Every now and again, a show comes along that feels designed to be as tedious as possible. To be fair, I don’t have any actual proof that this was the goal with Prime’s The Better Sister. It is, however, the only plausible explanation for the flat acting, dull plot, and muted color palette. Surely nobody set out to make something this lifeless, but they succeeded nonetheless.
Yet another mystery series based on a novel The Better Sister feels less like a thrilling page-turner and more like something you put down after reading the blurb. The series follows Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel), the editor-in-chief of a popular magazine. Her idyllic life changes forever when she discovers her husband’s body covered in blood, the telltale sign of murder. Detective Guidry (Kim Dickens) takes the case and immediately suspects the Taylors’ son. This leads to the arrival of Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), Chloe’s estranged sister, and soon all of their secrets are out in the open.
In this case, “soon” is a relative term. The Better Sister is full of twists, but opts to hold back on doling them out. This is clear from the first episode, which waits until the last minutes to reveal Nicky’s true relationship with Chloe’s husband and son. It isn’t an inherently bad idea, but falls apart because there is zero interest in making the viewer invested in these people. Even as the mystery grows more complex and we reveal the siblings’ troubled past, there’s nothing to latch onto. These characters exist to move the plot from one twist to the next and that’s it.
The lack of investment in the characters leads to dull performances from most of the cast. The awful dialogue forces even terrific actors like Banks and Biel to give poor performances. To Banks’ credit, she at least gets to show some actual emotion as the less couth sister. Biel, on the other hand, clearly struggles to make Chloe stand out. It becomes obvious as the show goes on that there is some deep-rooted trauma she is holding in. That neither Biel nor the writers have any idea how to make that interesting to watch is one of the most damning elements of this show.
Everyone’s role is thankless in this one. From Kim Dickens as a no-nonsense cop to Corey Stoll as the now-deceased husband Adam. Even an appearance by Matthew Modine as Adam’s shady boss falters. He soon becomes just as dull and uninteresting as the rest of the cast.
Perhaps I’m being unfair to The Better Sister. After all, it isn’t as bad as some of the current frontrunners for worst show this year. Those programs have immense problems in both their premises and execution. The gravest sin this show commits is being boring. There’s potential, especially with such a fun cast, but the writing fails them. There’s so many options out there for your entertainment, especially in the mystery/thriller categories. This one is best left unsolved.
The Better Sister is currently streaming on Prime Video.