The Undoing (Sky Atlantic/NOW TV)

Definitely interested in this - though the (annoyingly non-memorable) title suggests it won't be an easy watch. The title of the book source, "You Should Have Known", evokes a number of key moments in my life...!

I'm quite enjoying this too.

It reminds me a bit of "Rosemary's Baby" in that the writer and director have made New York feel like a tiny, claustrophobic place. There is a sense of dread and paranoia and its as if everyone is in on all the secrets except Nicole Kidman. Where even strangers stare at her knowingly. Even her most trusted friends seem to harbor dark secrets.

It definitely has a spooky appeal to go along with the suspense story.

There are some "movie of the week" plot holes and implausible scenes.

Kidman and Grant live a pretty posh existence in Manhattan. She is a psychologist and Grant an oncologist. They own a large townhouse in an upscale neighborhood. They have a chauffeur. She tells the cops her son's tuition to a prestigious grammar school is $50,000 per year.

So how was Kidman not aware her doctor husband had been sacked from his position at the hospital for misconduct and been out of work for 3 months?

Wouldn't she notice the bank accounts not having any of his pay deposits? No mail coming to the house from the hospital with any of his severance papers? He dressed in a jacket and tie every day and went off to work. In three months time did she never once call him at the office? Only on his mobile? If so where was he when he answered? In the park feeding pidgeons?

Also the son is one of those kids only found in movies who is 10 years old but talks like a 30 year old.

I am through episode 4 and ill wait until you've seen it to discuss some new plot developments.

All in all its a quality production and Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant are terrific.  I like this darker performance from Grant.

I've watched eps. 4 & 5 now, just the finale to go.

Yes! He's much too mature for his years.

Not sure Jonathan and Grace would necessarily have a joint bank account, other than maybe a household budget one that they each pay into. I can imagine them having always been financially independent of each other, with their highly paid work and Grace's rich father, so perhaps have never had or wanted access to each other's financial details.

I agree Grace's lawyer friend would be unlikely to act for him as it would represent a serious conflict of interest, but I can understand why Jonathan would want to use her as it would be much easier for him to keep it hidden. I wonder what else she might know that she isn't telling Grace. And, while on the subject of her - she introduced Grace to someone called Alexis Young (about 10 minutes into episode 2, during the morning school drop-off). She's played by Annaleigh Ashford who I recognised instantly from Masters of Sex. The character hasn't been seen or referenced other than in this one brief scene, but I can't believe she won't feature again, otherwise why include the scene at all?

During ep.4 I was beginning to have suspicions about who might have committed the murder, and it looked like they were confirmed by the shock revelation at the end of ep.5 - though this series has managed to wrong-foot me a few times already, so no doubt it isn't what it seems! There were other shock revelations in ep.5 - about Jonathan, including from his own mother, which seemed to point the finger back at him. I'm greatly looking forward to the final episode.

With regards to the brief introduction of Alexis, do you recall when his lawyer asked him about any other affairs he had he hesitated.

She said "it'll come at trial and I dont want to be surprised by it..." and he confessed to "just one other" so maybe it was her? There were some "knowing glances exchanged in Grace's direction. The lawyer friend had seen his personnel file from the hospital and mentioned there were numerous reprimands for various reasons. Maybe Alexis was involved in one.

Fair point about the bank accounts. People that travel in those circles may well never combine their accounts.

Now that you mention it, when Jonathan said he didn't want to go to the auction at school (now we know why) his excuse was "Don't we already give them enough money?" And Grace's reply was "Well my father does" perhaps indicating Donald Sutherland pays some of their expenses.

Speaking of the auction, I might go back to episode 1. There is the scene where the women are sitting around the table sipping coffee and trying to come up with auction ideas. 

One of the women suggests auctioning some free medical visits with Jonathan. One of the other women quickly cuts in "he is a children's cancer doctor". Was it the lawyer friend quickly trying to reject the idea knowing he was sacked?

I think the hammer in the violin case was a red herringbut on the other hand Jonathan was awfully inquisitive with the son over how often he practiced the violin.

But why not just chuck the hammer in the river?

Do you think Grace will want to adopt Jonathan's illegitimate daughter? The widowed dad seems like he would be open to the idea.

Given Jonathan's and Grace's resources, I would think the police would have a 24 hour tail on him to make sure he doesn't flee town.

Will it come out that he made the ill advised visit to the dead woman's flat? And how bizarre was the bonding moment with the widowed husband as Jonathan fed the baby her bottle.

I checked that scene, and yes you're right - it was Sylvia, the lawyer friend, who quickly squashed the idea.

That's a thought. The lawyer said she needed the name from him but we don't know it. Whoever it was, Jonathan seemed very reluctant to admit to it at first and claimed it was a one night stand or at least short-lived. (I've also seen a theory that it was Sylvia, which I suppose is possible - and that she's actually the murderer, which I don't buy at all.)

That was all very strange!

I'm only aware of her leading role in the musical 2001 film Moulin Rouge, in which I gather she sang a lot.

I guess it's possible Sylvia dunnit, but I'm having a hard time believing it's her, mainly because as far as I've seen she's been constantly supportive of Grace without any slips in attitude or behaviour, and which you'd expect if they're best buddies from way back. She did fail to mention she'd acted for Jonathan over the hospital case, but (according to her) he had asked her not to say anything to Grace and later told her the hospital had dropped the case, no mention of him being sacked.

Grace wasn't off the hook as far as I was concerned, until the hammer in the violin case. I couldn't see how that could be her doing, unless she does things she has no memory of afterwards. This is just about possible - people having blackouts, during which they do maybe violent things they have no recollection of later, is apparently a recognised medical condition. Anna Friel's character suffered from it in Marcella. Grace does keep having these flashes of seeing Elena hit with a hammer, or painting, etc. - I at first assumed they were imaginings but they could be memories. She also collapsed and passed out in the park.

The hammer is a bit of a mystery. As you said, if someone wants to get rid of it why not just dump it in the river? A few possibilities are Henry is guilty, or (unlikely) someone is trying to frame him, or someone planned to retrieve it later and plant it as incriminating evidence.

The Latino detective has been convinced Grace is either the murderer or accomplice since day one.

Part of that could be his heritage and he is angry that a young Latina woman was brutally murdered, her husband left a widower, her children motherless, and likely by a wealthy white professional from Manhattan who will probably get away with it.

One question I had, Elena's family seem to live pretty hand to mouth. The son is at the prestigious school on a full scholarship.

Yet we saw Elana at Grace's posh health club. How could she afford that?

Perhaps a family membership at the health club is part of the school scholarship.