Upamanyu Biswas
Created by Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado, Prime Video’s ‘The Better Sister’ centers on two estranged sisters – Chloe and Nicky – whose lives become the topic of much controversy after a wedge is driven between both parties through an insidious criminal element. When Chloe’s husband, Adam, winds up dead due to extenuating circumstances, the onus falls on the local authorities to find answers regarding this high-profile killing. However, it soon leads to uncomfortable truths as the focus shifts to the complex relationship between the two sisters and the drama linking their pasts in the wake of the tragedy. As such, the crime thriller series takes an unnerving event and turns it into a multi-layered conflict between family members, adding to the story’s general tension and heightened realism.
The Better Sister is Adapted From a Thriller Novel
Written by Ariel Doctoroff, Olivia Milch, Regina Corrado, Brittany Dushame, and Lauren Stremmel, ‘The Better Sister’ is a fictional narrative inspired by the eponymous 2019 novel drafted by Alafair Burke. The show largely derives its main premise, characters, and themes from its source material, navigating a complex crime where everything stems from a tenuous bond between two sisters. To that end, family secrets and a killer on the loose served as the primary factors when Burke sat down to develop the story. However, she also drew upon her own experiences as a former prosecutor, having worked for a few years at the district attorney’s office in Portland, Oregon. It allowed her the freedom to navigate the tricky subject matters during the trial/hearing scenes.
When the show’s creators, Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado, came across the novel, their interests were piqued by the family dynamics in the narrative. Explaining their thought process, the former said, “I think both Regina and I are so drawn to stories about family, about sisterhood, and this idea of what does it mean to have different experiences of your parents? How does that determine who you are in the rest of your life?” As such, the novel’s central premise was the catalyst for developing an intricate script that tapped into the power of a crime thriller tale built from personal subject matter. Even though the ideas are heightened and elevated to a degree, the project resonates due to its clear and concise effort to capture the entangled roots of crime and family affairs.
The Better Sister Explores the Ins and Outs of a Sisterly Connection
It is undeniable that sisterhood is one of the central themes at the heart of ‘The Better Sister.’ Intriguingly, while the show and novel center on a seemingly fictional connection to illustrate the nuances of its sibling bond, shades of a real sister relationship are sprinkled throughout the narrative. Like Chloe and Nicky, the show’s creator, Olivia Milch, shares a complicated bond with her own sister, Elizabeth Milch, and their father, David Milch, who was the intellectual capital behind projects such as ‘Deadwood’ and ‘NYPD Blue.’ Addiction ran through David Milch’s life, affecting him in debilitating ways as his children grew up around him. Like their fictional counterparts in the series, Elizabeth remembers her father’s behavior before he eventually got sober when her younger sister Olivia came into the picture.
In an interview, Regina Corrado expressed her love for “dysfunction,” stating that the main emotional heft of the narrative is essentially rooted in the effectiveness of convincing the audience that the complex family drama unfolding before their eyes is genuine. “That was always what drove the train. And a lot of the work that we do is very personal. It may not come out, and we can channel it into the characters, but we are extremely honest with our own damage and our own journey. And I think that that was a very big part of this process,” she said. Thus, while the connection between the Milch sisters and Chloe and Nicky may be coincidental in nature, it furthers the central idea of constructing a narrative from the things that matter the most, layering the other abstractions on top for added effect.
The Better Sister Delves Into Alcoholism and the Value of Forgiveness
One of the most prominent themes explored in ‘The Better Sister’ is the unintended consequences of people’s choices. It prompts questions regarding nature versus nurture and whether people have control over their surroundings or vice versa. For Elizabeth Banks, who plays Nicky, this was vitally important because of her character’s problems with alcoholism. As such, we see her often attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to come clean about her situation, which ventures into familiar territory for Banks. When crafting her character, she probed into her connection with the AA, stating, “I’m honored to have had access to AA. I’ve been to meetings, I’ve been to Al-Anon. I have friends and family who work that program whose lives are really helped by it. And I felt a responsibility to represent it fully.”
As Nicky attends these meetings, it becomes evident that they are her only way to process the trauma of her childhood and find a safe space where she can speak honestly. This opens the door for future discussions on forgiveness and how it is pivotal to rebuilding her broken relationship with Chloe. As per co-creator Olivia Milch, the show is basically an attempt to showcase how two sisters who have diverged in a forest come back together following a harrowing murder that uproots both their lives. It doubles down on the idea that a positive, unifying force can only come into being following a disaster that shakes the foundations of everything that life is built upon. The same is undoubtedly true for Chloe and Nicky, who, despite their fictional roots, have a journey seeded in real-life themes and people’s experiences.
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