The Undoing is flashy and feels familiar. But that also feels by design. The HBO show shares writers with Big Little Lies and sells itself on wealth, cheating and suspense. If it will be as big a hit as Lies is yet to be determined, but it’s a good chance to examine how suspense and thriller writers keep the stakes high—and the mood sexy—while doing it. Additionally, The Undoing is clearly going after the female-driven thriller loving crowd. This is a Nicole Kidman showpiece all the way. She’s in every scene and the cinematographer came to remind us of that; her flowing red locks, her lips opening gently in shock, and her piercing blue eyes on constant alert to try to figure out how the hell the walls of her perfect Manhattan life began to crumble.
So, how did the writers attract top talent in a red hot genre? Here are five screenwriting takeaways from The Undoing.
1. Ground Your Lead in Realism. There is absolutely a trend of writing a female-driven thriller at this moment in time, but don’t fall victim to thriller tropes. Think: the cop, the lawyer, the doctor, or the boss lady—unless, of course, there is something new and specific about that stereotype in your character. Kidman’s psychologist does almost fit in an HBO trope (in the vein of In Treatment and The Sopranos), but she also feels like her own specific woman. Her office scenes with her patients are compelling. Kidman’s Grace Fraser is clearly good at her job. She quickly diagnoses people’s problems and never minces words when telling them the truth. It's a great dichotomy for a character that did not see things in plain sight with her own family. Embracing skills and flaws of your female lead, and asking how those skills and flaws can positively and negatively affect your story, can help build a strong, watchable female lead.
2. Can A Stereotype Become an Advantage? The Undoing is embracing a stereotype HBO does indeed love: the rich woman who seemingly has it all. What are preconceived notions audiences might bring to a character like this? That she might not be strong because she has things done for her, that she might be indecisive, that she has blindspots to racial injustice. It’s worth being said that the world has changed since HBO made this show. America is going through a racial reckoning and this trope that has served HBO well might be a tricky one to continue to embrace. That said, if the screenwriter can turn this trope on its head, it might be used to examine uncomfortable notions too many viewers bring with them as baggage when watching a show in the first place.
3. Turn “Female” Settings On Their Head. There’s a great scene in the pilot episode of The Undoing at a tea party to organize a fundraiser for Nicole Kidman’s son’s school. This posse of women should seemingly be enlightened. They all have powerful New York City careers and life experience. But when a newcomer to the group breastfeeds her child during their meeting, the women are all taken aback and can’t take their eyes off her breasts. This absolutely turns a “female” setting on its head and introduces a pivotal inciting incident character in a very memorable way.
4. Keep Your Character On Their Toes. Every thriller, if nothing else, is dependent on stakes, stakes, stakes. Masterful suspense writer Shonda Rhimes says don’t leave out any ideas. Write until you can’t think of any more. The suspense thriller is perhaps the genre this applies to the most. Kidman’s character certainly has plenty to worry about. Detectives seem quite fixated on questioning her. She can't reach her husband. She initially wonders if she was the last person to see a recently murdered woman, and one instantly wonders if her husband was a suspect as he leaves a party shortly after the murdered woman, leaving him no specific alibi. Those are a lot of great stakes for a pilot and probably enough to keep many viewers watching.
5. Remind Your Viewers What’s At Stake. Making the stakes of the story personal to your protagonist always helps. Kidman has a husband who has clearly been keeping secrets and has no alibi in a murder case that happened a little too close to home. Family stakes can always go a long way. The one problem of starting out with a very rich character is creating sympathy, particularly when there is a huge status divide between the lead of The Undoing and the murder victim. It will be interesting to see if and how the show addresses this.
Final Takeaway: It does sometimes seem ridiculous that we still classify television viewing for women or for men when gender is a construct, but that doesn’t mean writers can’t use tropes and viewer baggage to their advantage. A memorable “female” thriller scene that is a great takeaway in general is The Bride’s fight with Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) in Kill Bill. A fight scene with a stay-at-home mom looks undeniably different than a fight scene with James Bond. A dangerous discovery, mom-on-the-run scene at a violin lesson (I’m hoping for this, The Undoing, don’t let me down) could become a specific and iconic scene for a rich psychologist mom who usually sends the driver to pick up the kid. Time will tell to see how The Undoing delivers.