The Better Sister: Is The Gentry Group Based on a Real Company?

Prime Video’s ‘The Better Sister‘ has its fair share of twists and turns when it comes to its central murder mystery, but even more complexities abound in the show’s corporate crime storyline owing to the inclusion of the Gentry Group. The company is introduced as part of Adam’s workplace clients at Braddock and Braddock, becoming the main source of trouble as Chloe looks into her dead husband’s professional life for clues regarding the murder. Eventually, we learn the truth behind Gentry, highlighting the dark deeds and shady elements hiding behind the scenes at Braddock and Braddock, indicating an unprecedented level of corruption. It paves the way for a compelling mystery drama with numerous avenues of exploration, including one where our main characters find themselves in a bind. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Gentry Group is a Fictional Bad-Guy Corporation

As ‘The Better Sister’ is largely inspired by the eponymous 2019 novel written by Alafair Burke, the show’s various elements, including story, character, places, and objects, have some connection to the source material. This is particularly the case with The Gentry Group, who is described as a big client of Adam’s law firm, Rives & Braddock, in the book. Like its series counterpart, the group is portrayed as a heavily influential entity that has immense leverage and power to carry out its deeds without much pushback from anybody. They are also suspected of having to do something with Adam’s murder, a plot point shared with the show. Thus, the company plays a similar role in the Prime Video project to the one set out by Burke in her cryptic and mysterious novel.

Another significant aspect of The Gentry Group is its ties to illegal activities, including a possible link with breaking several human rights laws to recruit workers for its operations. They are also suspected of using sham shell companies to hide their tracks, making it difficult to nail them down as a group. In fact, at one point in the story, even the FBI gets involved in the case, hoping to connect them with the numerous claims of criminal action they are suspected of carrying out. It parallels many real-life cases of unlawful activities conducted by companies. For instance, during the Danske Bank scandal, Denmark’s largest bank was accused of utilizing shell companies to misrepresent finances, including the potential laundering of billions of euros through the bank’s networks for a significant period of time.

Overall, the Gentry Group remains a faceless entity that sows chaos from afar. Due to their indirect influence over the narrative, characters get pushed into extreme circumstances as they try to cover the tracks or expose the wrongdoers before time runs out. Furthermore, they also have a massive role in helping Chloe and Nicky clear their names at the end of the story, using The Gentry Group’s criminal activities as a smokescreen to hide their own crimes. After Chloe leaks the files collected by Adam while he was working undercover with the FBI, The Gentry Group and their lawyers at Braddock and Braddock find themselves at the center of a media and public storm. It illustrates their importance in the narrative, even though they remain fictional in conception.