Bad Sisters – Boom

By: Kelly Kearney

The Garvey sisters thought they had met their match in John Paul, and after ridding themselves of that abusive man, they assumed their lives would finally improve. Little did they know, Grace was unwittingly opening the door to another villain—Angelica—whom they would soon have to confront. Determined to manage and eventually rid themselves of this new threat, the sisters devise a plan. This time, they vow there will be no corpses involved—at least they hope not.

Meanwhile, in the midst of Eva’s frantic search for a missing Blanaid, both detectives grow more convinced that she and the rest of the Garvey sisters are responsible for JP’s death. Like the Rube Goldberg contraption featured in the opener, the events in “Boom” set off a series of chain reactions, culminating in a shocking twist that might solve one of their problems, but it also unravels a sea of new complications they’ll be forced to cover up.

50 Years Young and Killing it!

The episode opens on a clear, brisk day at the beach, where Eva (Sharon Horgan) is celebrating her 50th birthday by sweating out calories with her menopause coach, Eileen (Justine Mitchell). During their friendly session, the conversation shifts to single life and relationships—Eva openly admits she’s done with both. At the age of fifty, she claims she no longer needs sex. Eileen can’t help but laugh, a sentiment shared by this recapper.

Eileen looks at Eva and says what anyone with eyes can see: Eva is “a smoking hot mid-century legend” and shouldn’t bury herself in a grave of loneliness. She’s still in her prime; she just needs to put herself out there. But with all the drama she’s endured—first JP’s death and now Grace’s—who has time for romance?

Beyond her empty date book, Eva also expresses guilt over Grace’s death. In a slip-up, she says she wishes she had paid more attention to what was going on in her sister’s life—a strange admission, considering everyone assumes Grace died in a car accident. When Eileen presses her on what she meant, Eva quickly changes the subject to Blanaid’s (Saise Quinn) teen angst. The girl has been giving her formerly favorite aunt and guardian a headache with her salty attitude.

After declining an icy swim because she has to meet with “the coven”—a nickname Bibi (Sarah Greene) overheard locals using to refer to the Garvey sisters—Eva’s good mood sours when Eileen mentions her new client, Angelica (Fiona Shaw). Eileen casually remarks that Angelica can’t stop talking about Eva, making it seem like the two are friends. Yet everywhere the Garvey sisters go, Angelica seems to be in their rearview mirror, tracking their movements and gathering information to use against them.

Back at the house, Eva’s birthday planning hits a snag when detectives Loftus (Barry Ward) and Houlihan (Thaddea Graham) arrive to question her about the money Grace withdrew from her accounts the day she died. The cash wasn’t found at the scene, and Eva claims she has no idea why her sister took it or where it is now. Both detectives find her response suspicious. Houlihan takes the lead, while Loftus deals with personal issues on his phone and presses Eva further, asking if the missing money was what Becka (Eve Hewson) was looking for when she got caught in Angelica’s house. Eva has no answer to that and jokes that maybe Grace didn’t tell her because she was planning a secret facelift. When Houlihan spots a photo of Grace and Ian (Owen McDonnell) on their wedding day, she comments about Grace putting herself out there online to find love. This strikes Eva as odd since everyone knows Ian and Grace met at a grief support group—Grace had lost her husband, and Ian, his sister.

After pointing out a package on Eva’s porch the detectives leave confused over how Ian met Grace. His version didn’t match Eva’s and Loftus wonders who’s lying and why. He tells Houlihan, “If your Spidey senses are tingling, go see him.” In the meantime, he has his hands full with his ex-wife, Nadine Liz Fitzgibbons), and a move to Australia that has their daughter, Jessie (Callie Weir) in tears..

Birthday Blues

That heavy package sitting on Eva’s front porch is a birthday gift from Grace – a karaoke machine. Ursula (Eva Birthistle) thinks it’s a cue from their sister to throw a party but Eva isn’t in the celebratory mood. Besides, the cops  and Angelica sniffing around a party seems like a bad look. After arguing with Bibi  over how to handle Angelica’s threats Eva puts her foot down and says they’re going to give the woman what she wants and hope that satisfies her. Of course what she wants are Grace’s ashes and the Garvey sisters aren’t about to hand their sister over to that parasitic meddler. Eva has a better idea: clean out her fireplace and give the woman ashes from the hearth instead of the ashes from their hearts. They plan to meet the woman at noon to discuss their deal and hand over the fake remains.

When they arrive at the community center–Angelica still in the neck brace, is expecting an apology from Becka and an agreement on what to do with the ashes. She proposes a plan for the women, sans Blanaid,  to take a boat out to scatter the remains at sea. Angelica will make their sister’s famous flapjacks and the sisters can give a toast as they say goodbye to their sister who loved the ocean.  This suggestion isn’t so much a request as a demand as Angelica threatens to go back to the police if they don’t agree. They begrudgingly do but  when Angelica says that Eva is not invited this gives the rest of the sisters pause. The reason? Angelica spills the Ian tea saying Eva has disrespected Grace by finding comfort and her husband’s arms. The oldest Garvey sister laughs and walks out but the rest of her sisters follow looking suspicious. “There’s nothing going on between me and Ian!” Eva protests, and Ursula backs her up knowing that Angelica’s just stirring the pot to get a reaction from the women.

Following her “spidey senses,” detective Houlihan shows up on Ian’s doorstep where the two discuss how he’s dealing with the loss of his wife on top of the recent death of his sister. The detective asks if he’ll be going back to Angelica’s bereavement group and he quickly says no. This opens the door for Houlihan to ask about that discrepancy  on how he met Grace. She pushes him for an answer and he nervously says he met dearly departed wife online first and then in person in the support group. The response isn’t believable and Houlihan is like a shark smelling blood in the water.She keeps pushing until he admits that he wouldn’t return to the group because Angelica seems to feed off of people’s grief. He even used to joke with Grace that, “she got high off of our lows.” Before the perceptive detective leaves she drops the $20,000 question and asks Ian if he knows why his wife would withdraw such a large sum of money. Just like Eva he has no idea, and detective Houlihan isn’t buying it.

Speaking of detectives, we catch up with Loftus having ice cream with his daughter, Jessie, and talking about the big move neither seem very excited about. Jessie cries that she’ll miss her friends and life in Ireland. She practically begs her father to let her stay with him and he promises to work all of this out and find a way. Afterall, it’s not like he has his hands full with three investigations surrounding Five Sisters, why not toss a custody battle into the mix? He winds up calling Nadine and leaving a message stating just that he’s taking her to court and he’s going to win.

Co-parenting with Ian has its perks–and it’s not Blanaid who has been nothing but mean to, her aunt Evaever since she took over guardianship of the teen. Ian (Grace’s grieving husband) does seem to lighten Eva’s mood; He has become a good friend and a shoulder to lean on. That’s why Eva gets upset when Ian stops by to take Blanaid to a game and fills Eva in on his threatening encounter with Angelica. She doesn’t want him getting involved with that woman; she knows too much and already has the five sisters under her thumb. She begs him to stay away from her and tells Blanaid the same–ordering the girl to come directly home after her game and not go to Angelica’s apartment. Blanaid  doesn’t take orders from anyone these days. Instead, she insults her aunt by calling her old on her birthday and then gets into Ian’s car to leave. If flirting and grieving where Olympic sports Ian would bring Ireland home a gold medal because he straddles the line between both when he tells Eva she looks great and to ignore the angry teen. The two hug and it’s a little more than friendly so Eva backs away. After all she just told her sisters that she wasn’t disgracing Grace’s honor by running around with her husband and that hug got less and less platonic the longer it lasted. Ian then spoils the Garvey sister’s big birthday surprise by telling her the others are planning a party and it’s the “fancy dress” kind he knows she hates. Didn’t these two just meet at the wedding? They are awfully chummy for new friends and the vibes are getting warmer between the two

While grocery shopping, Bibi gets a call from Eva asking her to pick up an urn for Grace. Becka, taking inspiration from the famous Coen brothers film The Big Lebowski, grabs a decorative jar of biscotti off the shelf and tosses it into the cart. “That’ll do,” she says with a sarcastic shrug, adding that Grace did love those cookies. The point is, they’re not about to go out of their way—or spend money—on an urn for a pile of driftwood ashes. After all, they have no intention of actually spreading Grace’s remains with Angelica, the woman blackmailing and threatening them. She may even be the reason Grace drove her car off the road. The urn conversation shifts to Bibi and her wife’s decision to try for another baby. Previously, in-vitro was off the table, but now it’s back on, and things are looking up. Surprisingly, Bibi even credits Angelica for helping her and her wife work through their issues. When Bibi mentions going through donor catalogs, Becka—who is secretly pregnant—lightheartedly offers her sister her eggs. Bibi jokes that she wants a smart child, leading to an unexpectedly tender moment between the two. Despite their frequent clashes, this moment highlights the deep love and care they have for each other beneath the insults and humor.

Meanwhile, Detective Loftus meets with a lawyer- friend, Gerard, (Abhin Galeya) to discuss his custody case. The solicitor agrees to take it on but warns that he’ll need significant funds if he wants to stop Nadine from taking his daughter to Australia. Once the child is gone, it’s nearly impossible to get her back through legal channels.

Burial at Sea

The birthday girl’s surprise party hits a snag when everyone is dressed in costumes, and Eva walks in wearing a purple wig and a sequin dress, blowing the lid off their little secret. Still, the party carries on with everyone taking Grace’s karaoke machine for a spin. Roger (Michael Smiley) arrives with a gift and an offer to help Eva through her grief, comparing them to Ian and Grace, who found companionship in their support group. Having struck out with Grace and Ursula, Roger seems to think Eva might be his next chance. Despite his obvious track record, Roger takes Eva’s immediate rejection in stride. He dons some beads and a hat and takes over the karaoke stage, much to everyone’s amusement. Even Bibi is in a good mood, singing along to Roger’s performance.

The mood shifts when Roger notices Eva moving away from Ian’s longing gaze. Once everyone has gone home the Garvey sisters have a chance to reminisce about Grace. They all sing a song in her honor and the family vibes push Becka to blurt out that she’s pregnant. A drunk Ursula is happy for her, but Bibi is upset to realize Eva already knew. However, none of this matters much because Becka reveals she plans to have an abortion. Struggling with her own fertility issues, Bibi finds it hard to be happy for her sister, though she ultimately supports Becka’s choice and the two hug it out.

The next day, the sisters—minus Eva—arrive at the marina with Grace’s fake ashes. Becka has secured a gigantic sailboat from a wealthy hookup whose fortune may have come from selling drugs or guns; she can’t quite remember. The boat is ready, but Angelica is nowhere to be found. That’s because she’s back at the house, welcoming a runaway Blanaid for breakfast.

When Eva discovers her niece missing, she panics and calls Ian, who convinces her not to involve the police just yet. Both suspect Blanaid is with Angelica, which deeply unsettles Eva—especially after she receives a text from her sisters saying the blackmailer isn’t at the marina. Did Angelica kidnap the girl?

The situation worsens when a social worker (Hannah James-Scott) makes an unannounced visit. Eva, flustered by the messy state of the post-birthday party house and Blanaid’s absence, struggles to answer the worker’s questions. After the woman leaves, Eva heads to the police station to seek help from Detectives Houlihan and Loftus. In her panic, she inadvertently lets slip that Angelica might have been behind Grace’s withdrawal of €20,000, contradicting her earlier claims of ignorance. Before the detectives can press further, Blanaid is found, and Eva rushes off to reunite with her.

However, the teenager is anything but apologetic. Her mean streak deeply hurts Eva, but Ian steps in to ease the tension. His kindness prompts Eva to let her guard down, and the two share a kiss. While the moment is tender, it feels wrong given Ian’s recent loss and Eva’s grief. Recognizing this, Eva walks away, though it’s clear Ian isn’t ready to give up on her.

And neither are Detectives Houlihan and Loftus, who thanks to Eva’s slip-up, are increasingly convinced the Garvey sisters are tied to JP’s death. They also suspect Ian may have taken the missing blackmail money. Loftus is skeptical until Houlihan recalls a relative who hid money from her abusive husband in a shed near her home. Loftus decides to investigate and is soon caught staking out Ian’s house. When he spots the man biking away, he breaks in—not to solve the case, but to steal the money for his custody battle.

Finally, Angelica arrives at the marina and she, Ursula, Becka and Bibi set sail to say their goodbyes. The atmosphere is tense as Angelica rambles on about Grace, describing a woman who never truly existed. Becka snaps and nearly attacks Angelica, but Ursula calms her down, because another murder isn’t part of their plan.

Nature, however, has other ideas. A sudden gust of wind knocks a sail into Angelica, sending her overboard into the cold, rough water. Shocked, Becka scrambles to use the emergency phone to call the Coast Guard, but it’s not working. Determined not to add another death to their tally, Becka dives into the water to save Angelica. She searches frantically, but the meddlesome woman is swept away by the current, leaving the sisters to wonder if their problems are finally over—or just beginning.