![\"Nicole](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/nicole-kidman-is-seen-on-set-e1604636780975.jpg\")
<\/a>Nicole Kidman and her fabulous wardrobe, with Noah Jupe, who plays her son.<\/p><\/div>\n
Luckily for me, I saw it on Saturday night, almost a week after it premiered. So I had just twenty-four hours to wait for the second installment. But now I\u2019m waiting that full week for number three, which is almost torture. But at least it\u2019s given me time to think of what\u2019s really<\/em> happening in the series.<\/p>\n Before I watched the show, I had no idea that The Undoing<\/em> is a murder mystery. I really wanted to see it because of Hugh Grant, who has never been less than entertaining in anything<\/em>. Despite his presence, I knew it was not a comedy, but that was the extent of my knowledge about the show. I love dramas and thrillers and mysteries, so this one turned-out to be right up my alley. Once I got past the credits with Nicole Kidman\u2019s too-thin-and-ethereal-for-me singing, and a funny-looking little girl probably supposed to be her character at that age, (the red curly hair was my clue on that one,) I got hooked right away.<\/p>\n But this article is not so much a review<\/em> of the show, per se; it\u2019s more my theory of who the killer is, and the clues I have to support it.<\/p>\n I’m writing this after seeing Episode 2 (of six,) so my opinion may change down the line.\u00a0 But I have a feeling I’m correct this early on.\u00a0 It’s not just a feeling…I have clues to back me up.<\/p>\n And trust me…I’ve watched both episodes multiple times!\u00a0 (Only because of so much pandemic time.)<\/p>\n So–Spoiler Alert!<\/strong> If you don\u2019t want to know all this until the end of the mini-series, just skip down to the last nine brief paragraphs\u2014the beginning of which is highlighted in bold–for the actual review, and then come back here to read my theory after<\/em> you\u2019ve seen the show. (And any changes to my opinions down the line will be in the Comments section below, where I look forward to seeing yours<\/em>, as well.)<\/p>\n How does Donald Sutherland not know enough to trim his insane eyebrows??? Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Here goes. (And I\u2019m using the actors\u2019 names instead of those of the characters, because it\u2019s easier, for all<\/em> of us.):<\/p>\n I believe Hugh when he insisted that he didn\u2019t kill Matilda\u2019s character. Because…Nicole Kidman did it!!! For sure. When I told that to Mr. X after the second hour, he was skeptical. First of all, he thinks Nicole\u2019s father, played by Donald Sutherland, is the killer. But the only thing killer about him is his way-overgrown brows!!! Why would the make-up people not trim them already??? His character is a gazillionaire\u2014I think he would have someone on call to do that.) Second of all, Mr. X asked why Nicole would be so worried about Hugh in her alone time. But I can explain that. Right now.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I think happened:<\/p>\n Nicole couldn\u2019t have followed<\/em> Hugh to Matilda\u2019s artist studio in Harlem because she stayed at the party they were at the night of the murder. But she could have asked their driver where he took Hugh. But I think it\u2019s more likely that she went to the woman\u2019s studio on her own, to follow-up on the kiss Matilda bestowed upon her in the elevator as Matilda left the party. And Nicole spied her husband and his mistress having sex. And when Hugh left, Nicole lost it on the woman.<\/p>\n Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant at their characters’ son’s school’s fundraiser.<\/p><\/div>\n Here\u2019s one tiny clue about that situation:\u00a0\u00a0She pictured the woman being bludgeoned to death with that mallet, which she could not have done had she not been there.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s another subtle clue: When Nicole is counseling the gay couple, her phone on the table beside her rings, and one of the guys snarkily asks if she has to take it, (which I agree with, by the way, because a therapist should not be having a phone on during a counseling session with her patients!) She explains that it\u2019s her son\u2019s school and would ring for an emergency only, so yes, she does<\/em> have to take it. And then she just looks down at what I assume is a text message, because it reads, \u201cwith all sadness\u2026\u201d I knew right away that meant the woman had died, even though I had no idea that this was even a murder mystery. And the tiny subtle thing is that after Nicole says she has<\/em> to take the call, she looks down at it for just a second, and a tiny smile comes across her much-worked-on almost-Joker-esque lips* for a nanosecond, and she goes right back to counseling the guys. *(What? You thought that gay patient was the only<\/em> snarky person on here today?!)<\/p>\n Nicole Kidman, counselling her patients, with her telltale phone beside her.<\/p><\/div>\n When we watched that episode, the first<\/em> time, I said to Mr. X, \u201cShe just said she had to take the call because it\u2019s her son\u2019s school, but then she just didn\u2019t<\/em> do it after she looked at it for a second. So what\u2019s up with that?\u201d So when I looked at it for a second<\/em> time, it seemed even more<\/em> significant to me. And after I watched the full second<\/em> episode, I flashed back to that brief moment, and knew she was smiling because she was happy the woman was dead, even though the message hadn\u2019t said that yet because she hadn\u2019t read the full message. Am I a major detective or what??<\/p>\n Now moving on to Episode 2, at the end of it, Nicole called the police on Hugh Grant right away, after he showed-up at the beach house and admitted the affair. As soon as he turned around to hug their son, she called the police and said her husband had broken in and they should hurry because she\u2019s terrified. There was no way<\/em> she was terrified. Yes, of course<\/em> she was angry about him having that affair and lying to her about still working at the hospital, but if she<\/em> hadn\u2019t killed Matilda, she would have just told Hugh he had to leave before she called the police on him. She wouldn\u2019t do that to her son to let his father get arrested right in front of him. And she was far<\/em> from terrified, no matter what. If she hadn\u2019t killed the woman herself, she could\u2019ve just let Hugh leave, and call them afterwards, which she would have to do no matter what, so she wouldn\u2019t become an after-the-fact accessory to murder.<\/p>\n And if she wanted to make sure that she<\/em> stays on the good side of the cops handling the case, she would have just called them in New York and told them her husband had just been there, and this is what he admitted. Then she would be helping the cops and be out of suspicion herself. But instead, she just called the local<\/em> police and told them to hurry up over there and get him because she\u2019s terrified. So to my<\/em> mind, that\u2019s one of her ways to get even with him for the affair he had. (Not to mention that the baby Matilda had was most likely his<\/em>! Which is just another layer to the whole story. I think Nicole may have surmised that by how like him the baby looked, well before<\/em> the police told her about that possibility.)<\/p>\n Even though she was just putting on night cream in this brief scene, now that I came up with my theory, I find this image to be chilling.<\/p><\/div>\n So when I told Mr. X all my theories, he said, \u201cBut why did we see her look so confused and concerned in her moments alone, especially at the end of Episode 1 when she couldn\u2019t get in touch with her husband, and then discovers his phone in a drawer in their bedroom?\u201d I think that she was<\/em> trying to get in touch with him to discuss what happened at the school, to cover for herself, because that\u2019s what someone innocent<\/em> would do. And I think she really wanted him to be back in town so that he could be arrested for the murder. So I think she was genuinely surprised that his phone was there because she didn\u2019t know he was going to skip town (which he did because he was worried that he would be arrested for the murder.) And I think she really was looking for him in those hotels to find out what was going on with him. None of that is inconsistent with her knowing that she herself is the murderer.<\/p>\n Also in the first episode, when Hugh climbed into bed with her after whatever had happened that night that we didn\u2019t know about yet, I thought it was brilliant that the director didn\u2019t show his whole<\/em> face; all we saw was his forehead and the side of his eye scrunching-up in distress, so we knew something was wrong. I knew it was something more than that his patient had died somehow.<\/p>\n Speaking of that previous scene with his young cancer patient, it took me three watchings to realize that it wasn\u2019t what was supposed to be happening that night of the fundraiser, but something in Nicole\u2019s memory!<\/p>\n Nicole Kidman in The Undoing.<\/p><\/div>\n So originally I thought that he<\/em> had killed the woman because his face is so distressed in the late night bedroom scene. But now<\/em> we know that he was<\/em> distressed, because he had just seen the bludgeoned bloody body of his lover! Then upon second examination, I could see the stress on Nicole\u2019s<\/em> face, as well, which shows me that she<\/em> had just killed the woman.<\/p>\n And, by the way, Nicole Kidman\u2019s face is soooo plastic now that she doesn\u2019t really have a wide range of expressions, so it\u2019s a tad hard to judge which are her own and which belong to the character.<\/p>\n Okay, murder theories over, guys! You can read the rest now, which basically is<\/em> a review.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Undoing<\/em> is one of the most riveting shows I\u2019ve ever seen! Maybe I\u2019m just isolation-depressed now, but I don\u2019t think that’s the case. I haven\u2019t looked forward to any<\/em> show so much in my entire life!<\/p>\n But I\u2019m also thrilled that it\u2019s a limited<\/em> series so we have a resolution to the mystery. (And I\u2019m confident that it will be mine<\/em>!)<\/p>\n Hugh Grant’s now-grown-up visage.<\/p><\/div>\n Hugh Grant is great. His delivery is as perfect and humorous as ever, even in this far-from-a-comedy. And he has the same old face, \u201cold\u201d being the operative word here; his visage now features many, many lines and age spots. But, somehow, he\u2019s still so handsome.<\/p>\n Matilda de Angelis is perfect for the part of the girl who gets killed. Her crazy intense stares, accentuated by the perfect eye make-up, are uber-scary! Even scarier is that she had to go full frontal! That was so weird to see all of a sudden.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>