After six chapters, we finally know everything that happened to Cora on the night of July 3rd.
Chapter 7 of The Sinner was all about the night of July 3rd. No false memories, no investigations, no dreams, just the plain old truth. In general, the series’ seventh episode finally showed fans what went down through the eyes of both Cora (Jessica Biel) and her younger sister Phoebe (Nadia Alexander).
Chapter 7 opens with Cora and Phoebe getting ready to head out to go dancing. When the two finally reach the club, Frankie and J.D are waiting inside with Maddie (Danielle Burgess). The two sisters seem to be having fun, even after Phoebe decides to take some potentially dangerous drugs provided by Frankie. After a while, Cora, Phoebe, J.D and Frankie decide to leave and head to the infamous country club- The Beverwyck. On the way there, the drugs start having a heavier effect on Phoebe, causing her to pee herself and lose some of her vision momentarily. Cora, angry at her sister’s rash decisions, even considers leaving Phoebe so that she can continue her night in peace. Don’t worry, Cora ends up helping Phoebe in the end. Once at The Beverwyck, we learn quickly that Maddie was not the one who lured Cora into the basement that night. Instead, it was Phoebe.
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In the basement, a lot of things happen. While Frankie and Phoebe begin to fall for each other as they slow danced, (this was cute), Cora begins to question her decision to run away with J.D. Not wanting to think about this reality, Cora decides to let loose. She does a line of drugs with J.D, and starts to feel better. On the other hand, Phoebe and Frankie begin to hook up, causing Cora to follow her sister’s lead, and hook up with J.D.
The fun continues for a moment, until Cora realizes that Phoebe has not been breathing for a while. She gets up and sees Frankie on top of Phoebe trying to resuscitate her by doing chest compressions, when suddenly, a loud crack is heard. It’s Phoebe’s ribs. Cora immediately jumps up and begins hitting Frankie in the exact position she stabbed him in at the beach in Episode 1. The episode then goes to black after J.D knocks Cora over the head with a tray. Crazy, right? So, now we know why Cora did what she did.
Let’s see what our roundtable thought of this week’s insane episode. Please welcome back:
Sophia (@sophiarxcx) – Host, TV Newbie
Patty (@pallyglen) – Book Fan, T.V Enthusiast/
Michelle (@Contessa_966) – Writer, Tweeter of TV Shows, Live Music Fan, Hockey Girl & Wiener Dog Mama!
Michelle (@gollegly) – Freelance blogger – Jessica Biel Central @jessicabielcom
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1. Why do you think Phoebe decided to take the drugs J.D offered her, knowing that she could die of the side effects?
Sophia (@sophiarxcx): I think that Phoebe just wanted to have fun for once in her life. She is always cooped up in her house, and has been living through her sister Cora for 19 years. Although this was a stupid decision, I understand that Phoebe just wanted to let loose- even if it was for a few hours.
Patty (@pallyglen): Honestly, Phoebe would have never gotten the chance to feel any normalcy if it weren’t for Cora or that night. Granted, taking pills was like waaay overboard and especially taking it from JD. She was basically taking her first steps out in the real world and decides to do pills. In that moment she wanted to do what everyone was doing and, in some weird way, feel normal.
Michelle (@Contessa_966): Because she’s young, it’s her birthday, and she feels trapped in her life. The only places she’s probably ever been to are her house, multiple doctors offices, and the hospital. She’s finally out and feels free and wants to experience what life can be, even at risk to herself.
Michelle (@gollegly): Phoebe wanted to be able to experience what everyone else was experiencing without having to worry if she was going to die or not. She wanted so much to be involved that she forced the hand by taking the pill.
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2. Do you think Cora really wanted Phoebe to die on the night of July 3rd?
Sophia (@sophiarxcx): I think the thought definitely crossed her mind, but she wasn’t serious about it. Because Phoebe has been the primary influencer on Cora for her entire life, the night of July 3rd meant a lot more to Cora than Phoebe thought. Cora finally had a boy who liked her, and she actually was beginning to feel confident with herself, so Phoebe being there probably ruined her plans for freedom. I do think that Cora really does love Phoebe, despite her craziness, and would do anything to protect her.
Patty (@pallyglen): Up until the moment when Phoebe basically told Cora “take care of yourself”, I felt Cora wanted Phoebe out from the picture. Cora was at a breaking point with Phoebe; she was getting in the way of Cora actually living her life and a life with JD (Uhh). But, once it was something that was actually tangible and Phoebe telling her to take care of herself, Cora could not accept it. No matter how weird their relationship had gotten, Cora loves her sister.
Michelle (@Contessa_966): No. She loves her sister, she always has loved her sister. Life has been unfair to Cora with how their mother emotionally abuses her, but the love for Phoebe is true. As all sisters and siblings do, yeah she probably had a moment (or multiple) in her life thinking that life would be so much easier if Phoebe wasn’t there. But I genuinely do not think that she wanted Phoebe to be harmed. That’s also maybe part of the reason why she’s blocked this entire chunk of her life out, she doesn’t want to live with remembering what happened to her sister and her responsibility and part in that.
Michelle (@gollegly): I don’t believe Cora wanted Phoebe to die, but she wanted to be free from having to take care of her. The stress of having to pretend and love basically 2 lives was too much for her. Which is why she decided to move in with JD.
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3. Why do you think Cora’s parents lied and told the detectives a few episodes back that Phoebe died after Cora left home?
Sophia (@sophiarxcx): I have no idea, I think they wanted to put the blame of Phoebe’s death on Cora because they were so used to doing that in the past.
Patty (@pallyglen): Maybe it was their own way of protecting Cora. I also think it is why Cora pleaded guilty in the beginning and why she told the detectives that her parents were dead. Her parents had to have known what happened to Phoebe, whether it was told from Cora or someone else. I felt once they found out about Phoebe, they (maybe just the father) didn’t want to lose another daughter.
Michelle (@Contessa_966): Because it looks bad on them, both of your daughters run away on the same night. Plus with Phoebe being sick that makes it a pretty easy cover story. It’s not like many people probably knew Phoebe existed outside of stories. They don’t take her to visit family, have guests over, etc. And if she is the body that’s out in the woods, I’m sure Frankie’s parents didn’t just stroll up to their doorstep and say hey sorry so this thing happened. They probably weren’t sure what happened, but neither daughter came home. Blaming Cora and pretending Phoebe died a month later just happened to be an easier story for them to live with.
Michelle (@gollegly): I don’t believe Cora wanted Phoebe to die, but she wanted to be free from having to take care of her. The stress of having to pretend and love basically 2 lives was too much for her. Which is why she decided to move in with JD.
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4. Why do you think Cora replaced her memories of Phoebe from the night of July 3rd with Maddie?
Sophia (@sophiarxcx): I believe Cora was subconsciously trying to protect herself from the horrible memories surrounding her sister’s death. A part of me thinks that Cora believes Phoebe’s death is her fault- and that is just not true. Maddie, someone who seems to have taken on this villain persona in the series, seems like the perfect person to project Cora’s negative memories of July 3rd on to.
Patty (@pallyglen): Honestly, that was just so weird that Cora filled her memories that night of Phoebe with Maddie. There has to be a bigger connection. I think when Phoebe died, Maddie became her anchor. Phoebe was such a huge part of her life, so she repressed all those memories of Phoebe and just put Maddie in them.
Michelle (@Contessa_966): Our brains are interesting organs. She probably remembered Maddie being the one in those memories until things started clearing up. Her brain had been taking certain points of the story and mixing them up this whole time. Using Maddie’s story about being pregnant and getting hit by a car and adapting that to be her own, for example. We saw what she thought was happening when we saw those memories as being Maddie. But as that fog lifts and her brain/body braces for the impact of remembering what actually happened, we are now seeing the truth of the story.
Michelle (@gollegly): I think that Cora feels responsible for Phoebe’s death. She was the one that brought her to the bar and basically allowed all the situations that lead to Phoebe’s death occur. So she was repressing the memory of Phoebe all together.
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5. Seeing as we’re heading into the finale next week, what has been your favorite moment of the mini-series thus far?
Sophia (@sophiarxcx): Oh god, probably when Mason and Cora first met at the diner. I think scenes of characters first meeting are so cute! And its one of the more fun scenes in such a dark show.
Patty (@pallyglen): Actually, I have two moments: when Cora finally said “I remember” and the tragic short romance of Frankie and Phoebe. When Cora uttered those words, I swear I felt a sense of calm washed over me. It was just those memories of Frankie (a very hot Frankie BTW) and Phoebe that just gutted me. Up until that moment, I was like Frankie must have done something wrong, but in the end, he was a pretty nice/decent guy. It was nice to see Phoebe experienced any sort of romance even if it was short lived.
Michelle (@Contessa_966): This is a difficult question. I love being part of the official The Sinner facebook group, where we all have very clearly over analyzed many things and been on all sorts of different theory trains these past few weeks. But it’s great to see so many people, from all over, interacting and sharing their thoughts, coming together over the show. My favorite show moment has to be any scene with Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman, they are absolutely fantastic together on screen. Jessica has given one hell of a performance on this, both as an actress and a producer. Of course anytime one of my theories has been right, that’s always a great moment. But for this finale episode, I think I’ll sit back, (attempt to) relax, and let The Sinner lead the way for one wild last ride.
Michelle (@gollegly): As much as Phoebe really is the cause of all the pain for Cora. When Phoebe and Frankie connect and she experiences what she has been trying to feel all her life, it was pretty sad. Mostly because we knew the fate of both of them. This was definitely my favorite part so far.
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Final Verdict: Get ready for one last ride.
After a long seven weeks, we’ve finally made it to the end. Next Wednesday is the finale of The Sinner, and we couldn’t be more excited to see what the writers have in store for us. In terms of Chapter 7, we’re glad that the night of July 3rd finally was revealed exactly as it happened. We don’t have much to say other than, “WOW.” Jessica Biel has done a fantastic job as Cora thus far, and the writers have definitely taken us on a bumpy ride these past few weeks. All we can say now is, I hope you’re all prepared for the end next Wednesday. We’ll see you one last time Sinners. Until next time.
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