Bad Sisters Season 2 Premiere Recap: Oops!… She Did It Again? Plus, Grade It!
In hindsight, it figures that Bad Sisters’ Roger couldn’t possibly bear up under the weight of such a massive secret.
So when the Apple TV+ series returns for Season 2 (the first two episodes dropped today; this recap covers Episode 1), Grace really shouldn’t be all that surprised that her neighbor/admirer is having second thoughts about being an accessor to her former husband’s murder.
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Look at the man, Grace! Is this the face of someone who can carry a burden like that to his grave? Especially when the women he did it all for is marrying another bloke?
It is not. But that’s a matter for a few minutes from now. First, read on for the highlights of “Good Sisters.”
WHO’S IN THE TRUNK? | Right at the top of the episode, all of the Garvey sisters except Grace are in a car driving at night on a high road overlooking the ocean. Eva’s behind the wheel, Bibi’s in the passenger seat and Becka and Ursula are sitting in the back. When Eva brings the car to a stop and then accidentally almost reverses them off the cliff, they scream. “It’s not my car!” Eva says by way of apology.
They’re all wary as they open the trunk, which seems to have a body (alive? dead? Who knows?) inside. The trunk then pops open much wider, and they all freak out and run.
JOHN-PAUL’S BAGGAGE SURFACES | The story then goes back to a much less grim time: It’s two years after John Paul’s death, and Grace has moved on with a lovely guy named Ian (played by Killing Eve’s Owen McDonnell). They’re about to get married, Eva has stopped drinking — things are rosy. The Garvey sisters’ biggest annoyance comes in the form of Angelica (Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw), Roger’s holier-than-thou sister who seems put out by Grace’s new happiness. That said,
it seems like maybe, just maybe, the specter of that jackhole John Paul has been exorcised Grace’s her new life.
UNTIL! While work is being done on John Paul’s childhood home, some landscapers find the suitcase JP dumped in the backyard pond. When they open it, they find the dismembered remains of George, John Paul’s father. This discovery sets off a new murder investigation, headed by Det. Loftus from Season 1 and his new, very green partner Det. Houlihan (Sex Education’s Thaddea Graham).
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN… FOR A LITTLE WHILE | But before that waterlogged suitcase from Hell can mess up anything, Grace and Ian are married in a joyful ceremony in Eva’s backyard. We get updates on all the sisters. Bibi and her wife want to have another baby. Eva has a menopause coach named Eileen. Becka has a strapping new boyfriend named Callum (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Peter Claffey). Ursula and her husband have split, and while things are amicable, it’s still awkward when he attends with his new girlfriend. Ian gives a nice speech. A drunken Becka throws up in a potted plant. Y’know, everything’s back to normal.
Except Roger, who’s at the soiree with Angelica, cuts in while Grace and Ian are dancing. When he has Grace alone, he can’t stop talking about how his life has stood still even though hers has changed dramatically. “Do you think about what we did?” he wonders, because he carries it with him every day. Grace apologizes. From across the room, Eva picks up on the weird vibes and does her sisterly duty by interrupting: It’s time for Grace to throw the bouquet!
When she does, Eva’s just about to get it when Angelica — who I’m getting the feeling is NOT a good egg — hip-checks her out of the way, sending her tumbling to the ground. Roger, feeling a lot of feelings, watches from where he’s left alone on the dancefloor.
‘IAN’S GONE’ | Soon after, the discovery of George’s remains has the neighborhood buzzing. Detectives show up at Grace’s and ask about her former father-in-law; she replies that she hasn’t seen him in ages. Det. Loftus pokes around, asking about the insurance claim (aka the device that set off Season 1), and Grace lies that JP killed himself and she withdrew the claim to save her daughter, Blanaid, the pain.
It’s all too much for poor Roger, who stops by Grace’s house and says his conscience is about to destroy him. “I’m thinking of going to the police,” he admits. “I need to unburden myself.” She panics and begs him to “hold fast,” clinging to him as she says, “It was our secret. It can still be ours.” Ian, puzzled, watches from the door.
Grace knows that her tenuous grip on peace and normalcy — not to mention a life outside of prison — is slipping. So after Roger leaves, she goes inside and tells her new husband everything. How John Paul raped Eva. How he abused his own wife. He hugs her, and then she finally says it through her tears: “I killed him. I killed my husband.”
Her confession, as well as the knowledge that Roger is considering going to the cops, seems to change something for Ian. He said he needs air, and she frantically begs him not to walk out on her, even beating on his back with her fists as he walks toward the door.
The next morning, an upset Blanaid runs to Eva’s: “Ian’s gone. Mom’s still crying.” Back at her house, Grace lies in bed by herself, looking very weird/unsettled/potentially twice-over-murderous?
Now it’s your turn. Grade the premiere via the poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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