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'The Sinner' Season 3 Episode 5 review: Is Ambrose manipulative or is Jamie more dangerous than we thought?

The loose ends of Jamie lashing out uncharacteristically have been tied and the questions surrounding Kyle's death have finally been answered
UPDATED MAR 19, 2020
Matt Bomer, Bill Pullman (USA Network)
Matt Bomer, Bill Pullman (USA Network)

Spoiler alert for Season 3 Episode 5: 'Part V'

The aftermath of last episode's cliffhanger where detective Harry Ambrose found Kyle, the medium murdered at his home reveals what actually happened to him. The loose ends of Jamie lashing out uncharacteristically have been tied, and the questions surrounding how Kyle died have been answered.

In all of this, Jamie tries to convince the people he so selfishly abandoned in the recent past that he is worthy of sticking by, now that the storm has struck. Meanwhile, we see his extremely privileged self call out Ambrose for being manipulative. All because the detective refuses to offer Jamie any guidance other than turning himself in. But Nick's psychological hold on Jamie makes it look like the high school teacher is a twisted, narcissistic psychopath than we had initially assumed him to be. For an episode that attempts at showing Jamie's frustrated helplessness, all one feels for the man is distaste for the entitled way he handles his inherent violent tendencies.

We meet Jamie in this episode as he returns home with what looks like a giant rock drenched in fresh blood. It immediately becomes obvious that Jamie is, in fact, Kyle's killer and Ambrose was right all along to tail him. Jamie goes about the signature murderer routine — wiping blood off his face and body and stashing his clothes and dumping them in the lake nearby — with reckless abandon for the risk he is facing.

The next morning, he arrives at his and Leela's home — more like, breaks in when she is asleep — and pacifies their crying newborn. He then tries to apologize to Leela who spent the night trying to contact him. It is in moments like these where Jamie's entitlement makes one want to violently shake some conscience into him. No matter how hard he tries to assure Leela to give him another chance, now that he is going to therapy, his apologies mean nothing because Jamie isn't stable enough to process anything. Nobody knows that better than Leela.

Matt Bomer as Jamie Burns, Parisa Fitz-Henley as Leela Burns (USA Network)

Later, when Sonya learns from Ambrose that Jamie might have killed Kyle (the front-page news that morning), she seeks out Leela at her store and unknowingly tips her of what Jamie might have been up to.

A scared Leela invites her brother over as she does not feel safe with Jamie in the house. Once again, Jamie's audacious entitlement comes into play. He asks Leela to stick by his side now that the police are on to him, the way he had stuck by her side two years ago. Jamie brings up this supposed faith he had in their relationship, which had gone for a toss the morning Leela gave birth as he couldn't stop ranting about the futility of having a baby just hours prior. So, at this point, all we can do is pray for her and their week-old baby to be safe.

It is not just Leela that Jamie's entitlement comes into play with. Ambrose, who has spent a significant amount of time trying to make sure Jamie doesn't kill himself, has to bear the most of Jamie's privileged brattiness. After getting the rough end of the deal — with snubbing Vic for trying to watch out for him and even failing to reassure Sonya that Jamie wasn't a threat — Ambrose is being tailed by the NYPD detectives as a suspect in Kyle's murder. This is because he was present at the location along with Jamie, the night of Kyle's murder.

He does agree to meet Jamie at a secluded location, where Jamie once again tries to convince him that he is not a lost cause, but luckily Vic's words of advice are having some effect on Ambrose. Ambrose finally decides to take a step back and advises Jamie to confess. In all of his worldly wisdom, all Jamie can see is Ambrose caring about him one moment and shutting off the next, which he finds "manipulative". But honestly, what else can Jamie expect from Ambrose after the pile of sh*t he has shoved the detective into?

Jamie Burns (USA Network)

Things get even more dangerous when Jamie's high school principal asks him to quit or take a sabbatical as the case keeps garnering more public interest. A rather lost and frustrated Jamie thinks it is best to break into Ambrose's property late at night for a 'chat' and initiate conversation with his young grandson as a means to get the detective's attention. Creepy and stalkerish in equal amount, it does make one worry about the child or the several other people who fall in harm's way just by being close to Ambrose.

Jamie's obsessive need to be heard plummets him into crazy attention-seeking ways which he somehow thinks might work in his favor. Unfortunately (for Jamie), Ambrose can't wait to kick him out of his property, which results in a physical brawl. This is something that's been a long time coming. It makes sense that after days of rooting for this guy, Ambrose might feel the need to literally knock some sense into him. That is the show's biggest respite (yes, Jamie gets his butt kicked) because we aren't even sure whether it's just Nick's psychological hold on him that's making him lash out like this.

The reason? Recurring flashbacks from the night Jamie killed Kyle.

The first one shows Jamie going back to the party and seeking out Kyle's help in finishing the seance they had started earlier that night. Kyle agrees, telling Jamie in their session about this friendly spirit that hooked on to him. He calls the spirit agitated, hovering like a protector now that Jamie is so close to the end, wanting him not to be afraid anymore. When Jamie says he would lose everything if he follows through what the attached entity wants, Kyle refuses to indulge in the session any further and Jamie kills him. Thereby fulfilling Nick's wishes.

Yes, it does look like Nick had planned this all along and it's easy to deduce that Jamie was manipulated. However, in the end, Jamie followed through with their plans, taking the final step to face death by killing Kyle and none of that was Nick's doing. Jamie was just acting upon his instincts that were made clear in the previous episode and instead of imagining murdering random strangers, he actively indulged in carrying out the task. That signature move to ambush someone's child to get to them is the oldest trick in the serial killer handbook, so Ambrose has plenty of reasons to watch his back. 

'The Sinner' Season 3 airs on Thursdays at 10 pm only on USA Network.

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