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'The Sinner' Season 3 Finale Review: Jamie Burns' closure promises a not so dim future for Harry Ambrose

With Jamie targeting those close to detective Ambrose, the cat and mouse chase is highlighted by Matt Bomer's precision and Bill Pullman's vulnerability
PUBLISHED MAR 27, 2020
Matt Bomer and Bill Pullman (USA Network)
Matt Bomer and Bill Pullman (USA Network)

Spoilers for Season 3 Episode 8 'Part VIII'

As Jamie Burns comes bare and undone in his progression towards a homicidal maniac, Season 3 Episode 8 of 'The Sinner' titled 'Part VIII' offers us a Matt Bomer unlike anything ever seen before and an intricately complex arc for Sonya — a character whose moral compass has been oscillating between good and evil like a manic pendulum.

Offering some closure on just why Jamie decided to take a hit at the Captain, the episode opens with the immediate aftermath of Jamie's latest kill. What follows is him visiting those who have played their due parts in walking him to where he stands right now.

Visibly sinister and unnervingly similar to the dead, lingering presence of Nick Haas, the episode takes us closer to the all-blinding truth behind Jamie's string of indiscretions.

It is established early on in the episode that Jamie's targets are those close to detective Harry Ambrose. First, the captain, then Sonya and finally Bill's daughter and grandson. Until that moment his menacing stance as the finally metamorphosed version of Nick leaves one unsettled.

Jamie is not your nerve-wracking, panicking, fumbling psychopath just killing with maniacal glee and a certain disregard for any sense of conscience. He is precise in his composure, poised — almost as if channeling his inner Patrick Bateman from 'American Psycho'.

In his portrayal of a twisted murderer killing for a sense of thrill in his privileged but lonely life, Bomer takes pages out of Christian Bale's book but adds his own signature ticks impersonating Chris Messina as Nick. 

When he arrives at Sonya's to attack her, the two break into a discourse on what's inherently good and bad in a person. Jamie talks about his three murders and how every single time he waits for a god to stop him, but it never happens. His explanation of choosing to act on impulses is almost braggy, if not snooty.

He prides himself on being brave enough to not reconsider the before and after is labeled as a life full of loneliness by Sonya, who even though had been warned by Ambrose in ample time, can't help her brushes with danger.

She gets almost attacked but the police arrive just in time and Jamie flees. And as Sonya unravels in front of Ambrose, it is finally easy to see just how intensely Jamie got to her.

Matt Bomer as Jamie Burns (USA Network)

Jessica Hecht's portrayal of Sonya's panic masked by resolve truly stays with one the same way that Jamie's reverse diagnosis for every other person who has tried to "diagnose" his motive behind what he's done.

He calls Ambrose a hypocrite and a coward after a failed attempt at getting through to his own wife Leela. Jamie kidnaps Ambrose's grandson Eli and holds him hostage in exchange for a round of the same game Nick would indulge him in. Look death in the face and yada yada yada.

At this point, Jamie isn't even trying to pretend that all of this is an elaborate manifestation of another person's psychotic manipulation as murderous instincts. And as naturally as this smug, almost cocky demeanor comes to Jamie, so does the imminent crumbling after Ambrose finally shoots him.

From death-lord extraordinaire to a feeble, meek child looking for validation from an older, fraternal figure, Bomer's range in this episode is a treat to behold. It is one of those Jamie-Ambrose episodes that left us wondering if the latter had any secret, underlying part to play in the catastrophe that started it all.

But even for a man this accused of being restrained and closed off, Ambrose's reassurances of Jamie not being alone, in what Jamie panics are his final moments, are a delight, and for that, we have Bill Pullman to thank.

Seasoned, yet contained, his demeanor offers the only soothing balm of comfort that one can expect from watching the life slip out of Jamie's eyes.

As the season wraps, we see Ambrose still deflecting due praise and compliments. There's an air of guilt surrounding him as he dodged Vic Soto's remarks — almost as if he and his "mistake" doesn't belong here. That, however, changes as he sludges towards Sonya's home.

They chat casually as he sits on the dining table and she cooks for him. They talk his cast, Leela and the lasting thoughts of Jamie's final moments. Ambrose answers Sonya's curiosity with patience and tears, and her response hints things might be alright for the detective after all. 

'The Sinner' season finale aired on Thursday, March 26, at 10 pm on USA Network.

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