History Series / TheSinner

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* HappyEndingOverride: At the end of season 1, Cora's release from prison is presented as an unambiguously good thing and a career highlight for Harry. Season 2 reveals that Harry has earned the wrath of every District Attorney in New York through his actions, because he destroyed an open-and-shut case on a hunch that just happened to prove correct. The DA in Keller is horrified when Harry decides to get involved in Julian's case.

* [[spoiler:AccidentalMurder:]] [[spoiler:The protagonist in the series, who has a sister with a congenital heart issue and a weak sternum, suffers death by a heart attack after engaging in consensual sexual intercourse with others present in the same room, and under the influence of MDMA ("Ecstacy"). Just before, or shortly after she dies, the man attempts to perform CPR, but breaks her sternum in the process. This could quite easily be ruled an accidental death, but those present decide they should "bury the body" because they were "on drugs", and agree nobody would want to "explain that to the cops." Instead, they soberly discuss the course of action to take, which is to bury the protagonist's sister's body next to a bright yellow school bus abandoned in some woods, and then excessively illogically, decide to have the protagonist repeatedly injected with heroin and other drugs until she forgets most of her adolescent life, whereupon she is thrown into an alley in skid row.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Julian is prone to panic attacks and extremely violent outbursts. [[spoiler:It's established as the story goes on that it's likely the result of his traumatic childhood.]]

* DaylightHorror: The first episode sees Cora murdering a man in broad daylight.

* HasTwoDaddies: Leela's friend Mitch and Brian are a gay couple with a very young daughter.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not entirely clear what's up with Sean Muldoon, but between his disorder and his drug habit, he wasn't seen as capable of taking care of Percy.

* DeathBySex: [[spoiler:Phoebe died in the middle of losing her virginity, when her bad heart gave out. Her paramour tried CPR and accidentally crushed her ribs, which probably did not help. The fact that she had cocaine and booze in her system at the time surely didn't help either.]]

* OutWithABang: [[spoiler:Poor Phoebe ends up dying in mid-coitus after her heart gives out.]]

* DisappearedDad: Julian's mom says his father "isn't in the picture". [[spoiler:His dad is, in fact, Jack Novack.]]

* AfraidToHoldTheBaby: The point at which [[spoiler:Jamie Burns]] realizes that he's mentally ill is when he tries to [[spoilers:rock his newborn son to sleep]] and suffers [[spoiler:a vivid, terrifying hallucination of his alter-ego crushing the baby in his hands]]. Later, talking to a doctor, he confesses that [[spoiler:every time he picks his son up, he has a terrible fear that he will drop him]], and that eventually, he'll actually do it just so that he'll stop feeling that anticipation.

* AfraidToHoldTheBaby: The point at which [[spoiler:Jamie Burns]] realizes that he's mentally ill is when he tries to [[spoilers:rock his newborn son to sleep]] and suffers [[spoiler:a vivid, terrifying hallucination of his alter-ego crushing the baby in his hands]]. Later, talking to a doctor, he confesses that [[spoilers:every time he picks his son up, he has a terrible fear that he will drop him]], and that eventually, he'll actually do it just so that he'll stop feeling that anticipation.

* NoSocialSkills: Sonya Barzel is terrible with people.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Harry manages to tail Jaime for a whole night and knows for a fact that he killed Kyle, but since it happened outside of his jurisdiction, he can't investigate it.

* AfraidToHoldTheBaby: The point at which Jamie Burns realizes that he's mentally ill is when he tries to rock his newborn son to sleep and suffers a vivid, terrifying hallucination of his alter-ego crushing the baby in his hands. Later, talking to a doctor, he confesses that every time he picks his son up, he has a terrible fear that he will drop him, and that eventually, he'll actually do it just so that he'll stop feeling that anticipation.
* BisexualLoveTriangle: Although Jamie denies that his and Nick's relationship was explicitly sexually, they had a lot of HomoeroticSubtext which is why everyone keeps asking him. Jamie was divided between Nick and his wife Leela. Nick wanted him to [[spoiler:kill Leela and others, and let in his inner "ubersmench"]]. Leela is heavily pregnant and just wants to settle down with him. [[spoiler:Jamie left Nick to die, but the PsychoticLoveTriangle didn't even end there.]]

* AffablyEvil: Before he became The Beacon, [[spoiler:Lionel Jeffries]] was able to pass himself off as a kindly middle-aged college professor. Eventually the power went to his head and he wasn't able to maintain the illusion.

* CultDefector: The season opens with an attempt to rescue a young boy from a cult. The effort goes horribly, horribly wrong, resulting in a double homicide.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Inverted}} with the cult. They will force female members to have abortions if their pregnancies haven't been "approved" by the leader. However, an exception is made for Marin.

* AffablyEvil: Before he became The Beacon, Lionel Jeffries was able to pass himself off as a kindly middle-aged college professor. Eventually the power went to his head and he wasn't able to maintain the illusion.

* AccidentalMurder: The protagonist in the series, who has a sister with a congenital heart issue and a weak sternum, suffers death by a heart attack after engaging in consensual sexual intercourse with others present in the same room, and under the influence of MDMA ("Ecstacy"). Just before, or shortly after she dies, the man attempts to perform CPR, but breaks her sternum in the process. This could quite easily be ruled an accidental death, but those present decide they should "bury the body" because they were "on drugs", and agree nobody would want to "explain that to the cops." Instead, they soberly discuss the course of action to take, which is to bury the protagonist's sister's body next to a bright yellow school bus abandoned in some woods, and then excessively illogically, decide to have the protagonist repeatedly injected with heroin and other drugs until she forgets most of her adolescent life, whereupon she is thrown into an alley in skid row.

* IllGirl: Cora's little sister Phoebe spent most of her life in and out of the hospital due to a bad heart and cancer.

In Season 2, Harry, now divorced and making time until his retirement, is called out to the town of Keller to help investigate a double homicide carried out by a 13-year-old boy. When the boy is suddenly tried as a minor, Harry and new partner Heather Novack struggle to find some way to explain the boy's actions, all while dealing with a secretive religious sect - whose members include Vera (Creator/CarrieCoon) - and issues from Harry's past.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Cora was RaisedCatholic, so she wouldn't have an abortion. Rather, she stepped in front of a truck. This led to a miscarriage, though she survived obviously. She seems unaware of the fact this essentially is just abortion by other means. [[spoiler:It turns out that she is lying; in reality, it was Maddie who got pregnant and jumped in front of a truck.]]

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Cora's relationship with Phoebe was... extremely close, to the point that JD tries to push Cora into abandoning Phoebe.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: During her time away from her family, Percy lived with another young woman, Caroline, who she really got along with before her personal demons caused her to return home.

''The Sinner'' is a limited series airing on Creator/USANetwork, created by Derek Simonds and starring Creator/BillPullman.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Harry unearths the secret that drove Percy to suicide and brings some justice to the Lams, but also exposes that the Lams took a bribe in exchange for not going to the police, which creates a rift between CJ and his parents. And it's not clear that this brings any peace to Harry, who ends the series sitting ominously at the cliff where Percy killed herself.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: This may or may not be the fate of Percy Muldoon. Harry is certain that he saw her jump off a cliff, and when her body is finally found, there's no sign of foul play, but he is the only one who saw her and it's possible that there was someone else there that he couldn't see.

* EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler:Meg was willing to look the other way on her sons over-fishing or even murdering an employee who skimmed from them, but she is horrified when she learns that they've been running a human-trafficking operation.]]

* JunkieParent: Sean Muldoon is addicted to painkillers as a consequence of an injury on the job.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not entirely clear what's up with Sean Muldoon, but he wasn't seen as capable of taking care of Percy.