The Undoing 1.1: A Murder, A Missing Person, and NYC Bustling in the Snow

David Kelley's The Undoing mini-series debuted with a star-studded cast on HBO tonight.  I mean, with Nicole Kidman as Grace Fraser a psychologist and Hugh Grant as her husband Jonathan Fraser an oncologist on the posh side of New York City, and a murder and a missing person, we can just stop there and how can you go wrong, right?  You can't.  The first episode was sleek and blockbuster powerful, an East Coast analog in many ways of Kelley's California Big Little Lies, which was pretty hot, suspenseful stuff, too, over two seasons.

[spoilers below]

The Undoing starts off with a nice long build-up of rich mothers (whose kids are in an elite private school) plus one (who's among them on a scholarship) meeting on some auction committee.  Before the hour's over, Elena (the young mother with a scholarship for her son) has a conversation in the nude with Grace in a locker room (that is, Elena has not even a towel around her), Elena on the night of the auction kisses Grace on the lips, and Elena is found brutally murdered the next morning.  And, when Grace tries to let her husband know about the murder -- he left in the morning to (supposedly) to attend a meeting in Cleveland -- she finds that he's gone missing.  About as good a set-up as you're likely to find on any screen.

So here's where we stand:

1. Is there a connection between Elena's murder and Jonathan's disappearance?  We don't know that yet, for sure, but, how could there not be?  

2. Did Jonathan murder Elena?  He's the most likely suspect at this point, his motive being jealousy, or maybe he was sleeping with Elena and she or he wanted to end that.  He did say something to Grace about Elena, and his being missing doesn't help,  but that's all still circumstantial at this point, as they say.  There's even a chance that he, too, could be dead.

3. Any other suspects?  The husband -- Elena's -- is always a possibility, but he seems like a nice guy.  I suppose there's a very outside chance that Grace did it, but she didn't really have the time, and she seemed genuinely shocked to find out about the murder.  So, make that chance very slight and outside.  (My wife suggested Grace's father Franklin.  We don't know much at all about him, but he's played by Donald Sutherland, which suggests some kind of significant role.)

4. How about someone not at all in the first episode?  I'd say no -- Kelley's too good to pull rabbits like that out of a hat.

So we have a nice, taut, high-octane mystery on our hands, set in snowy, pre-pandemic New York City, which is fun to see in any case.  See you back here next week.

 

Big Little Lies, Season Two Finale: Too Happy Ending

Well, I thought this seven-episode second season of Big Little Lies was superb, if short - except the ending tonight, which was too upbeat.

Not that I don't like happy endings.  But this one was too much.  Celeste wins her case, completely.  Ok, that was welcome and justified.  Madeline and her husband renew their vows and everything is hunky dory.  That was a little much.  And it looks like Jane and her boyfriend are on their way to a great relationship, too?

Renata smashing the trains was the best part of the episode, along with Celeste standing up for herself in court.  But Bonnie finally coming to terms with her mother didn't make all that much sense.

And what was happening with the five going into the police station at the end?  Ok, Bonnie is confessing.  That makes sense.  But if she tells the truth, and the other four back her up, they'll all be guilty of obstruction of justice, in addition to Bonnie going down for manslaughter or murder, who knows.

Another episode, or at least another 30 minutes on this finale would have just the thing to explain why the five made the decision, what exactly that was, and what kind legal jeopardy the four will be in.   Ambiguity is sometimes just the thing to end a powerful story.  This time, it wasn't.

Maybe that's reason to get a third season going, with some answers and contexts for this super series, with super memorable characters.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together ... Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives ... Big Little Lies 2.5: Little Red Riding Hood ... Big Little Lies 2.6: It (Isn't) Over

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.6: It (Isn't) Over

First, let me say about Big Littles Lies 2.6, just on HB0: wasn't it sublime to hear Roy Orbison's "It's Over," played in its entirety, over the closing credits?  You don't hear that every day, or every year or decade, on television.  And it befits a show as special as Big Little Lies.

This episode was creme de la creme, especially the court scenes.  Celeste's cross-examination by Mary Louise's lawyer laid it all out.  The only thing he was wrong about was who pushed Perry down the stairs.  But, even so, Celeste still deserves custody of her kids.  And her move at the end, to get Mary Louise on the stand, and personally question her, was a moment of brilliance.

Meanwhile, we finally get Bonnie confessing to pushing Perry - to her comatose mother.  And the confession finally tells us exactly why she pushed him: she was pushing her abusive mother down the stairs.  Unfortunately for Celeste and Jane, who have most motive for killing Perry, Detective Quinlan was not on hand for that confession.   But she's never too far behind.

And the alliance continues to crack, with Madeline this time being the one to publicly doubt why they're protecting Bonnie.   There's a lot to be worked out in this story, and there's only one episode left this season.

Unlike Orbison's finale song, this series definitely isn't over.   And I'm not talking about just next week's finale.  Here's a strong vote for it not being the series finale - contra to what HBO boss Casey Bloys says.  We'll see.  And I'll definitely see you all here next week.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together ... Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives ... Big Little Lies 2.5: Little Red Riding Hood

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.5: Little Red Riding Hood

I thought Big Little Lies 2.5 was the best yet of this powerhouse second season.  It had Madeline riffing on "Natural Woman" (Reese Witherspoon did a great job as June Carter in Walk the Line in 2005, it was great to hear her sing again), Mary Louise yearning for "an app like that," i.e., one which would enable people to just enjoy each other's company, and all kinds of good stuff like that.

But the centerpiece, like a gathering hurricane, of course concerns Perry's death.  Celeste worries that she and her friends will be called to testify in her custody hearing.  Renata assures her that they can all go down for perjury if they are asked about Perry's death, and they stick to their story - which Madeline still insists they keep adhering to as the best way to move forward will no ill effects, as they've been doing.  And this discussion takes place right in front of Bonnie.

The nub of this elephant in the room is why should they all protect Bonnie?  They didn't ask Bonnie to push Perry down the stairs, let alone kill him, though none of them were unhappy that that happened.   We the viewers still don't know the deepest reason that Bonnie did this.  Neither do her protectors.   This means that, sooner or later, this ring of protection will come apart.

Bonnie clearly has homicidal tendencies.  It looked at the end of tonight's episode that she's on her way to mercy-killing her mother.  But I'm going to go out on a limb and make a prediction for how this season will end: someone, maybe more than one, is going to kill Grandma Mary.  Like a new version of Little Red Riding Hood, in which the grandmother/wolf is killed by one or more women from the town.

Anyway, great episode tonight, and we'll see what next week holds in store.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together ... Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.4: Bonnie's Deepest Motives

Big Little Lies 2.4 is finally beginning to get down to brass tacks on what Bonnie's real or deepest motives were in pushing Perry down those stairs.  The question has been looming since the season 1 finale, and has been lurking around every episode in season 2.

The proximate fuse we all saw was Bonnie reacting to the abuse Perry was dishing out to several of our leading women.  But what did that fuse ignite that was already inside Bonnie?   Nothing out there in the open as yet, but clearly that fuse is connected to Bonnie's mother.

And all of this is happening just in time, at least for us, the viewers' sake.  Because what we also saw in episode 2.4 is Bonnie's coalition of conspirators beginning to come apart.  It's a bad thing when your coalition of supporters is beginning to talk amongst each other about ending that support.

Meanwhile, although this may not have much relevance to what happens to Bonnie - though everything is complexly connected on this show - I've got to say that I don't have much sympathy for Ed.  I mean, true, he cheated on Madeleine, but he's still acting like something between a nebish and a schmuck.  I'm thinking Madeline and he may not wind up together in the end, after all.

And speaking of together, it's ominous, at least for their mothers, to see all of Perry's children getting closer and closer together.   Not exactly one big happy family, with each of the mothers having ample reason to hate Perry, and Perry's mother pushing the family buttons at every available time.

More reflections next week.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny ... Big Little Lies 2.3: Together

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.3: Together

One of the most impressive and endearing things about Big Little Lies this season is the way the women conspirators hang together - well, not conspirators in terms of explicit planning, but witnesses to a death, Perry's, of which for one reason or another they deeply approve.

In episode 2.3, we see a great example of this mutual support as Celeste comes to Madeline's emotional aid, reversing the vector of support we saw last week.  Madeline is one of the stronger women in the group, perhaps the strongest, but she's in real need of help to deal with her husband finding out about her brief affair.   The shrink was almost no help at all.   Celeste gave Madeline the conversation she needed.

Of course, one powerful woman who isn't teaming with the rest, and is indeed their inexorable antagonist, is Perry's mother Mary.  In 2.3, she has, well, the gall, to confront and grill Jane on her rape by Perry.   In her zeal not just to understand her son's death but save his good name, she applies her knowledge of Perry's violence - obtained from Celeste - to concoct a theory that maybe Jane lured Perry into some kind of rough sex by some kind of signals she gave him.  Whether she gave them consciously or not, Jane is suitable outraged by the suggestion, and holds her own against the prosecutorial Mary.

Also of note in episode 2.3 is the continuing potential undermining of the alliance to protect Bonnie.  Last week we saw a reason Renata might have for turning Bonnie in.  This week we saw a simmering problem between Bonnie and Madeline.   Big Little Lies continues as an excellent example, not of a whodunnit, but what happens to the person whodunnit in an environment in which her protectors are both staunch and unstable.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission ... Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.2: Perry's Progeny

The most significant discovery in Big Little Lies 2.2 is that the late Perry's twins - Max and Josh - know that Ziggy is also his son.  All of which is capped off by the three children meeting, at the end, in the way that Big Little Lies always does things.

Also apt for the way Big Little Lies tells its stories is how the twins found about this.  That would be via Madeline's younger daughter, Chloe, who heard her mother talking about this on the phone.  It was a big night for Madeline's daughters letting out secrets.  Her older daughter Abigail blurts out that Madeline slept with the theater director, thinking her adoptive father and Madeline's husband Ed wasn't home.  The ramifications of that second sharing are Ed says he's "done" with Madeline.

That might well be the less toxic of the ramifications of what Madeline's daughters said.  There's no telling what the psycho Max will do to Ziggy, knowing that Jane's son is his likely-unwanted half brother.  Big Little Lies has always been and continues to be an ensemble narrative with an abundance of grievance and a vengeance.

Meanwhile, we're beginning to learn a little more about Bonnie.  Her mother practices some kind of voodoo.  We already knew that Bonnie was afflicted with some kind of demons - why else would she push Perry down the stairs - but now we know that these must be longstanding, inhabiting Bonnie long enough that her mother would know.   Her mother, by the way, seems pretty formidable, and a potentially good match for Perry's mother and her single-minded vision to find out what happened to her beloved son.

Last but not least we have Renata's husband arrested tonight.  There's not connection yet to the rest of the story, but let's just wait and see.  And the arrest brought out some primo acting by Laura Dern.

See also Big Lies 2.1: Grandma On a Mission

And see also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whodunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

Big Little Lies 2.1: Grandma on a Mission

Big Little Lies was back on HBO last night, with Meryl Streep as Perry's mother Mary, staying with Celeste and the twins, and understandably determined to find out what happened to her son.  You couldn't ask for a better actress than Meryl Streep to convey the suspicion that Mary has that Perry's death was not as everyone is telling her, and it will fun to see those suspicions develop to the point of certainty, which will no doubt lead to Mary plotting some kind of retribution.

Now, in case you didn't see the first season and its stunning ending, we know what happened to Perry.  Bonnie accidentally killed him, deliberately pushing him down the stairs, as she sees Madeline, Jane, and Renata unable to pull him off Celeste.   Every one of those women are justifiably glad to see him dead.  The last thing they'll do is even tell police that Bonnie didn't intend to kill him.  So this sets up the new season with five powerful women lying to the police, and resisting Mary's attempt to learn the truth.

Did Mary know her son was a rapist?  Probably not.  Did she know that he was physically abusive to women, including his wife.  Probably.  Will Mary learning the truth about her son's treatment of women affect her determination to find out what happened to him?  Probably not.  And that has the makings of a pretty good story.

Of the two, I'd give Mary has better odds of finding out the truth than the police.   But Detective Quinlan, also a woman, is no slouch.   Chances are Mary and Quinlan, working for the same thing - to find out what happened to Perry - won't get too much in each other's way.  But once Mary begins planning her retribution, well ... all bets are off.

Big Little Lies in its first season was a unique detective story.  It promises to be the same in its second season, with a much different story featuring almost the very same people.

See also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whudunnit ... Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

 

My List of the Top 10 Television Series of 2017

Continuing the tradition - just started two years ago - here is my Top 10 list for 2017,  from who knows how many series I've seen this past year on network television, cable, and streaming (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Acorn):

Honorable mention (narrowly not making the list, for a variety of reasons):  On the list last year: Vikings was on my Top 10 list last year (that would be season 3).  Season 4 was excellent, but not quite as good in previous seasons.  (Season 5 has just begun, and I'm already liking it a little more than Season 4.) Returning in honorable mention: Chicago Fire is still superb, but still suffers from the limitations of network television.   Apples and oranges: Veep is still hilarious, but it's impossible to rank a comedy with dramas, so I put it here in honorable mentions. Same for the return of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is in an hilarious class of its own. Closest runners-up: Twin Peaks: The Return (Showtime): sequels, especially broadcast years later, are always a difficult proposition, but Twin Peaks did this insanely well, literally;  Game of Thrones (Season 7) (HBO): best season so far, we finally got to see the dragons in action; Ozark (Netflix): an original, engrossing crime drama in an unlikely place; The Break (Netflix): top-notch Belgian noir, The Crown (Netflix): peerless drama of the first years of Queen Elizabeth II;  Mindhunter (Netflix) think Criminal Minds, unhindered by network mores

-> 17 December 2017 shoutout to Erased, a charming, very different kind of time travel series on Netflix, which I just saw last night.  It will definitely be on my Top 10 list next year.

-> 28 December 2017 I just finished streaming Travelers 2 - the first season was on my Top 10 list last year (2016) - Travelers 2 will surely be on my Top 10 list next year.

And now the Top 10:

10. 19-2 (final season, Acorn): back on the list from last year, one of the best cop shows ever on television; sorry to see it conclude

9. The Deuce (HBO): a gritty, in-your-face look at prostitution and the dawn of the porn industry in 1970s New York City, as only HBO can do it

8. Big Little Lies (HBO): sly, well-acted, delicious, brutal, and criminal

7. Four Seasons in Havana (Netflix): Cuban noir, based on four novels, about the exploits of detective with a secret life as a writer - you can't go wrong with this gem

6. Narcos (Season 3) (Netflix): 3rd year in a row on my Top 10 list, you can't beat the pace, the realism, and the sarcasm of the DEA-agent narrator

5. Dark (Netflix): there was a lot of time-travel on television in 2017 (12 Monkeys, Timeless, Time After Time, Somewhere Between, Outlander), but this German outing was the best, and wove at least half a dozen major paradoxes into the story

4. The Orville (Fox): the closest thing ever on television to the original Star Trek series, with some of The Next Generation on board with equivalent characters; and The Orville is often laugh-out-loud funny

3. Fauda (Netflix): a brilliant, riveting Mossad spy story, swat-team narrative, which treats Israelis and Arabs with almost equal sensitivity

2. Longmire (final season, 6) Netflix: this series just got better and better every every season, and saved the best for last with a truly satisfying story that tied up most of the loose ends

1. Sense8 (season 2) Netflix: telepathy is a relative rarity in science fiction, and Sense8 did it masterfully and memorably; destined to become a classic which will be watched for decades to come

See also My List of the Top Ten Television Series of 2015 and My List of the Top Ten Television Series of 2016

Big Little Lies: Elvis and Answers

A superb conclusion to the Big Little Lies - a superb conclusion to one of the best series ever on any television.   Although there's always room for a second season, and I hope it happens, this short season was about as good as it gets.

First, let me say that the Elvis renditions on trivia night were themselves worth the price of admission.  Zoe Kravitz's "Don't" - one of my favorite Elvis songs anyway - was nonpareil.  And Adam Scott's performance of "The Wonder of You" was nothing to sneer at, either.  (Though my wife tells me he was lip-synching - well, kudos to the singer and the lip synching.)

But back to the plot: the ending was just right for this kind of whodunnit, because the "culprit" was the person who we would have least reason to even remotely suspect.  Bonnie (played by Zoe Kravitz) had no reason to kill anybody.

Until she saw what Perry was doing.  And, even then, she didn't intend to kill him.

But, boy, did he deserve to die. (Which is why I put "culprit" in quotes.)  Not only because of what he had been doing to Celeste, but because he is revealed as Jane's rapist.  That was a wild twist, and maybe the one weakness in the plot - wouldn't she have recognized Perry?  However much he changed, his eyes, his voice would have been the same.  But we do get the additional irony here that not only was Perry to father of violent Max, but of sweet Ziggy.

I'll conclude with saying I honestly don't know who should get the Emmy for best lead actress, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman were both so extraordinary in different ways.  Reese Witherspoon walked the line between being a bitch and a caring woman just perfectly.  And Nicole Kidman as an abused woman, trying to hold together her marriage, was indelible.  As for acting, hats of to Alexander Skarsgard for an unforgettable performance as the despicable Perry.

I'd watch another season in a heartbeat.  But this short season has already made television history.


See also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly ... Big Little Lies 1.5: Multivalent Whudunnit

Big Little Lies as of 1.5: Multivalent WhoDunnit

Big Little Lies, as of its fifth episode on HBO this past Sunday evening, continues to be one of the most unusual, provocative, appealing, and original shows on television - continuing to demonstrate that HBO has a unique beat on television, that you find nowhere else.

At this point, we still don't who the killer or the victim is.   In fact, just about everyone has a motive for killing someone, not just Jane, whom we saw in close enough proximity to the man who raped her and fathered her child that she might well have killed him, off camera at this point.  The multiplicity of suspects makes Big Little Lies somewhat akin to a classic Agatha Christie story, except the suspects are suspect for different potential victims, and, again, we don't yet even know who the victim is.

Perry and Celeste, for example, could each easily be the killer of the other - Perry because he's a keg of violence on a short fuse, Celeste to defend herself against one of Perry's assaults.   And, while we're on anger, Renata has plenty of it - justified insofar as her daughter is being bullied and bitten - but likely directed at the wrong person, Jane, which gives Renata a motive and again Jane in defense of herself or her boy.

Madeline and Ed seem to be most peaceful, but even they have the potential to murder.  Ed is already suspicious that Madeline has been having an affair, and there's no telling what he might do if he sees and finds out more.  And Madeline - well, in some ways, she's the most fascinating character on the show.  Superficially, she's the most by-the-book and conventional of the women.  But she has a wild side, and a propensity to express it, as whens she admits to grabbing Joseph's "ass" - prelude, in effect, to their car crash.

And the acting that animates this complex story is, as I said in my previous review, just all around superb.  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Shailene Woodley could and should each get Emmys for their performances, and Laura Dern, too, for supporting actress.  And the men are putting in memorable performances, as well, with the less time they have on screen.

Speaking of less, my only regret, as I often say about these short series on HBO and elsewhere, is that they're short.   Let's hope there's at very least a second season.

See also Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly

Big Little Lies: Big Good, Truly

My wife and I have been much enjoying Big Little Lies, set to put on its third episode in a limited series on HBO tonight.

Murder stories are a dime a dozen, ranging from some of the almost unbearably trite series on the old networks to the compelling Nordic and kindred noir series streaming on Netflix and Amazon.  In view of those superb binge-watchable programs, I'm sometimes moved to say that the cutting edge of television has already passed from cable to streaming services.

But Big Little Lies proves otherwise, and at very least shows that HBO can still come up with a unique kind of story.  For starters, here we are after two episodes, and we still don't know who the victim is, let alone the killer.  HBO is showing that it can still put up a whodunnit with the best of 'em, without not only an identifiable body but a name.   Other series - such as The Affair - have woven a little of this into their stories.  In Big Little Lies, it's the whole story, or at least, one of two of them.

And the star power, especially regarding the women, is incandescent.  Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and the lesser-known Shailene Woodley are just superb, conveying a range of nuance not often found in a television series, especially not one about a murder.

But Iain Armitage, who plays a boy who at this point is accused only of grabbing a little girl by the neck, puts in a stellar performance, too.   So much so that, although I think he's being wrongly accused, I wouldn't quite bet the house on it, yet.   (But if I had to bet, my wife and I think the culprit is likely one of Celeste's - Nicole Kidman's - twin boys - which would follow from their having a physically abusive father.)

That incident at school, by the way, is the second story I alluded to earlier.  But everything's intricately connected and woven together on Big Little Lies, and I'm looking forward to more of this compelling David E. Kelley creation (who also does Amazon's Goliath, and goes back to great network drama such as The Practice), based on the novel by Liane Moriarty.