Just as the East Coast elite dust off their linen pants and oversized sunglasses for another Hamptons summer, Amazon Prime drops a thriller that’ll keep you glued to the couch, no matter how perfect the weather outside. In my case, I was quite literally glued to the couch while working on a new art project involving buckets of rhinestones and glue. Don’t worry. I’ll soon feature that finished project in our Curated Crafts section of The Sober Curator.
The Better Sister, based on Alafair Burke’s domestic noir novel, invites us into the sparkling, scandalous world of Manhattan’s power players and the dark, tangled roots they try so hard to hide. Jessica Biel brings her signature poise to the role of Chloe Taylor, a glossy magazine executive who seems to have it all—until she finds her husband, Adam (Corey Stoll), dead in their Hamptons home. Shout-out to Jessica Biel’s white dress and muscular backside in this scene. Wowzers.
Enter Chloe’s estranged sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), a woman who’s battled addiction and messy relationships, and who also happens to be the biological mother of Chloe’s teenage stepson, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). And oh yeah, spoiler alert —Ethan’s now the prime suspect in his father’s murder.
The series hits all the notes of a classic whodunit—glamorous settings, high-stakes secrets, and a crime that leaves no one unscathed. But The Better Sister is more than a murder mystery; it’s a meditation on family, addiction, and the blurry lines between love and resentment. As someone who recovers out loud, I was particularly struck by the phrase Chloe hurls at Nicky in a heated moment: “It’s always recovery porn with you people.” It stung in the way only a phrase that cuts too close to home can. It made me pause and wonder—do people see my own journey as a never-ending loop of self-help clichés? Or do they recognize the messy, beautiful work of rebuilding a life?
“It’s always recovery porn with you people.”
As a single mother in recovery (my son was 9 when I got sober), I felt closest to Nicky’s character. Elizabeth Banks nails the complicated energy of someone who’s trying so damn hard to keep it together, even when everything’s falling apart. One scene, in particular, hit me square in the gut: Nicky relapses at her ex-husband’s wake, trading five years of sobriety for one too many martinis and a bartender’s bed. (And by bed, I mean the back of the catering van.) Watching her stumble back into the bar the next morning, regrets heavy on her shoulders, ordering a triple bloody mary, was a reminder of how real the cycle of addiction can be—how quickly you can go from I’ve got this to I’m lost again.
The scenes in 12-step meetings—those quiet moments of sharing and the meeting after-the-meeting parking lot chats over cigarettes—felt heartbreakingly true to life. I often get annoyed at how 12-step is represented on screen, but this series gets it mostly right. In the end, The Better Sister doesn’t offer easy answers. It asks what it really means to be the “better” sister. Is it the one with the big career and curated Instagram life, or the one who’s learned to own her mess and keep going, even when she stumbles?
Binge-Worthy? Absolutely.
I devoured this series in a single day—yes, while also working on a new art project, because sometimes multitasking is my sobriety superpower. The show’s twists kept me guessing, and its raw portrayal of addiction and family secrets left me entertained and deeply moved. If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably want to add Alafair Burke’s novel to your summer Addiction Fiction reading list, too.
The Better Sister is a must-watch for anyone who’s ever been told they’re too much or not enough—or dared to find out who they are beneath all the labels.
Available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.
The Mindful Binge Sobees Score: 4 out of 5
The Better Sister – Official Trailer | Prime Video
SOBER CURATOR PODCAST – THE MINDFUL BINGE: Sisters, Secrets, and Sobriety: The Sober Curator Squad Deep-Dives into “The Better Sister”
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