The Sinner

S4: so bland. Surely designed to function as second screen, the first being your phone. I hate everything about this new trend because it results in tv that you cannot watch with full attention as it wil make your skin crawl with restlessness, rocking back and forth with watery eyes yawning, akathisia in its purest form, all the while waiting for 1, just 1 meaningful human interaction or development, but it never comes, we’re tethered by nothingness, and then the next episode starts, oh god

Good, lacking. The contrived flashback structure is handled with more skill than in DAMAGES or BLOODLINE, but it's still in that class. It looks much better, of course, and Pullman is phenomenal. Rarely seen an actor successfully try so hard to distinguish his brooding closed-off TV cop from other brooding closed-off TV cops (Coon & Letts are also great; best actor couple). They make him a sub, but naturally in the most masculine, bone-crunching way; now a pantyboy hero, that would impress me.

S1 and S2: Cheap melodramatic, trite nonsense. S3: Turned on by accident forgetting I had already watched the first two seasons. Wow, this got A LOT better. They clearly had a major shakeup and decided to basically just copy other crime dramas, which was a good call. Similar to True Detective and You, with a heavy David Lynch influence. I enjoyed season 3. I'm glad they got their shit together.

1x; Stopped after S1E4.

It's a great premise: A grizzled detective psychologically explores his own trauma and guilt during his efforts to solve the murders of each season's featured morally gray character. It's clear that the title is meant to serve as a double entendre, meant to point the finger at the constant lead, whose performance is brimming with a magnetic anxiety by Bill Pullman. There are some great twists, but still, it falls just short of other Best-in-Class crime thriller mysteries a la True Detective.

S1: Pullman is remarkable in this. I've only ever seen him as the dad in Casper, so it was interesting to see him play a very different role. There is something so easy to love about him, and he feels very authentic in his acting. It was a good storyline. S2: Less than S1, better than S3. Enjoyable. S3: Pretty insufferable, if not for Bill Pullman. Main character is annoying and weird. S4: It was a mix of emotions for me - I got tired of the story at some points, but it ended up being well done.

another dose of streaming platform content, administered with the slowest possible drip. is this where series are headed? dragging viewers along with as little story development as possible, catering to people scrolling and chatting on their phones while 'watching'. it sure feels like it. on the bright side, i still love Bill Pullman.

The first two seasons were the best out of the four. Sometimes a series should just stop at two.

s2: 60 // s3: 70 // s4: 70

season 1 - 81