‘Sister’s Nightmare’ is a bad dream
Not to be technical, but the made-for-TV thriller “A Sister’s Nightmare” (8 p.m. tonight, Lifetime, TV-14) has the wrong title. It should be called “A Nightmare Sister.” Preposterous from the get-go, “Nightmare” stars Natasha Henstridge (“The Whole Nine Yards”) as Cassidy. She’s f i rst seen as a mental patient, nervously laughing when her doctor asks her if she still considers herself a threat to her family. Then she’s seen being discharged from the facility and throwing away the medicine that’s designed to keep her under control. Hey, what could go wrong?
She arrives unannounced at the home of her equally blond sister, Jane ( Kelly Rutherford), and her law student boyfriend (Matthew Settle) and vulnerable blond daughter (Peyton List), who is prone to panic attacks.
Tension between the sisters is palpable from the beginning. And who wouldn’t be nervous when your big sis drops in fresh from the long- term lockup for the criminally insane? Blood- flecked flashbacks gather in frequency until things come to a head between the peroxide set and we finally discover just what the fuss was all about. In addition to being implausible in every conceivable fashion, “Nightmare” moves at a glacial pace.
SWAMP SALES
Next to putting down money for the Brooklyn Bridge, buying swampland has always been a handy metaphor for getting swindled or making very bad investments. So it’s odd that Destination America should ask us to invest our time in “Buying the Bayou” (10 p.m. and 10: 30 p. m. tonight), a mash-up of sorts of the two most ubiquitous and annoying cable themes — gator country and real estate. As you might have guessed, this debuts right after the season premiere of “Buying Alaska” (9 p.m.). At least there are no pawnshops or storage lockers involved. Yet.
GEORGIA SWINGERS
You never know what you’ll find behind suburbia’s placid facade. “Secret Sex Lives: Swingers” (10 p.m. tonight, Discovery Fit & Health, TV-14) features five Georgia couples who appear to be juggling family and career to casual observers, but also have a clandestine lifestyle.
‘BOARDWALK’
RETURNS
Time to celebrate. “Boardwalk Empire” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO, TV-MA) returns for a fourth season of 12 episodes.
Playing on a variation that has been with us since the first season, “Empire” really follows a band of damaged, even damned characters as they navigate their way through Prohibition- era America. Nearly every scene reflects how the old social order is giving way to a new bustling urban nation, a thriving melting pot of immigrants, artists, visionaries and gangsters.
Of all of the characters, war veteran Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) best personifies the series’ “Walking Dead” theme. The maimed soldier-turned-killer tries to leave violence behind by returning to his sister in the heartland. We’ll see how that goes.
The series’ principal character, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), knows that he’s lost his wife (Kelly Macdonald) and much of his soul in the past few years, as Prohibition has turned him from a small city fixer to a full-fledged gangster.
And doomed prude Nelson Van Alden ( Michael Shannon) is painfully aware that he’s fallen the furthest and fastest, from pious husband and Prohibition agent to murderer-in-exile, living in sin in Chicago, where he works for rival gangster Al Capone ( Stephen Graham) and Dean O’Banion (Arron Shiver). Believe it or not, Gretchen Mol’s stupendously depraved character, Gillian, finds even darker depths.
Look for new cast members in riveting roles: Jeffrey Wright is a Harlem activist/ gangster and rival to Chalky White ( Michael Kenneth Williams); Ron Livingston is an out-of-town businessman who falls into Gillian’s sordid orbit; and Patricia Arquette is the world-weary owner of a speakeasy in Florida, where Nucky sees a few new business opportunities.
That’s only skimming the surface of this rich stew, fragrant with memorable characters and smart evocations of historical events that still resonate. “Boardwalk Empire” is a beautifully produced series that not only respects its audience’s intelligence, but also depends upon it.