The complex world of ‘The Undoing’
By: Deep Basu
Tags: Hugh Grant, Books, TV Shows, Nicole Kidman, TV Series

Image from HBO Max

Imagine this. It’s a bright January morning in downtown Manhattan in New York, the chill in the air has made most people layer up in their bright woolens, some people are rushing to work with a Starbucks cappuccino in their hands while some are returning after a morning run with their pets. Yellow cabs on the street making New York look like well... New York and beautiful stores on either side still have their Christmas decors on. Amidst all of this, there’s a beautiful woman, maybe of 45, golden hair, hourglass figure and wearing a green overcoat and a coffee in her hand crosses the road and enters a high rise. I am sure you must have pictured it all by now, barring that the lady was Nicole Kidman. There, I just added a little more color to the road you were imagining.

Inspired by Jean Hanff Korelitz’s book, You Should Have Known, HBO’s new mini-series ‘The Undoing’ has many such scenes where Nicole Kidman playing the character of Dr. Grace Fraser, a successful psychiatrist in NYC, is as she calls it “walking.” What you would instantly feel about their lives is that they are rich and famous in the richest and famous part of the world. So, money is the least of their problems. Grace’s husband, Jonathan Fraser, a pediatric oncologist (played by a brilliant, 90s heart-throb English ‘Notting Hill’ actor) Hugh Grant is a typical ‘Englishman in New York’ who cracks the most elegant jokes and charms his way through. It is often said that his patient’s parents fall in love with him. The couple has a 12-year-old child, Henry who is happy living in their mansion and gets along with both the parents.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is what lies beneath the pile of money, power, and grandeur. The blinding lights of financial opulence can take your eyes off the underground lives of these people. But I urge you to take your blindfolds off and join me peeling the skin off this story, one emotion at a time. So, here are my five observations from the mini-series. Read on.

Riches

Image from Indiewire

I’ll be honest here. It is quite difficult taking your eyes off the beautiful mansions that the Frasers live in or Grace’s father (Franklin Reinhard) lives in. Right from the chandeliers to the piano which Franklin plays and apparently makes Grace remember her mother are elegant, of great choice, and very expensive. Their son has the latest iPhone, he goes to a very high-end school (Reardon) where the richest of the rich go to. The mothers host fundraisers and the fathers attend those. In the fundraiser scene, they were literally buying a glass of water of thousands of dollars in the auction and it looked like the people in the party were ridiculously rich. It kind of takes away the point of charity if you’re going to boast about it.

Enter Elena Alves, the mysterious un-American misfit. Her son goes to Reardoon thanks to a scholarship and she truly tries to make her way into the group. She reaches out to Grace a couple of times probably for help and Grace took a liking to her if not empathized with her. One thing was for sure — Elena was sad and was going through some sort of unease that was bothering her. Elena was not from the world of the elite and she was not enjoying being the outsider.

The rest of them, though, starting with Grace, Jonathan, Franklin, and Grace’s friend Sylvie who also is a part of the mom’s fundraiser group have all been dropped by the fashion God and the deity of the rich. Whether it is what they are wearing or what surrounds them, we cannot focus on the opulence on display. Easy viewing for the eye, at least!

Oblivion

Image from Time

When you wake up from sleep, if you are greeted with a fresh glass of juice or the freshly brewed coffee with the crunchiest toast with butter and a view to admire, I am not sure you possess the power anymore to see the muck in life. That’s what a lawyer in the show, Haley Fitzgerald says to Grace her job is — to create the ‘muck’ in others’ lives. Sometimes the rich are so blinded with money and power they forget there is a world beneath their feet. They forget to lift their feet to see that ‘muck’ they have stepped on.

Grace was busy with her psychiatric work, her clients, their lives, and their issues that she didn’t realize that some of the ‘muck’ has been thrown at her too. But I guess the detergent is so strong for the rich, it's easy to wipe off. So, when Jonathan has an affair with Elena, Grace is unable to see beyond Jonathan’s charming smile and sweet talk. She sees a doctor who wears a classy tuxedo and goes for doctor’s conferences in Cleveland. The glamour and the sense of success blinded her. Call it her ignorance, her love or her being simply foolish, she couldn’t see the writing on the wall that the same man who came back from work upset and hugged her in bed was not upset for a dead patient but was upset for an affair gone wrong. When you have a comfortable bed the bed cushions and bedsprings, it doesn’t keep you awake, unfortunately. It calls for great lovemaking and great sex.

But not quite passionate that was shared between Elena and Jonathan. I have to agree, Elena was a super hot woman. When she walked towards Grace without a shred of clothing on her body, I couldn’t help but admire the curves. It is impossible for a man watching this show to have not repeated that scene. So, if there were no social rules, I would totally get why Jonathan would be thinking even twice pressing his hands on Elena’s beautiful breasts and make wild love. It's a story of another day how that ended up though.

So, the point I am making is, people in this story are living in a building of oblivion. Grace is on the top floor where she cannot see obvious cheating happening while Jonathan rides high on the fact that he thought he would get away with the affair without his wife knowing at all. Rich people’s oblivious nature is pretty much inevitable. It’s borderline foolish!

Fear

Image from Forbes

When all breaks lose, everyone runs. There is no distinction between the rich and the poor. Nature or the law ideally doesn’t discriminate. So, fear is one of those feelings which goes beyond the strata of society.

In this story, everyone is scared of something and that honestly keeps us up with the pace of it. Grace is scared because she can see her world crumbling down in front of her eyes. There might be a reason why they have chosen Nicole Kidman to play this role because she essays the role of a rich yet depressed woman really well (remember Big Little Lies?). And they are right, she does a splendid job. Whether it's the fear of losing her husband, fear of losing her son amidst all the madness of losing herself in the mess her husband has created for all. Grace is bruised, sad yet strong as a personality. But she is definitely scared at what the future holds for her family.

We can also see Jonathan scared to lose his family too. Effortlessly played by Hugh Grant, Jonathan could be any of us caught in a big mess except for the fact that many might not cheat having Nicole Kidman at home! For me, Jonathan should have been treated and I do not support his deeds at all by saying this. His compulsive behavior when he is angry basically caused the mess to need treatment. His fears lie in his getting convicted for a long time and losing his son. That’s why even when he could see the police chasing him, he wanted to spend even the last few seconds with Henry because he was scared this might be the last time he is seeing him.

We must also not undermine the situation Henry is going through. All of 12, Henry is seeing his father garnering all the negative attention on the press. He had to make peace with the fact that his father loved some other woman. He was so scared to lose him again, he hid the murder weapon in a fireplace and. did not tell his mom. He is just a 12-year-old happy kid who wanted a normal life with both his parents together. It broke my heart watching his sitting by the window consuming all the news headlines on his phone asking for his father to be behind bars. Got to feel for him and his fears.

While fear is probably the strongest emotion, it does make us cautious and calculative. It makes us hide things from each other. Fear runs in the veins of the characters in this story. And it cannot be taken away that it triggered a lot of misconduct.

Nonchalance

Image from New York Times

Jonathan is a very complex character and I feel had the story stretched a little more, we would have gotten a glimpse of his psyche as well. Why did he do what he did, what prompted him to start the affair, and what made him flee? But, what I am most intrigued about Jonathan’s character is the total nonchalance with which he carries his lies.

It is impossible to not be charmed by Dr. Jonathan Fraser. He is the most empathetic doctor, takes care of the kids so much so that he said ‘Miguel was like a son to him’, loves his wife and son, is funny, sweet talker, and great looking. I mean there is Hugh Grant written all over it. To add to that, the English humor and cheekiness in the middle of New York's high-handedness are like a breath of fresh air. But, the fact that he can put on the innocent /straight face hiding all his deeds and make his wife believe him is so evil that it's almost envious. How could a person be so relaxed yet just the right amount of panicky for people to believe you? That nonchalance and panache is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Dr. Jonathan Fraser is of course not the ideal person out there. In fact, he is the most kind of person and cannot be forgiven by the world. But the aspect of his nonchalant personality is surely something I am taking home. His style and calm nature even when the chips are down are extraordinarily fresh.

Love

Image from Architectural Digest

This story has a lot of melodrama. Amidst all the twists and turns, there are moments when you really feel for the characters because the love for each other is/was genuine.

I would start with the most innocent love i.e. of Henry’s. All that kid wanted was to have a normal life where he would walk to school with his father, spent quality time with his mother, and visit his grandpa. There couldn’t be a more humble wish than this. To see his love getting underpaid, it’s heartbreaking.

Grace’s strong love towards her husband receives a shock when he learns what is he accused of. It is that love that later on made her believe in their husband’s innocence. She fights like a tigress at home, against her father, in the court of law. Same with her son, Henry. When Jonathan mildly suggested that it could be Henry who may have murdered the victim, Grace blew up and asked him to leave. She is protective of her son. In a beautiful scene, we can see Henry break down and reach out to his mom that he cannot take it anymore in the middle of the night. Truly showed the love between the mother and the son.

We also see a strange love between Elena and Jonathan. Though not exposed much maybe because it is forbidden, we may be missing out on a blooming love story. Of course, it has blood on its hands and cheating as it’s base, it could at the core of it and in its moments be a pure relationship. There are other people too who showed love in the story. Franklin, Grace’s father offered a moolah to get his son-in-law out of the police custody. This he did as he couldn’t see his daughter suffer anymore. He also threatened the school where Henry went and used his power to keep Henry in the school when they were planning to oust him. We cannot forget Miguel and his silent love for his dead mother. Or, Fernando Alves whose sudden shock of his dead and cheating wife came bang on his face, and his love mixed with these emotions.

There’s a lot of people loving a lot of people here. But when one of them shows hate, it destroys all of them together. And that’s what happened in this story.

Final emotion — Rage

Image from Vulture

When a family breaks, the noise is a lot to fathom. There is a sound of breaking. hearts, trust, and confidence in each other. One act of violence and it destroyed it all.

Rage can be a deal-breaker and that’s what I am taking away from this story. One moment of rage takes away years of building reputation, money, power, trust, bond, and love. So, it is heavily recommended that we keep a check on deeds when we are in a state of anger. We can take the worst steps and stupidest decisions when we are in that state. Sometimes those steps can lead to utter damage and no amount of penance can change that.

Take care!