tek's rating: ½

Undone, on Amazon
Amazon Studios; IMDb; Templeton Gate; TV Tango; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia

The first season is 8 episodes, which at times I wasn't sure I'd make it all the way through. And I hate that it ends on a cliffhanger. But I suppose since it's been renewed for a second season, that may be okay. Anyway, it's an animated series that uses rotoscoping.

Season One
The protagonist is Alma Winograd-Diaz. She has a mother named Camila, who constantly annoys Alma by trying to run her life. She has a sister named Becca, who is mostly preoccupied with her engagement to a man named Reed Hollingsworth. And she has a boyfriend named Sam, with whom she breaks up at the start of the series. But then she gets into a car accident, and doesn't remember having broken up with Sam, and Sam doesn't remind her. So they're still together. (This really bugged the hell out of me, but other than this one thing that I consider kind of unforgivable, he's a pretty nice guy.) Alma also starts having visions of her father, Jacob, who died in a car crash when Alma and Becca were little girls. He tries to convince Alma that she has the ability to manipulate space and time, though it will take some training. Ultimately, he wants her to go back to the night he died, because he believes he was murdered, and he wants Alma to find out the details so that she can stop it from happening. So, for most of the season, things are pretty trippy for Alma, as she tries to master her ability. It doesn't help that Camila believes Alma has a psychological problem, which turns out to be schizophrenia, for which she is prescribed pills that she doesn't want to take. A big part of the series is how it's never really clear whether Alma is right about her ability and her visions of her father, or if it's all in her head. But it does seem like sometimes she can change how certain situations in her life transpire. And in the finale, we finally learn the truth about what happened to Jacob (and his research assistant, Farnaz, who was in the car with him and also died in the crash, and with whom Camila believes he was having an affair). The truth is a major twist, but it seems as if Jacob will be able to fix the past. However, like I said, there's a cliffhanger that leaves the whole question of Alma's shamanic ability vs. schizophrenia unresolved.

So, I don't know what else to say. It's all a very interesting premise, and Alma and Jacob are both interesting characters. I really should have enjoyed the show more than I did, but somehow I always found it kind of underwhelming.

Season Two
Alma learns that Jacob is alive in the new timeline she created. But she can't use her ability anymore, though she discovers that Becca can do the same things, but Becca doesn't believe that at first. And she has no interest in using those abilities. But Alma wants Becca to use her abilities to figure out the truth about a secret Camila is keeping from everyone. I don't want to spoil what that secret turns out to be, but it involves a decision from her past that she regrets, and Alma wants to change it. The story also involves Jacob's mother, Geraldine, who had the same abilities as Alma and Becca, but spent time institutionalized because of it, and she doesn't want to believe the abilities are real. So Alma wants to learn more about Geraldine's past and fix that, as well. It's all very traumatic, and I don't want to say too much about it. But things turn out well in the end. And then... Alma has a vision of herself in her original timeline, which she wants to fix. I can't say I quite understand how the season ends, but it seemed to me like another cliffhanger, so I do hope there'll be a third season. (I guess I enjoyed season two more than season one.)


weird webseries index
animated webseries index