THE UNDOING EPISODE 1, Let’s Discuss!!!

Finally. A show to recap! It’s been a long time. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the Kidman/Grant duo but this is going to be a fun ride. The show felt very synonymous with Big Little Lies if you feel me. I am not going to do the whole “this show was about” thing because if you watched, you watched. My recaps, if you are not familiar, are more about the deets you may have missed more so than the info we observed. This one is going to be short because there is a new episode on tonight and by the time this gets to your inbox, this info will be old. If you don’t watch this show (you should), just toss this. Here we go…

The Undoing, so elegantly, begins with a cover of “Dream a little Dream”, sung by, no other, than Nicole Kidman. Eerie to say the least.

Ah, Manhattan! I miss you. We are introduced to Grace and Jonathan. The high regarded city therapist and New York’s Best Children’s Cancer Doctor. A perfect upper east side couple and their darling private school son, Henry. They share a nice little routine morning making protein shakes and kissing each other goodbye. Do doctors wear ties to work?

Jonathan walks Henry to school and Henry points out that Jonathan has been “very” stressed lately. As my therapist told me, if you want to know what is happening in anyone’s house, ask the youngest kid. True true. Foreshadowing? Maybe.

Enter Grace and her magnificent city office. She is in session with a client who was married three times. Grace makes a very interesting assumption to her client “when things go wrong in a relationship, it’s because you chose the wrong person, and that you already have this knowledge because of cues you picked up when you initially met them but have since ignored.” Is there more to this?

The famous fundraiser luncheon. The entire scene was so cliche. “Do I hear $500 on saving your marriage?” We all could have written that script except for the “Lactator-in-Chief” snippet. I don’t think they could have picked a nicer set of breasts if they tried. And what is Nicole Kidman doing by the way? She hasn’t aged since Days of Thunder in 1990. The secret, please. Do we think that baby is Jonathan’s???

Let’s move to the women’s locker room. Many questions here. First and foremost, do women still have full bush? Amazing. Secondly, it is usual for women to walk around the locker room half-naked but full frontal is an entirely new ballgame. If this was a ploy to make Grace uncomfortable (which obviously it was), it worked. There is also a scene later that goes back to this locker room which was not presented here. Is there more history between Grace and Elena? TBD. Also, how does Elena afford this gym? Does Jonathan pay for it?? Why in the world would she go to a gym on the upper east side when she lives in Harlem?

The fundraiser. Kidman’s dress. SPECTACULAR! I need that for all the events I am currently never attending. A few important things to point out here. The relationship between Jonathan and Grace’s father, Donald Sutherland. Distant and cold to say the least. Jonathan notices Elena before anybody else. Did you catch that?

Pavlov’s dogs appear and whatever they tell Elena, it pushes her straight to the ladies’ room. My guess? Jonathan hired them to kindly ask her to stay away from him and Grace. It is at that moment Grace’s bestie makes a comment to Grace that Elena is staring at her. And wouldn’t you know it, Jonathan’s remark is “Have we had enough? Did we make enough of an appearance?” It is quite evident he cannot be in the same room as Elena. But Grace isn’t going anywhere except to the ladies’ room where she finds Elena crying. Elena is overwhelmed. I bet she is. Overwhelmed by marital infidelity? Overwhelmed by guilt? Overwhelmed that Jonathan’s wife is really the “kindest?” Even when Grace offers to talk to Elena “for free”. Jonathan gets paged and must go to the hospital to care for one of his patients. Hours later he returns home sad, crying, and upset. Is this because he lost his patient? He lost Elena? or both? We never find out because he is off to Cleveland for an oncology convention. The oddest part was the sex if I do say so myself. But my guess is that it was a soothing mechanism.

The following day begins in Elena’s home where Elena is not. We have no idea what Elena told her husband but he was certain that she would not be taking Miguel to school that day. Hmmm. We know her husband is not the killer (too obvious) but I would love to know what reason she gave her husband she wouldn’t be home that morning.

A quick switch to Grace’s townhouse where we find out the real reason Jonathan does not want a dog. He isn’t allergic. His family dog got hit by a car and killed on his watch. He has never recovered. Is it possible that Elena’s husband followed Jonathan and confronted him? He asked Jonathan to break off the relationship. Jonathan got so angry he kills Elena. I mean he can’t lose another dog, right?

Anyhow, Grace is back to work in a new couple session discussing infidelity, of course. She questions the man who cheated “Is it possible you wanted to get caught? To show Michael that he can’t control you after all?” And there it is…. does Jonathan want to get caught??

Sophia calls Grace to break the news of Elena’s murder. “It’s always the fucking husband.” HA! If she only knew…or does she? Sophie did point out that Elena was being passive-aggressive towards her at the fundraising luncheon.

Enter Detectives Mendoza and O’Rourke. They have a lot of questions for Grace. Almost too many. They know too much too soon. They know Grace is a shrink. They know Jonathan is an oncologist. They know how much Reardon costs. I mean how exactly does Elena afford Reardon? It must be some scholarship. Is Jonathan paying for that too? AND WHERE IS JONATHAN?

More importantly, why in the world is his cell phone in a drawer? I don’t know a person on earth who leaves home without it. AND he is a doctor no less. He is in Cleveland at the Hyatt, right? Jonathan loves those Hyatt points. How many Hyatt’s are in Cleveland? The answer is 4. How many did she call? More than four and how is it possible there is ANOTHER Jonathan Fraser staying at one of them? Exactly. The wheels have fallen off.

Is it legal for an 11-year-old to be interrogated at a police station? Why the hell is Miguel being interrogated anyway? Seems very odd.

My final theory is this….

Jonathan treated Miguel for cancer and he fell in love with Elena. He anonymously got Miguel a scholarship to Reardon and has taken care of them since. OR Elena was Donald Sutherland’s (Grace’s fathers) mistress….

Guess we will see!

This recap was way longer that I intended it to be. I couldn’t stop writing. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed. If you want more and haven’t subscribed – do it.

Can’t wait for episode 2, tonight!
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