The Sinner

The first season of The Sinner begins with an act of violence whose circumstances are much easier to establish than its cause. That reversal gives the investigation a different question from the usual search for an unidentified culprit.

Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman give the story its weight. Pullman's Harry Ambrose is interested in the parts of an account that will not settle, while Biel makes the difficulty of explaining an action central to the drama. The inquiry requires patience with recollection, hesitation and apparently disconnected details.

My viewing here is of season one, not a judgement on every later case. That opening story is the reason for the recommendation: a compact mystery driven by motive rather than a growing list of suspects. Go in knowing as little as possible about how its pieces fit together.