Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks star in the eight-episode Amazon series “The Better Sister,” about a wealthy woman and the estranged sister who comes barreling back into her world when her husband is murdered and her teenage stepson is charged with the crime.

Twenty-five years ago, this adaptation of Alafair Burke’s novel would have been an Ashley Judd movie with a tight, hour-45 running time: Part thriller and part mystery, as a woman comes to terms with the lies behind her upscale life. That kind of thing can be fun, if not especially deep, which is why streaming’s tendency to expand stories over multiple episodes undercuts the propulsion needed to keep everything frothy and moving with enough economy that you’re less likely to question whether any of it makes sense.

Biel plays Chloe,

See Full Page