By So far, the undoing we have witnessed has been that of Grace, who, following the mysterious death of Elena, has been unearthing more of her husband's secrets. This week, Jonathan reappears and pleads his side of the story, and the dial shifts towards the start of his undoing.
"Is there a reason you're not believing me?" Grace asks the detectives, still pressing her after she watches Jonathan's perp walk off the property – all thanks to her calling the police. They still aren't buying that she isn't complicit, which feels either a statement about the way police treat women, or another way to tell us that they know something else. Or so says the foreboding stare of Detective Mendoza before we cut to a stretch of churning water.
Amidst the turmoil, Henry is tearing through his clothes looking for something, as well as gazing at that framed photograph he's taken to his grandfather's house. This seems... odd?
Sylvia attends Jonathan's hearing and tells Grace he has 'The Badger' as his lawyer, so named because he "just chews and gnaws", which makes me wonder if all public defenders in New York City each have nicknames based on animals. Jonathan's bail is set at $10M bond or $2m cash, and the next time we see him, he's protesting his innocence to the predictably crummy lawyer.
Grace meets with The Badger, telling him she won't vouch for Jonathan's innocence as he tells her she is suffering from Post Traumatic Betrayal. Which means, "a fucked over person in the aftermath of being fucked over". This shock is why she thinks Jonathan is capable of anything, because she doesn't know who he is anymore. "I think your husband is a bit of a dick," he says. "But not a killer".
This is the question which the series thus far hinges on: is Grace's husband unfaithful, or a murderer? A person who made a mistake, or one who took someone's life? How well can you really know someone? He tries to convince her of the former as she visits him in prison. "My only chance is for people who actually know me to come forward," he implores, claiming that she became obsessed with him. Another conversation with his colleague doesn't exactly back this up, as he tells her Jonathan fed off the worship he received for saving their children. "It's like he never got the God complex memo", he says. A nice burn, sir.
Watching her disbelief feels similar to the mood of The Good Wife, which was similarly adept at depicting a woman's life crumbling when her husband is disgraced. Yet instead of focusing on the rebuilding of reputation down the line, here we see it destroyed in real time.
The web of lies is further untangled as Grace discovers that her father loaned Jonathan money when he came to him with worries of Henry's school fees. It's a sombre episode in which we trudge through Jonathan's lies, and things are not exactly improved by Henry and Grace visiting the prison, though Henry's blunt delivery of "You were fucking her" is a highlight.
Does Jonathan's confession that he was "completely selfish" and "thought only about himself" feel genuine? Or are these the misty eyes of a man who, as his colleague just said, "thrives on being the centre of intense emotion".
The Badger is out, and instead, Grace is hiring a hotshot lawyer for him in Hayley (Noma Dumezweni): a straight-talker who tells her off the bat that she can't undo what has happened, nor magically make him faithful.
But where have our detective duo been for the entire episode? Ah, here they come to creep up on Franklin who is sitting pensively at a gallery and who tells them, in a truly *chef's kiss* manner, to "get a warrant" if they want to talk to him. Next, Grace herself seeks out the detectives after Elena's husband Fernando (Ismael Cruz Córdova) accosts her in the street, saying he is hiding something. It's here when Detective Mendoza pulls out his UNO plot reverse card and shows her the only image they captured on surveillance from the night of the murder: a photo of her.
It's another dun dun daaaa right before the final whistle, and one which has us wondering whether we can trust the mind we've been pin-balling around for weeks, or whether we should brace for another swerve.
Some thoughts...
- Who did it? A weekly ranking: Sure, the episode is all about Jonathan's plea for innocence, but there's more to come, so in that spirit Henry bringing out the framed photo of his dad again makes him our pick of the week.
- Donald Sutherland truly nails the rich daddy energy in this week's episode, with the give AF vibe of Logan Roy as he smiles down the detectives.
- Grace's citing her "20 plus years of psychological training" being met with Detective Mendoza's laugh as he asks "you read his mind?" sure feels like a hint we ain't supposed to like this guy
- Wild theory of the week: Have the producers made Grace's hair incredibly wild so she would be instantly recognisable on CCTV? Makes you think!
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