And thank the lord for that too.
Hugh Grant has confirmed that certain shots were, indeed, cut from the finale of The Undoing.
The HBO limited series came to its timely end this week after many weeks of confusion, suspicion, and theories about who in the name of God actually killed Elena Alvez. Spoilers ahead for The Undoing, naturally.
The series finale revealed that Jonathan Frazer – doctor, father, and as it turns out, murderer – did actually murder Elena. Smashing her skull in with a hammer, Jonathan went home to sleep it off, before fleeing up state in a bid to escape his crime.
Flashback sequences revealed this horror during the show’s finale, depicting Jonathan (played by Grant) hitting Elena’s head with a hammer until she was nothing but bloody pulp.
Scenes such as this would be enough to turn anybody’s stomach, but it turns out that the shots that were cut from the final version were even worse.
Grant told TVLine: “I don’t know what’s in the final cut, but I was doing some takes where Jonathan – while hammering away – was spitting out a part of her brain. I don’t know if that’s still in there.”
This particular shot was, thankfully, not included in the final version of the episode. But according to Grant, he filmed an even worse shot that was inevitably cut from the series.
He said: “This is much worse, but after her head was pulp I [did a take] where Jonathan the doctor was quite interested in her brains, and he started poking around in them with his finger.”
No doubt the inclusion of such a scene would have provoked many complaints, as following the series finale many viewers did take to Twitter to state that they found the edited scene to be too violent.
Despite this, the series has also been praised for its casting and, most notably, the performances of Grant, Nicole Kidman, and Donald Sutherland.
Just give the man an Emmy, lads. He poked some brain.
