‘The Sister’ Rewards Bad Guy Behavior

 

The Sister on Hulu. 

I watched The Sister only to support Simone Ashley’s pre-Bridgerton era. 

A colossal mistake. 

Neill Cross’s four episode series is a terror for women watchers or those who align heavily with advocating for women’s rights; each character more offensive than the last including the lead: Nathan, a real foul chap. 

Nathan meets Elise at a New Year’s party. She follows him out into the woods, gets into a stranger’s car (his name is Bob), takes mystery drugs, and dies during coital with Nathan. Instead of alerting authorities, Nathan decides to not only help Bob hide Elise’s body, he later trails Elise’s distraught sister, Holly at her real estate job. Holly reels over her missing family member whose case sadly goes unsolved. It then worsens: Holly actually marries this man greatly involved in Elise’s whereabouts— and Jacki does nothing to help. 

On the wedding day, Jacki (Nina Toussaint-White) sits next to creepy Nathan (Russell Tovey) as Holly (Amrita Acharia) gets up to talk about her sister. 

Who is Jacki?

Well, Jacki, a police officer, is apparently a close friend of the Fox family. During the diligent investigation of finding Elise, Jacki questioned both Nathan and Bob, two skeptically behaving characters among the many people present at the ill-fated New Year’s party. Although she seems very shocked that Holly is engaged to Nathan (because they hadn’t met prior to the engagement party?), Jacki gives Nathan the cliche “if you hurt her” speech sans digging into the strange coincidence of this former suspect marrying Elise’s sister. If Jacki were a true friend, she would have told Holly all about Nathan and Bob. It is an honor code among women, especially women friends, to not withhold huge crucial secrets. Nathan is already hurting Holly by not being honest. Jacki— whose obligation should be Holly first, Nathan last— makes an ugly situation worse in keeping quiet. Instead of asking the right questions regarding how Nathan met Holly and so forth, Jacki lets Nathan slide more than once. 

In almost every picture, Elise (Simone Ashley) stares out at Holly, her sister and Nathan, an accessory to her disappearance. 

In the present, Holly and Nathan live together in an opulent house where framed photos of Elise are everywhere— a depressing reminder to Holly that her sister is never forgotten and a brutal reminder to Nathan of his buried crimes. Yet, Nathan’s guilt rarely cracks— until Bob shows up on a random evening. The biggest scare in Nathan’s life is not Elise’s ghost haunting him to infinity. It is Bob who knows the truth behind Elise’s disappearance. 

We couldn’t have that mess up Nathan’s domestic bliss with Holly. 

Elise (Simone Ashley) is too comfortable with these strangers: Nathan (Russell Tovey) and Bob (Bertie Carvel). Heartbreaking. The series paints her final moments as a typical party girl looking to score. 

Honestly, Nathan comes across as unhinged and not a good liar. He appears to have no family or friends of his own. Ever since Holly’s tearful plea for help regarding her missing sister on the news, Nathan has grossly attached himself to Holly and the Foxes. His unhealthy fixation is neither romantic or cute in gesture. In fact, he makes the series all the more sinister. A wife can never truly know her husband one hundred percent, but you feel sorry for Holly who allowed a man to take advantage of her vulnerable state of mind. She deserves better— as does Elise’s ghost. 

Unfortunately, Holly will not see the light. 

Poor Elise. Other than being completely photogenic, we never know who she is. 

Disjointed The Sister is a terribly slow pace series with wobbly flash forward sequences allowing Nathan to get away with his detrimental acts. He dug up a grave, put a body inside, stalked a sister knowing that information, and married into a grieving family. Moments happen when Nathan almost gets caught, but alas, nothing. He is at a crime scene wearing gloves and police see nothing weird in his odd behavior, making no inquiries. Plus, the morbid replays of a brown woman dying over and over, her skull kept in a box, her dress in a freezer, the rest of her remains unknown— ugh, so awfully offensive to watch. Perhaps the bad writing suggests that an unchaperoned young woman on her own at night is asking for the consequences of her choices. Do not gallivant in dark forests with strangers, engage in unknown drugs, and premarital sex— societal death wishes. Sure Bob planned another ghastly scenario entirely, but that’s not what played out— the only person in real danger was the woman. At least, Bob who acts as deranged as Bob on Twin Peaks, owns up to his calculated intentions. Nathan is a loose canon dressing up as a “good guy.” 

Holly is often in scenes drinking wine. Here she tells her friend Jacki about Nathan’s old pal Bob coming to visit. 

Yes, Jacki is intrigued by Bob. She goes as far as investigating Elise’s disappearance again and coming to Bob’s residence late at night (by herself). 

The saddest takeaway is that women are horrifically developed (or underdeveloped) here. Holly and Jacki easily accept Nathan’s lies. They truly buy that Nathan met Bob on the road after the New Year’s party. Why would anyone want to hide such dumb information unless some deeper implications were afoot between the two of them? Are both women’s intuitions severely broken? Has Elise’s absence made them dimmer? Is Holly so desperate to have a baby that she can overlook Nathan being questioned in the past regarding her own sister? It is beyond disgusting that Nathan slept with Elise— which Holly will never ever learn— and gets rewarded in the end. Jacki— who threw reopening the case— believes Nathan is good for Holly. Does that mean an accessory/killer should raise children? 

Sometimes we must learn the hard way that male creators/showrunners still do not have women’s best interests at heart, let alone realize how women think/behave. And cringy The Sister— its title should have been renamed The Creepy Husband— fails in every aspect of granting Elise true justice.