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The Sinner

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Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

If USA’s The Sinner was a game of Clue, we’d all be winners.

The murder mystery, now in its second season, leaves very little doubt as to whodunit. In the first season, it was Cora, with a paring knife, on the beach. In the second season, it was 11-year-old Julian, with poisoned tea, in a hotel. Scores of people witnessed the first murder. Julian himself confessed to the second.

So it’s not a question of who. It’s a question of … why?

Detective Harry Ambrose delves into these mysteries in search of those ever-so-elusive answers. Sometimes, the culprit might not be the ultimate killer. Perhaps someone, or something, is pulling the strings—a homicidal Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain.

But with each case, Ambrose leaves himself vulnerable to undoing the ragged stitches in his own battered soul, and his fellow detectives and police officers sometimes do the same. Just as some of Ambrose’s cases may have more than one suspect (despite what the blood spatter suggests), so each crime’s victims often go beyond the bodies lying on the floor.

Open Case

In the second season, the killer at the center of the story is young Julian, who poisoned two people who were thought to be his parents. Not so fast: When Julian’s actual mother shows up to reclaim the boy, the case takes on new, sinister layers.

See, they belong to a local group who live on a compound known as Mosswood. It’s either an idealistic, utopian commune or an infamous cult—depending on which side of the fence you stand on. Vera, Julian’s mother, practically runs the group, and Julian was born in it. He’s the only kid on the organization’s premises, actually, since the other cult members have pushed personal and familial relationships aside for “the work.”

To earn Julian’s trust, Ambrose unspools painful elements in his own backstory. But he’s not the only one confronting the past. Ambrose’s new partner, Detective Heather Novack, has had her own experience with the cult: losing her lesbian lover to it. And the show will likely continue to expose many more unseemly secrets along the way.

Hating the Sin …

Given the murder-mystery conceit of The Sinner, violence is pretty much a given. We see blood gush and seep and drizzle. People sometimes die in terrible, terrible ways.

Sex is an integral, inescapable, element of these mysteries, too. We see lots of it, including movements, acts and some skin. (Nothing critical is shown, however. This is still a basic cable series, after all. But it’s pretty graphic, even if it technically avoids explicit nudity.) We also hear about both hetero- and homosexual relationships. Sexual assault and incest have all been on the narrative docket as well.

People drink. They swear. They verbally reference some pretty tough subjects, including abortion and attempted suicide.

But perhaps the most interesting—and potentially the most troubling—aspect of The Sinner involves its spiritual underpinnings. The show weaves religious elements into its violent fabric; and that faith—be it Cora’s fervent childhood Christian devotion in Season 1 or the murkier spirituality found in Season 2—can give the show a complex, sinister shadow.

Many of us have known someone who was victimized by someone in his or her faith community. We know that religion can be misused, doing terrible damage to its victims. But, hopefully, we also know that if bad religion hurts, genuine faith heals. Indeed, it’s the only real source of healing we may have in this world.

The Sinner’s take on faith is layered, but often problematic. And even though the show could potentially foster discussion about some significant issues, the problems we need to wade through to get to that discussion may just be too deep.

Episode Reviews

Feb. 6, 2020: “Season 3, Part 1”

Jamie Burns, a popular prep-school teacher, escapes a car accident virtually unharmed. His old college chum, who was driving, wasn’t so lucky. At first, the accident seems quite routine, an open-and-shut case of careless driving that led to a tragic death. But as Det. Ambrose and his partner, Vic Soto, dig deeper, they discover that Jamie likely watched his “friend” slowly bleed out before he ever dialed 911.

We see the accident—the car speeding and tumbling out of control before it hits a tree. We see its aftermath, too: The man who dies is thrown through the windshield. His head and torso lie on the hood of the car, and for a while at least he’s still alive and awake, through obviously terribly injured. We see blood seep from his wounds and cover his face. Later, Ambrose probes the blood (and bloody fingerprints) on the side of the car, as well as some telltale blood on the radio knob. The corpse of the victim is examined, revealing some horrific gashes in the body’s side and some trauma to the head.

Before the accident, one of Nick’s hands is heavily bandaged—a wound that looks as if it was made with a knife. After the accident, Jamie hallucinates—seeing Nick everywhere. In one scene, the ghost Nick picks up a knife and slices open the throat of Jamie’s wife as Jamie watches. He lurches forward, alarming his (unharmed) wife.

Jamie admits to his very pregnant wife that he and the victim, Nick, experimented sexually with each other in college—unsuccessfully, he insists. (Jamie’s wife still finds the revelation “hot”.) The couple kisses on occasion, too. An artist (whose connection to the case has not been revealed) specializes in painting nude middle-aged men, and we see some of her work. Jamie seems obsessed with his hands, and at one point nearly places his open palm on a working grill. After the accident, he bears several superficial cuts, but he imagines that one in the center of his palm bleeds profusely.

An open container of alcohol was found at the crash scene—a container that Jamie says was his. (Nick, he insists, wasn’t drinking.) Jamie tells police that they were headed to the hotel Nick was staying at for a “nightcap.” Jamie and Nick drink wine at dinner, as does Ambrose and his grown, visiting daughter. Ambrose’s work partner, Det. Soto, mentions in passing that he attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. We hear that Ambrose’s daughter recently got divorced. Ambrose walks around in his underwear.

Aug. 30, 2018

Detective Ambrose and his partner, Detective Novack, work together to clear young Julian of the charges of second degree murder. Ambrose recalls painful memories of his past during a therapy session at Mosswood. Vera, Julian’s apparent mother, questions her past actions at the compound. Novack searches for her missing best friend, Marin, whom she believes is Julian’s biological mother.

A “therapy” session held at the compund requires people to unleash their grief and act out violently while others watch as it unfolds. They’re told by their compound leader that “there’s a violence in us we must accept.” During the sessions a man chokes a woman and verbally berates her. Another man brutally beats his father (we hear and see swinging, but we do not see the victim). Compund members are told they’re in a place of “no judgment. Just love and release.” A woman believes a compound member looks “like he’s possessed.”

Compound members raise a young calf and later kill it as a ceremonial act of aggression. A man insinuates that he wants to kill a young child in the same way. Teens make fun of Julian in a juvenile detention center, asking if he’s involved with “weird vodoo.” Julian later attacks the boys and is placed in solitary confinement. Witnesses lie and exhibit agression. A young woman is seduced by a man in a position of power; later she finds that she’s pregnant and multiple people encourage her to have an abortion. (She refuses.) Someone breaks into a house illegally. A man drinks beer.

Aug. 8, 2018: “Part II”

Julian’s mother, Vera, arrives and tries to reclaim custody of her son. But she faces obstacles. One, Julian’s confessed to murder. Two, they’re part of a mysterious, mistrusted cult. Detective Ambrose and others suspect that the homicide Julian apparently committed isn’t quite what it seems. Meanwhile, Ambrose’s work partner, Detective Novack, must grapple with her own troubling history with the cult.

In flashback, we see Novack and her female lover in and around Mosswood’s cult compound: They kiss deeply, and one pretends to engage in oral sex with the other as part of a joke. But Novack’s lover talks about a man who’s smitten with her; she also seems attracted to one of the cult members, who lures her into a mysterious barn.

That barn contains a massive rock bearing mysterious carvings—perhaps a center of worship for the cult members. (We don’t hear much about the cult’s specific beliefs at this point, other than the fact that they live close to nature and apparently work quite hard.) The cult is described by Vera as a “sanctuary community” which welcomes everyone, even those with checkered pasts. “People deserve a second chance,” she says. One character who’s afforded that “second chance” is a convicted sex offender. Ambrose suspects that Julian may have been either physically or psychologically abused on the compound. (The boy has terrible dreams about a hooded figure stretching out a hand and reaching inside his chest.)

Julian initially confessed to killing two people with gypsum weed, but he then recants that admission (presumably under the influence of his mother). We hear that someone involved with a cult member hanged himself the day after he visited the place. Novack and her lover suspect that whatever cult members are doing, it includes “lots of sex.” The two smoke a pipe (presumably filled with marijuana) as they talk.

In another flashback, we see Ambrose as a child and his mother. She’s unresponsive as flames blaze up a room’s curtains and ceiling. Ambrose later tells Julian that he was taken into foster care because of an “accident.”

We hear the s-word three times, along with “h—” and one misuse each of God’s and Jesus’ name.

The Sinner: Aug. 8, 2017 “Part II”

Cora pleads “guilty” to killing Frankie Belmont, but the judge refuses to accept her plea. Instead, she calls for a psychiatric evaluation to see if Cora is competent enough to offer a plea at all.

In flashback, we see Cora in bed with her future husband, Mason. Most of her clothes come off (though frontal nudity is strategically avoided). The explicit sex scene that follows turns shockingly violent.

Cora also has flashbacks to a mysterious, sexually charged night: We don’t know exactly what’s going on at this point, but we do see bodies entwined with one another and lots of skin. Cora later tells Harry it was a one-night stand with her murder victim, and that it resulted in a pregnancy. Being Catholic, abortion wasn’t an option. But suicide apparently was: She runs in front of a moving car, apparently trying to kill herself. She instead awakens in a hospital and learns that she’s lost her baby. “What kind of a god kills your baby and lets you survive?” She asks Harry. (Further investigation, however, casts doubt on Cora’s whole story: The alleged paramour was across the country at the time, and Cora never checked into a hospital.)

We see Harry in marriage counseling with his wife, who confesses that it’s been a long time since they’ve had sex. Harry decides to end an affair, and the “other woman” stands behind a counter in a top unbuttoned to her bra.

When Harry plays the song for Cora that had been playing on the beach, she flies into a rage and pummels the detective, telling him that she’ll kill him. When Harry later examines the bruises (which we see), they line up with the stab wounds of the victim (which we also see in a bloody photo). In a flashback to Cora’s childhood, we see her sister’s back covered in bloody bed sores.

As a child, Cora prays mightily to God. But when her mother tells Cora that it’s her fault that her sister’s so sick—accusing her of eating a hunk of forbidden chocolate—an innocent Cora runs into the backyard, digs up the offending chocolate and does eat it in revenge. Also: Her sick sister spends her nights in her mother’s bed, forcing Cora’s father into Cora’s and Phoebe’s room. He apparently sleeps in a twin bed in the room, but the fear on Cora’s face as the door shuts indicates that something else may be going on.

We hear references to possible affairs. Harry, visiting someone for a few nights, walks around outside in his boxers. He’s spotted, and his host tells him not to expose himself to the neighborhood. We hear characters say the s-word three times, “d–n” once and misuse God’s name once. Jesus’ name is abused twice.

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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