Jessica Biel has an impressive back catalogue both from the big and small screens. Her latest raw showing has people talking.
In The Better Sister, now streaming on Amazon Prime, Biel sheds the somewhat glossy image of earlier roles for something far more jagged, conflicted, and, at times, deliberately hard to watch. She plays Chloe, a high-powered Manhattan magazine exec whose picture-perfect life shatters when her husband is stabbed to death… and her teenage son is then arrested for the crime.
Spoiler alert: it’s unlikely to ruin the series for you but stop reading now if you want to watch it clean.
Adapted from Alafair Burke’s bestselling novel, the eight-part series drops viewers into a twist-heavy thriller where family secrets unravel fast. Enter Elizabeth Banks as Chloe’s estranged sister Nicky, a recovering addict and, in a particularly messy twist, the biological mother of the boy now on trial for murder.
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The show plays with the idea of who’s really “the better sister” alluded to in the title. Chloe appears polished and successful; Nicky, chaotic and wounded. But nothing stays on the surface for long. Abuse, manipulation, and years of buried resentment rise to the top – and by the finale, it’s anyone’s guess who has blood on their hands.
Some critics have made the case that it is Biel’s most intense role since The Sinner, and most agree with me that she nailed it. Her chemistry with Banks carries the show, even if very occasionally the plot slides a little.
What makes someone good? Who’s worth protecting? How far would you go for the person you love, even if that person used to ruin your life? These are the questions you’re left with thanks to The Better Sister.
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