By Already, the end is here, and there's still a lot of frantic end-tying to be done in the season finale, not least pointing to us who amongst the crew assembled might be the murderer, and who is just a bad person. The Undoing is a whodunnit, yes, but it's not as though any of the people who didn't do it are going to suddenly be exonerated of any guilt. Ok, maybe Franklin.
This week kicks off with trying to mop up the messy ending of last week when the smoking gun of the sculpting hammer was found in Henry's violin bag. The whole family plus Hayley gather in Franklin's grand living room to have it out, with Henry telling them he found it in the outdoor fireplace of the family's country pad shortly after arriving there with Grace.
Henry was just trying to protect his father, who he is sure killed Elena, and so ran the hammer through the dishwasher, twice, to destroy any DNA it might be carrying. Far from finding this touching, Jonathan then tries to pin the murder on Henry only minutes after suggesting that Fernando Alves stashed the weapon there after following him and Elena to the house. Jonathan says his mind is spinning, but the flailing he is doing is very intentionally pointing fingers in any possible direction. As Hayley says when she doesn't-but-does-really tell them to destroy the weapon, "It's just one too many coincidences" that it's turned up at the Fraser house. Her later line, that "we contend to our ethical egos once this is all over", is further evidence of how bankrupt this motley crew really are.
So to court again, where Jonathan is taking the stand and is appealing to the jury with the idea that he dedicated his life to "the antithesis of violence" in healing children, and by showing that he really loved both Elena and Miguel Alves.
Next Miguel takes the stand, which doesn't feel like something 12-year-old boy who has just lost his mother should be pushed to do, but he is pressed about his parents fighting nonetheless. We discover Miguel confided in his teachers that it really frightened him when his parents fought, which spooks the prosecution, but Grace is still pulling a pokerface . Hmm.
Fernando Alves bursts into the Fraser's retirement room to scream "you people are fucking vile", but Hayley seems to think things are going well. Grace offers to testify that she doesn't believe Jonathan could have killed Elena, which feels, risky? Jonathan's "I'm so touched" face that he drags out for a long few seconds suggests he thinks he is in the clear, but, could Grace be about to bury him for good?
*Obligatory moody shot of Manhattan lights*
*Some tossing and turning and thinkin' bout murder in bed*
Back in court Grace parrots the same lines about him saving children and that his modus operandi is healing, not violence. When she is cross-examined the other bombshell from last week, the reveal that Jonathan didn't kill his family dog but his sister, is slowly drawn out of Grace. It appears momentarily that Sylvia has dropped Grace in it, but after she leaving court they hold hands and they walk off with Franklin, like Charlie's Angels after the job is finished.
Finally we see inside the night of Elena's murder and Jonathan killing her before escaping, a similar getaway to the one now underway as he skips town with Henry. Grace and Franklin take to the skies in a chopper which seemingly is just waiting on the tarmac for such an occasion. A land and sky chase ensues which ends with Jonathan about to jump off a bridge, only to be fooled by Grace again as she grabs Henry and makes a run for it, leaving the police to arrest him.
Though Grace's story was unreliable, it felt like there was never really any other candidate for who could have killed Elena. What is disappointing is that we didn't get anything more than stock characters in Franklin or Sylvie or even Hayley, with none of them truly surprising us in the end. Even Henry's love for his father being his downfall felt sown too early on to be surprising. We again draw your attention to the biggest flag in the whole series in the framed photo of Jonathan by Henry's bed. The story ends by reminding us that perhaps the truth was meant to be obvious all along, we were just seeing a murderer through the eyes of someone who loved him.
Inevitably Jonathan will face prison, tying up the story nearly, and unlike Big Little Lies where a secret still out there, there doesn't feel like another way into this story. Unless...
Some thoughts: untied threads edition
- Are you saying we invested five episodes in Detective Mendoza's angry flirting with Grace for NOTHING? The system is broken.
- Henry and Miguel will still have to face each other in school, and we know how much HBO loves a playground drama...
- Fernando Alves remains the custodian of Elena and Jonathan's baby, could Grace somehow end up taking the girl in?
- A Franklin spin-off with chess, art galleries and helicopter chases? We would not be mad.
