'The Better Sister' Review: Murder, Betrayal, and Sisterhood Collide in Prime Video’s Gripping Thriller"

A murder, estranged sisters, and a whole mess of betrayal. The Better Sister doesn’t ease you in—it throws you headfirst into the drama with blood on the floor and secrets waiting around every corner. Jessica Biel stars as Chloe, a type-A, career-climbing power player whose pristine image starts to crack when she enters her home. Unaware of what happened after a night of celebrating, she walks into the kitchen, opens the fridge, and has a few grapes as she thinks about the night's events. It takes a moment, but soon she discovers Adam, her husband, lying in a pool of his own blood. From there, it’s a tense unraveling.

After a panicked 911 call and Chloe darting out of the apartment, the story jumps 36 hours ahead. Chloe is being honored at an event, her teenage son Ethan is at her side, and Adam—her husband—is conspicuously absent, sparking whispers. That sets the stage for secrets lurking underneath a polished, happy exterior.

From here, we get threads of the past stitched into the present. Chloe, a feminist with a progressive agenda, becomes the target of online harassment that’s as vile as it is disturbing—deep fakes, smears, everything you can imagine in the age of information and technology. This angle is part of the larger “Who Killed Adam?” mystery. Is Chloe a grieving wife? Or something more calculating? She appears suspicious when we discover she has two phones and quietly disposes of one. It’s giving secrets.

Episode two tilts the mystery on its axis. The police now have a suspect—Ethan. His DNA is found under Adam’s fingernails, and suddenly the grief turns to suspicion. The story throws it's first twist in this episode, enter Nikki, Chloe’s estranged sister, played by Elizabeth Banks. As it turns out, she's Ethan's biological mother and Adam's first wife. Talk about family drama!

Nikki crashing at Chloe’s house after years apart is the real heart of the series. You’ve got Chloe, who seems to have it all together, and Nikki, the messy sister who can’t catch a break. One built a glasshouse, the other has made her mistakes, but overall, you can see that she is misunderstood. She wasn’t her mother's favorite, and she was expected to fail. As the layers peel back, it’s clear both women are carrying trauma—one represses, the other is dealing on her own, without her sister's much-needed support. Their dynamic is where the show really shines.

Parts are heartbreaking as Nikky wants Chloe to face their trauma but Chloe doesn't want to face it until she is forced to come to terms with who Adam truly was. She has to grapple with betrayal in a way that forces her to look in the mirror. She betrayed her sister in the worst way. The show touches on it but this is where I would have liked to have seen more. I would have also liked to have seen more of Nikky's life both with and without Adam. Adam and Chloe took Ethan away from Nikky when he was a young child. He grew up referring to Chloe as his mother.

There are many flashbacks, some better placed than others, and while they're meant to deepen character backstory, I wish the show had leaned more into the family tension and less into the courtroom drama. The trial becomes the centerpiece for a stretch, which is fine if you're into legal twists, but I kept wanting to get back to the messy sisterhood, the uncomfortable truths, and the killer still out there.

Still, the performances carry it. Biel and Banks give raw, grounded portrayals of women shaped by their wounds and choices. You believe them, whether they're fighting, bonding, or breaking. The series leaves you on edge, dropping new motives, new secrets, and just enough doubt to change your opinion of the suspect throughout.

Is Ethan the killer? Is Chloe hiding something more? Can Nikki be trusted? All fair questions, and The Better Sister makes you want to find out. However, in the end, one has to ask, was it predictable?

Final verdict: It’s not perfect, but it is addicting. A few pacing missteps aside, it’s a compelling ride full of suspense and sisterhood with bite. I’d give it a solid 9 out of 10. Definitely one to watch—and one I’ll be recapping episode by episode. Stay tuned. The Better Sister debuts on Amazon Prime on May 29th.