The Undoing S01E05 is entitled “Trial by Fury”, which suggests fire and brimstone occurs at the murder trial of Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant). That is false advertising sadly. In my review of S01E04, I had expressed hope that things would pick up from the somewhat pedestrian pacing that had plagued The Undoing thus far. No such luck!
The Undoing S01E05, like the episode before it, seems to be on a permanent holding pattern. The trial itself is unremarkable and it is telling that much screen time is spent on the most of mundane of court tasks – security checks! Perhaps there was not enough plot to fill up the allotted time! Plainly, based on the evidence of the first five episodes, the thin plot of The Undoing is over-stretched for a six-part limited series. Maybe a 90 minute movie would have sufficed!
In effect, nothing really happens in The Undoing S01E05 to warrant any interest. The sterling cast is really given nothing much to go on, as Jonathan, Grace (Nicole Kidman), son Henry (Noah Jupe) and father Franklin (Donald Sutherland) deal with the emotional fallout of the murder investigation and trial.
Honestly, it is difficult for most of this episode and the previous one to understand where the series is going with the story. Instead of teasing an endgame, the narrative seems to be a dead end. The writers appear to be painting themselves into the corner but hoping against hope to somehow pull out a rabbit from the hat just before the final episode next week.
Well, yes, as per every episode so far, a cliff-hanger twist is presented to the faithful audience but will anything come out of this? Sure, this time round, the shock revelation does suggest a quantum shift in the narrative but remember that I have been thinking this same precise way every episode so far. Don’t hold your breath!
… still there’s more …