USA's The Sinner season 2, episode 5 recap: ‘Part V’

The Sinner takes a darker, twistier turn as we learn more about Vera’s past at Mosswood, and connect the dots between Keller’s most suspicious residents.

The Sinner most certainly has a different vibe this year with the story it is telling. Of course, it’s clearly unique because it revolves around a child murdering two adults, and the mystery that connects that action to the place we have come to know as Mosswood.

After finding the flash drive containing graphic videos of Mosswood rituals, Heather and Ambrose are eager to find the man in the video–aka Glen Fisher. In this episode, we also come to learn more about Vera’s past at Mosswood pre-Julian days and start to understand her role at the center.

Last week, Ambrose woke up to find himself in the same hotel room as where the murder was committed and confronts Vera about what she did to lead him there. Of course, Vera is a character all on her own and tells him that his ego is blocking his memories. She seems to rattle Ambrose quite a bit because he is fairly concerned with what he might have told her during his fugue state.

THE SINNER — “Part V” Episode 205 — Pictured: Carrie Coon as Vera Walker — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/USA Network)

Julian is being indicted for two counts of second-degree murder and when the judge asks him if understand what this means, Julian reluctantly replies yes due to some nudging from his lawyer. However, they are choosing to plead not guilty which means there will be a trial held to determine Julian’s fate.

After the hearing, Heather confronts Vera and asks if she recognizes Marin. We have an inkling she has to but she denies it anyway. Us, along with Heather, are not fooled and lo and behold, we are all right! Vera did meet Marin at Mosswood and was actually friends with her too. Heather brings up the notion that she believes Marin is Julian’s mother, and while Vera doesn’t confirm it then, everything comes together via flashbacks and through Vera’s confession to Ambrose.

When Marin arrived at Mosswood, she was pretty bent out of shape and flustered. Vera provided her a much-needed friendship, which is an interesting conundrum for viewers who have come to view Vera’s character as sinister and shady.

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Heather and Ambrose pay Glen Fisher a visit, and things seem awfully shady when they get there. They show him the video they have, and very quickly he resorts to a stand-offish position and has them leave. But before they head out, the camera, as well as Ambrose, focus in on a metronome that is sitting on the table.

As was mentioned before, Vera comes clean to Ambrose about Marin being Julian’s mother. But she said Marin left two years after he was born and she has no idea where she might have gone. Vera says biological or not, she is Julian’s mother. And to help her son, she wants Ambrose to testify on his behalf because it’s the only way they have any hope of winning.

In another flashback, we see Vera telling Marin that she cannot have the child because Jeffries will not allow it. But Marin doesn’t feel like she can stay at Mosswood if she can’t have the child, and lucky for her, Jeffries doesn’t want her to abort the child either.

Ambrose and Heather tell the chief that Vera confessed to Marin being Julian’s mother and that a DNA test was ordered to confirm as such. We still don’t know what came of Marin but based on what they learned from Glen Fisher, she could have been murdered and her body dumped in the lake near Mosswood.

THE SINNER — “Part V” Episode 205 — Pictured: (l-r) Natalie Paul as Heather Novack, Bill Pullman as Detective Lt. Harry Ambrose — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/USA Network)

Ambrose decides to make a ballsy move this week on The Sinner and break into Glen Fisher’s house to see if he can find some sort of proof. He picks up the metronome was the focus just some scenes back and during his snooping around he finds pictures of the rock statue with a man that we learn is Glen’s grandfather, Howard Fisher.

It turns out that the Fisher family owned the Mosswood land since the 1930’s and then sold it to Lionel Jeffries in 1997. Ambrose is extremely suspicious of all the residents at Keller and their connection to Mosswood, namely how it connects back to the couple that was murdered.

Ambrose learns that he is being sent back since he is going to testify on behalf of Julian, and this means he can no longer work at the police department. Meanwhile, Julian ends up attacking one of the other kids in prison and is sent to the SHU. He refuses to speak with Vera and says he’ll only talk to Ambrose.

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We get a glimpse into something from Julian’s past that is quite honestly super disturbing. He confesses that he doesn’t want to see Vera because he knows she is lying to him. Particularly, she is lying about the fact that someone came into his room in the middle of the night wearing a hood. Vera wants Julian to believe it was a dream, but he’s convinced otherwise.

The episode ends on a cryptic note with Vera tell Jeffries about Marin’s pregnancy and him responding that she should have the kid and they’ll all raise the child together. And to the sound of the metronome playing in the background, he asks Vera if Marin has picked a name for the child.

The Sinner airs every Wednesday at 10 PM EST on USA!

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