Series review: The Sinner (Jamie-Season Three)

This season was very much a matter of perception. Your opinion of “Jamie” really shaped how you watched it, and the way I felt, and how I believe you were supposed to feel, was that the events were a tragedy.

The formula changed in this season. “Cora” worked so well and hooked so many that “Julian” was a rework of the same recipe, something that enticed somewhat, but was a small failure overall. Not because of the quality of the season individually but due to the drop between the first and second seasons. “Jamie” started much slower, by my recollection you were still very hazy on the main crime and the central problem several episodes in. By the time the picture was painted I realised that the crime and twist was probably my least favourite of the series, again, not bad, but simply not as good. However, I’m happy that they did change up the structure going into this latest season and I suspect that they too saw that season 2 wasn’t as good as it could have been. I wouldn’t be surprised if many who’ve watched would say that the quality through the seasons went down steadily, and that “Jamie” continued on that trend.

What salvaged the season for me was the new character. Matt Bomer produced the best performance of the series in my opinion, his decline and character development during the trauma was hard to watch, especially so during his finale episode, where I can’t say I’ve ever been more affected by a non-horror. Your allegiance as a viewer is very much with Detective Ambrose throughout all 3 seasons, but at times during this season you question yourself, and start to see faults in our heroes, which is a very powerful technique in film and television I think. Anything that makes me start to question morals and life the way we know it in general, is art to some degree.

I can’t possibly try to claim I understood all of the complexities in Jamie’s monologues, some may, others may have been lost throughout, but due to the acting alone you do empathise with him and I felt real sadness at some of the tragedies that occurred, despite myself.

The season didn’t have to best plot in my opinion, but I was a very big fan of the character and the final moments alone bump up the rating half a mark.

Rating 8/10