(Courtesy of Peter Kramer/USA Network)
After a critically acclaimed first season, USA Network continues The Sinner with Season 2, Episode 5: Part V, starring Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon. Detective Harry Ambrose (Pullman) returns to his home town to solve another whydunit myserty.
During the court hearing, Julian (Elisha Henig) is not sure whether to plead guilty or not guilty. While with Vera (Carrie Coon), Harry and Heather Novack (Natalie Paul) storm in with a huge accusation. Heather accuses Vera of even more lying; she’s not even the boy’s mother.
In flashbacks, Marin (Hannah Gross) is welcomed to the Mosswood community. The first person she meets is a younger Vera, with longer hair. During this time, Lionel Jeffries does not want children at the sight.
Harry re-watches the videotape from the previous night. He was hypnotized, drugged possibly, and in a trance when he slept at the hotel’s crime scene. Vera admits it was supposed to a spiritual awakening, a cleaning of sorts.
Harry and Heather end up interrogating the violent man in the video. He was a member of Moonwood and Harry notices the timing device in his living room. Harry ends up breaking into the man’s home and gets a clue.
Unfortunately, this major clue is what also gets Harry in trouble. Heather is already having a difficulty trying to get a search warrant into Mosswood. Harry’s break-in is what gets him kicked off the case.
The teen prisoners start making fun of Julian. They all recreate the murder in their beds and laugh at him. Julian beats the crap out of one of them before ending up in solitary confinement. Vera begs Harry to visit Julian and reveals she is not his real mother; she raised him like one.
In the flashback, Heather tries to visit Marin one last time. She doesn’t want to return home to her mother. Heather begs her not to leave; she just lost her mother. That same time, they sacrifice a goat and cleanse themselves of their “shadows.”
After getting kicking out of his friend’s home, Harry meets with Julian. The man in the hood wasn’t a dream. Someone really was trying to sneak in during the night and kill him.
Vera remembers her meeting with Lionel. With Marin pregnant, Lionel wants the child to be born. He thinks the child, a human sacrifice, will bind them together.
Season 2 of The Sinner continues Wednesdays at 10pm on USA Network.