The Better Sister episode 5 recap: A shocking twist is revealed as Ethan's court case gets underway

The Better Sister on Prime Video is an eight-part twisty-turny thriller that promises to keep us on the edge of our seats until the final moments.

The series is based on the novel by bestselling author Alafair Burke and stars Hollywood favourites Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks as 'rival' siblings who have their mysterious past brought to light after a shocking murder. But, as the investigation unfolds, will the siblings manage to reconnect or be torn further apart?

Here is everything that happened in episode 5...

The fifth episode opens with a flashback to when Nicky and Adam were first together. She is working in a diner and he is revising for his law exams and Nicky tells him how happy it makes her seeing him working hard for their future together.

In the present day, Nicky wakes after falling off the wagon the night before. She is hungover and has flashbacks of having sex with the waiter at Adam's wake.

Chloe goes to wake Nicky the next morning but is surprised to find her room empty. She goes through her things and finds pills in her jacket pocket and a letter, which she reads. The letter is a consent form from Nicky as Ethan's legal guardian giving permission for him to have antidepressants.

Meanwhile, Nicky is in a bar drinking a triple-shot Bloody Mary and talking to a vision of her dead dad.

Chloe sees Kevin in the parking lot of a grocery store, where he is dealing drugs from his car, but she gets in and tells him that Ethan is a good friend and always covered for him, never telling a soul about his drug dealing. She tells him that if the court calls him to the stand, then to remember the good things about his friend as well as anything bad.

At the police station, Nancy's chasing up the data from the abusive emails sent to Chloe when her boss walks in and asks how she feels about being the one to take the stand when Ethan's case goes to trial. She says she is more than ready and agrees.

Still drunk, Nicky takes herself off to an AA meeting where she says that instead of counting days she has been sober, it is more like hours. Her new friend, Ken, tries to give her advice, but she gets in her car and doesn't really listen.

At home, Chloe is calling Agent Olivero, the FBI agent who knew Adam, but has to leave a voicemail.

She looks at online comments about her and Nicky and starts replying as an anonymous user when Jake arrives and asks why she was so off with him at Adam's wake. She reveals that she knows about him telling Bill about their relationship and that he has been snooping in her house. He tells her that he didn't snoop and that he just told Bill that he had checked Adam's office to get him off their backs. Chloe grills him about telling Bill about their affair and he says he didn't actually tell Bill, it was Chuck he confided in one evening at the health club when he was drunk. She asks exactly what he told Chuck, and Jake confesses that he told him he was in love with her, and she is shocked. But before they can discuss it further, Nicky comes home and Chloe ushers Jake out the door.

Chloe confronts Nicky about agreeing to Ethan taking antidepressants, but instead of being cross, she just asks if next time she will discuss it with her first, and Nicky agrees.

Chloe asks what happened to Nicky last night and says that it's scary when she drinks. Nicky tells her it was the worst wake she ever went to and she doesn't like Chloe's phony friends. Chloe asks if she wants to continue the conversation they started the day before about their dad trying to have sex with Nicky when she was younger, but Nicky says she has had enough of their dad for one day.

Chloe goes to see Ethan in jail and is annoyed to learn she can't take in any food for him. She's shocked to see he has been beaten up, but Ethan assures her that he is fine. He says it has been nice to see Nicky, but leaves Chloe shocked when he admits that it hasn't been that long since he spoke with her, as she gave him a burner phone five years ago at his grandpa's funeral and they have been messaging and chatting since.

Chloe is stunned and realizes that the phone she found in the office that she believed was Adam's is the one Nicky gave Ethan, and it now makes sense why Nicky restored factory settings on it when Chloe asked her to charge it. He says that the police now have the phone and it is evidence. Chloe asks if there was anything incriminating on there and Ethan tells her nothing about him, but Kevin also had the number.

As Ethan asks Chloe how Nicky is doing with her drinking, she avoids the question and there is a flashback to when Ethan was a baby and Nicky is drunk in the morning as Adam heads off to work. He is worried about leaving Ethan with Nicky and calls Chloe again, worried about Ethan's safety.

Back in the present day, Chloe confronts her sister about the phone and the fact that she lied about it when they were in the car. Chloe accuses Nicky of teaching Ethan how to lie to her and asks what he told her. Nicky remains elusive and doesn't answer, but apologises. However, the apology isn't enough for Chloe and she tells her sister she is going back to the city for a bit until she can visit Ethan again.

Nancy and Matt are working on the case and neither are completely convinced that Ethan is the one with blood on his hands. Nancy tells Matt to look into the messages on the burner phone himself and also make a nuisance of himself at Adam's office to rile up his boss and see what happens.

Meanwhile, Chloe gets a call from Agent Edward Olivero and he asks to meet along with his colleague, Special Agent Troy Younger. At the diner, they skip the small talk and Chloe gets straight to the point, telling the agents that she knows Adam was working with them before he died, and she is certain that he is dead because of it. Olivero says he can't confirm or deny that information because of protocol and asks if Chloe has spoken to the detectives on the case about this theory. She says she hasn't, but that her son is going to end up spending his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit, but the agents can't talk about their work, and so the whole meeting seems a bit pointless.

However, as Chloe walks out, Olivero follows her and says that - off the record - if she can get into Adam's office and ping him over anything on the Gentry Group then he might be able to help her. Olivero says she can't tell anyone about the fact that they have met, or she will be joining her son in jail, but that intel on the Gentry Group might get them answers.

As Chloe leaves, Matt is taking photos of her meeting with Olivero.

Nicky goes to see Catherine to get her Tupperware and apologizes for her behaviour at the wake, but Catherine says there is no need. They discuss Chloe and Nicky asks for Catherine's help getting the media to back off and make Chloe look better, and Catherine says to leave it with her.

Back at the Hampton's house, Nicky has bought a new rug to replace the one with Adam's blood stain on it, but she is struggling with the urge to drink as Chloe and Adam's drinks cabinet is calling to her. Meanwhile, Chloe is back in Manhattan getting some bits together before going back to the Hamptons and she has a flashback of her mom telling her she is proud of all that she has achieved in her life, but that she wants her to make up with her sister.

Desperate for a drink, Nicky calls Ken to distract herself and he does a good job at talking her through her struggles. When Chloe gets home, she finds a note on the table from Nicky telling her that her sister has moved into the pool house.

Chloe spots the new rug and is pleased to see Nicky is in a good place and not drunk. The sisters make amends and try to decide what they are going to wear to the trial. Chloe tells Nicky about meeting with the FBI agents, but is very vague because she promised that she wouldn't tell anyone. Nicky is confused by the whole conversation and says that if they want the info from Adam's office, the agents should come forward and state that someone else out there wanted Adam dead to try and get Ethan out of jail.

As Chloe and Nicky leave for court the next morning, Chloe is shocked to see a news story about Nicky's addiction and the fact that Ethan nearly drowned in her care. The press ask her about the story as they arrive at the courthouse, and there is a media frenzy as they walk in.

As the case gets underway, Arty and Kevin take to the stand and give Ethan a glowing character reference, but then Nancy has her say and tells the court that in all her years of being a cop, this was the first time she had told someone their father had been murdered and they acted like it wasn't brand new information.

Next up is Ethan's head teacher from school, who tells the court that when Adam wanted to send Ethan to military school, he had reacted very badly.

Next, Ethan takes the stand and is grilled about his childhood and the trauma of Nicky not being around as his mom, but he deflects the whole thing by saying he was too young to understand what was going on.

However, then Nancy gets the data back on the threatening messages sent to Chloe at The Real Thing, and it turns out that Ethan is the one who sent them to his own mom.

He is made to read out messages that he sent, telling other users how his mom would be better off without his dad and that he could be the one to kill him.

Does this mean Ethan killed his father?

All episodes of The Better Sister are available to stream worldwide on Prime Video now.