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Primetime Picks… 8/1/18

Aug 01, 2018 Posted by in Features | Comments

Tonight USA Network’s psychological crime drama series, The Sinner, returns for a second installment and an all new case. In the first season, a young woman named Cora committed a horrible murder on a public beach. There was no doubt that she was responsible for the crime, but she claimed to have no recollection as to why she did it. Detective Lt. Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) became obsessed with the case, digging into this woman’t past, and unlocking things from her childhood she had long blocked out, eventually figuring out what led her to commit the brutal murder.

The second installment of the series follows a brand new grisly case—this time an 11-year-old named Julian (Elisha Henig, Alex, Inc.) appears to have murdered his parents, but once again, there seems to be no motive for the murder. Detective Heather Novack (Natalie Paul, The Deuce) ends up picking up the case. Her father Jack (Tracy Letts, Divorce) is a longtime friend of Harry Ambrose, and so she asks the detective to come back to his hometown of Keller, NY for a few days to assist her with the case.

In the first season, Cora had a disturbing past, being raised by religious zealots who really messed her up. It appears that perhaps some of these same types of forces may be at work with Julian. While digging into the boy’s past, Harry Ambrose will be forced to confront the secrets and demons of his own past, and the dark things that went on in his hometown when he was a child.

I really enjoyed the first season of this series—it took viewers on this mysterious and spooky roller-coaster ride as Detective Ambrose and Cora tried to piece together the disturbing events of her past. And while watching tonight’s premiere I had that same sense of pending gloom, wondering when something horrible was going to happen. Once the investigation begins, we start to get glimpses that there is something really dark and disturbing in Julian’s past. And then comes a twist that opens up so many more questions. I look forward to checking out another dark, creepy and puzzling season of this series. The actor playing Julian was so much fun on Alex, Inc., so it’s both strange and captivating to see him play such a different character in this series. I’m also interested in seeing more of the dynamic between Ambrose and his new partner Heather, and how their different personalities will come together to solve this case. This season also stars Carrie Coon (Fargo, The Leftovers) as an enigmatic woman named Vera—I can’t wait to find out more about that character!

In tonight’s premiere, “Part I”, a troubled detective returns to his hometown to investigate why a young boy would kill his parents.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording Big Brother and MasterChef.