The Sinner developed by Derek Simonds
from Petra Hammesfahr's 1999 novel, was the basis for the first series which
came out on 2nd August 2017.
Bill Pullman plays Detective Harry
Ambrose who investigates the crimes committed over three seasons and is very
meticulous about his job. You really, really would want him on your team if you
were in the position of at least two of the 'guilty' characters in the three
seasons.
Each story is not as clean cut as you
are led to believe. Underneath each of the crimes, there's another story, the
back story that begins to unfold as you work through the eight episodes of each
season.
But it's not just the 'criminals' who
are the Sinners, there's also Harry Ambrose's back story and the secrets that
he hides beneath that shaggy beard and those eyes that you're not entirely
sure, despite knowing that you want him on your team, that you completely trust
him. But then again, nobody else in the Police department wants to help you,
and he leaves absolutely no stone left unturned.
Having just watched Miracle Day series
again, and then watching The Sinner, it's interesting to see those eyes in
action. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but there's a sneakiness behind
them. As I say, you're not entirely sure you can trust those shifty eyes but
there's an interest in him. You want to know more about Ambrose, although come
the third series, when he reconciles with his ex wife, he's playing a strange
game with another woman, which leaves you to wonder, just what is going on
inside that head of his? Was that why things didn't work out with his ex in the
first place?
I have to point out, that Netflix, in
its wisdom, had muddled up all the seasons, so that the car accident story in
Series 3, was the first series it aired on its channel, so I'm now reviewing
this whole programme backwards.
Series 1 - 2017
Cora Tannetti has a stable home, a
loving family, a cute little son, called Laine. She works, so her mother in law
minds the child. Although, every so often, she shuts herself off from her
husband. She swims out at the lake into the 'restricted' area, and tries to
drown herself, but eventually swims back to shore. She uses a knife to slice
pieces of pear for her son, and hears a young couple on the beach, laughing and
chatting, although the young bearded man continues to ask his girlfriend to
turn off the music, seemingly quite insistent.
Cora strides over to them both and
without provocation, stabs the man repeatedly in the neck and chest, screaming
at him to "Get off her" to the shock and horror of everyone around
them. It's a mess, and you know he's not going to survive (not a spoiler).
Taken away by the Police, and standing in the court room, she pleads 2nd Degree
Murder but the judge takes a different stance and orders a competency
evaluation, and Harry Ambrose steps in to conduct it.
Cora suffers flashbacks, and certain
ones seem to be so severe that she wakes up terrified. She sees a foot crush a
woman's chest and the crack wakes her up, gasping for air. In several visits by
Ambrose to the prison, Cora tells a series of different events that don't
tally. The score marks on her arms make many believe she's a heroin addict,
except she doesn't know how to shoot up. She says she aborted her first child
after stepping in front of a truck but no history of a woman coming into the
hospital match her description. Ambrose has a difficult job trying to find some
truth to her stories, until he begins to dig deeper.
Harry Ambrose is a detective, and a good
one at that, but his private life is a shambles. When he works on a case, he's
focused solely on that, and if out for a walk in the woods with his ex wife, he
would go off on a tangent, when something in a clearing piques his interest,
and he discovers it's another part of Cora's story, that is coming to light.
It makes you wonder sometimes how our
minds work. Little inconsequential moments in our life, suddenly interfere with
a major event and it's only when it’s all pieced together, does it all make
sense. Such as the discovery in the woods, which led to further discoveries
later on.
It's a very intricately woven story, and
takes a while to unravel, but when it does, you're blown away by it.
Series 2 - 2018
In Keller, many secrets are buried deep,
and only resurface when trouble comes calling. Harry Ambrose returns to his
home town when a young boy has been charged with murdering his parents.
Thirteen-year-old Julian, was travelling to Niagara Falls when the murder took
place. He poisoned his parents with jimson weed in their tea, but their
reactions to the poison shocked him. He thought that they would just lapse into
a deep deep sleep, instead of writhing in agony on the motel room floor.
When Harry Ambrose and his team
investigate the crime, they notice that nothing has been packed for Julian. If
they were indeed going on holiday, where are his clothes, his belongings. The
deeper into the story involving the 'parents' and Julian, the more Ambrose
begins to discover.
Helping him on this murder case is a
young police woman, with a history of her own, and all connected with Mosswood
Grove, the Utopian commune where many disappeared to but never came out, including
her high school friend Marin, who was desperate to get away from her abusive
mother, and strike out on her own.
Julian was the only child born in
Mosswood Grove commune, and Vera Walker was the only person to take care of him
throughout his childhood years.
Ambrose faces a lot of old memories about
his time in Keller, where he grew up. Staying with an old friend, it soon
becomes clear that a lot of old feelings still run high, and Harry takes the
step, or leap of faith, to deal with some of them, when he takes a private
class with Vera Walker in a way of trying to understand their way of life.
A lot of fingers point out in all
directions in this case. Mosswood Grove were always at the centre of anything
sinister. For all they knew, Mosswood could be the next Waco. So, it was
labelled as an area that nobody went to, for fear that they would never return.
But in videos of certain rituals, many of the male residents of Keller, were
part of something quite violent and grim at the Grove, which leads Ambrose down
a dangerous path, and where old friends became enemies.
It’s a seriously interesting case and I
watched practically the entire season back to back in one day! I do that
sometimes!
Third Series 2020 – also the first
series that aired on Netflix that I saw.
Jamie Burns is a school teacher. He's
good at his job and dedicated to the kids in his care, concerned as ever for
their futures. When an old college friend reappears in his life, it sets off a
chain of events that escalate violently to its bitter end.
In the world of Netflix, this was my
first introduction to The Sinner, and out of all three seasons, this was
perhaps the most avidly watched season. It was also the most violent.
After Jamie's college buddy returns into
his life, things begin to change for the school teacher, and putting to bed one
problem, opens up a series of more problematic issues. In the old classic 'I
see dead people', Jamie sees Nick everywhere he turns, to the point that he
begins to scare his partner, currently pregnant and carrying his child. His
work life is affected, and as Harry digs deeper into Burns' story regarding the
accident, a lot of things begin to irritate Ambrose. So, he digs deeper,
forcing Jamie to suffer repeated panic attacks, which escalate throughout the
series.
There are some people who you think are
part of the main story but are only on the outskirts of it.
Throughout the different seasons,
Ambrose's personal life is revealed but because I saw it back to front, (thank
you Netflix), I saw a side of him that was trying to reconcile with his ex
wife, rather than the other way around, and he was practically beating himself
up towards the end. Whichever way you end up viewing The Sinner, it's a
fantastic series, and one I can't wait to watch for the fourth instalment out
in 2021.
Bill Pullman is brilliantly cast in this
and I couldn't help but notice a slight similarity in the way he approached an
awkward situation. It's his eyes. It's the way he sideways glances. As much as
you would want someone like Ambrose fighting your corner, leaving no stone
unturned, you're not entirely sure you could fully trust him...they do say your
eyes are the gateway to your soul, and Ambrose's soul has been most definitely
damaged over the years.
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