Bad sisters

Good sisters

Season 2

Episode 1

Editorial review

3 stars

***

Photo: Apple TV+/Copyrighted

The end of Bad sisters“The first season was about as perfect as it gets. The finale was equal parts brutal, revealing, and cathartic, and so satisfying that when the news came that Apple had ordered a second season, my first reaction was, “oh… oh no.” I’d been burned before by ‘limited’ series that were great until they continued (here’s looking at you, Big little lies) and couldn’t help but be afraid of that Bad sisters going beyond the beautiful ending would prove to be a step too far. Moreover, the first season was almost completely faithful to the original Belgian series (Clan), which means that any continuation should be something new. Then again, I would probably trust Sharon Horgan with my life and/or a dead body, so what was I supposed to do? Not watch? Not very likely.

And so here we are at season two, which picks up two years after the Garvey sisters got away with murder. Eva is sober and goes jogging with her “menopause coach” (chic); Ursula is divorced (too late); Bibi and her wife are trying to have another child (exciting?); Becka throws up in the bushes at Grace’s wedding (gloomy). That’s right, Grace is getting married! To a seemingly lovely bearded man (Owen McDonnell) who gives a very nice toast to how unexpected their love story was, how much he appreciates Grace for it and how he plans to care for her teenage daughter as if she were his own. It’s a pleasure to see Grace become happy (not to mention that Anne-Marie Duff starts laughing on screen), but as we know from the opening minutes of the episode, Eva was right to feel uncomfortable felt about how great things seem to be going.

So, okay, let’s rewind to the beginning of “Good Sisters,” where the Garveys (sans Grace) seem to be up to some of their old murder-related tricks. Unlike last season, this season doesn’t start by weaving between two different timelines, but it does give us a dark glimpse into a future where Eva drives them all to the cliffs to get rid of… well, something. Or someone? Whatever it is, it’s showing more signs of life than they clearly expect when they open the trunk; the last we see of this flash-forward is them all running away screaming. Bless our Garvey girls; they have never been the smartest criminals.

Okay, now let’s get back to the present. As Grace prepares to marry Apparently Beautiful Ian, some of her old ghosts return to haunt her. First there’s Roger, the introverted neighbor JP who wrongly labeled himself a pedophile when he dared to offer Grace some company. After helping her stage JP’s body to throw off the police (the only part of that night that, as far as we know, she didn’t share with her sisters), Roger has spent the last few years wallowing in feelings of guilt and one-sided desire for Grace. . Unfortunately for him, her favorite coping mechanism of denial has left him out in the cold ever since. It’s far too painful for Roger to watch her seemingly move on during both her bachelorette party and her wedding – a fact that his strange, tough-as-nails sister Angelica immediately notices. Will she become a Bad Sister worth keeping an eye on? Since she’s played by none other than Dame Fiona Shaw, it’s safe to say she has a few more tricks up her sleeve.

The other Ghost of Pricks Past comes courtesy of JP’s father, who we last saw when JP (also not the smoothest of criminals) shoved his frozen corpse into a suitcase and threw it into his pond. As was inevitable, the suitcase is dredged up and raises a million questions. Even the detective who closed JP’s case so quickly can’t ignore the strange coincidence, or the fact that this murder house definitely has more secrets to share. The discovery of this hideous, bloated corpse means that Detective Loftus has no choice but to spring into action again, when all he really wants to do is play golf and drink pints in the pub (called Gravedigger’s, in a perfectly morbid/Irish twist). He even sucks it up and answers the many, many unanswered texts from Thomas, the desperate insurance salesman whose clumsy investigation defined so much of last season. But if anyone really wants to solve this case, the safe bet is on Houlihan, the eagle-eyed 25-year-old detective who seems to be the only one with an instinct worth following.

At first, I was deflated at the thought that this season seems to be another trial over the death of JP, one of the most disgusting characters ever to grace TV. Who cares how he died?! Ding-dong, the dick is dead, etc., etc.! But when I took a step back from that initial reaction, I had to admit: This is probably how it would go. As previously mentioned, neither the Garvey sisters nor the Clafin brothers were particularly smart – as becomes clear in this premiere, the fact that one of them got away with it is not only due to the blood pacts between them, but also to the incompetence and lack of knowledge from others. follow-up.

But most of all, “getting away” with something as heinous as murder – and escaping the cruel clutches of abuse – leaves its mark, no matter how much they say otherwise. The sisters are happy that the JP era is over, but still recoil when the doorbell rings. Grace wants to be happy and whole again, but she still wakes up in a cold sweat, with her hands around her new husband’s neck. The idea that she could lose what little peace she has found is so terrible that when Roger tells her he wants to go to the police, her eyes immediately widen. It’s almost as heartbreaking to watch her plead with him as it is to watch her try to keep Apparently Beautiful Ian calm once she finally tells him what happened to her last husband. SIL expresses her condolences as she shares the depths of JP’s abuse, but still cannot believe that the sunny woman he met is the same one who would kill a man. When he tries to get some air, Grace panics and even goes so far as to pound his back with her tiny fists, making him look at her as if she is an absolute stranger. Although Blanaid tries not to hear their fight from upstairs, she knows something is wrong. The next morning she sprints to Eva’s house to tell them that “Ian is gone and Mommy can’t stop crying.”

So welcome back, everyone! Here we go again?

• Check out the opening credits of this season’s updated Rube Goldberg machine of foreshadowing, which now features a stuffed rabbit instead of a badger, baseballs, a turtle, pregnancy tests, pill bottles, upside-down newlyweds, falling knives and a whole lot of Catholic iconography . (Eyes emoji.)

• Speaking of the (practical effects!) credits: this remains one of Apple’s most distinctiveto look shows, with distinctly colorful sets and Dearbhla Walsh’s thoughtful direction, for which I am truly grateful.

• Intrigued by the new Guy Ritchie-esque pop-up titles for several characters, including Loftus, Houlian, Angelica and “George: Father of the Prick (also a Prick).” Does anyone have any theories as to why Angelica is labeled “The Wagon”?

• I’m obsessed with Grace and Ian’s cozy garden shed – the absolute antithesis of JP’s cold, modern manse – and will be sad if whatever happens to him means she has to leave it. Where would the turtle go!

• Maybe Becka and Matt were always doomed as a couple, but I have to wish better for her than this “Joe,” the rare Irishman so bad at banter that he asks a lesbian about her “cum.”

• Speaking of which, Becka’s ‘Made in Ireland’ tattoo on the bottom of her foot is definitely a cry for help, but it also made me laugh, so… a wash?