'The Better Sister' review: Jessica Biel's series is incredibly underwhelming
What's the story
Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks's The Better Sister, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, has been adapted from Alafair Burke's namesake novel.
Also featuring Corey Stoll, Gabriel Sloyer, and Kim Dickens, the story is spread over eight hour-long episodes.
The show starts well, builds intrigue and suspense, and the performances draw you in, but it soon veers off track, never to find its rhythm again.
Plot
Focuses on two sisters and a murder mystery
The series revolves around estranged sisters Chloe (Biel) and Nicky (Banks), and Chloe's husband, Adam (Stoll).
Adam, who's also Nicky's ex, is brutally murdered, and his son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan), becomes the prime suspect.
The tragedy brings Chloe and Nicky close for the first time in years.
Can they save Ethan, or are their enemies out to get them?
#1
Establishes its characters and setting quickly
The Better Sister starts well and is redolent of The Perfect Couple and Gone Girl.
The mystery is established quickly, we are introduced to the main players, and we quickly learn that nobody here is who they seem to be.
Clues are sprinkled right from the first episode, and you are invited to participate in the mystery and unravel the knots of Adam's murder.
#2
What's the difference between two sisters? The show tells you
Like the recent Netflix show Sirens, The Better Sister, too, concerns itself with the staggering difference between the two sisters.
Nicky and Chloe may have shared a womb, but do they want to share this life?
While Chloe is calm, Nicky is chaotic; Chloe is focused, Nicky is impulsive; and even their parenting approach is completely opposite.
The two sisters are nothing alike.
#3
Negatives: Tough to stay invested in it
Calling the series a mystery-drama might be a disservice to the genre because it does not have any bite, intrigue, or suspense.
The story drags for eight excruciatingly long episodes, and there is not enough substance to keep the series running for so long.
What can be said in one scene is said in five, and The Better Sister becomes exhausting to sit through.
#4
Wants to do too much at the same time
The show isn't entirely sure about what it wants to focus on.
Does it want to highlight the fraught relationship between the sisters? Does it want to go deep into Ethan's psyche? Or does it want to comment on class and race?
It wants to do everything all at once, eventually drowning most of its ideas.
Too many sub-plots, too many unnecessary characters.
#5
Does not have many surprising moments
At one juncture, a character says, "This is just the beginning of a long and complicated process."
This dialogue captures the essence of the entire series!
The conversations between Nicky and Chloe are repetitive and predictable, and there is no memorable supporting character.
While watching a series, you often wish to spend more time with the central characters, but here, you quickly get tired.
#6
More on the above aspect
Long-drawn-out conversations between characters (especially the cops investigating the case) slow the series down, draining it of all energy.
The series also needed deadpan, dark humor, but has nearly none of it, and the screenplay squanders much potential as the show limps toward the finale.
Dead characters appearing as visions is a nice touch, but it gets repetitive and monotonous very quickly.
Verdict
Can skip the lengthy series; 2/5 stars
The Better Sister has a premise teeming with potential, but it is tough to stay with the series because it's so slow and enervating.
Most conversations prove to be inconsequential, and the series is so obsessed with dialogues that it forgets to focus on action.
Who's eventually the better sister, you ask?
After watching eight episodes, I am none the wiser.
2/5 stars.