Earlier this year, Amazon Prime Video released a short series titled Undone. The show follows 28-year-old Alma and how, after a near-fatal car accident, she develops a unique perspective on time and reality. Following the accident, her dead father begins to appear to Alma and tells her to revisit his death. Her mission, her father says, is to find out who killed him and prevent his death.
Alma’s journey, however, isn’t easy; she sees her mission as an escape from her monotonous life and gets thoroughly engrossed in it. Thus, though Alma’s side of the story focuses on her attempts to manipulate time, the viewer is constantly made aware of the fact that she is struggling to ground herself in the present while developing her skills of time-travel.
On the other hand, Alma’s boyfriend and mother are convinced that she has schizophrenia. They see Alma talking to no one when, from her perspective, she is conversing with her father. To them, she is obsessed with an event from years ago, and they are concerned when she goes out of the way to solve the mystery of her father’s death. At work, Alma is often distracted, which puts her into trouble with her boss. She struggles to be there for her sister who is weeks away from getting married, and is constantly at odds with her mother. Despite Alma’s disconnect, however, her mother tries to help her in whatever ways she sees fit. She insists that Alma take medication for her alleged schizophrenia and tries to get her more involved in church; but fails to succeed.
As a viewer, you too, constantly battle between the two views: Alma’s and everyone else’s. Is Alma gaining a better understanding of what happened to her father because of the knowledge she’s gaining in the present? Or is she actually discovering it through her leaps in time? Is the show a commentary on schizophrenia and mental illness, or is it the tale of a woman with the ability to turn time?
As the episodes progress, the narration drifts away from linear story-telling. Alma relives her childhood, watching her own struggle with becoming deaf at a young age and, through witnessing these seemingly ordinary memories, gets closer to the truth behind her father’s death. Every scene is beautifully crafted and vague enough that it could allude to either Alma’s schizophrenia or her ability to time travel — there’s no real evidence backing one or the other, and yet, there’s no evidence disproving a certain perspective either.
What’s perhaps most brilliant about the show, however, isn’t its storyline and writing, but its style. Animated using Rotoscope, Undone is visually unique as well. Rotoscoping, put simply, is a technique in which animators trace over motion picture footage frame by frame. This gives the show a strange look that only adds to the sense of disconnect Alma is feeling. It is also a seamless way to depict her shift from the past to the present and makes all of Alma’s expressions much more vivid than live-action or traditional animation ever could.
In a world where films are constantly being remade into watered-down live actions, it is refreshing to watch a show that understands the importance of visual style. After all, the medium through which a story is delivered is just as important as the story being told.
Starring Rosa Salazar and Bob Odenkirk amongst others, Undone deals with physical disability in the form of Alma’s deafness and even features extremely diverse characters. It’s amongst the gems out there that nobody hears about despite being both thought-provoking and different to what most of us choose to binge nowadays. It adds a unique twist to traditional sci-fi and time travel, while simultaneously bringing up serious issues like mental health. Undone is one of those shows that doesn’t leave you for days, and is a must-watch for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.