This New Thriller Had Me Side-Eyeing Every Character—and Then Bingeing All 8 Episodes
If there's one genre that never fails to reel me in, it's a good old-fashioned thriller—give me suspense, mystery and maybe a murder or two, and I'm sold. I want the kind of show that keeps me up way too late, second-guessing every character and basically gaslighting myself trying to figure out who the real villain is. If you're into that kind of twisty drama too, let me put The Better Sister on your radar.
The Better Sister is an 8-episode limited series based on the bestselling novel by Alafair Burke and it digs into the kind of messy, complicated family dynamics that are so fun to watch unravel. Jessica Biel plays Chloe, a successful media exec living what looks like a perfect life with her lawyer husband, Adam (Corey Stoll), and her teenage son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). Meanwhile, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), Chloe's estranged sister, is struggling to stay clean and keep her life on track. Then—bam—Adam is murdered and everything spirals.
Jojo Whilden/Prime
I won't reveal everything but I watched the first episode and let me just say this: the series does not drag its feet. It jumps straight into the drama, with Chloe walking into her living room and finding Adam dead just a few minutes into the first episode. It's intense, it's shocking and it completely sets the tone for what's clearly going to be a wild ride.
We get a glimpse into the sisters' complicated family history through a flashback—turns out Chloe is married to her sister's ex and the son she's raising? He's actually her sister's. And the drama really kicks off when we find out that very son's DNA was found under the dead husband's fingernails.
Oh, and Chloe apparently had a burner phone and texted someone on it right before finding her husband dead. As if that's not enough, there's a shady coworker who wasn't exactly Adam's biggest fan… plus a possible stalker situation brewing. So yeah, things are messy.
Did I mention this is all in the first episode? So needless to say, this isn't one of those shows that makes you wait until episode five for something to actually happen. The tension starts building fast and by the time the credits started rolling I was already mentally side-eyeing a handful of characters, each of whom could very realistically be the killer.
Episode one left me with way more questions than answers—not just about the murder itself, but about the sisters, their family history and what the heck has actually been going on in all of their lives.
Thankfully, all eight episodes were released at the same time, so the binge was fast and furious. You can stream The Better Sister on Prime Video now.
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