Can I just preface this by saying I’m writing this article on about 5 hours sleep because I binged The Sinner Season 2 until the early hours of the morning and then was thinking about it so much I couldn’t nod off.
Now I’m a gal who absolutely loves a) crime shows b) mysteries (don’t believe me? Check out the unsolved mysteries podcast I co-host, right HERE) c) The Sinner Season 1, so I was probably always going to enjoy the second outing of the series.
But I didn’t anticipate liking it even more than the first — not by much, might I add, but slightly. I’m going to try not to spoil too much of it, but where Season 1 deep-dived into the past of Cora Tanetti (Jessica Biel, who executive produced both seasons) after she straight-up stabbed a dude to death for seemingly no reason, Season 2 follows the twisted tale of Julian Walker (Elisha Henig) a kid who kills two people in a hotel for seemingly no reason.
Of course, troubled detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) gets involved, because the bloke just can’t resist a murderer who has a weird and tragic backstory. The dude just has to help out, and for that I applaud his morals, as well as his beard.
Anyway the investigation brings him back to his hometown of Keller in upstate New York and of course a bunch of demons from his past are brought back to the surface because what even is a crime show if the detective isn’t troubled as fuck? (See also: Luther, True Detective).
Along with local rookie detective Heather Novack (Natalie Paul), Harry begins to look into the happenings at local commune Mosswood Grove, which is where small future murderer Julian grew up under the watchful eye of his mother Vera Walker (Carrie Coon). This is where is gets twisted and juicy because it’s a cult and cults are just extremely fascinating. Especially murderous ones, obviously.
Team that with a small town holding a lot of ~secrets~ and it’s just really compelling viewing — kind of a bigger mystery than the first season involving more people. Plus, you find out more about Harry and maybe get a bit more insight into why he’s got those intense sexual kinks that we had to watch in Season 1.
No offence to Jessica Biel, who I thought was brilliant in Season 1, but Carrie Coon is just so bloody good in this show. Like, I hope somewhere they’re engraving her name on an Emmy in advance because she bloody well deserves one.
So if you haven’t got around to watching Season 2 — or Season 1 for that matter — go home right now and do it. Like, just leave work citing some kind of vague diarrhea-related illness and get bingeing, because you won’t regret it.
Also if you like mysteries and true crime, you might enjoy that podcast I mentioned earlier. It’s called All Aussie Mystery Hour and you can subscribe on iTunes HERE, or on Spotify HERE. Or, you can just listen / download below.
