#The Undoing Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Trial By Fury

Things are not looking good for Jonathan Fraser.

The very last thing a man on trial needs is for his family to doubt him, but after The Undoing Season 1 Episode 5, it’s impossible to imagine he’ll have the support he deserately needs as the trial continues.

Even worse, Grace has to live with the fact that her husband has allowed her son to see the very worst of him.

As always, if you’re looking for a recap of the hour, please click the link above. Here, we’ll pontificate and examine what came to be as we consider what to expect for the supposed series finale, The Undoing Season 1 Epissode 6.

Because if Big Little Lies taught us anything, it’s never to assume a limited series will remain limited. There are many different ways relationship can unravel, so I’d be open to visiting other stories that are similar in nature.

But, back to OUR story, that of Grace and her sociopathic husband, Jonathan.

It was not only easy to call Jonathan as a sociopath quite early, but it was just as easy to see how Grace had been fooled by the man she married.

She’s hearing things, but she hasn’t necessarily been listening. 

Grace: All this time, he was carrying that burden, and I never saw.

Franklin: In your professional opinion, is a past trauma like that likely to render a person more compassionate or more psychotic?

Grace: I tried calling his mother a few times, and she never returned.

Franklin: Even his family doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.

Jonathan is a master manipulator, though, and he’s been working hard to keep Grace on the straight and narrow, right where he needs her to be for his defense.

From calling her on the phone to reminisce about their phone calls while they were first involved and telling her he loved her before hanging up to dutifully grasping her hand to try to show Haley they were on the same page, Jonathan has been trying hard to keep Grace’s head under the sand.

Unfortunately for him (and her), Grace has had a cold, hard awakening to the realities of her husband, and it seems like once that door was opened, she’s been showered with a deluge of information to seal the deal.

Grace said in passing that she thinks she deserves a medal for standing beside Jonathan given the circumstances. She will deserve an Academy Award if she stays by her side playing the dutiful wife after everything she’s learned in the last 24 hours.

As soon as Grace told Henry about Jonathan’s dog story, it felt wrong. It didn’t pass the sniff test. Well, the same can be said for his drama at the dinner table about Katie cat or whatever he claimed was their nickname for his now-deceased sister.

A lot of this goes directly to the writing on The Undoing, but Hugh Grant knows the difference between genuine tears and those used to manipulate, too. Jonathan’s performance at the restaurant didn’t feel any more genuine than it turned out to be. 

Thank goodness Jonathan’s mother and Grace finally got in touch. If she’s a decent woman, and she seems to be, then his mother must be worried about Grace, and especially, Henry. 

If anyone knows how hard it is to see the realities of a person if you aren’t looking for it, it’s probably her. If they had suspected their 11-yer-old son had sociopathic tendencies, they would never have allowed him to watch over Katie.

Jonathan doesn’t know how to suffer. After his sister was killed, he never even said he was sorry. After his sister was killed, he never said another word about it. He just went on living her until he was old enough to leave and never come back, which is what he did.
Jonathan’s Mother

Even in the aftermath, they couldn’t believe that he wasn’t going to crack under the strain of what had happened. But it never happened. Katie’s death didn’t have a single impact on his life.

Jonathan used the moment of revelation to try to tie his career path to making up for what happened to Katie. But two things we’ve heard along the way paint that in a very disturbing light.

First, Dr. Rosenfeld already shared with Grace that he got the impression Jonathan needed his patients and their families to need him and that their pain was part of what he seemed to attract him.

After hearing from Jonathan’s mother, what did Jonathan mean when he said every patient since has been Katie? If he’s a sociopath, then he might enjoy the suffering of others and revel in their misery because he sure as hell doesn’t react like the rest of us when faced with that kind of agony.

Everything about Jonathan is disgusting, and it’s only made more so by being good looking and successful and wealthy.

Look, juries don’t like to convict good-looking people. They certainly don’t like to imprison doctors, and they don’t like to punish the wealthy. As much as we think we like to stick it to the rich, in the end, we don’t. We never do.
News Anchor

Grace’s discovery of a mallet in Henry’s violin case can mean one of two things. Either Henry found it somewhere it shouldn’t have been and hid it knowing very well the significance of that, or he knew where to find the family mallet and hid it with the hope it wouldn’t be tied back to Jonathan and the crime.

Either way, it’s got to be scary for Grace because now she had to consider the damage Jonathan has done to her son, what she’s never been privy to in the past, and worry over how he’ll process the affair and the trial.

He’s already lying. He seems like any other kid in so many ways, but when you factor in Jonathan’s mental issues, then Henry is a genuine wild card. Grace isn’t in enviable position.

Should she continue supporting Jonathan even if she believes he’s capable of murder? She was willing to sit there while Haley flung dirt on both her and Fernando. How much more does she have to take?

She certainly doesn’t have to use the excuse that she’s doing it for Henry’s sake because Franklin is right. Whether Jonathan murdered Elena or not, Henry should have as little contact with his father as possible.

I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. In my imagination, Jonathan will be convicted but turn to his the courtroom with one of those smug looks on his face as if he’s saying, “it ain’t over yet.”

At the same time, it would be just as easy for him to be freed, but sharing with the audience another indication of his guilt with an entirely different, more personal look of smug satisfaction. 

What do you think? Do you have doubts as to Jonathan’s innocence? Do you want Grace to stand by his side for the duration of the trial?

Will he be convicted or exonerated? Hit the comments and share your thoughts because I’d like to hear them!

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She’s a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film. Follow her on Twitter and email her here at TV Fanatic.