Entertainment
Sister acts: ‘Echoes’ and ‘Bad Sisters’ ride sibling mysteries into the stream
Starring Michelle Monahan in a dizzying twin function, “Echoes” options similar twins Leni and Gina, who’ve spent years perfecting the strangest sister act possible: Going away collectively for his or her birthday every year, then buying and selling locations to spend the following 12 months dwelling one another’s lives.
When one in all them goes lacking, nevertheless, it opens a door not solely to probably exposing the ruse however raises thorny questions on their previous, which comes dripping out in a sequence of flashbacks — together with the loss of life of their mom and a deadly fireplace — and attracts the eye of the native sheriff (Karen Robinson), the one character who appears to be having any enjoyable.
As is so typically true of those excessive ideas, although, the sequence feels more and more tortured down the stretch, to the purpose the place the alternating which-sister-did-what beats do not essentially turn out to be tough to observe however somewhat problem your endurance by way of being motivated to attempt. That is regardless of Monahan’s newest addition to the lengthy record of actors who’ve performed either side of a dialog to some stunt double.
Netflix will get a whole lot of mileage out of those type of mysteries, however for all its contortionist-worthy twists and turns, “Echoes” begins trying like an attractive plunge and does not fairly pull itself out of the shallow finish of that gene pool.
“Dangerous Sisters,” in the meantime, is a way more intricate assemble, however boils right down to a easy query: Who and what killed the horrible husband of one in all 5 unusually shut sisters, all of whom have cause to despise him separate from the truth that they hate the way in which he treats their sibling?
Created by and co-starring Sharon Horgan (“Disaster”) because the eldest of the bunch, the present additionally options Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene and Eve Hewson because the plotting quartet.
Darkly humorous, the present operates in numerous time frames, with the later half involving a pair of insurance coverage brokers (Brian Gleeson, Daryl McCormack) satisfied that foul play was concerned in John Paul’s demise. Sadly for them, John Paul is such a dedicated jerk the sisters aren’t alone in having cause to wish to see him out of the image.
There’s an nearly Rasputin-like high quality to the sisters’ initially hapless efforts, with Eva at one level noting — when somebody proposes staging a work-related accident — “What are we gonna do, paper lower him to loss of life?”
For all that, “Dangerous Sisters” supplies a stronger payoff than “Echoes” and feels much less far-fetched, which matches a great distance in serving to justify the funding. Within the realm of streaming, as with household, these are the type of ties that bind.
“Echoes” and “Dangerous Sisters” premiere Aug. 19 on Netflix and Apple TV+, respectively. Disclosure: My spouse works for a unit of Apple.