That was a different direction!

We know to expect the unexpected with this series, but on The Sinner Season 3 Episode 2, the tables were turned at the end of the hour.

I'm beginning to get a very The Sinner Season 1 vibe from Jamie.

When Cora became a killer during the first season, it seemed out of left field because she was a happily wed young mother.

As her history unfolded, an entirely different picture came to light about the woman she once was.

But while Cora was pushed to the edge of insanity because of traumas she's suffered in the past, I'm beginning to wonder if Jamie's history will reveal he's the traumatizer instead of the victim.

While there is a lot left unsaid about the night Nick died and the relationship between him and Jamie, we're getting glimpses of a very dangerous bond.

It's possible that the outcome will be so far from the life of the suburban husband and teacher Jamie has now that even Ambrose will get thrown for a loop.

I'm a high school teacher living in the goddamned suburbs. I'm not driving around in the middle of the night digging graves for painters I don't know. What is it with you? You keep showing up at my house, pretending we're friends, and now you're harassing me? If you have evidence to incriminate me, haul me in. Otherwise, I'm going back inside to my wife.

Jamie

• Permalink: I'm a high school teacher living in the goddamned suburbs. I'm not driving around in the...

Regardless of what is revealed, Leela is in a bad spot and probably shouldn't be raising her child with Jamie.

So what's all the fuss about?

The hints are veering toward a fascination with unimaginable and frightening things.

Jamie has been lying to himself and the world for a very long time, and it wasn't just Nick's arrival or death that set him off.

We learned that Nick didn't show up on Jamie's doorstep unannounced or even just drop into town after a long separation. quote

Jamie instigated the visit by calling his long-lost ... what? Friend? It's still unclear what the two men were to each other.

But whatever they were, Jamie's feeling the pressure of his impending fatherhood and his life taking a change from which he can never course correct.

Why else would he be drawn again to a man he described as bad for him, even if he was exciting? Embarking on fatherhood isn't the best time to revisit temptations that drove you away only to feel relief when separated?

Jamie: Have you ever had a person in your life that was totally exciting but you knew they were bad for you? When you're around them, you feel more yourself, or the opposite of yourself. I mean, Nick scared me. It was a relief to get away from him. And without him things just feel ... I don't know how to explain.
Ambrose: Hollow. My mother was bipolar, and it was kind of like that.

• Permalink: Hollow. My mother was bipolar, and it was kind of like that.

When cornered about making plans for the child and stepping up for Leela, he countered by belittling her needs with the suggestion she wanted him to fit into the mold in which he's been living.

That mold most certainly is his family, his home, and his career. He told Nick he needed to wake himself up. From what?

Something tells me that standing on the ledge of the building was nothing for the two of them and that Nick's flagrant disregard for others and cajoling Jamie into driving a knife through his palm is their previous norm.

And what about Sonya? I felt that her past and her work connected her to the two men, but what if they just saw her videos and targeted her for a night of debauchery?

I almost believe Jamie that he didn't know about the grave in the woods. He seemed to know very little about what was going to happen at Sonya's house the night Nick died. Nick could have planned an entire night to reawaken the animal inside of Jamie.

Nick's talk at that dinner about needing to go as far as he could with what they'd had to see if he could survive was interesting. That's grossly paraphrased, but that's how I interpreted it. Let me know if you disagree.

It seemed relatively easy for Jamie to let go of Nick at the accident. It was a calculated move and wasn't as arresting as it should have been. He didn't just let Nick die. He also kept Nick from calling for help.

Is that only because Nick was bad for him and got him into trouble, or was it also because Jamie has killed before or come darn close?

Since Nick's death, he's become fascinated with it. He asked Ambrose if he'd ever watched someone die, and Jamie seems in awe of the power he had over Nick at that moment in which he was there and then gone.

He got quite agitated during dinner with their friends when Peleton guy was trying to help Jamie get over the grief hump.

He doesn't want to get over it, but he'd rather immerse himself in death.

Stumbling onto the hospice wing offered Jamie another opportunity to command life through his hands, and although he only listened when they first met, for his second visit with the old man, Jamie tried to snuff him out.

The sad thing about that is the man probably won't be believed since he's already unsure of who is standing in front of him, telling a stranger it's time to go.

But did Jamie get into similar situations in the past, or did he just push himself to his limits?

He's even working outside of his norm at school by asking a student to push herself to be more raw. Is that how it once started for him?

We're only skimming the surface of the relationship and Jamie's past. His anxiety is out of control, but he wants to be alert to experience everything unfettered. He had a brush with depression that he's overcome and doesn't want meds.

Somebody has to step in to stop him. Ambrose is that man. Even Ambrose's coworker first considered that Jamie and Nick must have been sexually intimate, so I still stay that's off the table.

Ambrose will continue being a little too conveniently proximate to Jamie and share just enough to throw Jamie off guard so that he reveals too much.

Ambrose's style is to ingratiate himself into the lives of his suspects. It should be fun watching this story unfold with him behind the wheel.

And maybe he'll even find a willing participant in his kind of sexual relations with Sonya given her subject matter. Stranger things have happened!

What most surprised you about this hour?

What kind of theories are you formulating now about Jamie and his history with Nick?

Who the heck were they in the past?

Hit the comments and share your thoughts.

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.