Bad Sisters – Penance

By starrymag | November 20, 2024

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

 

The Irish dark comedy “Bad Sisters” returns to Apple TV with Season 2, bringing another gripping whodunit mystery centered on the Garvey sisters. With John Paul finally out of Grace’s life, things seemed to be looking up. That is, until the truth about her past drives her new husband, Ian, away leaving behind suspicions about not only his whereabouts but why Grace isn’t acting like herself. Did Ian leave on his own, or did Grace have something to do with his disappearance? Could this seemingly meek woman be a two-time husband killer? These are the questions even her sisters are asking as they try to uncover where he went and how his disappearance could be tied to John Paul’s death and that body in the suitcase.

 

What Happened to Ian?

The episode opens with a crying Grace (Anne-Marie Duff)  isolated in her bedroom, while her sisters try to coax her out. Blanaid (Saise Quinn) enlists Aunt Eva (Sharon Horgan) to intervene who then informs the other three sisters that she is sensing something is seriously wrong. Meanwhile, clues about Ian’s (Owen McDonnell) disappearance begin to surface, pointing to possibilities the Garvey sisters are reluctant to face. Did something terrible happen after Grace confessed to Ian about what she and her sisters did to John Paul? Grace’s erratic behavior—shifting from tears to rage when Ian said he needed space—raises questions. Adding to the mystery, Ursula (Eva Birthistle) discovers a bloody shirt in the washing machine and when Grace finally emerges from her room, she notices a fresh cut on her sister’s hand. When asked about where Ian is, Grace admits they had a fight and that he left to clear his head. Conveniently, she omits the part where she revealed the truth about John Paul’s murder—or how her violent outburst might have scared Ian away. Determined to maintain appearances, Grace pastes on a smile and plays the part of a cheerful newlywed, once again burying the truth about what really happened. However, she does drop another bombshell: Roger (Michael Smiley) stopped by, confessing his guilt over helping cover up John Paul’s murder. He is drowning in it and is now considering going to the police. This revelation shocks the Garvey sisters, who had no idea that Roger, smitten with Grace, played a role in concealing her crime.

 

Silence Will Save Them All

Eva, Bibi (Sarah Greene), Becka (Eve Hewson), and Ursula waste no time heading to Roger’s house to confront him, determined to intimidate him into keeping quiet. They follow him into a pub, where they expertly manipulate the conversation and the poor man is no match for the four of them. Ursula drives home the idea that the world is better off without the abusive J.P.: “The world is better off without him. Even the pope would agree!” She stresses that Grace had no choice but to defend herself and deserves the happiness that man never allowed her to feel. Roger knows this but his morals are fighting a war with his mind and guilt is winning.

In the process of trying to convince him, Eva inadvertently reveals a crucial detail—going to the police wouldn’t just implicate Grace; it would endanger all of them, as they each had a hand in attempting to kill John Paul. This revelation stuns Roger, who hadn’t known the full extent of their involvement. While oversharing might not have been the best idea, Eva drives the idea home by clasping Roger’s hand in a gesture of solidarity. All four sisters join in on the hand holding as they urge him to stay loyal and keep the secret for all their sakes.

Meanwhile, we check in with Detective Inspector Loftus (Barry Ward), who is soaking in a bathtub while grappling with a heated voicemail from his ex-wife. His frustration boils over, leading to a comedic moment where he submerges his head underwater and releases a primal scream—just as his teenage daughter bursts into the bathroom. The awkward encounter only compounds the tension. His ex-wife is taking their daughter and moving away, and while his daughter is mortified by walking in on him, she’s also reluctant to leave her home and father behind.

Already feeling like a failure both at home and at work, Loftus meets his partner, Detective Houlihan (Thaddea Graham), to review the evidence surrounding John Paul’s death. Both detectives suspect there’s more to the story, and their intuition keeps circling back to the Garvey sisters. They visit the now-abandoned Claflin and Sons insurance office, which was cleared out shortly after Grace declined the payout that would have bankrupted the small, family-run company. While they aren’t convinced by the evidence collected in the case, they’re still struggling to find the missing piece of the John Paul puzzle and how it is tied to the discovery of George’s waterlogged body.

 

Money Means Motive

After the detectives part ways, we find Loftus at a bakery, sampling cakes for his upcoming retirement party. Houlihan tracks him down with the news that John Paul had been stealing his father’s pension for over a decade, all while George’s body was rotting–either somewhere else or in the pond behind his house. What’s more, the new detective discovered that Grace inherited her in-laws’ property after John Paul’s death. Det. Houlihan begins to piece together the clues to arrive at a damning theory: John Paul likely killed his father for the money, but Grace might have killed John Paul to claim the combined pension and inheritance. After all, the property value far exceeded the insurance payout Grace had declined.

With a newfound determination to connect the cases of John Paul and George, the eager Detectives visit Grace’s house, hoping to uncover new information. During their questioning, they notice Ian, Grace’s new husband, is conspicuously absent. Grace claims Ian is out of town for a golf tournament, but when Det. Houlihan spots Ian’s golf clubs at the house, Grace awkwardly changes her story, saying her husband is a spectator, not a player. When they turn the conversation to John Paul’s inheritance, a visibly flustered Grace blurts out that her late husband died by suicide—a detail that was never part of the official police report. She uses that as her excuse for declining the insurance check and says she did it to protect her daughter from the sad truth about her father. Her lie leaves Eva and the other sisters stunned, further heightening their suspicions about what happened to Ian. Their doubts only deepen when Becka stumbles upon Ian’s phone taped to the back of the bathroom vanity while looking for a roll of toilet paper. What began as an innocent search turns into unraveling a new mystery.

Even when the detectives leave and Becka announces her strange find, Grace remains evasive to any further digging for the truth. Instead of providing answers, she drives her angsty teenage daughter to her ballgame, leaving her sisters behind to deal with their suspicions. Rather than leaving, the four women decide to “clean up” and investigate the house, searching for clues to what, they aren’t sure. Their snooping quickly escalates into panic-cleaning, scrubbing carpets and tidying obsessively, as they are afraid that whatever happened in the house might lead the police back to them.

Ursula, especially shaken and also very medicated thanks to an addiction she supplied from her work, points to the bloody shirt she found earlier in the washing machine and nervously declares, “She’s gonna land us in jail!” However, all the cleaning in the world won’t save them when Loftus returns with a warrant to search the house. Though much of the evidence the detectives have gathered so far is circumstantial, their instincts—and now their boss’s—tell them the Garvey sisters are hiding something and the answers are in that house. As they head to arrange that warrant the sisters know that their past crimes from Season 1 may come back to haunt them.

 

A New Villain

Meanwhile, Angelica (Fiona Shaw), Roger’s meddlesome sister, is conducting her own unofficial investigation. Eavesdropping on key moments, the woman has been watching the Garvey sisters closely. She even spotted them spying on Roger and trailing him to the pub. Her motivations remain unclear, but we see her at home, staring at pictures of Grace with an intensity suggesting she harbors feelings for her—similar to her brother’s misguided broken heart. Whatever happened between the two at that support group had an effect on Angelica that the woman can’t shake and it’s pushing her to do outrageous things.

Later, we see how over-the-line she is when she interrupts Grace’s prayers at church to reveal that she knows what Roger helped her cover up. Grace, maintaining her composure, brushes Angelica off with a promise to discuss it later, but the nosey woman is undeterred. Angelica repeatedly tries to contact Grace, but when her calls go unanswered, she tracks the woman down at Blanaid’s football match and tries convincing her that her sisters do not have her best interests at heart. It’s another attempt to divide the Garvey women and at first Grace remains cordial, brushing off her concerns but the more she pushes the faster Grace loses her patience. It isn’t until Angelica admits, “I feel I’ve been led astray a wee bit,” that Grace loses her composure and full-on lashes out at the woman, who does a good job playing the innocent victim. Grace screams, “My sisters are none of your business! You’re suffocating me!” and their argument draws the attention of everyone at the match. Once again, Grace has embarrassed the angsty Blanaid in front of her teammates and now the locals might see her as bullying the harmless Angelica. After all, Angelica’s demeanor seems innocent to the casual observer—albeit stalkerish— and Grace was the one who caused the scene. It’s hard to feel sorry for Angelica, given what happens next.

 

Stirring the Sister Pot

After Grace’s public meltdown, Angelica corners Bibi’s wife, Nora (Yasmine Akram), in the bathroom, feigning sympathy as she casually drops a bombshell on the unsuspecting woman. It’s about overhearing a private conversation in which Bibi admitted to worrying over a new baby. This piques Nora’s interest. Angelica goes on to question that if Bibi admitted she struggled to bond with their first child, what does that mean for their second? This was a vulnerable confession Bibi shared with her sisters after announcing that she and Nora had chosen an egg donor, and of course, Angelica was listening and making mental notes.

Nora is, of course, blindsided by this news and takes Angelica’s words as fact. Later, after a day of crying, she lashes out at Bibi, declaring that any plans for another child are off the table. Bibi is shocked by this sudden turn, and argues that Nora can’t unilaterally make that decision when they both want another child. But her pleas fall on deaf ears as Nora retreats to the bedroom in tears, leaving Bibi angry and confused.

Angelica’s meddling hasn’t stopped at Grace; she’s also driving wedges into relationships and getting her kicks at sowing chaos wherever she goes. Whether her actions stem from malice, obsession, or loneliness, one thing is clear—Angelica is a force to be reckoned with, and the Garvey sisters may have more to fear from her than they realize as everything in this episode suggests the woman is picking up where John Paul left off. Her sinister nature becomes even more evident when we get a glimpse of her private life and what goes on behind her closed doors. We see her tightly wrapping chains around her upper thigh and as the metal digs into her bare skin, she grimaces and droplets of blood dribble down her leg. The act appears to be some form of penance or self-flagellation, but for what, that remains unclear. As she drops her dress over the chains, viewers realize she has been walking around like this, quietly torturing herself for reasons we aren’t yet aware of. Like Roger suffocating in guilt, Angelica might be trying to pain her’s away, like some closeted priest whipping the naughty thoughts out of his head. But the question remains, why? This behavior is in stark contrast to the oversized, artificial smile she wears in public, Those legs chains reveal a much darker side to her character and to the motivations driving her to be the Garvey sisters latest menace.

 

Grace Unravels

Guilt is definitely the motivator in this episode as we see Grace’s tightly wound demeanor begin to crack under the weight of Roger’s admission and the escalating chaos this suitcase body has brought to her life. By the end of this episode, the tension reaches a boiling point when she returns home from the game with Blanaid and refuses to speak on her earlier outburst with Angelica. She is; however, delightfully surprised when she finds the house unusually clean and her sisters waiting with that defrosted Bolognese dinner. Unfortunately for everyone, her friendly facade doesn’t last long when her sisters refuse to drop the Angelica questions and her answers do not satiate their curiosity. She can’t take it anymore and in her frustration she explodes into yelling fit, which quickly turns toward Blanaid. The teenager is long fed up with her mother, and she snaps back at Grace, blaming her erratic behavior on Ian leaving and driving her father to suicide.  Eva quickly intervenes, scolding Blanaid for her harsh words, but the accusation cuts Grace deeply. Later, in an attempt to reconnect with her daughter, Grace wears the pair of gold earrings Blanaid gave her for the wedding, but the gesture goes completely unnoticed by the aloof teen, Blanaid has no interest in bonding with her mother, especially after her recent outbursts and embarrassing her at the game.

Feeling cornered and isolated, Grace starts to spiral and in a panic, she races to the bedroom where she packs plastic bags full with hidden cash and carries them to her car. She calls Eva, leaving a voicemail asking for help but providing no details about her plans and no response from her sister.

 

A Fatal Turn

With Eva’s silence, Grace takes off into the night with the weight of her collapsing world pressing down on her. Distracted and distraught, she navigates the dark and winding roads but becomes fixated on finding one of Blanaid’s earrings, which she realizes is missing. Instead of pulling over, Grace searches for it while driving, and nearly collides with an oncoming vehicle. She regains control of the car momentarily, but another pair of headlights suddenly appears, coming straight at her, forcing her to swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle. She winds up losing control and sends her car careening off the road!

The next scene is as haunting as it is shocking, as Eva is awakened by pounding on her door and the flashing lights of Garda cars outside. The scene is eerily silent, but when Eva spots a devastated Blanaid crying in the backseat of a police car, the truth hits her like a ton of bricks to the heart. She collapses to the ground, clutching her chest and wailing. The officers’ words are inaudible, but Eva’s reaction confirms the devastating reality—Grace is dead.

When the camera shifts to the crash site, we see Grace’s car lying upside down, windows shattered, with no movement from the wreckage. The only sign of life is Blanaid’s game ball rolling out of the debris and into the street. It’s a quiet but gut-wrenching symbol of a woman’s life that ended too soon.

Lingering Questions

Grace’s shocking death leaves the Garvey sisters—and the audience—reeling with more questions than answers. Where was she going with all that money? What really happened to Ian? And most importantly, how will Blanaid cope with losing both parents in the span of two years?

The remaining Garvey sisters now face a monumental challenge; they must grieve for Grace while opening their arms to her devastated daughter, and at the same time, juggle two criminal cases that threaten to destroy their lives. This devastating turn of events will undoubtedly shake the sisters to their core, and the fallout will be felt across the rest of the season, as there are not enough chains of penance to avoid the reality that is about to hit them.