The Better Sister

This is not the best series ever made but it is a decent and quick watch. My favourite character by far was Ethan. He was just so humble and sweet. It helps that he is such a cutie pie.

Chloe and Nikki were an interesting pair. Chloe was supposed to be the strong silent type and Nikki was the big mouth hot head. Which was the case for most of the series. But of course there is always something deeper lurking.

The story unfolded fairly well although it didnt have to stretch out for 8 episodes. I did not see the "whodunit" coming at all. I was certain it was one character but I was completely wrong. Although that character would have made sense as well.

Again not the best but certainly not the worst murder mysteries out there.

I watched this just after binging Dept Q, and granted this is not an English detective series where interesting characters work a cold case, it really could have been much better. Perhaps get the director from Dept Q and we might have an interesting series on our hands. It starts off promising - Jessica Biel, whom I have always admired as an actress, plays an uptight ambitious something or other whose husband is murdered. Her son, who is really her sister's son, is arrested for the murder. What ensues are long, drawn out episodes, where you wonder why they aren't just telling the story. One episode literally looks like a series of music videos. The story is interesting enough and Elizabeth Banks is very good, as always, but it really could have been handled better. It's slow when it doesn't have to be, but there is enough there for you to see it through to the end.

Just as with Bad Sisters, it was great seeing the dynamic of the sisters and how they loved and protected each other. Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks had a wonderful chemistry between them. While the husband in The Better Sister was definitely a villian, he wasn't to the same level of evil as John Paul...that guy a zero redeeming qualities.

Some of the characters were typically stereotypical- the greedy corporate lawyer played by Matthew Modine and I never really understood 'Chloe's' Business partner 'Catherine', she seemed pretty irrelevant to the storyline.

I did like most of the twists and turns, never real sure 'who done it', so overall it kept it interesting.

It starts with a murder, and catches you even though it is... calmly paced. The acting is really what hooked me. You never really like any particular character, but they are all unique, intriguing, and layered. The story line is a bit ridiculous at its most basic, but the character growth and slowly revealed history has a little something anyone can relate to. The build in revelations is done well and really catches your interest. Worth noting; some of the writing is a little too on the nose, but I viewed it as a comedic lightening of the general serious weight of the show, and kind of enjoyed it. I didn't binge, but one episode a night kept me ready for the next.

Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks as sisters - it just works. The casting clicks immediately: familiar faces, magnetic in different ways, grounded enough to feel real but polished enough to keep your eyes glued. From the start, there's tension, that quiet kind that hums under every line. The show doesn't rush. It unspools slowly, feeding you just enough to stay hooked, each clue another tug on the line. And Biel? She's a force. Strong, lean, commanding in every frame. The camera knows it, too - it lingers, those sleeveless shirts doing half the storytelling.

But then comes the final episode. The rhythm stutters. That careful pacing, the mystery, the restraint - it all gives way to a clumsy data dump. Answers come too fast, too neat, and you're left wondering how something so taut unraveled so suddenly.