MovieChat Forums > The Undoing (2020) Discussion > wouldn't it be interesting if (spoilers)

wouldn't it be interesting if (spoilers)

posted 3 years ago by exatera (3942)
18 replies | jump to latest

...Grace turns out to be the real killer, and the men in her life are just trying to protect her? Jonathan ran to draw suspicion to himself, Henry hid the murder weapon, and dad is putting up the money for everything, of course.

On a serious note, I tried to imagine myself talking to a lawyer if I were in her [supposed] situation, and her behavior in that scene with Haley (ep 5) struck me as unnaturally reticent. (And what's with the constant standing up to look out the window?..) I would have been way more accommodating and forthcoming with the information.

My other thought was that Elena is actually alive somewhere, since they did say that the corpse was unrecognizable, and no one ever seemed to mention that they actually confirmed it was her with DNA or fingerprints or whatnot.

[–] tonyismad (386) 3 years ago

Interesting...
I thought it might be her but I didn't add the rest to it.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 3 years ago

You can bet the bank that the son is not the killer. David E. Kelly’s writing is the opposite of ham-fisted. Grace may be the culprit; but what about her father, the self-described cocksucker, “the kind who fucks over ANYONE who hurts ME or a LOVED ONE”?

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

I guess we'll see soon enough.

[–] modica (4169) 3 years ago

I've thought that almost the entire time. I bet it is her.

[–] smidget28 (768) 3 years ago

well...uh...

[–] modica (4169) 3 years ago

I was wrong. I just didn't think it was going to be him. I thought that there would be a surprise suspect. I guess it is a surprise to me that it was the husband.

[–] smidget28 (768) 3 years ago

I thought it was "him after all" or the kid. Sorry that it was the first, it was a disappointment

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I don't know if I was answering a phone or what, but where in this mess of a series did they explain how Elena had Kiddman pose for her so she could do the painting? And given that painting and kiss at the auction it sure seemed as if those two were having some sort of an affair but then after they set up all that they just ignored it.

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

When Jonathan said early on that Elena was obsessed with him and his family, that turned out to be the one thing he actually did NOT lie about - Elena was indeed obsessed and tried every possible way of insinuating herself into his life.

The problem for me was that not enough time on the show was spent on exploring that aspect of their relationship. You know how they say about art "show, don't tell"? Well, that's precisely it - we were told, not shown.

It was the same thing with the sudden bombshell in ep 5 that Jonathan actually was a true sociopath. That came out of nowhere on the show, and I really wish that part of his character was better developed.

All of this maybe could have been done better if the show was 10 episodes long, not 6, but I guess given the caliber of some of the names involved it was just too expensive to do.

As for the portrait, I would guess Elena drew it from a photo of Grace or a TV still. There was no evidence that Grace ever posed, or knew Elena at all prior to that school committee thing.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I still go back to the reaction of Kiddman when Elena kissed her... if they were really strangers was the reaction that Kiddman took what would be expected? I don't think so, a push back, an slap, something to indicate you felt assaulted by Elena would be expected.. but you didn't get that. It was as if the show runners wanted you to think there was something between them but then they decided to just say fuck you audience we aren't going to even bother explaining what was going on. Frankly it had too many red herrings thrown into the movie and never really explained away to anything. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced the series was really pretty much a stinking pile of shit. I want a movie that makes sense and isn't just a bunch of random crap thrown out there as if that alone creates a coherent story.

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

No, a woman certainly wouldn't slap another woman for that, OR feel assaulted, IMO.

I never got the impression that there was anything between them, nor out of everything I said in the comment above would this be something I'd choose to focus on.

I mean, I can understand someone being altogether in awe of a character like Grace if it was a person they knew in real life, plus we already know that Elena was obsessed with Jonathan's whole family to begin with - I do not believe that this incident requires any further dissection.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I suppose what a woman would do if some random woman came up and tried to play tonsil hockey with them probably depends more on what part of the country you are from. In most of the places I've lived that would have at the very least gotten a hard push, and in some instances I'm dead certain the person being accosted would have hit them.

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

But it really wasn't "tonsil hockey", was it? It was just a demure peck on the lips, her tongue never made it in. Nor was she some random stranger - she was someone Grace knew.

Besides, she wasn't some ugly hag, she was a sexy young(er) woman. As a [straight, if it matters] woman, I try to imagine how I would react in that situation, and while I might be taken aback by the suddenness of it, as long as she doesn't have bad breath or something I certainly wouldn't feel violated (or "accosted", geesh), and in fact it would probably be flattering to some extent.

But I really can't imagine giving it that much thought after it happened. [shrug] But then I am neither a prude nor a homophobe.

And I am assuming you are a man? Why are you so "dead certain" about that? If any woman reacts that way, it would be someone backward and unhinged.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Most normal people in the US would push someone back that kissed them on the lips unless they were involved. A peck on a cheek is one thing but when you start kissing on lips that isn't a normal American thing, maybe normal in some countries but no the US. If you think you would enjoy it then I think you've been listen to too much Katy Perry.

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

If this is what you think of as "normal", then there is nothing more I can add.

Anyway, this discussion really isn't interesting to me, I am sorry to have wasted so much time on this complete non-issue.

[–] Batty67 (358) 3 years ago

Of course, Jonathan was shown to be a routine liar early on and if he squinted, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and flashed the baby blues while looking wretched and apologetic 9/10 times he'd get a pass on the lie and presume it was no longer relevant. Until he was found to have lied again. I appreciate Hugh Grant's acting efforts, but maybe he's been in too many rom-coms...? I thought Nicole Kidman did a fine job, but her character mostly was angry, hurt, confused, or suspicious, and she'd just cycle between them and it got tiresome. But all-in-all, it was a fine show and well-produced.

[–] mobocracy (845) 3 years ago

It would have been a fascinating outcome if Elena wasn't actually dead -- the body was a morgue corpse, beaten beyond recognition and as a low-income Hispanic with an obvious trauma death, the ME never checks to see what the actual cause of death was.

IRL, Donald Sutherland's character paid her off to leave to end the affair his daughter's husband was having, assuming that a dead low-income Hispanic woman is just assumed to be a random murder victim and there's little police investigation. It just goes cold case and is never solved. There's not even any crime, as the dead body was an accidental drug overdose which was never detected.

It might have even been more interesting restructured around this as a cold case being investigated years later. Hugh and Nicole have an apparently great marriage, Hugh silently got his career back on track after Elena's death (and she never knew about the affair or the job loss). Maybe even better, the dad is now dead, but the investigator somehow keeps turning up these weird clues that tie Hugh Grant to the victim, but he has no mastermind and gets stuck on Grant as the killer even thought there was no actual murder.

Cue the courtroom mayhem in the finale, when Elena is the surprise witness and outlines the whole sordid story of the affair, taking Grace's dad's buyout and her part in the sham murder, etc, with a DNA test of her second child basically validating the whole story.

[–] exatera (3942) 3 years ago

Lol, you should write your own screenplays. 😊👍