The Sinner Season 2 Review (2018)

Hope everyone is keeping well and watching some great TV or Movies while in lockdown. I have kept myself very busy with season 2 of The Sinner.

If you read my last review on season 1 you’ll know I was a huge fan and simply put thought it was one of the best seasons of a detective show I’ve watched and I highly recommend you go out and watch it. So it was needless to say I had high expectations going into this second season.

So what did I think, overall from first impressions, I’m a little disappointed it couldn’t reach my expectations and the heights of the first season, however that’s not to say this was a poor season. It had the drama, the excellent casting and acting, great camera work and compelling scenes but for me the overall plot didn’t have the same effect or draw me in as much as the first and I want to delve into that here.

The second season has the same kind of premise as the first, as we follow Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) once more as he returns to his home town of Keller to help out an up and coming detective and daughter of an old friend Heather Novack, who has been placed on her first assignment. A double homicide committed by a 13 year old boy Julian Walker (Elisha Henig), the victims seem to be his parents but as we know in The Sinner nothing is as it seems.

I want to start this review of with the positives, one being the brand new cast for this season bar obviously Bill Pullman as Harry Ambrose, who once again provides an amazing performance filled with depth and emotion.

Natalie Paul as Heather Novack, Tracey Letts as Jack Novack and Elisha Henig as Julian walker, all provide really strong performances in there roles. Heather being a young, strong, forthright detective who fights every step of the way to see justice is met. Jack Novack, Heather’s father plays a kind and accepting father figure on the surface but has an odd feel about him, and of course Julian Walker an outsider to many as he live in the mosswood community outside of Keller, a normal kid with a trouble and strange upbringing which leads him to kill.

But the performance that really stood out to me the most was one of Carrie Coon who plays Vera Walker, Once again another outsider living in the mysterious mosswood community, she provides such a complete performance in all aspects, without going into detail on her motives as it could spoil the season. Carrie Coon gives the viewer so much emotion ranging from fear all the way to sorrow she is that good and it’s fair to say I wasn’t expecting it.

As for the cinematography I did enjoy it a whole lot more this season. There are so many great still mid and wide shots, that provide the view with a contrast of what the characters on screen are feeling at the time through colour and action taken place on screen, which I did really appreciate.

This season also has a lot of dream and past sequences that are handled so well as the abstract lighting and filming make it clear to the viewer that what they are watching is in the past or dream.

The main reason for this change I think is an addition to the cinematographer team during this season. Justin Charles Foster was added to the team, who is know for his work on TV show Billions and movie Americana, which were both shot beautifully and once again is shot amazing here.

Now unfortunately for the negatives, for me the pacing of this season is all over the place. The season starts off so well and sets the season up brilliantly as we witness the murder or should I say murders take place with some great acting. But as we get to unraveling this mystery of why Julian did what he did the show grinds to what seems to be a halt as episodes 3 to 5 we see Heather and Harry not really doing much to press the story forward. However the season does start to pick up towards the end but by then especially for me I found myself somewhat loosing interest and even forgetting certain details.

On the plus side to the story we do get some interesting sub-plots I did enjoy such as Harry’s daunting past which seems to follow him everywhere he goes and the mystery of Julians’ cloaked figure which haunts him at night. The mystery of Mosswood also intrigued me but I did loose my fascination with the community as the season went on.

This is all a person preference of mine and I would completely get why someone would prefer this season to season one, however for me it just didn’t grip me as much. Despite the negatives I’ve said I do still think this season is a great piece of television that needs to be watched. That is why for me season 2 of the sinner is a 7 out of 10.

I’ll be back once again with a review of season 3 of The Sinner when it’s out on Netflix in the UK but for now I’ll review whatever movie I fancy in the mean time.

Thanks for reading!