P.People in criminal circumstances often behave unwise, if not downright irrationally. Still, it’s rare to see people respond as stupidly to calamities as in The sister, a four-part British series debuting on Hulu on January 22.
Written by Luther creator Neil Cross (based on his novel Funeral) and directed by Niall MacCormick, The sister does not waste time setting up the scenario. Within the first five minutes, a series of quick incidents from 2013 and the present reveal that Nathan (Years and Years’ Russell Tovey) and his acquaintance Bob (Bertie Carvel) were involved in the mysterious death of Elise (Simone Ashley) on New Year’s Eve 2009, and that Nathan subsequently chose not to commit suicide, but to ease his guilt by marrying Elise’s real estate. good middle sister Holly (Amrita Acharia). However, Nathan and Bob’s cover of Elise’s death is now being ruined by a developer’s plans to dig up the forest where they buried the young woman’s body, forcing Bob to show up at Nathan’s door for help. questions when moving Elise’s remains – an encounter that also gives Bob a clue to Nathan’s insane marriage.
Nathan’s decision to pick up Holly, the grieving sibling of the woman he buried in the middle of nowhere, is recounted in periodic flashbacks, although none of those scenes successfully sell his nonsensical course of action as credible. By marrying Holly, who decorates their home with pictures of her sister, Nathan has chosen to atone for his sins by facing and immersing himself in them daily, for the rest of his life, which seems to be the opposite of basic human nature. . Plus, it’s reckless from a legal standpoint, as it keeps him close to the only people who would want to catch him. However you look at it, it’s just asinine, meaning Nathan is immediately cast as not just a potential devil, but an idiot.
I say “potential” devil because anyone who has seen a murder mystery like this will quickly suspect that Nathan’s role in Elise’s death was accidental. The sisterhowever, takes his sweet time to explain his history with Holly, his fateful night at a party with Elise, and his current efforts to deal with the re-emergence of Bob, a paranormal expert he met while working at a radio station. Bob’s first appearance on Nathan’s doorstep, his long stringy hair and chapped beard soaked with rain, underscore his dark malice, and it won’t be long before he sends Nathan a CD to be listened to loudly. What does Nathan hear when he turns up the volume? Lots of static electricity interrupted by the sound of a woman declaring, “I’m not dead.”
The eerie suggestion that Nathan and Bob are being chased by Elise’s ghost rises from there, albeit in a way that doesn’t generate tension. Bob tries to convince Nathan to move Elise’s corpse before it is discovered by others, to which Nathan objects uselessly. Meanwhile, the show travels back in time to show us how Nathan orchestrated his initial courtship with Holly, full of hearing her talk about her sister’s unsolved disappearance and meeting her parents – events that put Nathan to shame, if not. to an extent that would keep him from continuing his deceptive romance.
although The sister revealing the details of Elise’s demise only halfway through the third episode, it always feels like the viewer is three steps ahead of the show. That shortcoming is compounded by the small cast of characters, which only goes beyond Nathan, Bob, and Holly (and Elise’s flashbacks) when police officer Jacki (Nina Toussaint-White) is introduced. Coincidentally, Jacki interviewed both Nathan and Bob about Elise’s disappearance when she was first missing, and wouldn’t you know, she’s also Holly’s best friend – and bridesmaid at her and Nathan’s wedding! Jacki’s complicated presence is so contrived it provokes real groans, and her role in the story’s resolution can be seen from a mile away.
“Although ‘The Sister’ doesn’t reveal the details of Elise’s downfall until halfway through the third episode, it always feels like the viewer is three steps ahead of the show.“
The sister carries itself with an air of deliberate, gloomy gravity implying that it is unaware of entering banal genre territory; each of its elements has been seen before, and in more surprising and new form. Subsequent revelations about Bob are equally corny and ridiculous, and in the final segments, the show takes drama from illogical motivations that make you want each character to have their own desserts. Did I mention that Nathan and Holly are also trying to have a baby through IVF, and that this plays a role in their tense dynamics? The less said about that posted subplot, the better, especially since it doesn’t affect the primary plot and only serves to underscore the overall sloppiness of this venture.
Pretending to curse his protagonist, then slowly reveal his protests of innocence and love to be sincere, The sister ultimately says nothing about grief, guilt and penance. At the same time, it also has little to offer in terms of supernatural fears, despite the fact that the plot is essentially an EC Comics-style chiller. Rather than going over the top Scary show threat MacCormick and Cross take the glossy prestigious TV route, treating their material with an unjustified seriousness. The result are spanned main productions by Tovey, Carvel and Acharia, and gloomy, ominous aesthetics – all screeching birds, shady forest roads lit by headlights and pained glances in mirrors and windows – that are at odds with the action at hand.
Gloomy and formal, The sister is the kind of fake haughty affair best consumed as background noise while doing something else. Even then, you will likely take comfort in its brevity – as Bob says in the truest moment of the show, “It will be over soon.”