If you are considering watching Prime Video‘s new series The Better Sister, which stars the very likable duo of Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel, might I suggest you think again? Or at least consider reading this review before you start.
From the very first moment that Biel pops up on screen in Episode 1, the show feels evocative of a dozen murder mysteries that have come before. A wife walks into her home, shrouded in darkness, only to find her husband’s cold dead body lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Who did it? Who knows? But get ready to wait through nearly eight hours of television to find out.
The show follows the straight-laced and poised editor-in-chief of the fictional The Real Thing magazine, Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel), who arrives home from a party one night to find her husband Adam (Corey Stoll) brutally stabbed to death. As the investigation into Adam’s murder unfolds, it becomes clear that Chloe’s stepson, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan) — who she has raised as her own from infancy — may be responsible for the killing. Things are only complicated as Chloe learns that Adam’s will leaves Ethan in the custody of his biological mother, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), who also just so happens to be Chloe’s sister.
While The Better Sister tries desperately to position itself as a new take on a classic formula — i.e. murdered spouse, guilty-looking family members who emerge from the woodwork, teenager with potential anger issues — it ultimately reads as a stale and redundant crime thriller that doesn’t thrill at all. In fact, at times I struggled to stay interested in one part of the show, whether that be the unfolding murder investigation (and later trial) or the complicated dynamic between two sisters both fighting to free the son they are worried may have done the unspeakable. It’s tragic that even after spending four hours of my life watching the first half of the series, I could have given up and never found out the truth about who killed Adam and why.
The sad part is that the description of the show alone should be enough to catch and keep someone’s attention for at least a few episodes. Sisters who both fell in love with the same guy, one of whom ended up having his baby and the other who was all too happy to swoop in and take her place when her only sibling was experiencing the pits of a mental health crisis. It reads more like a juicy TLC reality series than a crime drama. And yet, the juiciness is absent.
Even worse, this series suffers from its absence of any real soul. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare this show to a powerhouse like Adolescence on Netflix — another series that also sees a teenage boy accused of murder — but it’s hard not to compare when the same shows and movies are fighting for our attention in the current media landscape. Dare I say it’s become customary for a show to actually have something to say AND entertain me? I don’t think it’s a major ask for a series — especially one that asks me to spend eight hours watching it — check off one of the two boxes.
The most compelling part of The Better Sister is Banks’ portrayal of a poorly-recovering addict also struggling with mental health disorders. Throughout the eight episodes, the audience watches as she relapses, hallucinates, nearly drowns, cracks inappropriate (but solidly funny) jokes, and it actually does help to make the show mildly tolerable. Lines that could and should have been omitted for adding to each episode’s unnecessarily long runtime feel half as painful when delivered by Banks, who does her best to sell the most interesting parts of the show, even if they do still fall flat.
If you are looking for a show to simply fill the silence in your household, well, The Better Sister will fit that bill. That said, if you’re in search of something with a similar set-up that you’ll actually enjoy while watching, you’re better off queueing up Defending Jacob, Bad Sisters, Presumed Innocent, or The Sinner instead.
All eight episodes of The Better Sister drop on Prime Video May 29.