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"The Undoing" Overestimated Hugh Grant's Charm And Nicole Kidman's Green Coat
Not even Nicole Kidman's green jacket could save the new HBO series.
11.30.2020
An emerald green coat rarely carries a show as heavy as an HBO drama, but Nicole Kidman's did so admirably in The Undoing.
Besides Kidman's definitively stunning costumes (that green coat deserves an Emmy), there were very few concrete takeaways from The Undoing, the new HBO limited series based on the book You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Still, it's worth noting that the show, which premiered October 25th to favorable reception, had a very promising start.
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODMxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODMxNDg5N30.uVI5OWchpttit6A5mbFh2IYAYhyZlOPAZYCuUklS6lQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="05625" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2468260099db0039e9a361c8ad87834b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Nicole Kidman in the Undoing">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The green coat in question</small></p><p>Audiences are invited into the ritzy world of Jonathan and Grace Fraser (Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman), a wealthy Manhattan couple who seem to have something close to a perfect life. They share a bright and affectionate 12-year-old son, Henry, both work as doctors (Clare as a clinical psychologist and Jonathan as a pediatric oncologist), and seem to be genuinely enamored with each other.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-630"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - underfirst11 - under_first_paragraph --></p><p>But things begin to come undone (if you will) when Elena Alves, the mother of a scholarship student at Henry's prestigious school, joins Grace's group of parents to plan a charity event. The newcomer soon begins to fixate on Grace, even kissing her, much to Grace's fascination and bewilderment. </p><p>But things take a dark turn when Alves is found dead in her studio. We quickly learn that Jonathan is accused of the murder. He treated her son for cancer a year prior, soon beginning a romantic affair with Alves which persisted even after it caused him to lose his job. Even more damningly, the police conclude that the pair had sex the night Alves died, and Jonathan fled the city shortly after her body was discovered by her young son. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>As each episode dropped weekly, the audience was left questioning who was truly behind the murder and just how guilty Jonathan was. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p></p><center><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- Popdust Mobile Banner 320x100 --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:320px;height:100px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4301469008561137" data-ad-slot="6952751205"></ins><script>
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</script></center><p></p><p>We see the majority of the world of the show through Grace's eyes. Kidman plays the role of the spinning, blindsided wife beautifully, staying just aloof enough to give the audience room to question her true motives.</p><h2>**SPOILERS AHEAD**</h2><p>The series shines brightest when it gives Kidman the reins, and Grace's waffling between love for her husband and disgust at his possible monstrosity should have been the heart of the series. </p><p>Instead, her inner turmoil is relegated to the background in favor of carefully orchestrated cliff-hangers, red herrings, and heavy-handed court scenes. The show's myriad sins could have been forgiven had it delivered the twist it seemed to promise from the beginning; but in the end, we find out that Jonathan murdered Elena precisely the way the police suspected he did. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>While the ending is not in and of itself disappointing, it seems that the show we see in the first few episodes is not the same show by the finale. We're given so many little tidbits — from Grace's appearance on the security camera outside Elena's apartment to the nosy best friend who seems to have surely had an affair with Jonathan, from the omnipresence of Grace's absurdly wealthy father (played by Donald Sutherland) to Henry's concealed knowledge of his father's affair — that all seem to suggest there's more going on than what meets the eye.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODMxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTI3ODg3OX0.S8vHSIt_bGqtHKZiJsKwwUzfvQSilKu_cLnlNHPnJIc/img.jpg?width=980" id="941df" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="da4edb23f31a3dbed76659ddc3ae0281" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt='Nicole Kidman and Donald Sutherland "The Undoing"'>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) and her father (Donald Sutherland) </small></p><p>Of course, it's clear what the show is trying to say: "Look how far you'll go to excuse the guilt of a charming, wealthy, white man. Look! Even his wife didn't see him for what he was! Of course it was him. Why did you think it wasn't?!"<br></p><p>And, admittedly, Hugh Grant does some of his best acting to date in <em>The Undoing. </em>Jonathan is charming, funny, and warm, and Grant does an admirable job portraying a man who seems to genuinely believe he doesn't deserve the misfortune that's befallen him. But the show seems to assume that Grant will wrap the audience around his finger as easily as Jonathan does the characters in the show. In reality, after the first episode, there is very little to like about Grant's character. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>It seems the producers of <em>The Undoing </em>were banking on winning the audience's allegiance with Grant's charming, crooked grin and the human tendency to equate moral goodness with wealth and education. To their credit, if one had started the finale of the show genuinely hoping that the Frasers would be reunited as a family, Jonathan's guilt would likely have come as a stirring surprise. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>But in reality, people are much less sympathetic to lying, wealthy, white men than they once were. HBO underestimated their audience. </p><p>Whether a murderer or not, Jonathan is presented as a liar who took advantage of a young woman while her son had cancer. He then lies to his wife for months after losing his job, and initiates sex with her after (supposedly) seeing his lover dead on the floor. Still, it's obvious we were meant to root for him, but viewers were much less ready to forgive their favorite <em>Knotting Hill</em> actor for his more minor indiscretions than HBO apparently presumed. This viewer, for one, thought it was obvious from the start that Jonathan was guilty of the crime in question and even if he wasn't, Grace should leave her slimy husband behind.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0ODM5MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyODYxNDI0M30.2WyBXm8IgzsiWTgG0yvav7xSCwLHKGHUpi3SEiTZqc8/img.jpg?width=980" id="df6ec" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d33eb6cc2ee9016c6056adf5746dfdb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt='Hugh Grant "The Undoing"'>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Hugh Grant in "The Undoing" Finale</small></p><p>Additionally, the moral questions asked of the audience would have been much more provocative had the show not offered us so many viable other culprits or spent so much time trying to mislead us. If we had been allowed deeper into the inner workings of Grace's mind as she did the mental gymnastics of trying to acquit her husband, or even if we were shown more of Jonathan and Grace as a happy couple before the murder, then the revelation of Jonathan's guilt would likely have packed a bigger punch.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>But perhaps the biggest miss on the show's part was the excellent characters it underutilized. Alves is played by the truly arresting Matilda De Angelis; and frankly, the show squandered her potential. Her character is presented as nothing more than an exotic, overly sensuous fascination — and then collateral damage — of a rich white couple. Her brief time on screen is spent naked, in partial undress, crying or screaming. </p><p>While the whole series is supposedly about Alves' murder, she still manages to be almost entirely irrelevant to the plot. The show even gives some credence to Jonathan's claims that she was something of a crazy stalker, not entirely implying that her death was her fault, but certainly letting audiences know that she wasn't completely blameless in bringing about her own murder. </p><p>We would be remiss not to also point out that a show about white people emotionally dealing with the murder of a woman of color, a woman who is never fully humanized on screen, feels more than a little regressive. Of course, part of the intended narrative is obviously a discussion of the power of white privilege in the justice system. Still, they could have at least bothered to give Elena a personality. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-640"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent44 - longest_content --></p><p>Summarily, while Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman brought considerable star power and admirable performances to the project, by the time the series finale wrapped up last night, this viewer couldn't help but feel like the gasp they were expecting from us was more of a quiet exhalation of disappointment. </p><p>Even that truly superb green coat couldn't resuscitate <em>The Undoing</em>. </p>
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The Monolith In Utah
New York Post
2020 just keeps getting weirder.
The latest incident began when a group of officers from the Utah Department of Public Safety's Aero Bureau spotted something strange. The group was flying over rural Utah and counting bighorn sheep when they noticed a gleaming, alien-looking entity in the middle of nowhere.
"One of the biologists...spotted it, and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it," said pilot Bret Hutchings. "He was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!' And I was like, 'What.' And he's like, 'There's this thing back there—we've got to go look at it!"
The "thing" was a metallic, prism-shaped monolith, standing about 12 feet high and reflecting the desert sun.
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<!-- End Ezoic - under_second_paragraph - under_second_paragraph --><p></p><h4>Aliens or Art?</h4><p>Most people have concluded that the monolith was simply the work of an ambitious Earth-based artist. Some are even guessing at who that artist might be. Some have suggested it is the creation of John McCracken, a minimalist artist who died in 2011, or the work of a McCracken imitator. </p><p>Either way, no one is quite sure how the object arrived. "Somebody took the time to use some type of concrete-cutting tool or something to really dig down, almost in the exact shape of the object, and embed it really well," said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/us/monolith-utah-disappeared.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Lt. Nick Street</u></a>, a Department of Public Safety spokesperson.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-632"></div>
<!-- End Ezoic - undersecond12 - under_second_paragraph --></p><p>"It's odd. There are roads close by, but to haul the materials to cut into the rock, and haul the metal, which is taller than 12 feet in sections — to do all that in that remote spot is definitely interesting," Street said.</p><p>The monolith immediately sparked public interest, reminding many people of a scene from <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> wherein a black monolith mysteriously appears. Of course, in the film, the monolith is the work of an unnamed alien race.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDg0NzU2Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MjM3MDk3M30.t3e3tBrcKh2SYGXKATqkHpkgwJAd8sif6hsHqEXnIgw/img.jpg?width=980" id="e347e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="289d6a93509b457f3d553ac12767fc8e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Monolith 2001 A Space Odyssey">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Monolith</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">The monolith in <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/mysterious-metal-monolith-in-utah-disappears-days-after-it-was-discovered-12145743?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter" target="_blank">2001: a space odyssey </a></small></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-633"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent1 - mid_content --></p><p>When the story broke, many people immediately began to speculate about it, presuming the installation was the work of extraterrestrials. <em>CBS News</em> described it as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monolith-found-utah-red-rock-country/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>"alien-like,</u></a>" and online conspiracy theorists have proposed many possible mysterious origins.<br></p><p>The Utah Department of Public Safety fueled the fire by refusing to disclose the object's exact location; of course, obsessive Internet users quickly found it. </p><h4>The Monolith Mysteriously Disappears</h4><p>To add even more mystery and intrigue, as of Friday, November 27th, the monolith has reportedly disappeared. Some intrepid explorers managed to discover its location, which they said was south of the Moab desert, but when some of them arrived to photograph it on Friday, it was gone.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-634"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent11 - mid_content --></p><p>One of the explorers, Riccardo Marino, posted about the event on Instagram. "All that was left in its place was a message written in the dirt that said 'bye b*tch' with a fresh pee stain right next to it. Someone had just stolen the statue, and we were the first to arrive at the scene."</p><p>Marino also said that on his way to the monolith, he passed a pickup truck carrying a large object that he now believes was the structure itself. </p><p><strong>If this is all the work of aliens, they're surprisingly well-versed in modern American lingo.</strong> On the other hand, the heist could also have been the work of an invasive human who has just brought a curse upon our planet by stealing the monolith. Or it all could've been one massive joke, the perfect way to distract us from our 2020 misery.</p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-635"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent2 - long_content --></p><div id="4419e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c5bcda02f8756b1eba2103627a4ea738"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1333207303852613632" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We may not know if an extraterrestrial or earthling installed the “monolith” structure, but we can confirm that it… https://t.co/MeTDdMolBZ</div> — BLM Utah (@BLM Utah)<a href="https://twitter.com/BLMUtah/statuses/1333207303852613632">1606696365.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The Utah Department of Public Safety had a more exuberant reaction. "IT'S GONE!" they wrote on Instagram. "Almost as quickly as it appeared it has now disappeared," adding that they can only speculate that aliens (symbolized by an alien emoji) were responsible.<br></p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-636"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent22 - long_content --></p><p>The three-sided structure was removed "by an unknown party," according to an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/us/monolith-utah-disappeared.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>official statement</u></a> from the Bureau of Federal Land Management.</p><p>Its disappearance is being investigated by the local sheriff's office, since the monolith is considered private property. If it was removed by someone other than the artist who installed it, this could be a case of a very strange art heist.</p><p>This week, the monolith has become the subject of very public fascination. "We recognize the incredible interest the 'monolith' has generated world-wide. Many people have been enjoying the mystery and view it as a welcome distraction from the 2020 news cycle," Monticello Field Manager Amber Denton Johnson said in a statement. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-637"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent3 - longer_content --></p><p>"Even so, it was installed without authorization on public lands, and the site is in a remote area without services for the large number of people who now want to see it. Whenever you visit public lands please follow <a href="https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/" target="_blank">Leave No Trace principles</a> and Federal and local laws and guidance." </p><p>Even aliens aren't free from the feds, it seems.</p><h4>2020: Year of Aliens</h4><p>2020 has been a year of calamitous pandemics, protests, and politics; but in between it all, news flashes about aliens keep popping up like little winks from the beyond—perhaps reminding us that we're not alone. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-638"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent33 - longer_content --></p><p>In April, the Pentagon released <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/28/even-ufos-fail-to-shock-americans-in-insane-2020/" target="_blank"><u>two videos of unidentified objects</u></a>, filmed in 2004 and 2015, respectively. In June, scientists released a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alien-civilizations-intelligent-milky-way-study/" target="_blank"><u>study</u></a> that said there may be more than 38 alien civilizations in the Milky Way. In July, the Pentagon revealed that they were tracking unidentified aircrafts as part of their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/us/politics/pentagon-ufo-harry-reid-navy.html" target="_blank"><u>U.F.O. unit</u></a>. In September, astronomers discovered evidence of possible <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html" target="_blank"><u>life on Venus</u></a>.</p><p>UFO sightings have <a href="https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/alien-invasion-latest-2020-threat-ufo-sightings-shoot-ny" target="_blank"><u>spiked in 2020</u></a>, with everyone from <a href="https://www.popdust.com/ufo-sightings-2648461814.html" target="_self"><u>Demi Lovato</u></a> to <a href="https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/alien-invasion-latest-2020-threat-ufo-sightings-shoot-ny" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Staten Island locals</u></a> reporting alien sightings this year. Odd news stories keep popping up, like the time a former astronaut told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2020/02/29/former-astronaut-suggests-alien-beings-are-here-on-earth-if-so-maybe-they-are-waiting-for-ai-self-driving-cars-to-emerge/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u><em>Forbes</em></u></a> aliens are definitely real and they could be here on Earth. </p><p><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-639"> </div>
<!-- End Ezoic - incontent4 - longest_content --></p><p>"It's possible they're here right now and we simply can't see them," said astronaut Helen Patricia Sharman. "Aliens exist, there's no two ways about it." </p><p>Mysteriously, Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, was just elected to the U.S. Senate in Arizona. Perhaps last year's <a href="https://www.popdust.com/area-51-memes-2639198368.html" target="_self"><u>Area 51 invaders</u></a> were more successful than we thought.</p><p><strong>The question is: Would it even matter if aliens installed this monolith? </strong></p><p>"At this point, Aliens taking control of the world doesn't seem that bad," wrote one Twitter user. Hopefully, if aliens are responsible, they're not too mad that a pickup-driving, foulmouthed American stole their monolith — though their interactions do sound like excellent fodder for a film.</p><div id="579e6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="57f95f8df3b35f981115c283cbc2ba81"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1254804438700654599" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">@CBSNews At this point, Aliens taking control of the world doesn’t seem that bad. They probably read Trumps tweets</div> — Caroline.Jea (@Caroline.Jea)<a href="https://twitter.com/CarolineJP11/statuses/1254804438700654599">1588003665.0</a></blockquote></div><h2></h2><p><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
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