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.

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.

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.

My wife and I finished all 8 episodes of this 8-episode miniseries streaming on Prime, also produced by the two main actors who play the sisters. When we watch a fictional series like this our best measure is whether we are anxious to see the next episode. With this series we always were and the last episode, which ties everything up, is entertaining and satisfying.

Jessica Beihl and Elizabeth Banks are in fine form and those characters, and their interactions, are the main thrust of the series. As episodes move along the stories continue to introduce new twists. For strict entertainment, it fills the bill. However it seems that every character uses the worst profane language that you can imagine, quite a bit too much in my opinion, so that was often a big distraction. It seems that all shows like this use that approach, sadly.

In many ways it is hard to find anyone to root for. No angels in this set of characters. But if everyone is bad (except the teenage son) then you find the entertainment in their misdeeds and seeing how they will survive the quagmires they find themselves in.

In the first episode we are presented with two big issues. First, a murder, and with clues we are presented it isn't clear who might have done it. Then we are presented with the tension between the estranged sisters. The victim has been husband to both of them.

Jessica Biel is the younger sister, Chloe, a prominent executive with a Manhattan firm, her husband is an attorney. They have a son, about 17. But they have only been married for almost ten years.

The other sister lives in Cleveland, OH, and has been sober for five years, clearly not yet living the good life. She is played by Elizabeth Banks as Nickey. The son is actually hers. The sisters get along like fire and ice.

We were entertained, the ending set itself up for a second season if they choose to go that way.

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.