Picking Up From Last Episode’s Cliffhanger
In this week’s episode, The Sinner – Part II – Cora (Jessica Biel) goes through with her plan to plead guilty. Since only a crazy person would plead guilty, the judge orders an exam to determine Cora’s fitness to stand trial. This makes Cora angry. Why? It’s like she wants to be in prison for some reason… or maybe she just doesn’t want her life anymore.
Official Investigations
Detective Ambrose (Bill Pullman) visits Cora and digs deeper. He says he knows she must have known Frankie and almost begs for something to go on. As TV watchers, we rarely see cops portrayed as seekers of actual truth. Most often, if they have a confessed killer behind bars, they are O-U-T. Ambrose provides a refreshing, yet ponderous change in that kind of role. Cora responds, “What makes you think I want my life back?” See what I mean about her -wanting- to be away from her old life?
Stuck without a lead, Ambrose goes and talks with Leah (Teri Wyble), Frankie’s girlfriend. She gives up one useful piece of info: Frankie and an unknown woman had a relationship five years earlier, but they couldn’t make it work following an accident. Is the mystery woman Cora? Ambrose needs to know as bad as we do.
On The Homefront
Mason (Christopher Abbott) doesn’t want to visit the jail, so instead he decides to go to work. His stray thoughts lead to a flashback depicting Mason and Cora’s first meeting. She worked as a waitress at a restaurant/bar. Given how Mason recalls all this, it must have been love at first sight for the guy. He threw himself at her.
Meanwhile, Detective Ambrose proves he is a complicated man. He, in fact, wants to save his marriage and goes to marriage counseling. Who saw that coming after his misadventures with Sharon?
Something Still Isn’t Right
Detective Ambrose takes a new tack with Cora: he harasses her. She finally says, “I met Frankie on July 3rd, 5 years ago.” We viewers learn shortly this is Cora’s first lie and our first sign the truth will take the entire season to unravel. She also says Frankie went by the name of J.D. (but lied). She goes on to say Frankie / J.D. gave her pills and took her to his place (which she can’t remember the location) and spent the night together. The song from the beach triggered the stabbing because, according to Cora, Frankie kept playing the same exact song during their tryst. Anyone could guess the next part. She got pregnant and Frankie / J.D. stopped answering the phone. Overcome, she walked in front of a car and woke up at the hospital, no longer pregnant and with a fractured hip.
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