The Better Sister

I really wanted to like this as it features two talented and likeable leads, especially Elizabeth Banks. I also love a mystery thriller.

However, it was too heavy on the social commentary, which doesn't reflect reality and therefore becomes distracting. Firstly it featured the trope of the black women whose only purpose is to support the white female leads with no complexity of their own; meanwhile the themes includuded that everyone is LGBQT and the majority of men are violent, stupid or drunk. Drunk men are bad, while drunk women are complex and redeemable. Looking forward to a time when we can just watch tv and movies that focus on being human and on original, creative story-telling.

Conservatively speaking I've probably seen more than a hundred criminal trials on screen. In about 90% of them a very big deal is made about keeping the defendant off the witness stand. In the other 10%, the defendant is begging against the defense attorney's wishes to be put on the stand. Sometimes when the defendant is the star and requires a star turn on the stand, they get their wish, but usually they don't. In this one the defendant suddenly appears on the stand. We don't know who called him there, but it's too early in the trial for it to have been the defense attorney...plus it's completely against the defense strategy. Plus there's evidence that's sprung on him that does not abide by the rules of evidence disclosure. It is a screamingly fraudulent scene for anyone remotely knowledgeable about criminal law, even if that knowledge only comes from the movies and TV. It completely undermines the story and the good work of Biel and Banks. Worst of all, it shows total contempt for the viewer. Turned it off after that.

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.

Not feeling the suspense, no plot twists, nothing exciting. Not sure if the segments with the dead husband/father are a dream or a hallucination or if they're doing a flashback moment. They seemed to be using them only to fill-in because they couldn't figure out what else to write. This literally puts me to sleep. I keep replaying what I missed after I fell asleep, hoping that there was something worth watching, but to no avail. Still confused only five episodes in and considering just giving up but want to see it all the way through to see if it has any redeeming value. Maybe I'll have a better rating at the end or maybe not.

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.