Series review: The Sinner (Cora-Season One)

Crime dramas need good writing, you cannot have a series on cunning criminal activity without surprising your audience over and over again. I’ve only watched season 1 of ‘The Sinner’, but it seemed like very separate stories, based on dipping into the next few episodes of the next season.

I tried to give this some thought before writing about it. I wouldn’t necessarily do the same with a movie, because I believe it is all about the experience, and there is no need for deeper judgement. In the Television Series era we’re now in there is much less room for far-fetched plots and continuity issues. I am not one of those reviewers, if I don’t notice something obviously bad, I see no real reason to moan about it. What the rest period gave me time to think about was what was still echoing in my head regarding what I enjoyed.

The season was based around the mystery (trailer-level spoiler) of Cora Tannetti suddenly and randomly murdering a man in public. The lead actors were Bill Pullman and Jessica Biel, the former I knew from his role as the U.S President in Independence Day. I hadn’t previously seen Jessica Biel in anything that serious, so it was a new experience for me. I really don’t know why but I love it when a series has faith in one or two actors to just fuel the quality of certain scenes. The two characters were often physically separate to each other, but their performances as well as the quality of their characters was the focal point of this season. I think it is very rare for character attachment to supersede the quality of the actual mystery, but for me it made it far more memorable.

The fragments and the flashbacks that unravelled the mystery were done very well, another rarity occurs for me in this season and that’s how I didn’t find myself distracted or bored during slow-moving scenes, every minute of screen time had purpose. It’s a little bit tiring hearing some reviews waffle their way into disliking certain reveals, but I thought it was satisfying and made sense.

I felt Cora (Jessica Biel’s) trauma second hand, and Harry (Bill Pullman) was the kind of character that felt so immensely trustworthy down to the fact he had his own baggage and imperfections, an artfully written character and one I’m very glad to hear remains in the series. Most film and television I like I couldn’t sit here and arrogantly try to think of improvements, this one sent me on a rollercoaster and is definitely one of the top series’ I’ve watched.

Rating 9/10