The type of intriguing, wealthy-white-centered murder mystery that feels as if Nicole Kidman is going to swan in at any given moment, The Better Sister manages to escape its familiar set-up thanks to strong performances and a genuine sense of unpredictability surrounding the “who” and “why” of it all.
That familiar set-up involves the murder of Adam Macintosh (Corey Stoll), a seemingly well regarded lawyer and presumably doting husband to Chloe Macintosh (Jessica Biel), a high-powered women’s magazine editor. They have the type of life (and bank account) most people envy, but they also aren’t painted in the most sympathetic life, so when she discovers him slain in the opening minutes of the Prime Video series, we’re more asking ourselves “Why should we care?” rather than “Whodunnit?”
Of course, we do want to know, and the Olivia Milch/Regina Corrado-created series (based on Alafair Burke‘s novel of the same name) satisfies our morbid curiosity by setting up a wealth of suspects, all who weave in and out of potential across its 8 episodes. Obviously, Chloe comes off as the most likely. Sure, she’s the one that finds the body and calls the police to report his murder, but when she finds the murder weapon – a knife – she takes it with her, keeping it hidden from the eventual investigators. Then there’s Chloe’s stepson, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan), who, with priors regarding marijuana possession and an unfortunate incident involving bringing a firearm to his school, emerges as the prime suspect, with his false alibi and DNA evidence at the crime scene making him an easy mark.
It’s all too easy for it to be Ethan though, right? Well, the plethora of writers agree too (Milch and Corrado earning screenwriting credits alongside Ariel Doctoroff, Brittany Dushame and Lauren Stremmel), and so a heft of side characters – Adam’s shady boss, Chloe’s publisher, Ethan’s drug-dealing buddy – are peppered across the series to throw just enough doubt in proceedings, so that cocky detective duo Guidry and Bowen (Kim Dickens and Bobby Naderi, respectively) have to actually do their job beyond the surface level accusations they quite quickly aim at Ethan.
But with such a title as The Better Sister, it would seem to indicate a familial bond of sorts, and, indeed, Chloe’s estranged sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), makes her presence more than felt as she thrusts herself into the situation, much to Chloe’s chagrin. Their relationship is all sorts of tangled, with Nicky being Adam’s first wife and Ethan’s biological mother. In the throes of addiction she evidently neglected Ethan, which drove Adam into the arms of the more stable sister, with Ethan growing up far more attached to Chloe. Despite the family dynamic within the Macintosh household, Nicky is still Ethan’s legal guardian, and so when Guidy and Bowen call her to inform her of said situation, she barrels into Chloe’s swanky penthouse without a hold on manners or morals.
Whilst Chloe and Nicky try their best to remain cordial, The Better Sister enjoys itself when it lets the two slip back into a rivalry of sorts (at one point Chloe remarks that Nicky’s attire highlights a “camel toe you can see from outer space”), and it’s Biel and Banks quite organically playing off each other that keeps the show entertaining as it weighs up the murderous aspect of its narrative. As is the case with the latest wave of mystery-centric series (The White Lotus, Presumed Innocent, The Perfect Couple, Sirens) that, in some way or another, base themselves around the 1%, there’s an odd feeling of becoming invested in the characters’ plights, but also not letting ourselves feel too sorry for such creations given how out of touch they can be.
Ultimately The Better Sister doesn’t break any new ground with its format, but it’s smart enough to know that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for the car to stay on a comfortable drive. It’s never neatly telegraphed, Biel and Banks prove endlessly watchable at the helm, and the mentality of the self-entitled mighty suffering such a fall will always land for the masses smart enough to stay grounded.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
All episodes of The Better Sister are now streaming on Prime Video.
