Liam Hoofe reviews The Sinner…
American audiences will already be very acquainted with The Sinner. The show, adapted from the novel of the same name by Petra Hammesfahr, was a ratings success on the USA Network, and as a result has been streamed internationally by Netflix, with the full season hitting our shores last week. And, having binged watched the whole show in a little over 24 hours, it’s easy to see why.
The Sinner is not your conventional murder mystery. It strays away from the conventional whodunnit? narrative, instead, asking, why do it? The show had me hooked from the first episode, and chances are if you don’t engage with that opening 35 minutes, then there is no point in watching the rest.
The set up is simple, yet effective. Cora Tannetti is a married mother with one son. One day, at the beach, she is aggravated by a young man playing some music and groping his girlfriend. Instead of simply asking him to turn it down, she lashes out, brutally stabbing him to death with a knife she was using to cut up her son’s pear. It’s a shocking moment. Throughout the opening 10 minutes of the show, it is clear that Cora is somewhat unsettled. She carries a glazed expression, the same one someone may have if they were on antidepressants, or wrestling dark thoughts but until those closing episodes, it is never made clear just what it is that is causing this.
A woman murders a man in cold blood, on a beach, in front of a crowd of witnesses. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out she’s guilty, and Cora instantly pleads that way when she is presented in front of a judge, insisting that she has no idea why she did it, she just knows she did. If that doesn’t sit right with you, then don’t worry, you’re not the only one, and detective Harry Ambrose decides he needs to look further into this case, that it can’t be as simple as it appears from the outside, giving us the narrative that is going to drive the season along.
The Sinner is the very definition of binge-worthy. I’ve not read the original novel on which it is based, but I can only imagine that it is a real page-turner. Every episode feels like the end of a chapter, urging its reader to read just one more before bedtime. It is, though, in equal parts, an extremely difficult show to watch, one that has several scenes that are particularly challenging to sit through and it is certainly not afraid to make you sweat.
While the mystery at the centre of the show is enough to keep you coming back for more, the real treat here is the performances. Jessica Biel is wonderfully committed to her performance as Cora, and the tiny nuances she has clearly spent time mastering, help keep the character as enigmatic as she needs to be. The real star, though, is Bill Pullman, as Harry Ambrose. His character is one who is not easily defined, a moral man with questionable vices, he is a joy to watch and really keeps things moving along quite nicely.
Hopefully, I’ve done a good job at avoiding spoilers so far in this review and for those who are worrying that the show doesn’t have the legs to last a full season- don’t. While the plot does get a little ridiculous in the closing episodes, and the conveniences begin to pile up very quickly, especially in the show’s penultimate episode, The Sinner still remains worthwhile viewing. You quickly forget about the glaring plot holes because the whole show is such a wild ride that you barely have any time to think about them.
While it may not have been originally designed for it, The Sinner is the perfect show to air on Netflix. It is an adrenalin shot of a show with some masterful performances from its lead stars. Sure, things get a little silly towards the end, but you’ll be having such a great time, you really won’t mind all that much.
What did you think of The Sinner? Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter @liamhoofe
Originally published November 18, 2017. Updated April 21, 2018.
