Amazon Prime’s first animated series, UNDONE (2019) explores the nature of time and the yearning to do life over if only to correct one’s mistakes in a series that is trippy but also very relatable and grounded in strong characters.
The story begins with twenty-eight-year-old Alma (Rosa Salazar, whom I’m now realizing I’ve only seen animated in this and ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL), who is a little broken by her father’s disappearance and death during her childhood, and lives with her boyfriend Sam and struggles with her bleak routines. She’s the wacky one in her family, which also includes matriarch mama and her big-hearted sister, who is getting married. After a car crash, Alma comes to understand she has a new relationship with time, which she uses to try to understand the circumstances of her father’s death, and possibly correct the past.
The story has a nice pace, the use of animation results in some great surreal imagery that feels organic, and Alma’s struggle to master time is engaging and feels grounded. Where UNDONE really shines, however, is in the utterly sympathetic and likeable characters, including some terrific dialogue that always feels real and is often funny. The result is sci-fi/fantasy at its best, grounding the fantastic in the truth of real life. I loved it, and I’m glad it will get a second season, though it didn’t need it.
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