REVIEWED: SEASON 3 (ALL EPISODES) | WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX UK

Jamie Burns is a respected high school teacher with a beautiful wife and is weeks away from becoming a father. When a mysterious man from his past shows up at Jamie’s house, his life suddenly begins to unravel, leading him into the crosshairs of Bill Pullman’s broody and unorthodox Detective Ambrose.

The third season of The Sinner is a strange one. There’s some very clever philosophical writing, resulting in excellent, compelling dialogue, and the ever-charismatic Matt Bomer (Doom Patrol) does a stellar job as Jamie Burns, slowly creating a villain designed to be empathised with in the hopes that he will have some redemption. With this, the foundations should be in place for an excellent series on par with the quality of Season 1 and 2 but, as good as the dialogue, the acting, and the premise are, the rest of the show falls short. Ambrose’s methods go way beyond being unorthodox, leaving you constantly questioning his motives. Once revealed, it makes him look less like a highly intelligent detective and more just a guy doing random stuff, hoping for the best, leading to a substantially dragged out final showdown unworthy of the journey it takes to get there.

Detective shows with an unstable lead character, a charismatic antagonist, and narratives that skew slightly to the dark side are not exactly hard to come by. Even with such a talented cast, this one sadly fails to stand out in an overcrowded genre.