A lot of people watched “The Undoing” on HBO on Sunday.
The Nicole Kidman-Hugh Grant mini series jumped 18% in its second week, from 676,000 to 799,00 viewers. That’s a big increase from week 1 to week 2, but I’m not surprised. The short form drama is a totally entertaining, captivating watch.
Kidman wisely produced and developed “The Undoing” into a star vehicle for herself. She’s all over every episode, the whole thing rests on the shoulders of her character, Grace.
She was also smart to surround herself with terrific actors. Hugh Grant is dynamite as her philandering rat of a husband– maybe the best in this category since Michael Murphy drove Jill Clayburgh crazy in “An Unmarried Woman.” To that end, “The Undoing” features Clayburgh’s incredibly talented daughter, actress Lily Rabe, who’s finally getting a big screen role after a huge career on the New York stage.
And then there’s Donald Sutherland, who plays Grace’s father as a lion in winter. With his majestic mane, and sonorous voice, Sutherland plays it cagey. How much does he know about the murder of Grant’s mistress (in the film not real life)?
And kudos to Noah Jupe, who plays Kidman and Grant’s wise beyond his years 15 year old son.
The press has seen just 5 episodes of “The Undoing.” The last one we viewed has a gasp! inducing type cliffhanger. We don’t know how it ends. I think we’ll all find out together.
HBO put this together the way they did “The Night Of.” Golden Globes and Emmy Awards are right in their focus, as usual.
