Amazon's 'Undone' is a surreal animated murder mystery that delves deep into the human psyche
This review contains spoilers for 'Undone' episodes 1-8
Groundbreaking is an understatement when it comes to summing up Amazon Prime's 'Undone'. The new half-hour original from creators Kate Purdy and Raphael Bob-Waksberg is the first serial-format TV show made with rotoscope animation (A process that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action). 'Undone' provides a breathtaking visual in each of its eight episodes.
The pilot episode, 'The Crash' is all about Millenials' problems. The pressure to have a good job, stay rich and successful, live up to expectations, and in the eternal pursuit of happiness Alma (Rosa Salazar) is plain and in-your-face. She's disgruntled with the mundane life that she leads— wake up, eat, sleep and repeat.
The episode also gives us a glimpse of the strained relationship with her family and boyfriend. The only time she's happy is when she's drunk, and this stupor leads her to do things that she hates. How about deciding to go get your sister punch drunk, trade roles, convince a barman to play drinking games, get the poor sister to make out with the guy, and then head to the toilet, throw up and cry. That's Alma. And all this, on the eve of her sister's engagement!
Realization dawns the following day and her sister Becca (Angelique Cabral) lashes out. An upset Alma speeds off and sees a ghost-like version of her dad, Jacob (Bob Odenkirk) at the side of the road with a cigarette. This is followed by a severe crash. Lights out. The second episode, 'The Hospital' is where the beauty of rotoscope animation comes in. Alma wakes up in a hospital and has trouble remembering. It begins with a loop as Alma relives the moment she wakes up in the hospital bed. As the loops become frequent, she realizes that she isn't in control of what's happening, her father who appears again explains that Alma has gained an ability. She sees time in a non-linear fashion and can control it.
Alma's relationship with her father is explained and the latter asks her to help him with her newfound abilities. He believed he was killed and a dazed Alma decides to help out. Episode 3, 'The Handheld BlackJack' is about coming to terms with life after the traumatizing accident. Alma tries and controls her powers, her father's valuable advice guides her throughout. She begins investigating the death. 'Moving the Keys' continues the training session. Alma also learns from her father that he had a close relationship with one of his students over a grant funding for a special project— one that involved changing the fundamentals of time, and that his murder is linked to the project.
The next, 'Alone in This' is all about Sam, played by Siddharth Dhananjay (Alma's boyfriend) and Alma. It is shown that they break up in the pilot. Soon after the accident, she forgets that she broke up with him. Things come back to Alma, one memory thread at a time. She and Sam had uncannily similar upbringings. Both had family issues, and both were outsiders, and eventually she realizes Sam is the guy, the only guy she could trust and she reveals the truth about her abilities to him. Pity that it's received with confusion.
Episodes 6 and 7, titled 'Prayers and Visions' and 'The Wedding' finally sees Alma tapping into her powers while investigating her dad's death. The two episodes also see her develop a more stable relationship with her family, especially with Becca. Sam proves to be this boyfriend who genuinely loves her for what she is and all the while, the stories continue to enchant with the stylish animation. The tone fluctuates between light and grayscale,
The final episode, 'The Halloween' is all about the episode where Alma figures out to travel back in time and manages to take her dad along. The duo goes back to the incident where her dad was killed. The duo sees a heated conversation between Alma and her father and it was revealed that he was experimenting on her. Alma's mother also suspects Jacob of an affair with his student while working on the project.
The episode also sees the husband and wife split. It is also revealed that the student and Jacob were so driven with the experiment that they never realized the impact it was having on their family life. Alma travels further back in time and goes to the exact timeframe and realizes that Jacob and Farnaz (Sheila Vand) killed themselves by driving over the cliff. After much convincing from Alma, Jacob decides to try again and change the timeline. In reality, however, Becca reveals the marriage has been annulled. Soon, her mother and Sam fear her to be schizophrenic.
Adding to all this is the impeccable cast performances. Every level of the show complements the other and the ending is as strong as the start. The surreal animation delves deeper into the human spirit. 'Undone' is no small feat. It is downright brilliant and as we said in our spoiler-free review, the show is a hit. In the end, call it an ostensible murder mystery, it is just a story with a simple narrative but is a whodunit where the final answer doesn't really matter.
'Undone' is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.