# The Sinner (2017)

> A haunted detective untangles a new perplexing murder each season while confronting his own inner demons.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36561

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 32
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, mystery, drama
- Created by: Derek Simonds
- Network: USA Network
- Cast: Bill Pullman, Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbott, Frances Fisher, Orlagh Cassidy, Alice Kremelberg, Abby Miller, Neal Huff
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6048596/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: brooding, melancholic, tense, somber, intimate

## What critics say

Viewers find The Sinner a solid, gripping mystery whose slow unspooling of each season's crime keeps them hooked, with audiences rating it positively.

## Synopsis

The Sinner (2017-2021) is an American crime anthology series created by Derek Simonds for USA Network. Bill Pullman plays Harry Ambrose, a haunted detective whose fixation on perplexing crimes is tangled with his own private demons, and each season he is pulled into a new murder in a small New York town. Jessica Biel plays Cora Tannetti, a young mother whose violent act opens the first case, and Christopher Abbott plays her husband Mason, whose life is pulled apart as the investigation digs deeper. Each season runs eight episodes and is built around a fresh case, with new suspects, new families and a new community hiding its secrets. The engine is the slow excavation of motive: Ambrose must sift through fragmented memories, conflicting testimony and the wreckage of ordinary lives to find out why people did what they did. The tone is brooding, somber and psychologically intimate, with a steady undercurrent of dread and grief. Fans of True Detective, Broadchurch and The Killing will find resonance in its moody atmosphere and its focus on a damaged investigator and the people caught in his wake.

## Shows like The Sinner

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- [Mr. Mercedes (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/61631)
- [Tell Me Your Secrets (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/76663)
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- [Mare of Easttown (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/95824)
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- [Top of the Lake (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42254)

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