The Sinner episode 2 video: If you snap once…
Last week, what the show did an exceptional job at was establishing the central premise for the series. Cora came across as this normal, kind, and caring wife and parent. Her life was together, and she had nothing in the way of bizarre/unusual things to be concerned about. Then, she stabbed someone to death at the beach who superficially she had never known or met. She made an exceptionally violent and terrible act without any provocation, and it leads to all sorts of questions. The obvious one is “why.”
Moving into The Sinner episode 2, some more information could start to become clear, including the relationship between Jessica Biel’s character and her husband Mason (Christopher Abbott). Is there something more here between the two of them? Is there something he knew and isn’t sharing? On the surface, it may not appear so given how he is visibly shaken by everything that he went through. He didn’t come to visit her right away after her arrest, and you can see some fear within his eyes. Yet, maybe this is all an act, or there is some sort of layer to his subconscious where if you peel it away, something more becomes clear.
There are two other moments within this preview below that strike a chord with us.
1. The prayer circle – It’s just a brief glimpse of something, but is there larger symbolism there? One of the biggest things to remember here is that the words “the sinner” obviously carry with them deep religious symbolism. Absolutely, there could be a cult at the center of this story.
2. The altercation – Is it possible that something else could cause Cora to snap? It does feel that way, though it is equally possible that what you are seeing here is some sort of dream sequence or that terrifying part of her brain creeping in and playing with her thoughts.
What makes the central conceit of The Sinner right now so effective is that there is no questioning as to whether or not Cora is guilty of some terrible things — we have proof that she is! The question comes down to motivation, control of her actions, and the history that led to that point. It’s a different sort of murder mystery, and through one episode we’ve seen Jessica Biel deliver a killer performance to go along with a well-crafted narrative. We’ll see what comes tonight.
For the time being, we just suggest that you head over to the link here in the event you do want some additional insight when it comes to The Sinner and what lies ahead. Stay tuned for our full episode 2 review coming after the episode is over on USA. (Photo: USA.)