The Undoing: Season 1

An always watchable murder mystery, it never becomes completely gripping, neither a nuanced study of a wealthy family falling apart or a trashy melodrama where Nicole Kidman loses it over six episodes..

The Undoing has the potential to be more substantive than it is, and it's a little disappointing that it isn't. Still, it offers a moody sense of atmosphere, a welcome reminder of New York's pre-pandemic days,

This should all be sexily entertaining, and even fun, with Kidman and Hugh Grant playing Grace and Jonathan, and Kelley supplying the banter they exchange around the townhouse kitchen island. And for one episode it is.

Bathed in rich, autumnal colors as we quickly get to the trial portion of the proceedings, which of course feature all sorts of goings-on you'd never see in real life. But who cares.

The story has gossipy moms, an elite school and a murder investigation. Yet neither the sharp performances nor the lush window dressing can save scripts that have so little to say.

This is an entertaining story that’s well-performed by an impressive cast, so here’s hoping the final episodes show me something I haven’t seen before.

The Undoing is beautiful — the people, the locations, the coats! — and we’re all apt to cut beautiful things a little slack. Through all of the misdirects, the characters’ dumb decisions, the dreamy detours, The Undoing kept me guessing — and, of course, gloating over everyone’s misfortune.

The new HBO limited series is, to no one’s surprise, ably acted and handsomely made. ... It’s just a shame that it couldn’t resist those [true crime] clichés to become something much more powerful than just another case of the week.

A glacially paced, frustratingly scattered and stubbornly uninteresting drama that’s one of the most disappointing shows I’ve seen all year.