, Edan Alexander, Michael Devine, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Jeremy Shamos, Madeline Faye Santoriello, Irma-Estel LaGuerre, Noma Dumezweni, Billy Lake, Douglas Hodge, Fala Chen, Tarik Davis, Maria Dizzia, Vedette Lim, Janet Moloney, Jason Kravits, Matt McGrath.
If the year has taught television audiences anything it that the court room drama, if handled and written with care and objectivity, can still grip the viewer and have them on the edge of the seat; and if you can get past the search for the face of the suspect and concentrate on the why rather than the who, then the investment will have been worth it.
Almost every conceivable angle though has been explored in such dramas, from the surprise last minute witness who throws the case into disarray and on to the breaking down of the suspect in the witness box, full of remorse or wanting the attention in which to deliver their diatribe and judgement on those they believe have done them wrong; there may be nothing new under the sun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t attempt to deliver a new slant to which will have the audience foaming at the mouth as justice is delivered.
Rather than aiding and abetting the final reveal, David Kelley’s adaption of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel You Should Have Known instead uses the psychology of the viewer’s expectations against them and in The Undoing, the sense of bias is prevalent, demanding, and overwhelming enough to make the audience question their version of truth based on the character’s portrayal by the actor, rather than trusting their own gut instinct.
We use conformation bias every day, it arguably isn’t right, maybe understandable to a degree, but it means that we are almost unflinching in our preconception and favouritism, we use it in small things, resolutely believing that our consumption of our favourite daily beverage cannot be changed because nothing else will taste better. Through to our dogmatic and entrenched opinion that a person we detest is nothing other than guilty of the crime they have been accused of and then not believing the absolution of the person, claiming they always looked guilty, that they should never be allowed out on the streets again.
The Undoing may not reach the high for example of other court room dramas to have graced the small screen, but it clings hard and fast to its own device, to show the prejudice in the viewer when confronted with a resolution they don’t like. Again there is perhaps nothing wrong in sticking to your guns and wanting to believe, in this case, that a certain character could not be guilty of murder, but it does show the psychology of all willing to be the armchair detective.
With excellent performances by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant as Grace and Jonathan Fraser, Noma Dumezweni as Haley Fitzgerald and Noah Jupe as Henry Fitzgerald, The Undoing is a lesson in ignoring the preference, of tuning out from what you want to believe and instead concentrating on what your gut tells you.
The Undoing is a highly polished drama to which the tables are turned on the viewer, not with absolute spectacular vision, but enough to make the six-part series attention-grabbing.
Ian D. Hall