By If the last episode was all about the court of public opinion, this week's instalment ups the stakes as the drama enters the real courtroom. With the trial looming there's friction between Grace and Jonathan as he questions whether she was following him on the night she was photographed near the crime scene. As most people might react when accused of being dishonest by their cheating partner, she isn't having it.
"A little pre-trial nerves" Jonathan explains to Hayley, who herself seems confident of the flaws in the prosecution's case. Hayley thinks their argument rests on Jonathan explaining why he ran from the crime scene, and on Grace stumping for him as a devoted wife. Her other big ploy is targeting the jurors who are college educated or have been cheated on, facts she knows from a "piggyback on the algorithms of Amazon and Google". She's spamming them with pro-defence ads, which Hayley claims is ethically grey. The problem is that, as with Big Little Lies, morally dubious behaviour generally goes unchallenged in this world of seven-figure salaries.
It would be more interesting if the show gave some kind of judgement on how the uber-rich skirt the law, instead it feels like they create these characters to get under our skin yet stop short of condemning them. As a news reporter says while Franklin is watching coverage of the trial on TV, "As much as we think we like to stick it to the rich, we don't". A statement which could be levelled at this very HBO series, thank you very much.
Franklin, who unfortunately doesn't pull out his "cocksucker" line this week, promises to stand by Grace's side, but tells her whatever happens Jonathan has to go. A suggestion she gives a typically icy stare to, despite her protestations that they would never be together again. Hmm.
The trial is finally beginning, and Jonathan's legal strategy is to offer Fernando Alvez up as the other suspect by throwing mud on his alibi, and by convincing the jury Grace loves him. It's unsure which will be harder. The series finally becomes the courtroom drama it has been edging towards as the prosecution goes into the grim details of Elena being bludgeoned with a sculpting hammer which was never found. At this point we cut to Franklin, Grace and also, if you're looking for it, Henry, whose face falls.
Hayley's ploy to make them a convincing couple seems to be rubbing off on Jonathan and Grace at least, who have a late night rendezvous after speaking to each other on the phone. Her inability to take the emotion of their marriage is one of the most interesting predicaments in The Undoing, showing how hard it might be to sever ties from all the private jokes and familiar conversations you stockpile with someone else, even if they cheated, even if a small part of you worries they murdered someone. Her visit also adds another entry to the long list of walks through Manhattan in the dark to dramatic music which the show specialises in.
Detective Mendoza is next up on the stand to verify that a picture of Elena's face smashed in is indeed what the crime scene looked like. Jonathan grimaces in response while Fernando shields Miguel's eyes in horror, so both are at least playing a good game of looking innocent. He then takes Hayley to task for her suggestion that they hadn't looked into Fernando as a suspect in what is an unprofessionally emotional delivery given he's a police officer. Mendoza's disdain for anything to do with Grace and Jonathan is so vehement that it seems to be trying to tell us something, but what? He is, as Henry announces the internet has dubbed Mendoza, a "squirmy worm".
The Fraser family then pop out to a glinting restaurant for lunch where Jonathan tells Grace that he didn't in fact kill the family dog but his own sister, an easy mistake to make. He was left in charge of her and she was hit by a car while he was making a snack, he explains while quietly weeping.
We have to leave this bombshell briefly as back in court Hayley posits the idea that perhaps it was another lover who killed Elena in a jealous rage, sowing the idea that she was a loose woman unpleasantly in the mind of the jury. Another tenuous moment comes shortly after as Jonathan tells Hayley that he couldn't have killed Elena as he loved her "quite madly". Of course, the viewer knows that violence and love are not mutually exclusive, so why does he keep coming back to this as his strongest argument?
We get our weekly cliffhanger in two strong shots as Jonathan's mother tells Grace via Skype (ageing the show somewhat in the era of Zoom and Zoom alone) that Jonathan had no remorse over the death of his sister, bringing us back to the question of whether Jonathan is a sociopath or a man who made a mistake. There's barely time to swallow that before Grace then discovers the sculpting hammer missing from the scene of the crime in Henry's violin bag. With just one episode left, we are edging towards the big reveal which will throw the season into focus, but there's likely a few contortionist's tricks left.
Some thoughts...
- Who did it? A weekly ranking: We called Henry out as being suspect early on –yes we have receipts – and while Grace's discovery seems to frame him, could it be that his love for his dad has been hinting that he'd be very willing to cover for him?
- Going to a very fancy restaurant on the lunch break of your murder trial signals very chaotic energy from the whole Fraser family.
- Wild theory of the week: Is Sylvie just a friend checking in or does she have a motive to stay so close to the case?
