Undone Season 2 is inevitably going to be compared to Russian Doll Season 2

Paste Magazine

"Somehow in the same month, two acclaimed 2019 sci-fi dramedies that many felt worked perfectly as stand-alone stories ended up getting arguably unnecessary, but still genuinely interesting follow-ups that both just happen to involve characters traveling through time to address Jewish generational trauma with their mother and grandmother," says Reuben Baron. "Russian Doll’s Nadia, however, is decidedly not a superhero. Her whole deal is that she’s essentially powerless; in the face of all the space-time continuum mishaps that come her way, she can’t change the past even when she tries. Alma and her family, in contrast, are specifically able to control time and actually cause changes. That element of power fantasy places Undone within the superhero genre."

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• Undone Season 2 brilliantly mines the thorniness of mother-daughter relationships: "Between A24’s acclaimed Everything Everywhere All At Once glitter-bombing indie cinemas and Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness selling out theaters weeks in advance, the multiverse is most definitely having a moment," says Jenna Scherer. "But there’s an intimacy to Undone that makes it uniquely suited to the small screen. Alma isn’t using her gifts to save the entire world; she’s focused on getting to the bottom of mysteries within her own family: the lost histories and intergenerational traumas that shaped her into the person she became."
• Season 2 feels a lot more like an emotional drama (with some soap opera elements) than Season 1’s trippy sci-fi mystery: "But it still has all of that weirdness, as Alma flits through time and space, a journey made possible by the gorgeously unique look of the show—directed by Hisko Hulsing, who also handled production design, with animation by the team at Submarine and rotoscoping by the team at Minnow Mountain," says Cheryl Eddy. "Much like season one, Undone season two’s incredibly realistic (particularly when it comes to the actors’ performances) yet surreal surroundings are a perfect backdrop for Alma’s increasingly unhinged pursuit of happiness. Ultimately, Alma does find closure, and Undone ends on a melancholy note that feels like the story’s really over now. But with infinite timelines just waiting to be re-set, who can say?"
• Season 2 is multiverse TV as its finest: "For all the renewed interest in telling stories set across different timelines and possibilities (including one of the year’s quintessential moviegoing experiences), there are precious few that consider the burdens of memory in quite the way that Undone does," says Steve Greene. "Season 1 looked at Alma’s changing sense of perception and her resultant changing moods as inextricably tied to her mental state, part of a bigger conversation about how we label someone’s enthusiasm or preoccupations or anxieties. This second season doesn’t completely forget that thread, and it also acknowledges that Alma’s abilities make for a compelling analogy to the burden of guilt. Particularly through the lens of parenting, Undone looks at those who choose to absorb the blame for the misfortune that comes to those closest to them. The further along a chain of mistakes that Alma travels, the more she feels the responsibility to bring harmony to the chaos of her own family tree."
• While Season 1 left it unclear whether the timey-wimey escapades were real or symptoms of Alma’s splintering mind, season 2 answers that immediately: "Unlike the first season of Undone, the second is a family affair — and for the better," says Petrana Radulovic. "The first season was very much Alma at odds with her mother and sister, devastated by the loss of the special bond she had with her father. When it ends, she has more or less accepted that she needs help and reluctantly turns towards her sister. In this season, however, Alma is the one actively pulling her family in. She realizes that these powers don’t just affect those who have them but everyone in proximity, spanning back in time to her enigmatic grandmother."
• Season 2 builds on the idea of intergenerational trauma: "Instead of figuring out whether Jacob's theories of alternate timelines were real or a product of his mother's schizophrenia, viewers get a glimpse into the secrets of Alma's mother Camila (Constance Marie)," says Erin Brady. "Much like how Jacob's secrets affected Alma's life, Camila's are just as impactful, reverberating through space and time. Undone continues to approach the concept of trauma as an inherited trait with care and precision."
• Did Rosa Salazar remember all those wicked twists and turns of Undone after the long delay between seasons?: "Yes, I did! I am incredibly proud of this show. I did remember, it’s very dear to my heart," says Salazar. "Jumping in after a few years? Hisko Hulsing, the director, puts it the best way. He says that in Season 1, we were trying to drive a car while building it, but no one knew what it was going to be. No one knew what we were doing, really. We thought we had something special, and we did! So with the second season, we thought—this is pre-pandemic—we were like, 'Alright! Now we’ve got this Maserati. Let’s put the top down and put it on cruise control, baby.'"