The wise philosopher, Carrie Underwood, once sang, "You stole my happy / You made me cry / You took the lonely and took me for a ride / Boy, you blew it / You put me through it / I wanna un-un-un-un-un-undo it." That was in 2009—eleven years before Nicole Kidman's six-episode limited series would come to HBO, and yet, it contains all the messages one needed to know about the finale.
In a lot of ways (spoilers ahead), The Undoing was a lesson in trusting your gut, especially when your husband is accused of a heinous murder. While Underwood's evergreen lyrics and pop-country charm might not seem like the most coherently connected wink and nod to The Undoing, there were other clues as to how the finale would turn out, including the title of the source material, You Should Have Known, and the fact that it's always a safe bet that Hugh Grant is a sociopath.
But before we posture too much, let's take pause. Isn't one woman's senseless death at the hands of a pediatric oncologist enough for you people? Hasn't enough been undone? Below is a recap of the finale's events, whether or not the limited series will return for a Seaon Two, and why we have to stop milking Nicole Kidman's dramatic stoicism for more than one season.
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Remember That Finale?
By episode's end, Grace Fraser (Kidman) had undone it all: her marriage, her wishy washy support of her husband Jonathan (Hugh Grant), the ironclad strategy Jonathan's attorney came up with, and at least seven buttons on her highly coveted designer coats. Boy, when you blow it with Nicole Kidman, you really blow it. The series falls nicely in the oeuvre of rich white lady series like Big Little Lies, another David E. Kelley production, so naturally, when the series ended people wanted to know about a season two despite the series having wrapped up its entire first season narrative.
First, Let's Catch Up...
Coming into last night's finale, Grace was nearly on board with her husband's innocence in the murder of fellow Reardon school parent, Elena Alves. Sure, Jonathan had been having an affair with Elena, and sure, he showed no remorse for the accidental death of his little sister when he was a kid, but he wasn't a murderer, right? But in the final moments of episode five, Grace found the missing murder weapon/sculpting hammer in Henry's violin case, which is a very dumb place to put your dad's murder weapon because violins are not meant to be cast aside on the ground!
Grace demanded that Henry tell her how he'd come to end up with the weapon; he revealed that he found the hammer at his grandfather's upstate home where Jonathan had been secretly seeking refuge. Worried his dad had stashed it there, Henry ran the hammer through the dishwasher to scrub it of DNA. Twice. When the family told their attorney, Haley Fitzgerald, she looked like she was about to barf all over this Manhattan family's nice piano. No one knew what to do about the surprise hammer—hell, Jonathan suggested that their son Henry could have killed Elena at this point, so no one was playing with a full deck. Everyone decided to keep mum about the hammer, considering that if its whereabouts came to light, both Jonathan and Henry could be arrested. But everything is too wrapped up at this point. And this show is called The Undoing.
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In the final days of the trial, after Fitzgerald's case defending Jonathan seemed all but victorious, Grace took the stand in defense of her husband. She told Fitzgerald that she never felt he was violent, nor that he would kill someone. But it's all a ploy. The series seems to suggest that Grace confided in her friend Sylvia Steinetz (Lily Rabe) about her distrust of Jonathan. Sylvia then strategically leaked that information to her friend, the prosecuting attorney. All of a sudden, Grace's testimony turned into a damning portrait of her husband, whose narcissism and grandeur suggested he could get away with anything.
On the final day of hearings, Jonathan doesn't turn up for court though. He kidnapped Henry and headed for... actually, let's play a guessing game. Canada? Nope, too obvious. An obscure town in, say, Vermont? Still too strategic. No, this man headed to his hometown of Albany to get world-famous Albany clams (??) with his son because that's what a breakdown looks like. His driving became erratic as he blew through red lights and into oncoming traffic as Henry begged to be let out of the car. Meanwhile, we finally get confirmation via flashbacks: Jonathan was the murderer after all, bashing Elena's head in after she threatened to form a relationship with Grace and his son. It all culminated on a bridge where Jonathan climbed to the edge, telling Henry that his legacy will now be Henry, Grace, and his patients. Grace managed to stop him from jumping, Henry and her escape, and Jonathan is arrested. Oh, and Henry is now one step closer to having a full sculpting set.
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Credit: EsquireAre There Plans for Season Two?
No, there aren't. Much like Big Little Lies and Sharp Objects, The Undoing was based off a book called You Should Have Known, and it does not have a sequel. The director of the series, Susanne Bier, told OprahMag.com, "Of course you wonder what comes after this is over. We did joke about it on set... I won't rule it out. But it's not in the concrete works." For now, the story of the Fraser family is firmly wrapped up. Jonathan is in jail, Fitzgerald has decidedly lost the court case, and Grace and Henry are poised to return to New York City to go on as many walks as they like.
Even cast members have said that the narrative feels complete. Barring a set of flashbacks that would reveal more about Jonathan and Elena's affair, the series did a decent job of covering its tracks, hitting all the classic David E. Kelley tropes, and then finishing out the narrative.
Is There Room for a Season Two Anyway?
Of course, but then you have to ask—why? Matilda De Angelis, who was criminally underused as Elena Alves, told Harper's Bazaar, "I could be… you know, my twin shows up or something like that. Yeah, it would be great. I think it's a great show, so why not?" If we want to just start throwing out narratives, the series could jump forward to Henry's adulthood and explore the idea of personality disorders being passed on genetically. It could have Jonathan escape from jail or put Sylvia in a compromising position, but all of those options feel so over the top and antithetical to the whole ethos behind these prestige series.
Big Little Lies was so lauded and critically acclaimed that fans willed it back for a god-awful second season that mainly existed for Meryl Streep screams and Laura Dern memes. And at the risk of seeming crass, that David E. Kelley misstep should serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when we don't put the proverbial sculpting hammer down. Part of what makes a series like The Undoing so delicious is that it exists in the vacuum of a single incident. The series, quite smartly, likened Jonathan's murder case to the real-life sensationalized cases that we gobble up like sadistic chickens, and though The Undoing is a fictional narrative, creating a season two is like watching HLN for obscure updates on Casey Anthony. It takes a shocking story and desperately wrings it out for whatever drip of drama remains. Beyond the fact that it's gross, it's also ultimately unfulfilling.
For now, The Undoing is fully undone, with all its twists and turns revealed for the world to see. May it remain that way.
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