‘The Undoing’ Episode 6 Spoilers: Was Sylvia jealous of Elena? 5 reasons why she killed Elena only to frame Jonathan
Spoiler Alert for ‘The Undoing’
A good murder mystery is one that can stump you with its unpredictability. Will ‘The Undoing’ end with an astounding shocker or have viewers already solved the puzzle? After Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant), Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) and their son Henry Fraser (Noah Jupe), fans are convinced it was Sylvia Steinetz (Lily Rabe) who killed Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis).
In the fourth episode ‘See No Evil’, Jonathan confesses to his lawyer Haley Fitzgerald (Noma Dumezweni) that he cheated on Grace not once, but twice. Haley quizzes Jonathan: Were there more women other than Elena in his life? He confesses there was a “one-off years ago”. Interesting! More importantly, it's quite suspicious he doesn't mention the name of the woman. To be fair, Haley doesn't ask him but isn't it bait that the showrunners decided to keep that information away?
Now, if Sylvia is the “one other” affair he had, could she have been jealous of Elena? And after committing the murder, she kept trying to be the “closest friend” and “support system” for Grace just so no one else would suspect her hand in the murder. Here are all the clues that point to that theory.
Why did Sylvia gossip about Elena?
In the first episode ‘The Undoing’, the women joke about how Grace should “auction” Jonathan at the charity auction meeting. While the camera pans at Elena when Sally Maybury (Janel Moloney) explains who he is, Sylvia is rather defensive about it. “He's an oncologist, Sally. Who's gonna bid on cancer?” she says. Elena has a rather bizarre response to it as she pulls off her blouse to expose her marvelous breasts to feed her baby girl, Teresa.
At that time, Sylvia glances over to her breasts and the ladies exchange a rather cold look. Later, Sylvia calls up Grace to talk about the odd and inappropriate behavior and says she [Elena] was “being passive-aggressive about that.”
During that conversation, Sylvia mentions to Grace how she has seen her at the school sitting across the street on one of those benches. And points the weird behavior to Grace, saying, “Who just sits around quietly?” And then, she casually passes a comment on “those spectacular breasts”. When she says that, she looks away and there is a hint of jealousy in her voice. She continues, “Oh my god, they look beautiful.” Clearly, Sylvia is envious of Elena's petite figure. Is it possible that — just like Henry — Sylvia saw her at the school with Jonathan too?
‘It's always the f---ing husband’
The day after Elena is found bludgeoned to death, Sylvia calls Grace to tell about the incident. While Grace is shocked to hear those words, Sylvia comes across as practically describing what happened. In her own words, “There's been no official word. At first, I heard aneurysm, but what the school is being told is that she was murdered.” Then she says, “Nobody seems to really know anything. I cannot bear it. That poor woman. You know, they're looking for the husband. Evidently, they were having problems. It's always the f---ing husband!”
While she tries to be sympathetic and if you read her words, it may seem so, but she says it almost like she doesn't feel anything for the family. quite conveniently, she puts all the blame on Elena's husband, Fernando Alves (Ismael Cruz Córdova). When the cops question all the moms, Sylvia has her story ready. She claims “she was home that night by 11.00 pm and she only met Elena at a meeting recently, at Sally's”. And in the second episode ‘The Missing’, when one of the moms tells Sylvia and Grace the husband turned himself in, Sylvia looks shocked, astonished... as if she knows it isn't true. But she is trying to prove, consistently, that it's always the husband.
Sylvia knows about Jonathan's affair
In the second episode, Sylvia sneaks off Grace to a quaint cafe and then spills the beans. “Word is Elena's husband has an alibi,” she says. Then quite dubiously, she confesses that Jonathan hired her as his lawyer for a disciplinary meeting with the mother of the patient. Three months ago. Sylvia defends herself saying, “I told him employment law wasn't my expertise but he insisted.”
Even if Jonathan insisted, why didn't Sylvia tell Grace about it? I didn't know whether or not you knew about it and conveniently places the blame on privileged information. So, Sylvia can call Grace to tell her all kinds of gossip but manage to hide the biggest truth about her own husband? Sounds fishy, doesn't it? Would a real friend do that? One Reddit fan asks the same: “Grace and Sylvia are best friends. How does Sylvia represent her husband accused of inappropriate patient relationships?”
Moreover, Sylvia covers up by saying that Jonathan called to say the hospital dropped the accusations. If she was his lawyer, why wouldn't she get an official notification for that? Just to save herself, she gives advice to Grace: “If you do find where Jonathan is, tell the police.”
Why does Jonathan approach Sylvia?
One Reddit fan says, “I would not be surprised if it was Sylvia. Sylvia a single mom yet she never made a reference to her daughter's father. We know Sylvia likes Jonathan because in the first episode she told Grace how much she admired him. But Sylvia is supposed to be Grace's best friend. So does anyone think it strange for Jonathan to go to Sylvia for legal counsel all while trying to hide his affairs, and that he was fired from Grace? Jonathan is trying to hide those things, so why did he go to Sylvia? What type of relationship do they have that he felt he can go to her? Why didn't she turn him down flat?”
Another posted, “The scene where Sylvia and Jonathan looked at each other in the courtroom was a red flag for me but the last episode almost confirmed it for me. She has to be the other woman Jonathan had an affair with. She's always calling to check in on Grace but it's to keep her close. Lily Rabe is too big of an actress to only be the supportive friend role in my opinion. I am almost certain she did it but the motive is still not clear.” A third added, “It would at least explain their weird exchange in the courtroom at his bail hearing, to that point there wasn’t a clear reason why he would look at her in such a strange “knowing” way if she was truly just a peripheral family friend.”
Did Franklin help her hide the hammer?
Several theories have been connecting the dots between Sylvia and Grace's father Franklin Reinhardt (Donald Sutherland). Some say she could be his daughter. One fan puts it all together saying, “Sylvia is very likely the other woman with whom Jonathan had his previous romance (we never learned about her identity). She gets furious at Elena who took her place and is in love with Jonathan who promised to never cheat again after breaking Sylvia's family (likely inference). Elena is also playing on her nerves by showing off with Jonathan's baby and getting close to Grace. When she learns that Jonathan left the fundraising party she knows he left to go after Elena and that's enough to push her over the edge (she knows where to go, because she knows about the romance).”
“After or before committing the murder she convinces Franklin to help her (in whatever way) to 'save Grace' from the cheating husband. In S01E4 20:37 Franklin received a postal package with the hammer when Grace was questioned again. Sylvia got late to the trial because she had planted the hammer in Henry's violin case (she returns the keys to Franklin upon arriving at the trial). Finally, she also learns from Grace about Jonathan alleged sociopathic tendency which will help her prosecutor friend to convict him.”
Now, if Sylvia manages to convict Jonathan, she can fulfill two motives: Save herself from being convicted and take revenge on him for replacing her with Elena. Do you believe in this theory? Tell us your theories in the comments below.
‘The Undoing’ premiered on HBO on October 25, 2020, and more episodes in the six-episodic series will air every Sunday from 9 pm ET to 10 pm ET. Catch the sixth episode, ‘The Bloody Truth’ on Sunday, November 29, 2020.
