- Network: Prime Video
- Series Premiere Date: May 29, 2025
Critic Reviews
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Whether you want catharsis and consolation in the form of Biel and Banks trading poor taste zingers between flashbacks to their communal childhood trauma is a matter of personal taste. But when it comes to reassuring downfalls, this decent-enough drama knows how to play the game.
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All of these characters end up flattened by the needs of the plot, which asks them to merely be cogs in an increasingly complicated story with a convoluted ending that doesn’t quite warrant the absurd twists it takes to get there.
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Their bickering, at turns tense and mildly funny, is where the show is at its best, when Biel and Banks aren’t being asked to play types, but to connect on a more fundamental level.
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What makes the show entertaining, at least in fits and starts, is also what throws it repeatedly and frustratingly off balance.
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There are intriguing ideas set up in The Better Sister, but unfortunately, the show wastes too much time on boring subplots to truly explore them with the nuance they deserve.
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Unfortunately, despite all of its compelling components, the show quickly loses its way. “The Better Sister” begins to unravel because it’s tonally chaotic. .... Additionally, the show drags on endlessly and would have been more engaging if it weren’t stretched across eight lengthy episodes.
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The finale is all dry plot machinations, even scattering breadcrumbs for a repetitive second season despite Amazon billing the show as a limited series. Like Sirens and Long Bright River, this is an over-extended movie that nobody would make as a movie, even with big names like Biel and Banks as its stars.