Undone is a new eight-part animated series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg (Bojack Horseman) and Kate Purdy. The only familiarity it shares with Bojack is the way it deals with mental illnesses.
Stylistically, it has more in common with Waking Life and Scanner Darkly than the Netflix series. Purdy first came up with the concept of Undone while working a season one episode of Bojack, called the Downer Ending, which also was trippy and psychedelic.
Alma (Rosa Salazar) is drifting through life, going through her set routine in a gaze, until she goes through a car accident that changes her perception of life and reality. She starts seeing visions of her dead father (Bob Odenkirk) who urges her to help him change the past and prevent his death. As Alma explores these powers- and deals with her family at the eve of her sister’s wedding- the people around her start to wonder if she has gone insane, especially her mother, who’s well aware of her husband’s and mother-in-law’s history with schizophrenia.
The most obvious standout of the series is its rotoscoping animation, which uses live action footage and uses various techniques to transform it into dreamy, flowing visuals. This allows for the seamless blending of mundane and fantastical aspects of Alma’s world.
The other standout is Rosa Salazar, who is engaging and relatable as Alma. She gives a grounded performance (along with sparks of wit and humor when interacting with her boyfriend and sister) that makes it easy for the viewer to get invested in her story. She is also fiercely leftist, often railing against capitalism and the US’ white-washed history. Bob Odenkirk, on the other hand, is cryptic and often shifty; he tries to connect with his daughter, but she has changed significantly since he last saw her.
The story flits between the sci-fi and mundane aspects of Alma’s story, exploring her love-hate relationship with her mother and sister, as well as her relationship with Sam, her boyfriend. At its core, the story is about these relationships and how Alma navigates through them. She has made a mess of things at several points in her life, and through her new powers, she gets a second chance at righting those wrongs.
Director Hisko Hulsing is effective at charting the increasingly blurry lines between the ordinary and the extraordinary. She also pays close attention to sound. Alma lost her hearing to pneumonia; whenever she is without her cochlear implant, everything sounds distant and muffled, as though underwater.
Clocking in at three hours, Undone ends in ambiguous fashion, leaving it open to the audience whether Alma’s experiences were real or if she suffers from schizophrenia. In both cases, Alma is in good hands. She still hates how much her mother, Camilla, interferes with her life and also disapproves of Becca’s white, traditional, dopey husband-to-be, who she thinks is turning Becca into someone she’s not. But she will be okay, even if her father’s not there, which is contrary to what she has thought for most of her life.
Undone may very well be the beginning of something new, both artistically and thematically. It tackles trauma in a fresh, inventive way and humanizes those who suffer from mental illness. It’s unclear at this point whether it will continue with a second season. If it doesn’t, then its modest eight episode run is almost perfect as it is. It’s not exactly a high-brow narrative, but it’s refreshing as both a look at adult relationships and mind-bending mystical journey into uncertainty.
