The Sinner - USA Wednesday

Season 2 of "The Sinner" premiered last Wednesday, August 2nd.

Season 1 consisted of eight episodes and starred Jessica Biel.

Description of season one from imdb wrote:

Follows the story of a young woman who commits a horrific act of violence and rage, and to her surprise, has no idea why. The investigator who becomes obsessed with the case is determined to dig into her past and figure out why this is happening.  imdb link

Biel was excellent in this role and although I'm not a big Bill Pullman fan, his role as Detective Harry Ambrose seems tailor made for him.  So, I'm glad he's back in season two in this anthology to handle this next case.

If you missed season one, you can see it on Netflix or other services but you don't have to view it to see season two -- each season can stand alone.

Season 2 opened up with a family of three -- mom, dad and 13 yr old son on a road trip to Niagra Falls.  I noticed something strange about the boy right away -- odd he was.  The mom and dad seemed overly anxious to please the kid (in fact I wondered if this kid could send them to "the cornfield" -- a little Twilight zone reference).  

They wind up having car trouble and check into a motel until they can get their car repaired.  

The next morning, mom and dad are getting ready (dad is about to get into the shower) when the son comes  in with a couple of cups of tea (or maybe it was coffee) for the two of them.  Both drink from their cups and continue getting ready.

But hold on -- something is wrong.  Dad starts to convulse, grabs the plastic curtain and crashes down onto the bathroom floor.  Mom convulses and tries to crawl to the son who is just standing there watching it all happen.

Yeah, you guessed it -- the son poisoned them.

Detective Ambrose is invited in on the case by the police daughter of an old friend of his from his hometown where the murders took place.

The boy is not talking and seems frightened at times.

They discover the parents' luggage didn't include anything for the boy -- no clothes -- not even a toothbrush.  (And wonder who doesn't pack that stuff for their kids?)

At the end of the episode, a woman shows up and claims she's the kid's mother.

So, there's more to the story than just a bad seed, killer kid.  We don't know if he is that or not but now we know that maybe his motive for poisoning the couple was justified.

So, if you're watching -- thoughts?

This kid is drawing me in.  Part of me wants to hold him in my arms and reassure him that everything is going to be all right.  He seems so genuine and vulnerable -- innocent even.  But then another part of me remembers what he did and what his mother said to Ambrose about the kid -- something like -- you have no idea what you're dealing with here.  (In context, this suggested to me that the kid was exceptional in some way and required considered handling.)  So, I'm thinking he could be the ultimate "bad seed".

My mother can read minds ...

Well that's a show stopper.  The kid, Julian, believes his mother can read minds and that she has read Det. Ambrose's mind and has scared Julian about talking to him because mother knows what he wants.  

Also, it turns out that Julian's home is the local commune/cult that the police pretty much leave to themselves because "it never turns out well" when they become involved.  But the police do get a search warrant so they can assess Julian's environment.

Local police Detective Novak is interested in the commune because she had a friend join and was never heard from again.  So, she's anxious to find out about her friend.

The commune --

• Julian is the only child who lives there.
  
• All of the residents are gathered in one room and the police are assured that's everyone who lives there.  Novak's friend is not among them.  
  
• The residents find peace because of "the work".  Although Ambrose asks about "the work" a couple of times, Julian's mother, Vera, never seems to really define exactly what she means by "the work".
  
• Julian and Vera share a bedroom -- separate beds but that's odd for a mom and 13 yr old boy.
  I don't know if anyone else has a separate bedroom -- there was a room with multiple single beds in them.
  
• Ambrose finds enough circumstantial evidence to suggest the couple Julian murdered where not taking him on a short getaway to Niagra Falls as Vera states, but rather the couple was attempting to escape and took Julian with them.
  
• Police Novak slips away to search a building off to the side.  She finds some kind of huge stone sculpture in the center of the building.  Upon close inspection, she sees something on the stone face which startles her -- was it blood?
  

Given everything we've seen I'm still wondering whether Julian is a basically good kid but twisted because of his mother and environment or if he's the ultimate evil child and his mother has created an environment where she can contain him and mitigate the harm he causes.

What do you think?