Complicités

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 really wanted to like this as it features two talented and likeable leads, especially Elizabeth Banks. I also love a mystery thriller.

However, it was too heavy on the social commentary, which doesn't reflect reality and therefore becomes distracting. Firstly it featured the trope of the black women whose only purpose is to support the white female leads with no complexity of their own; meanwhile the themes includuded that everyone is LGBQT and the majority of men are violent, stupid or drunk. Drunk men are bad, while drunk women are complex and redeemable. Looking forward to a time when we can just watch tv and movies that focus on being human and on original, creative story-telling.

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.

Just as with Bad Sisters, it was great seeing the dynamic of the sisters and how they loved and protected each other. Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks had a wonderful chemistry between them. While the husband in The Better Sister was definitely a villian, he wasn't to the same level of evil as John Paul...that guy a zero redeeming qualities.

Some of the characters were typically stereotypical- the greedy corporate lawyer played by Matthew Modine and I never really understood 'Chloe's' Business partner 'Catherine', she seemed pretty irrelevant to the storyline.

I did like most of the twists and turns, never real sure 'who done it', so overall it kept it interesting.

It starts with a murder, and catches you even though it is... calmly paced. The acting is really what hooked me. You never really like any particular character, but they are all unique, intriguing, and layered. The story line is a bit ridiculous at its most basic, but the character growth and slowly revealed history has a little something anyone can relate to. The build in revelations is done well and really catches your interest. Worth noting; some of the writing is a little too on the nose, but I viewed it as a comedic lightening of the general serious weight of the show, and kind of enjoyed it. I didn't binge, but one episode a night kept me ready for the next.