The Sinner

"Harry" keeps doing idiotic things. It's distracting. And Pullman's mannerisms have become far too exaggerated. This newest season feels like a mimic of NBC's "Hannibal."

I like the previous two runs.

But THIS one? In each episode, Harry just screws up. I realize, obviously, that the plot is intentional. But it's impossible to become "invested" with a character who acts illogically at almost every turn.

And it's not just Harry. I just keep thinking to myself, "Hey, that person would NEVER do that!" And I'm not discussing "Jamie," who is unbalanced.

An interesting original crime mystery in which Jessica Biel gets the chance to show her acting weapons. The story in intriguing from the beginning. A woman spends a family breakout at a lake and out of nowhere stabs a guy in public... The case seems clear but a police detective thinks there is more behind it. Biel is very good in the leading role but in my opinion it was Bill Pullman who stole the show. Although I question some attributes about his character, the way it was written etc, he really was able to bring a lot of personalty and sympathy to it. A great and underrated performance. Another wonderful turn of the show was done by Nadia Alexander who shall have a great future. She reminds me on a young Amy Adams. Wonderful performance. The rest of the cast is solid as well, there is actually not one bad performance. Some characters are either stereotype or weirdly written, but in the end it works for most of the part. The film had some really good twists. Actually half way through it, almost each episode has a twist. And I liked how the first episodes actually created some false traps and leads which they made the audience believe .. sometimes quite subtle. A good show for audiences that enjoy a good crime/mystery story.

I watched seasons 1 & 2 in a matter of days. I loved the show and thought it was a great treasure. I was so excited when season 3 came out. I don't know if there are new writers or what changed, but this season was just simply unbearable to watch.

I ended up having it on to finish the story but literally looked for household chores to do during the episodes as that was more exciting. So disappointed. I hope if there is a season 4 it gets back on track.

The major flaw in season 3 is that there's no compelling reason for Jamie to feel any of his existential angst other than his own solipsism. It's not a convincing argument, emphasized by the fact that most of the characters don't behave the way people normally would when faced with these situations; which is also unexplained. Everyone is both drawn to and repulsed by Jamie, but he's really not worthy of either emotion.

"The Sinner" is (so far) a three-part series asking what drives people to commit murder. Each story is 8 parts.

The first one stars Jessica Biel as a married woman, mother of one, who goes to the beach one day and stabs someone to death nearby. A police detective, Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) becomes interested in the case and works to find out what happened.

The episode will have you on the edge of your seat, as there is one surprise after another, leading to its shocking conclusion.

The second series concerns a young boy who, while he is in a motel with his parents, poisons them. Again, Harry Ambrose becomes involved, determined to find out the boy's motivation. Though this series of episodes isn't quite as good as the previous, it's still terrific and again, will really have you guessing.

Then we come to the third series. Every review you will read will tell you to skip it. Just one problem. No one who says "skip it" happens to mention that it stars the gorgeous Matt Bomer. I wouldn't have cared if he read the phone book for the entire episode, I would have watched it.

However, it is absurd. A real let-down from the previous stories.

I am not sure if Bill Pullman is good or not. He plays a pretty wacky guy and basically has one expression, kind of a half-smile, throughout all of the episodes. Frankly I found his personal life somewhat of an intrusion, as those details were unneeded.

Highly recommended, one of the best things I've seen, with the exception of the third story. But, hey, it stars Matt Bomer.