The limited series The Undoing, a mix of murder mystery and domestic drama adapted from the novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz, treads familiar ground with great skill. In many ways, it recalls Big Little Lies, which isn't surprising given that producer/star Nicole Kidman reunites with co-producer/screenwriter David E. Kelley, who adapted Big Little Lies for HBO, a story of secrets and lies and murder among the privileged.
Kidman and Hugh Grant star as Grace and Jonathan Fraser, wealthy New York professionals and parents who are plunged into high-profile murder investigation and trial when a young working-class artist (Matilda De Angelis), a mother of a scholarship student in the private school where Grace volunteers, is brutally killed. Jonathan, a beloved pediatric oncologist (yes, he treats children with cancer), was having an affair with her and goes on the run. As Grace goes searching for answers, she finds that Jonathan has a lot more secrets.
The series, directed by Emmy-winning director Susanne Bier, plays up the opulence of their world—Grace's father (Donald Sutherland) is even wealthier—and shows how money and power offer protection unavailable to others (such as the murdered woman's blue-collar husband). Meanwhile the constant visits by the dogged police detectives (Edgar Ramírez and Michael Devine) and new evidence that suggest Grace or even their adolescent son Henry (Noah Jupe) could be involved keep us guessing: is there something else going on?
Ultimately, however, it's less a murder mystery than a domestic thriller and most interesting when exploring the troubled lives and compromised relationships and amoral behavior under the façade of beautiful people with perfect lives. Grace wants to believe her husband's innocence and Grant's performance plays on the actor's skill at charming audiences as he protests his innocence with such conviction. Kidman plays off of him beautifully as the loyal wife who hides her private suspicions while offering her public support.
The show's critique of class and social inequality is halfhearted compared to Big Little Lies but the performances of the superb cast (it costars Lily Rabe as a family friend, Noma Dumezweni as the high-powered defense lawyer, and Douglas Hodge as a rumpled public defender) makes it a compelling show through the six episodes. It was nominated for four Golden Globes and Kidman and Grant received a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild. It's rated TV-MA and features adult language, explicit nudity, adult situations, and brief brutal violence.
Six episodes (about 55 minutes apiece), plus a video introduction featuring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, a three-minute behind-the-scenes featurette "Creating The Undoing," and 11 short promotional featurettes (each under three minutes). Recommended.