'The Sinner' Season 3 Episode 4 is about the manifestation of Jamie's guilt and increased obsession with death
'The Sinner' Season 3 Episode 4 centers on how Jamie Burns' (Matt Bomer) guilt manifests into hallucinations and anxiety until Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) intervenes on Jamie's request. This guilt has been racking up within him since the time he met with an accident which killed his best friend Nick Haas (Chris Messina). Or more accurately, the accident which was used as a front by Jamie to kill Nick by not allowing him to call for help after the accident took place.
The fact that he killed the only other person who understood him, gradually dawns on him as he struggles to adapt to his everyday life after the accident. As a professor, he is unfit to guide anyone else and that becomes clear when he forces one of his students to reconsider applying for Ivy League colleges. After having seen Nick's death, Jamie seems to see mortality in an all-new light. This, the grief of losing the one true friend who understood and the guilt of having been the reason for his death begins to gnaw at Jamie unlike before.
He begins to recall all the details from the day of the accident which also includes Jamie's conversation with Nick right before the accident. Nick seems to be convincing Jamie that it is time for Jamie to let go of the restrictions that he has stuck to all this while. It is clear that Nick is trying to push Jamie to do something that Jamie was not ready for in the past. It is something that excites Jamie, it is violent and that drives Jamie in a primal manner and a hint of this we saw when Jamie performed aggressively in bed with his wife as he recalled a rough moment with Nick.
So while Jamie sees the allure of violence and blood, there is something that stops him from going full throttle. In the meanwhile, Jamie begins to see Nick. This disturbs Jamie further, and he even imagines Nick taking his baby from him and almost destroy him. That's when Jamie realizes that his obsession is unhealthy and he approaches Detective Harry Ambrose to help him out. Just when Jamie is extremely disturbed and anxious, Harry decides to use this as an opportunity to lock him up in a psych ward instead of talking to him directly and that aggravates the condition.
He ends up playing a cat and mouse game with Harry that leads to all kinds of situations including Jamie reliving the moments before the accident. He meets one of his former students at a party, and the two end up going on a drive. Jamie tells his student that he would like to play a game where they would drive at high speed and would continue on the path irrespective of signals, or any other hindrance on the way. With Harry on his tail, Jamie continues to rack up the speed despite the student telling him to slow down. By now, he clearly looks like a maniac and all in an attempt to escape the very piercing gaze of Nick in his imagination.
It is then that we learn of another bit of truth about the accident. The night that the two men had set out, Nick had wanted to "go all the way". This time around, he had wanted things to be done as per him, and the woman in the estate near which the accident occurred? She was supposed to be killed by Jamie that night. He refused, of course, and instead; he ended up killing his friends. In the moments before Nick's death, Jamie does try to call for help for his friend. Nick, however, stops him from doing so, pushing Jamie to take that final step through his death.
He has been pushed involuntarily to take life and this could as well be the trigger that Jamie needed to leave behind a slew of bodies in his wake. And hinting at the same, the end of the episode features a murder in New York and its investigation takes Harry to the city.
'The Sinner' Season 3 Episode 5 will air Thursday at 9 pm ET on the USA Network.