“The Undoing,” from David E. Kelley, kept audiences glued to HBO last year, thanks to a pair of big names — Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant — playing a wealthy New York couple who see their relationship tested after an extramarital affair leads to a grisly courtroom drama. Kelley is back at it again with “Anatomy of a Scandal” for Netflix, this time teaming with co-creator Melissa James Gibson to go over much of the same thematic ground, this time with a London backdrop and a new pair of actors — Sienna Miller and Rupert Friend, both quite good — toplining the project.
There’s a lot of redoing of “The Undoing” here, down to the same character archetypes: A beautiful, wealthy wife and mother (Miller) slowly coming to grips with the reality of who she’s been married to all these years, and the slick cad of a husband who denies everything (Friend as a Member of Parliament who hails from a well-to-do family). There’s even a brilliant Black female defense attorney in the mix, styled nearly identically in each show, who deserves more screen time than she gets, played by Noma Dumezweni in “The Undoing” and Josette Simon in “Anatomy of a Scandal.”
I thought “The Undoing” was dull, largely because Kidman’s character was so underdeveloped, but if you were willing to stick it out, you’ll be pleased to know the six-episode “Anatomy of a Scandal” is a considerable upgrade. Don’t get me wrong, it’s garbage, but it’s high-end garbage and eminently binge-able. That kind of thing has its place.
