The Sinner season 2, episode 5 recap: Where’s Marin?

The Sinner returns with a packed episode that continues to raise questions about what really goes on at Mosswood.

The Sinner begins with Harry trying to retrace his steps after waking up in the motel room where the crime was committed. When he admits to Heather where he was, I was a bit surprised. It looked like he could have just as easily lied about it. He confronts Vera about what happened to him and she tells him that he was fine when he left Mosswood.

Heather confronts Vera about Marin and Harry ushers her away before she gets too upset about it. One can’t blame her for being upset with Harry that he’s not willing to push Vera more for answers. We then get a flashback to one of the rituals from when Lionel was the leader at Mosswood. He was there when Marin joined and Vera clearly knows who she is since she was the one showing her around.

Harry and Heather pay Glen Fisher a visit about the video that she found in the storage unit. Glen isn’t too cooperative, so they don’t get much out of him. Heather goes back to her dad’s to look over the images of the nearby lakes. She blames herself for Marin going to Mosswood, even though it’s clear that there wasn’t any way she was stopping Marin from doing whatever she wanted to.

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Harry meets with Vera and she wants to know if he’s on Julian’s side. She wants him to testify on Julian’s behalf, but he doesn’t believe anything she says. She then admits that Marin is Julian’s mother and tells Harry that she left a few years after Julian was born and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. We then see a flashback of when Marin knew she was pregnant and wanted to leave since there were no children allowed.

Heather and Harry update Chief Lidell on the case and let him know about Marin possibly being in one of the lakes (or not, since Harry still seems inclined to believe Vera). This leads into another flashback where Lionel is telling Vera about the violence that’s inside him and how they’ll raise a goat just to sacrifice it later.

In a quite illegal move, Harry breaks in to Glen’s place after he leaves to take a look around. He found out that the Fisher family owned the land before selling it to Lionel Jeffries. Heather, understandably, isn’t thrilled about him going there and breaking in.

Things get worse for Julian in the detention center as some of the older kids make fun of him and go as far as laying down with rocks over their eyes. He pounces on one of the kids and finds himself in solitary. Based on his previous outbursts, it might be for the best, but could also do more damage to him mentally.

After calling Heather’s dad, Chief Lidell also tells Harry that it is time for him to go back home. Both him and Heather have been ignoring their other cases. The show then flashes back to Heather trying to get Marin to leave Mosswood to no avail.

Vera tells Harry over the phone that Julian won’t see her and is stuck in solitary. However, he will talk to Harry and he tells him that he can’t figure out the detention center. He tells him more about the person in the cloak going to take him and how it wasn’t just a dream. Supposedly, it happened a few weeks ago in the middle of the night and the person was dragged out of the room.

Jack and Harry have a not so pleasant conversation. He welcomed Harry into his home while he was in town to work, but he realizes that Harry hasn’t changed much at all. It leads to that tense moment in the living room and Harry leaving to stay somewhere else. Most of the flashbacks involved Mosswood up until we get one with Harry visiting his mother.

The final scene takes us back to Mosswood and the sacrifice of the calf. Afterwards, we see Vera with Lionel for a session. She brings up Marin being pregnant and he doesn’t want her to make arrangements with the doctor. He says she should keep the baby and they can all raise the kid. However, we have no indication of why he had the change of heart. The episode ends with him asking Vera if Marin had picked out a name yet.

This episode packed in a lot with both the flashbacks and present day scenes. There are still plenty questions that remain unanswered. With three more episodes left, we should get all of the answers we need for everything to make sense. I’m personally curious as to where both Marin and Lionel are.The Sinner continues to weave an interesting story and Carrie Coon continues to have a standout performance.

The Sinner airs on Wednesdays on USA at 10:00 PM.