Hulu continues to be the best place for U.S. audiences to see hit content from the United Kingdom with the addition of The Sister on January 22nd. The ITV four-part series is a mix of crime drama and psychological thriller, one that keeps you on your toes all the way through the ending. Originally broadcast over four consecutive nights last fall, Hulu subscribers can repeat that nightly installment option for themselves or binge this addicting new import.
Nathan Redman (Russell Tovey, ABC’s Quantico) has a dark secret he shares with a stranger he met at a party in 2009 named Bob (Bertie Carvel). Happily married and trying to start a family, Nathan’s sense of security starts to crumble when Bob comes back into his life. To complicate matters, his wife Holly (Amrita Acharia) befriends an investigator who interviewed him and Bob as potential witnesses to the disappearance of Holly’s sister eleven-years ago.
The Sister reveals information to the audience in small bursts of time from three years, 2009, 2013 and 2020. You have to pay close attention and piece it all together as it goes, making it a really exciting experience. You’re like a detective yourself, trying to put together what’s happening in real time as you watch.
Russell Tovey is so likeable that it’s easy to buy into him as the central character of the series, even if the premise makes him seem like he may have committed murder at times. With a supernatural element, the perfect world that he’s built for himself feels like it could fall apart at any moment. The Sister is dark and twisty, but never resorts to gore or cheap scares.
The Sister is more of a crime drama than a paranormal mystery, but does incorporate quite a few tropes from that genre. It draws some comparisons to ABC’s Secrets and Lies in the sense that the lead character may be guilty of a crime and a detective is on the case. But with more twists and a condensed storytelling timeframe, whether or not Nathan is responsible for the disappearance of Holly’s sister almost isn’t as interesting as some of the other aspects of the show.
As a limited-series with four ready-to-binge episodes on Hulu, The Sister is short enough to blow through in one sitting or spread out over several nights the way it aired in the UK. Since you get the entire story at once, it’s a great choice for subscribers looking for something new because it can’t be cancelled, it’s already completed its story. Perhaps we’ll get a follow-up series someday, but for the time being it’s a self-contained exciting mystery.
I give The Sister 4 out of 5 white noise CDs.
The Sister premieres Friday, January 22nd, only on Hulu.