"The Undoing's" Ismael Cruz Córdova Promises We'll Be Surprised by the Finale
The Undoing, a six-part HBO miniseries, concludes on Sunday, November 29.
Who killed Elena Alves (Matilda di Angelis) on The Undoing? We'll finally get our answer in the finale.
For now, here are the prevailing theories.
As a rule, when a character shares my name, I am automatically invested in her fate. This holds true for Elena Richardson of Little Fires Everywhere, Disney's Elena of Avalor, and most of all for Elena Alves (Matilda de Angelis) of The Undoing—given that the HBO miniseries is all about discovering the identity of her killer.
Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel You Should Have Known, the HBO miniseries is set in the aftermath of a brutal murder of a private school mom. Grace Fraser's (Nicole Kidman, reunited with her curly hair) world is shaken when she learns her husband, Jonathan (a slimy Hugh Grant) is potentially involved with the murder. As of the series's fifth episode, we had a hint that the Frasers' son Henry (Noah Jupe) might be involved, too: Grace discovers the bloody murder weapon in his violin case, after a string of details right out of a Clue game.
No matter what, we know someone in the Fraser family is lying. Already, Jonathan has proven to be untrustworthy: He masked his involvement in his sister's death in childhood, and lied to Grace about being fired from his job for inappropriate behavior (not to mention the affairs). And Noah certainly could have inherited the lying gene from Papa Fraser, for all we know.
Even if your theories appear to be airtight, Ismael Cruz Córdova—who plays Elena's husband—says to make room for a surprise (or two). "I bet that if people were to go back and see it again, they'd have a different combination of characters that they think are guilty," Córdova tells OprahMag.com. "There's definitely going to be an element of surprise in the finale."
Ahead of The Undoing's final episode (that is, unless the show is renewed for a second season, as is always possible with HBO miniseries about the upper crust written by David E. Kelley), here are our best guesses for the identity of Elena's killer.
If it looks like a Jonathan, and sounds like a Jonathan, it's a Jonathan. Jonathan is the killer.
Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one. So far, the majority of the evidence in Elena's murder case is pointing toward Jonathan being the killer. He and Elena slept together the night of her death. So far, his "story" is that he left her right before she was murdered. If it sounds suspicious, that's because it is.
In the book that inspired The Undoing, Jonathan confesses to killing Malaga (Elena's name in the book) in a letter. After Malaga reveals she's pregnant with his child again—they already had a daughter together—he kills her, believing she will ruin his family life, as if he hadn't done that already. Jonathan is characterized a sociopath and a master of manipulation. On the run for the entirety of the novel, Jonathan is apprehended and brought to justice.
However, there's reason not to think that The Undoing will hew closely to the novel's interpretation. According to director Susanne Bier, Kelley deviated from the novel after two episodes. "The best you can do with a good book, if you want to dramatize it on screen, is do something else with it," Susanna Bier, who directed all eight episodes, tells OprahMag.com. "By doing that, you maintain the actual qualities of the book. But you create something that is possibly different and something in its own right."
Fine, then. Maybe Henry is the killer.
Ah, Henry. In the book, Grace and Jonathan's son is a sweet, violin-playing elementary schooler who rebuilds his life in Connecticut after his father's scandal throws his life into turmoil.
His moral alignment is less clear in the TV show. The Undoing's fifth episode is Henry's grand debut as a suspect. Frankly, it's not looking great for him: There's a sculpting hammer, which fits the description of the missing murder weapon, hidden away in his violin case.
With this knowledge in mind, Henry's shifty behavior in earlier episodes now seems suspicious. He eavesdropped on his mother's conversation with the police investigators. When his father was arrested in episode 3, Henry left to go practice the violin. Maybe Henry wasn't uncomfortable with his parents being the target of police questioning—or maybe he was afraid of being found out.
If Henry did it, he probably didn't do it alone. It's plausible that Jonathan manipulated Henry into colluding with him and covering up the crime. We already know Henry will cover for his dad: He didn't tell Grace that he saw Jonathan and Elena speaking intimately outside of the school.
Maybe it's Fernando, Elena's husband.
Fernando (Ismael Cruz Córdova) is caught in the middle of a terrible situation. His wife was murdered! His young son, Miguel (Edan Alexander), discovered her body! Now, he's saddled with taking care of her child with another man!
Jonathan's defense lawyer, Haley (Noma Dumezweni), is trying to frame Fernando. There's evidence of a crime of passion: Fernando told Sylvia (Lily Rabe) that he and Elena been having marital difficulties, and, as every episode of Law and Order reminds us, "it's always the husband." Still, Fernando has an airtight alibi—especially compared to Jonathan. Of everyone, we suspect him the least.
Hear us out, but it could be Grace.
Grace spends the show in a state of perpetual confusion, wandering around New York with her coats trailing in the wind. Speaking to OprahMag.com, director Bier said she wanted to convey a sense of "discombobulation" and Grace's frayed mental state.
Bier seemed to imply that we can't believe everything we see, because it's filtered through Grace's addled mind. Maybe she's in the midst of a psychotic break, brought on by...murder. After all, she was seen walking outside of Elena's apartment around the time of the murder. It's a stretch, but maybe not so much if you've ever seen Gone Girl.
Either way, at this point, we can't rule anyone out—at least, not until the finale of The Undoing on HBO November 29.
For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter!
You Might Also Like
