WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Undoing Season 1, Episode 6, "The Bloody Truth," which aired on HBO November 29, 2020.
At the start, HBO’s miniseries The Undoing seemed like a classic whodunit in which the overarching question, "Who killed Elena Alves?," had an obvious answer: Jonathan Fraser. In any other case, that would have meant the killer could be anybody but Jonathan, which made the finale reveal unusual, if not surprising. After six episodes filled with red herrings, which at different moments pointed to Grace, Fernando and Henry, Elena's was finally to be... yes, Jonathan, a deviation from the genre formula.
All evidence had pointed toward Jonathan from the beginning of the psychological thriller. Played by Hugh Grant, the oncologist had gone into hiding after the murder, and kept secrets from his family, including an affair with enigmatic artist Elena (Matilda De Angelis), and the loss of his job at the hospital amid allegations involving none other than Elena. Jonathan had even paid a visit to Elena's studio the night of the murder. In a typical whodunit, all of that would have meant there was no way he could have committed the crime, but instead was likely framed by the true killer.
That appears to be an intentional misdirection by The Undoing; the audience is supposed to ignore the obvious in favor of looking for signs that point to anyone else. Jonathan’s insistence he didn’t kill Elena further drives this point. Underlying that is a play on the idea that a privileged man either couldn't have committed such an act or else that he did but would have gotten away it. The latter is clearly the strategy of Jonathan's attorneys, who seek not to prove his innocence but instead to raise reasonable doubt.
For the longest time, it looked like this was going to go that way, until the testimony of his wife Grace, played by Nicole Kidman. A trained psychologist, Grace Fraser testifies that she knows Jonathan to be a man of empathy who could never harm a fly. However, everything falls apart when the defense plays Grace's 911 call, in which she said he was scared of Jonathan when he first re-appeared at their country home while on the lam.
Confronted with the impending conviction, Jonathan takes his son, Henry (Noah Jupe), for a drive, purportedly to get breakfast. In the increasingly tense ride, Jonathan finally faces the truth: He killed Elena. She threatened to approach Grace and Henry about the affair, and after Jonathan told her to stay away, he slammed her head against the wall. A frantic Elena picked up a sculpting hammer and tried to attack Jonathan, who fought her off. Then, he began to hit her with the hammer and didn’t stop until her face was a bloody pulp.
The police begin to pursue Jonathan, who contemplates suicide by jumping from a bridge. However, he eventually decides against it, because his son pleads with him not to jump. Jonathan is then arrested, as Grace embraces her Henry, proving that the most obvious suspect is sometimes the real culprit.
Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Noah Jupe, Edgar Ramirez, Donald Sutherland, Lily Rabe, Noma Dumezweni and Ismael Cruz Córdova, The Undoing premieres Oct. 25 on HBO at 9 p.m. ET/PT.