The Undoing (Sky Atlantic/NOW TV)

Thank you! My memory on some of the finer points sometimes falters unless I go back to rewatch the episodes.

I got so caught up in the philanthropy of the school in offering scholarships which I seem to recall was the point of the auction? To raise money for continued scholarships for low income minority children.

I agree it was highly entertaining.

I did feel quite let down by the reveal - but it highlighted how effective the writers were at creating red herrings and keeping us guessing.

There were quite a few "Oh come on!" moments in the final episode, which I was mostly willing to overlook in the bigger picture of it being fictional entertainment.

*Jonathan stashing the murder weapon in his car overnight. Going home to bed with Grace. Driving the next day all the way to the lake house and then stuffing the murder weapon in the outdoor fireplace where Henry conveniently found it. When 100 yards behind the outdoor fireplace was a giant lake where he could chuck the hammer.

*Henry - he of the 40 year old intellect - finds the hammer, decides he wants to protect dad, runs it through the dishwasher TWICE no less, then sticks it in his violin case. When he took could simply have chucked it in the lake.

*Henry, who had been at every other day of the trial, is sent to school on the day of the verdict. OK I guess that makes sense. They dont want him to see his dad hauled off in shackles. But why did Grace seem completely uninvolved in getting him off to school that morning? Did she just send him out of the house to catch the bus? Surely with all the press hounding them she would have personally seen him into the limousine and sent a nanny or some sort to escort him to the front door of the school. Jonathan seemed rather un-inconvenienced in being able to just swing by and take him for a ride in the Rover.

*When the amber alert went out it was awfully convenient that not one, but two helicopters were ready and waiting to take Grace and Franklin and the two detectives to lead the manhunt.

*When Jonathan was ready to jump off the bridge, the police, who had been right on his tail, backed off a hundred yards or so to allow him and Henry to exit the Rover, Jonathan to climb the bride rail and have their little father and son moment. The police were also quite accommodating in allowing Grace to just go running off on her own to have her wife and husband moment - even though the amber alert said Jonathan should be considered armed and dangerous. No need to protect a woman and child from a sociopath hammer murderer or anything...

*After Grace and Henry walked away, the police took their leisurely time and in walking up to Jonathan and were quite gentle in cuffing him. These were American police right? LOL Also the police just let Grace, Henry and Franklin get in the helicopter and fly off? No need to for any messy paperwork or reports about the incident for the local police. I guess they could get that later.

There was also some VERY dodgy legal ethics on display from all three attorneys.

*The defense attorney was bound by law to not simply instruct Jonathan to turn the murder weapon over to the police. As an officer of the court she was duty bound herself to do so and to also alert the prosecution as part of the rules of discovery pertaining to evidence.

*Sylvia breached ethics when she told the prosecutor about the conversation between Grace and Jonathan's mother. Again, the rules of discovery would mean she would equally have to inform the defense Grace had told her these damning insights.

*The prosecutor would also be bound by the rules of discovery to tell the defense of any and all evidence they intended to present at trial.

That said, I am sure in real life lawyers breach these type of ethics all the time. Defense attorneys will often say "dont tell me if you have anything dodgy in your house the police might find. But if you do, get rid of it."

And lots of backroom conversations take place between lawyers divulging hearsay evidence and it doesn't always get shared with the other side.

The prosecutor was clearly leading Grace's testimony to make it look like it all came out just in conversation - that she wasnt aware ahead of time - but she slipped up when she said "Didnt his mother also discuss his lack of grieving with you about his sister?" As soon as she said that she let the cat out of the bag that she knew all of the details of the coversation and was duty bound as an officer of the court to tell the defense before putting it into evidence at trial.

All three lawyers would have been subject to being disbarred and losing their license, the defense attorney possibly even face criminal charges for withholding evidence and encouraging a felony by suggesting the evidence should be gotten rid of.

The acting was brilliant by both women lawyers in the court scenes.

The child actor who played Miguel, Elena's boy was also incredible in the court room scene.

I felt Nicole Kidman really overacted in the last couple of episodes.

I thought Hugh Grant however was quite good. His character morphed into and out of gentle dad and sociopath rage in a Jekyll and Hyde manner that would seem authentic in such a person.

Overall 3.5 of out 5 stars. Would have gone for 4.5 if not for so many bonkers moments and how they wrote Henry to be like a 40 year old.

Great points about the hammer! Like you I assumed there was just one type of sculptors hammer-a sort of mini sledge.

But as you say the prosecutor was able to argue that it was without question the murder weapon despite Elena's face being mush and impossible to prove forensicly.

Haley did mention the prosecution's case was purely circumstantial. I guess that was part of it.

The judge was definitely not in control which seems and did very little in the way of keeping things very tight.

I found that unlikely given the press coverage of the case was on par with the OJ Simpson trial.

The judge knew every decision he made was going to be scrutinized in the press.

You are correct such hearsay evidence would not normally be allowed unless one of the parties was dead and hearsay conversations are the only record of what they said.

Even so what did it really prove. That Jonathan as a teenage boy internalized his emotions.

What teenage boy doesn't internalize his emotions?

Psychologists and psychiatrists all over the world have made billions treating adult men and women who are still dealing with the trauma of their teenage years. That doesn't mean they are hammer murders.

Jonathan's mom also said how they swathed Jonathan in love and family support waiting for his grief to come out.

But when Jonathan's mother was talking with Grace she seemed a right bitch. She corrected Grace's grammar in the first 10 seconds they were talking. She seemed very hard, cold.

The mother made a brief mention of Henry. What grandparent wouldn't want to keep up a dialog with Grace and then eventually Henry through email, telephone, video chat even if estranged from your own son?

Grace mentioned she sent photos the grandma didn't say thanks?

I could see Jonathan wanting to pick up stakes and move to New York to get away from his parents if they were both so staunch as that.

Anyway, I don't know that the jurors were thinking "you know I wasn't sure he was the murderer, but when I heard he was responsible for a terrible accident that resulted in his sister's death when he was 14 and he didn't know how to express his grief or guilt 40 years ago. Well he clearly killed Elena..."

I didnt see that. Thanks for the tip I will go back and watch it.

Did you ever watch the series "Dexter?" If not, the titular character was vigilante serial killer who also worked for the Miami police homicide department as forensics expert. His profession both helped him access new "very, very bad men/women" who slipped through the hands of legal system and needed his special brand of justice.

There was one season where the main protagonist was serial killer known as the "Trinity Killer" - played brilliantly by John Lithgow - who, on the surface, was a dedicated philanthropy professional who built homes for the needy, was deacon at his church and had the seemingly perfect family. 

But as you said, he didnt "love" his family. He fed off their love and adulation, which only came as a result of their sheer terror at doing anything that might disappoint him. 

One of the recurring themes in Dexter is that he sometimes became friends with the main protagonist of that seasons story arc. As he did with John Lithgow, and there is always some introspection in his study of an evil serial killer juxtaposed to his noble serial killer.
 

I watched Bombshell a couple of weeks ago too. Unless I knew he was in the cast I would never have recognised John Lithgow in that. Good film I thought.

In this brief clip from Dexter, John Lithgow has come to realize that Dexter, who had been pretending to be "Kyle" a troubled young man who wanted to join his church, was not who he claimed to be. Dexter was vetting John Lithgow to make 100% certain he was the Trinity Killer before enacting vigilante justice.

John Lithgow walks into the police station and sees the crime boards showing all his victims and beams with creepy pride.

And chuckles when he sees the police have a different man as their main suspect. And realizes Dexter must be steering things that way. But why?

I really enjoyed Dexter. I have read there is a new limited series coming soon.