'The Sister' Episode 3 Spoilers: Who killed Elise Fox, Nathan or Bob? Here's the reason behind chilling murder
Spoilers for ‘The Sister’ Episodes 1 through 3
‘The Sister’ in its first two episodes created a stellar mystery. Not of a whodunnit. But of a “why”. Nathan (Russell Tovey) is at the mercy of Bob (Bertie Carvel), who enters his life after many years, all of a sudden, bringing back dark secrets from a past Nathan desperately wants to forget.
In the first two episodes, it is revealed that after a New Year’s Eve party, just hours after the clock struck 12 and welcomed 2009, Nathan and Elise (Simone Ashley), a woman he met at the party, were in Bob’s car. The latter was out for a walk in the woods. The two were snorting coke and the sexual tension was palpable. Yet, we are shown that sometime later, Bob finds Elise dead and Nathan panicking. The two bury her body and move on.
Things get complicated when Nathan, some years later, marries Holly (Amrita Acharia), Elise’s sister. And she has no idea that Nathan knew Elise, much less was there when she died. So, the question that arises here is: Why did Nathan woo and later marry the sister of that woman?
We saw in the first episode that he had Holly’s work number and he called and set up an appointment under the pretext of wanting to get a house -- Holly is a real estate agent. At one point, even Holly asked how he got her number because he specifically asked for her. Could it be that it was guilt? Guilt that her sister had died in his presence, senselessly, and he wanted to redeem himself by protecting and loving Holly? It seems far-fetched.
But the bigger question, of course, is how Elise died and who killed her. The episode reveals how Elise dies. Things were getting hot and heavy between the two in the car. Elise was on top of him. All of a sudden, it seemed as if she was unable to breathe. As she struggled, her head hit the car’s window and she passed out. When Bob arrived, he found her without a pulse. She was already dead.
It could have been the cocaine. It could have also been the fact that the woods were rumored to be haunted. At the very end of the episode, however, we are given a more complete picture.
Bob, as it was revealed earlier, was a paranormal “expert”. And he had become obsessed with the idea of proving that the paranormal existed. Thus, he decided to “make a ghost”. He figured that under those circumstances in that area, a death could help make a ghost. And so, in his word, “he nudged things along”. This implies that he had spiked the cocaine. And it would make sense that it was caused by the coke.
Nathan did not have any. Before he could snort, the two started kissing. And it was just minutes later that Elise suffered a respiratory attack.
‘The Sister’ is a twisted tale. But this twist was one no one could have foreseen. So far, the show led with the misdirection that Nathan had (either accidentally or wilfully) killed her. And it was a plausible and sensible theory. Just the motive felt amiss. But Bob’s involvement changes things completely.
‘The Sister’ was first broadcast on ITV in October 2020 in the UK. It is now streaming on Hulu.