(Mini Series) The Better Sister - Not Exactly What I Had in Mind, but Likely Would Please Audience Seeking Female Driven Drama with a bit of Mystery

On Thursday, there were 2 new series released on different streaming platforms and both were interesting to me. But as I had to make a choice, I opted to watch this first on Prime Video as it was a limited series that I do not have to worry about having no closure. Anyway I started watching on that night and only finished it this morning. All right, I'll get started then.

Brief Story Line

After coming home from a major social event, Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, 7th Heaven TV series etc) the successful Chief Editor of a popular magazine found her husband Adam Macintosh (Corey Stoll - First Man, The Strain TV series etc) killed in their living room. The shocking incident rocked Chloe and she had no choice but to have her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks - Migration, Brightburn etc) step in to take care of her son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). 

The case was investigated by detectives Nancy Guidry (Kim Dickens - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Deadwood TV series etc) and her partner Matt Bowen (Bobby Naderi - The Beekeeper etc) who suspected something related to Adam's personal life. Meanwhile Chloe was supported by her best friend/publisher Catherine (Lorraine Toussaint - Nimona, Saving Grace TV series etc) and Adam's boss Bill Braddock (Matthew Modine - Zero Day mini series, Sicario: Day of the Soldado etc) during her difficult time.

So who actually killed Adam and what would happen to the sisters? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

Well this series actually started quite promising as it really did not take long for the murder to happen. And as the story unfolding, the first episode actually ended with a very interesting take. Subsequently though, the series felt like a family drama with focus on the two sisters relationship as they had to juggle through the incident together. Now I can understand the need to tell the story from their point of view but it was not exactly what I had in mind. And it was made worse by the frequent showing of "visions" or "hallucinations" that I personally did not like.

Anyway the story moved rather slowly with some deceiving information along the way and only got exciting in the sixth episode which coincidentally was my favorite as well. It was great looking at the courtroom drama and made better with a surprising twist of event. Unfortunately the seventh episode felt a bit of a let down, that was until the scene towards the end. It was not exactly shocking to me cause I already had strong feeling about it, but it did set up nicely to the finale. By then I could have guessed how the series would end. Even if it was not really a great ending (cause it felt too nice), I thought it was something that would please audience. 

I noticed in the closing credits that the series was based on novel of the same title by Alafair Burke who had written plenty of best selling books. After finding out more info, the series seemed to have a more detailed ending but the fate of the main characters were pretty much the same. The series was created by Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado who were both experienced writers and producers. I saw the first episode was directed Craig Gillespie (Cruella, Million Dollar Arm etc) while the rest were directed by other people whose experience were mostly on TV series. 

The cast in general were OK to my opinion. I like the chemistry of the two sisters with Matthew Modine and Lorraine Toussaint showing of their capabilities. In addition to the ones I mentioned above, the series also had some recurring characters like Adam's colleague Jake Rodriguez (Gabriel Sloyer - Griselda TV series etc), criminal defense attorney Michelle Sanders (Gloria Reuben - Firestarter 2022 version, ER TV series etc), the doorman Arty (Michael Harney - Interior Chinatown mini series etc) and few others. I read that the series was having mixed reviews and it seemed audience quite digged it as proven by its swift rise to popularity. Although, whether everyone liked it or not remained to be seen. 

Overall this was a mini series that started off quite fine and felt like a mystery murder/thriller at first but quickly became a family drama where the mystery was shelved behind and only got exciting in the last 3 episodes. Considering it only had 8 episodes, that meant half of it was not really my cup of tea. I think it was something that might please people looking for drama with a bit of mystery. So if you are such type of audience, I think you would enjoy this a lot. However if you are like me and are more into the mystery part with drama as the background, then I think other series might suit you better. The choice is yours.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars