The Better Sister is about two sisters, Chloe and Nicky, who haven't talked in years, but have to come together after Adam gets murdered. Adam used to be married to Nicky, then later married Chloe. Things get worse when Chloe's teenage son gets arrested for killing Adam.
The story jumps back and forth in time, showing us how messed up their relationships were and all the family problems they had. At the end, we find out Nicky actually killed Adam because he was hurting Chloe. Her teenage son Ethan tried to cover it up when he found out. The sisters make up, write a book together, and raise Ethan as a team, which feels too neat and happy.
I thought this would be a good family mystery show, but it was mostly just annoying. The idea sounded interesting - two sisters dealing with murder and old secrets. But the way they told the story was really bad.
There's this family knife that becomes important evidence, but it's really confusing to follow where it goes and who has it. The knife subplot is so confusing I wondered if I missed entire scenes. The characters do stupid things just to move the story along, and the police work is unbelievable. Like, they don't even search the crime scene properly, which is basic cop stuff.
Elizabeth Banks is great as Nicky - she's the only one who feels real and shows actual emotions when she's upset or scared. Jessica Biel as Chloe is weird and cold. She barely seems upset that her husband died or that her son got arrested for murder.
Any normal person would be crying or freaking out, but she just walks around looking bored. Plus she wears tank tops in every single scene, like she's trying to show off her arms instead of acting like someone going through trauma. It became so obvious that people started making jokes about it online.
The biggest problem is the show can't figure out what it wants to be. Sometimes it tries to be a serious crime drama with dark lighting and dramatic music. Other times it feels like a cheesy soap opera with over the top dialogue and ridiculous plot twists.
It's like they had two different writing teams who never talked to each other. One minute someone's having a deep conversation about family trauma, the next minute there's some silly scene that makes no sense.
The most infuriating part comes at the end. So the teenage son gets falsely arrested for murdering his own father Adam, and both his biological mother (Nicky) and his other parent (Chloe) are devastated because they love him. Nicky did kill Adam, but she keeps quiet while her innocent son sits in jail.
When she finally tells Chloe the truth, instead of doing the right thing and confessing to save her son, they decide to frame some random guy for the murder instead. So now an innocent man goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit, just so they can protect themselves.
The show ends with the sisters happily watching stars on the beach like they're heroes, completely ignoring that they just destroyed another person's life. The writers want us to root for these women who literally sent an innocent man to prison to cover up their own crimes. What kind of message is that supposed to send?
The court scenes are especially bad, they move way too fast and ignore how real trials work. The editing jumps around so much you lose track of what's happening.
The sound mixing is weird too, like sometimes you can barely hear what people are saying. It's way too long - they could have told this story in a two hour movie instead of dragging it out for eight episodes that feel like they're going nowhere.
There are some nice looking shots and the sister relationship could have been good if they had focused on it more. But the bad writing and plot holes ruined everything.
Watch on Amazon Prime