With 2020’s The Undoing, we get another of HBO’s acclaimed “limited series” runs. This two-disc set includes all six episodes. The plot synopses come from the HBO website.

The Undoing: “Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) becomes intrigued by Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis), a young mother at her son’s school. Later, news of a tragedy rocks the school community.”

While most opening episodes tread gently, “Undoing” launches pretty actively, mainly in terms of the aforementioned tragedy. While we’ve seen these kinds of “scandals among the super-wealthy” in the past, the show manages to begin the series with enough gusto to make it work.

The Missing: “After seeking refuge at her father Franklin’s (Donald Sutherland) house, Grace finds herself on the receiving end of detectives’ probing questions.”

After the first show, it seemed as though Undoing would emphasize Elena’s side of the tale, but instead, we find surprising developments connected to Grace’s husband Jonathan (Hugh Grant). These elements create some tension, and “Missing” pushes them ahead in a compelling manner.

Do No Harm: “Grace hears Jonathan’s side of the story and finds herself being followed by someone close to Elena.”

Much of “Harm” seems a bit slow, as the episode focuses more on some basic procedural areas. However, it ends with a bang, so it moves the story effectively by its conclusion.

See No Evil: “As Haley (Noma Dumezweni) begins to shape the narrative of the case, Franklin uses his resources to help his family.”

To some degree, “Evil” becomes a “plot-thickener” episode ala “Harm”. I admit this makes me a little impatient, as it feels like the series becomes a little stuck in neutral, but we get enough development to make it a worthwhile show.

Trial By Fire: “On the first day of the trial, the prosecution presents shocking evidence, while the defense casts doubt on the police investigation. Later, Henry (Noah Jupe) divulges a secret to Grace.”

As the title implies, much of Fire takes place in a courtroom. However, some other revelations occur that add impact to the episode, and it builds toward the climax well.

The Bloody Truth: “Haley walks an ethical tightrope in her defense strategy. As the courtroom theater mounts, Grace takes measures to protect herself and her family.”

Despite all the trappings of family melodrama, Undoing eventually comes down to a “whodunnit” tale, one that has left us wondering all the way up to this point. Like the rest of the series, “Truth” goes a little off the rails in terms of its theatrics – especially in its climax - but it wraps up the story in a lively way, even with its frequent journeys into the world of implausibility.

Ultimately, Undoing offers a fun ride, if not one that feels especially believable. Still, it provides a high-class sheen to a pulp tale that largely entertains.

The Undoing appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.00:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The series’ visuals usually looked quite good.

The shows offered solid clarity. Only a smidgen of softness materialized, so definition was usually positive.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to mar the presentation.

The series opted for a palette with a definite amber and teal tint – it tossed in an orange orientation at times, too. Within those parameters, the colors seemed fine.

Blacks were pretty deep and tight, while shadows appeared positive, with only a little opacity on occasion. Overall, the shows provided appealing visuals.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack suited the episodes but won't win any awards. The soundstage appeared nicely broad at the appropriate times and could be moderately engulfing on occasion. It's a talky little series, so the focus was mainly up front, but the audio expanded when necessary.

This occurred mostly via gentle environmental ambience, so the surrounds didn’t have a lot to do. Occasional street and nature scenes added the most pep and that was about it. That said, the imaging made sense for the series.

Sound quality seemed fine. Dialogue always appeared crisp and natural, and I had no trouble understanding it. The score was warm and distinctive.

Effects also seemed realistic and adequate for the tasks at hand. Undoing won't be anyone's demo track, but the mix worked well for the series.

Across both discs, we get 11 featurettes under The Undoing Revelations. These span a total of 23 minutes, 26 seconds.

Across these, we hear from director Susanne Bier and actors Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Matilda De Angelis, Donald Sutherland, Noah Jupe, Lily Rabe, Noma Dumezweni, Ismael Cruz Cordova and Edgar Ramirez.

The “Revelations” discuss story and characters as well as cast and performances. These offer occasional worthwhile notes about these topics, but they mostly exist to tout the series, so don’t expect to learn much from them.

Disc Two adds a pair of featurettes, and Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant Introduce The Undoing spans four minutes, four seconds. Both chat together to discuss the series and their involvement. No substantial insights materialize, but there’s some charm from their interactions.

Finally, Creating The Undoing goes for three minutes, 11 seconds and brings info from Grant, Kidman, Bier, Dumezweni, de Angelis, Cordova, Jupe, Sutherland, Ramirez, and executive producers Per Saari, Celia Costas, Bruna Papandrea and Stephen Garrett.

“Creating” goes over production basics, with a heavy emphasis on promotion. It’s fairly useless.

At times The Undoing threatens to veer into soap opera melodrama territory, but those elements don’t damage the series. Instead, it provides an intriguing and consistently compelling mix of crime saga and family narrative. The Blu-ray offers very good picture and audio with superficial bonus materials. Over the top as its plot machinations can become, The Undoing still satisfies.