UPDATE: HBO tells me “The Undoing” brought in 3 million viewers across all platforms including HBO Max. It was the most watched series episode on the cabler since the 2019 finale of “Big Little Lies.” Nicole Kidman is really the Queen of HBO now! All bow!
Nicole Kidman can certainly celebrate today. The finale episode of “The Undoing” on HBO scored a whopping 1.81 million viewers on Sunday night. It was the second highest cable show of the night behind a Hallmark Christmas movie.
The Kidman-Hugh Grant mystery grew wildly every week for six weeks as the tension mounted over who killed Elena, Grant’s mistress. But it was more about the “who” than the victim, who was a secondary issue at all times.
Unfortunately, many fans were disappointed that all the red herrings turned out to be pretty fishy. The actual mystery ended with a thump as Grant’s Jonathan– as he was in the original novel the series was based on — was revealed as the killer. The show jumped the shark with a crazy OJ Bronco like escape that came to a big nothing.
I see that David E. Kelley is saying now he was always going to stick to the book’s ending. But the mistake he made is that this wasn’t a book. It was a six week investment, and it gave viewers a chance to really think through all kinds of aspects of the whodunit. So it was a disappointment in the end that Kelley didn’t explore any of the other ideas. Sometimes you can adhere too closely to the source material.
But HBO doesn’t care. The show was a hit. Kidman and Grant will be up for Globes and Emmys, so will the show. Expect more of these quality limited series.
