Bad Sisters – Who by Water

By: Kelly Kearney

Is it disloyal to your dead sister to develop feelings for her widowed husband? That’s the question haunting Eva in the sixth episode of Bad Sisters. As she grows closer to Grace’s husband, Ian, he steps into a protective role for the Garvey sisters, helping them cover their tracks in Angelica’s disappearance. Eva, who has kept her feelings for Ian a secret from her sisters, finds herself grappling with the morality of their relationship—especially after they openly accuse her of cheating with him.

Bibi, in particular, is deeply suspicious of Ian. His rapid attachment to Eva and insistence on being part of their lives hasn’t just raised eyebrows among the Garvey women—it’s also drawn the attention of Detective Houlihan. The widower has landed firmly in her crosshairs as she investigates how Grace’s death ties into J.P. ‘s, and now Angelica’s disappearance.

If you thought last week’s fatal tumble off the sailboat was the season’s biggest twist, wait until the closing moments of this episode, when suspicions about Ian hit an all-time-high. What was it with Grace and these sketchy husbands?

“You Didn’t NOT Kill Her”

After last week’s disastrous outing at sea, sisters Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Becka (Eve Hewson), and Bibi (Sarah Greene) return to Eva’s (Sharon Horgan) house with grim news: their lives are about to take an even darker turn. Angelica (Fiona Shaw) is dead; struck down by a runaway sail to the head. The Garvey sisters had hoped that appeasing “The Parasite” by letting her scatter Grace’s fake ashes would free them from her blackmail and finally give them peace from the crimes they’ve committed. But now, they’re tied to yet another missing and presumed dead body—a body likely to be discovered since Angelica’s emergency safety vest floated her to the surface. Devastation and panic set in among the sisters.

Ian (Owen McDonnell), now a near-permanent fixture in their lives thanks to his growing closeness to Eva, listens intently as the sisters recount the events from the boat. When Eva tries to call the Coast Guard, Ian stops her—marking this the second time he’s convinced her not to go to the authorities. Ursula interjects that Angelica’s death was an accident and insists they had no reason to want her dead, but a knowing look exchanged between Ian and Eva means the Garvey sisters are going to be the main suspects in Angelica’s disappearance. That look forces Eva to come clean about her loose lips with Detectives Loftus (Barry Ward) and Houlihan (Thaddea Graham). She explains how in a moment of distress over being unable to find Blanaid (Saise Quinn), she went to the police and accidentally let slip that Angelica had been blackmailing Grace.

Ursula, Becka, and Bibi are outraged and now terrified of what comes next. Eva hasn’t just jeopardized herself—her loose lips compromised them all. The sisters erupt into a heated argument, but Ian steps in, grabbing Eva’s hand to calm her down. Bibi notices their closeness and immediately suspects a relationship, despite Eva previously denying any involvement with her sister’s husband. Their lack of personal boundaries says otherwise.

Putting hand holding aside until they are calmer, Ian informs the group that instead of risking 7 to 10 years for manslaughter, it’s better to stay silent and focus on covering their tracks. On the plus side, Angelica never told her brother Roger (Michael Smiley) that she was going to the marina; it was supposed to be a women-only send-off for Grace, which buys them some time to figure out their next move. Ian volunteers to go to the marina to check if any security cameras might have caught them leaving on the boat. Despite the tension, Eva agrees to his plan, even as her sisters glare at her over this newfound alliance.

Down at the marina, Ian finds the boat, spotting a bloody smear on the sail and another on the starboard side where Angelica went overboard. Even worse, he discovers Angelica’s car parked right in front of a home security camera that is also facing the boat launch. Once Roger reports Angelica missing, the footage will inevitably reveal where she went—and with whom. Eva once again suggests going to the police, but Ian convinces her otherwise, promising to handle the security footage and fix the situation. Despite her sisters’ growing distrust of Ian, Eva follows his lead and agrees to stay quiet.

Bloody Bad News

As Ian prowls around the marina, Roger is busy spilling tea with Detective Houlihan about the recent widower’s threatening run-in with Angelica. When the detective arrives at Roger’s house to investigate Angelica’s disappearance—she didn’t come home the night before and is rumored to be on a spiritual getaway up north—Roger hints that something might be off. He admits that Angelica usually informs him before leaving, so he can feed her rabbits, but this time, she didn’t. Roger slyly suggests that her unease might have something to do with feeling threatened by Ian. Of course, he has an ulterior motive for pointing the police in Ian’s direction. He’s nursing a bruised ego after Eva, the third Garvey sister to reject him, declined his recent request for a date. Roger, bitter and heartbroken, is more than willing to nudge Detective Houlihan toward Ian as a suspect.

Meanwhile, Ian has charmed his way into the home of a woman whose security camera faces the marina. He concocts a story about a stolen bike and, after reassuring her that he’s not a serial killer (jury’s still out on that), she lets him inside to view the footage—on the condition he helps to fix her radiator. Once inside, Ian sends Eva a message, signaling Ursula, Becka, and Bibi to board the boat and clean up Angelica’s blood.

While Ian works on the radiator, the lonely woman shows him photos of her family and chats away, eventually letting him access the security camera footage while she watches TV. It doesn’t take long for Ian to find the incriminating video, but instead of simply deleting it, he copies the footage onto a flash drive before erasing it from her system. The evidence tying the Garvey sisters and Angelica to the marina is gone—except for the copy Ian now possesses. The question looms: is Ian truly helping Eva and her sisters, or does he have his own agenda?

On the boat, as the sisters scrub away the blood, Bibi ironically jokes about the old practice of drowning witches to see if they float. Little does she know, Angelica—the “witch” in question—is quite literally floating nearby, her buoyant corpse a damning piece of evidence pointing to the three of them. The conversation shifts to Eva and Ian’s budding relationship, with Bibi sharing her suspicions. She recounts noticing their closeness both at the birthday party and again when they discussed Angelica’s death. Ursula dismisses the idea, but Bibi is adamant—and more than a little disapproving. She sees their relationship as an insult to Grace and an unfaithful one at that.

Before the sisters can delve deeper into the topic, a phone starts ringing. Digging through the boat’s storage, Bibi finds Angelica’s purse and discovers the call is from Roger. Rather than answer it, she impulsively throws the phone overboard. With the cleaning done for the day, their task is interrupted when Becka comes back up the deck, pale and nauseous, announcing that she’s bleeding. Alarmed, the sisters grab Angelica’s purse and head to the hospital to make sure she’s okay.

While the Garvey sisters are busy covering their tracks, lead detective Loftus is distracted by his own financial troubles. Desperate to fund his custody battle for his daughter, Loftus has stolen the missing €20,000 that Grace withdrew before her death. We find him standing outside a solicitor’s office, cash in hand, ready to pay the steep legal fees. He even ignores a call from Detective Houlihan, who has started piecing together the case in his absence.

At the scene of Grace’s crash, Houlihan observes tire tracks leading away from Angelica’s house and realizes Eva might have been telling the truth: Angelica must’ve been blackmailing Grace and using her knowledge of JP’s murder as leverage. But with Loftus preoccupied, the case has landed squarely in Houlihan’s lap. Struggling to get traction without support from her boss, Houlihan finds herself spinning her wheels, even as the evidence begins to paint a clearer picture.

Baby News and Relationship Blues

After an ultrasound at the hospital reveals Becka’s baby is healthy, she feels relieved and even a bit more open to the idea of motherhood. Of course, having a baby while in prison is far from ideal. However, the silver lining is that the cops seem more focused on Ian than on the Garvey sisters’ deadly boat trip..

Suspicions lead Detective Houlihan to show up at Ian’s house where she appears determined to connect him to Angelica’s disappearance and the missing €20,000 from Grace’s bank account. Clutching the thumb drive from the marina footage in his hand, Ian admits he asked Angelica to leave the Garvey sisters alone, calling them his family and saying the nosey woman had become a nuisance. This prompts Houlihan to bring up the alibi Ian gave the night Grace died—he claimed to be staying with a friend, but the police couldn’t get in touch with that friend. Ian reminds her that the man services nautical cranes and is often away for work. To placate her, Ian promises to find the man’s mobile number and drop it off at the station. She clocks that deflection and points out that the detectives don’t even have Ian’s number. She insists on having a way to contact him before she leaves, and reluctantly, Ian hands her his phone so she can send herself a text. As the notification pings, Houlihan smirks and says sarcastically, “Gotcha,” leaving Ian visibly shaken.

Back at Eva’s, Becka is still recovering, and makes herself comfortable as her sisters discuss Ian’s visit with the cops. He is also there and brought takeout, further blurring the lines between ally and something more. Eva’s feelings for him grow heavier by the day, but they’re still outweighed by her sisters’ judgment. Regardless of the glaring looks from her sisters, Ian insists on staying involved. After all, he didn’t just hack into an old woman’s security cameras and fix her radiator to abandon the Garvey sisters now. His determination confuses Eva, who struggles to reconcile her emotions with the loss of Grace and the growing feelings she has for her grieving husband. She points out that the timing isn’t right for a relationship, but Ian laughs that off, saying feelings don’t care about timing. He argues they’re already co-parenting Blanaid and are co-conspirators in murder and manslaughter cover-ups—what’s the point of denying what’s right in front of them? Eva, overwhelmed, hesitates to respond but his constant presence seems to be chipping away at her resolve.

Their conversation gets interrupted by Roger, who arrives looking for Angelica. He wonders if Blanaid knows where she might be, but before Eva can answer, Ian steps forward. The tension between the two men becomes palpable when Roger accuses Ian of threatening Angelica. Ian calmly but coldly clarifies that he simply told Angelica to leave his family alone and suggests Roger should do the same. Even Eva notices the chilling edge in Ian’s voice—it’s a side of him she hasn’t seen before, and one that Roger clearly recognizes after years of dealing with John Paul.

While this is going on, Houlihan grabs a slice of pizza on the go and chases after Detective Loftus to share her latest theories. Unfortunately, her boss isn’t interested in pursuing the case any further. Instead of encouraging her, he reprimands her for not running a trace on Angelica’s car sooner. His dismissiveness stings, especially since Houlihan’s work ethic is beyond reproach, and anyone can see it.

The dedicated detective isn’t the only one exhausted from dealing with men, Eva can’t sleep, troubled by her relationship with Ian on top of her menopausal night sweats. From the guest room, Becka is also wide awake and texting Matt Claflin (Daryl McCormack) with the news: she’s pregnant. Later, she crawls into Eva’s moist bed for comforting cuddles and confesses that she knows she needs to tell Joe about the baby next. After all, he’ll be the one raising it while she’s in prison. Eva insists that won’t happen, but Becka can’t shake the sound of the sail hitting Angelica’s head. No matter how awful Angelica was, Becka believes she didn’t deserve to die like that—and Eva agrees.

Detective Bibi is on the Case

The following morning we see Bibi sneaking some privacy to start digging through the dead woman’s purse she swiped from the boat. Her panic spikes when she discovers Angelica’s car keys at the bottom of the bag. If the cops locate that car at the marina, their investigation will start there and tie the Garvey sisters to her disappearance. Racing to Eva’s house to share the news, Bibi is immediately greeted by Ian, who pulls up on his bike. Frustrated, she questions whether he’s ever not around, but she doesn’t have time to dwell—she’s in full panic mode about the car.

None of them know what kind of car Angelica drove, but Ian suggests walking through the marina parking lot and pressing the key fob until one of the cars unlocks. Bibi volunteers, but Ian warns her to hurry. If Angelica’s brother Roger has already reported her missing, the police will soon be looking for the vehicle. While Ian’s advice is helpful, Bibi grows more suspicious of him with every interaction. He always seems to be there, collecting all the ins and outs of their crimes.

Later, we see Bibi searching the internet for information about Ian, but she comes up empty. Her frustration is palpable, and her wife begins to notice. When questioned, Bibi evades and it ticks off Nora (Yasmine Akram) who assumes her anxiety has resurfaced over having another child. Their trust, already shaky thanks to Angelica’s meddling, begins to crumble further when Nora storms off questioning if they should cancel their fertility treatment appointment.

Back to the case, as it seems Ian was right to worry. Detective Houlihan receives a tip that Angelica’s car has been spotted at the marina and rushes to investigate. At the same time, Bibi heads there to find the car risking running into the eager cop. She manages to locate the car first but is nearly caught by Houlihan, who arrives moments later. Panicked, Bibi flees the scene, but she can’t be sure the detective didn’t see her skulking around.

At their weekly swim the Garvey sisters discuss the car situation. Ursula suggests they go about their lives as normally as possible—whatever “normal” means now—to avoid suspicion. They all agree to move on and not mention the body potentially floating in the ocean. However, the conversation quickly shifts to a new topic: Eva and Ian’s relationship.Admittedly, Eva has feelings for Ian, and Bibi, clearly on Team Grace, confronts her about it.. She goes so far as to tell Eva she should “bury those feelings, just like you buried Grace.” The harshness of her words stuns Eva, and even Ursula, who had defended Eva’s claim that nothing was going on with Ian, is taken aback by her romantic reveal. None of the Garvey sisters support the relationship, and a furious Eva storms off, leaving the rest of them brooding over her confession.

As cracks begin to form in the united Garvey sister front, Houlihan tracks down Detective Loftus at a pub to share her latest breakthrough in the case. But Loftus immediately pumps the brakes, claiming the €20,000—money she had connected to JP’s death, Grace’s murder, and Angelica’s disappearance—was found in Angelica’s car. Confused, Houlihan questions when that happened, only for Loftus to blame her supposed lack of professionalism for missing the memo. His constant roadblocks and dismissiveness frustrate her, and after this interaction, Houlihan begins to suspect Loftus is hiding something. When she later confronts him outside of the evidence room where we see him sneak the missing money onto the shelf, he threatens to strip her of her detective title if she doesn’t back off. His intimidation only fuels her determination.

Defying her boss, Houlihan calls Ian, but he ignores her call and heads to Eva’s house instead. There, he runs into Joe (Peter Claffey), who has come to ask Eva about Becka’s strange behavior. Eva lets it slip that her younger sister is pregnant, pushing Joe to question whether the father is Matt Claflin, Eva is surprised. None of the sisters had any idea Becka was involved with Grace’s insurance agent. After Joe leaves, Eva vents to Ian about her fight with Bibi. She admits that her sisters believe they’re having an affair, prompting Ian to ask how she responded. Eva confesses her feelings for him, which leads the two to fall into bed together.

Of course, Becka is still upstairs sleeping but it isn’t long before she realizes what’s going on. Quietly, she judges Eva when she catches the two outside of the spare bedroom and she isn’t the only one. Afterwards, Eva shares her fears with Ian, worrying about Blanaid’s future if their lies unravel. Ian reassures her, proposing a plan to protect them all—but it requires a trip to the bank. The following day while out with her family, Bibi spots Ian and Eva leaving the bank together and holding hands like a couple. From across the street, she glares at them, catching Ian’s eye. He stares back at her but says nothing to Eva about the encounter. It’s becoming clearer to Bibi that Ian is up to something, and Eva, unwittingly, is dragging all the Garvey sisters into his trap.