The Daily Stream: Bad Sisters Is A Superb Murder Mystery About Sisterly Love
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Series: "Bad Sisters"
Where You Can Stream It: Apple TV+
The Pitch: Meet the Garvey sisters, your new favorite TV family. These five women are bound by two things: the premature death of their parents and a lifelong promise to always protect one another. So what happens when someone terrible worms his way into their lives and spreads misery throughout the family? A murder, of course!
Four of the sisters — Eva (Sharon Horgan), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene), and Becka (Eve Hewson) — are bound by a third fact: their hatred of John Paul (Claes Bang), the toxic misogynist who has married their sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff). Not only has JP proved himself to be an absolute, unrepentant a****** by personally wronging each of the sisters, but he's also an abusive monster. He intimidates and manipulates his wife not physically, but by preying on her insecurities. Grace can't see it but she is losing herself in the marriage: her self-esteem is suffering, her independence is being snuffed out, and her happiness is slowly slipping away. So her sisters plot to free her by making the perfectly healthy and reasonable decision to murder her husband.
The good news? JP definitely dies. The series opens up with his dead body, so we know for sure that someone succeeds. But with two life insurance officers sniffing around, the foul play can't stay hidden for long. The twist? We don't actually know who pulled it off. It turns out JP had a knack for making enemies (shocker, I know), which makes the list of suspects much longer than expected. That means we have 10 30-minute episodes to fit the pieces together and solve the mystery: what actually happened to JP?
Why it's essential viewing
Listen up, world — it's time to stop sleeping on Sharon Horgan ("Shining Vale," "Divorce," "Motherland.") Either you've watched all of "Catastrophe," or you know no joy. Either you're getting in on the ground floor of "Bad Sisters," or you're fine missing out on one of the year's best shows. Sharon Horgan has once again penned a hilarious, heartfelt romp and it's time to give the woman her flowers. This time, instead of the messy realities of a whirlwind marriage, Horgan is tackling the impossibility of sisterhood.
Here's the best way to explain the tone of this series: the opening scene sees Grace, a newly widowed woman, dressed in funeral black and sobbing by a window. She blows her nose, walks over to her husband's open casket, tenderly strokes his hair then abruptly realizes that he is sporting a post-mortem erection. Don't let the promise of an abusive jacka** husband scare you away: "Bad Sisters" is often pitch black but it's still a comedy. The idea of siblings coming together to plot a murder is equal parts harrowing and absurd, so the series acts accordingly.
The very Irish black comedy (which is based on the Flemish series "Clan") alternates between two timelines. The past shows us the 6-month leadup to John Paul's death and the future deals with the direct aftermath. Ultimately, both timelines are careening towards the midpoint: the death, the mystery, the answers. There aren't many nonlinear muli-timeline TV series where I don't find myself longing to be in one time when we're in another. But here, swapping between the past and present is more than a framing device or a gimmick; there are significant revelations on both sides of this story. There's really weighty character development no matter where we are in time.
Nothing says sisterly love like planning a murder
The Garvey's are delightful, in case you were wondering — and also the perfect clan for the show's dark sense of humor. Eva, the eldest and surrogate mother of the clan may be maternal but she's also quippy and boozy. Bibi is a one-eyed lesbian with murder on her mind, Ursula is a working mother of three who's just barely hiding an affair from her husband, and Becka is the resident wild child — the baby of the family, who is more sensible than they give her credit for. Just watching these women paint their nails would be entertaining, but we get the pleasure of seeing them plot a murder.
As mentioned, the Garveys aren't the only focus of this story. Daryl McCormack ("Good Luck to You, Leo Grande") is running around as Matthew Claflin, being really attractive and really difficult by investigating JP's death with his brother Thomas (Brian Gleeson). Owners of a small insurance agency, they'd rather not pay JP's life insurance claim, and it just so happens that his death might involve foul play.
Here's the fun hilarious twist: these two aren't detectives. They aren't PIs. They are rogue insurance men, trying to save their own asses from a payout. They've got no experience and very little to go on — all of which just makes their involvement messier. But most importantly, the Claflins are brothers: a set of siblings with their own issues to work through, their own tendency to clash, and yet, a desire to protect one another above all. How can they be the villains of this story when they're doing exactly what the Garvey girls are doing, protecting their own?
Meet JP, the worst man on TV
Crucially, "Bad Sisters" does not let the Garveys off the hook for plotting (and maybe committing) a murder — even though the victim is a despicable monster who inspires precious little grief on his behalf. Murder is a heinous act, after all, circumstances be damned. Try as they might, the sisters can't shrug the fear that they're doing something wrong. Above all, "Bad Sisters" is about trauma in all of its various forms: how it manifests, festers, and eats away at the Garvey girls. And how they learn to live with it. Each of them is battling their own personal woes and losses and fears, each of them grappling with whatever horrendous reality JP has desecrated their lives with. But it isn't until they realize the danger Grace is in that they act.
John Paul, by the way, is quite a feat of a character. Prepare to feel the most intense bout of loathing that you can imagine, all directed at one man. It's impressive how quickly he earns our hatred; not for big, dramatic blowups or monumentally egregious acts (though those certainly come later as the timeline is uncovered throughout the season). JP's awfulness is revealed in the quietest atrocities: the awful things he says with a smile on his face or the way Grace and his daughter Blánaid (Saise Quinn) react to his presence. On the off chance that I'm not busy glaring at his face, I'm marveling at Claes Bang's performance.
The family that kills together, stays together
The beauty of this show is that we know one thing for absolute certain: eventually, someone will kill JP. It's the greatest relief (believe me) to know that eventually, you'll get to see the a-hole go down — in fact, the show's opening moments are dedicated to his funeral! But we still have to endure his presence in every blast from the past, and understand why seemingly every person on the face of the earth has a reason to loathe and (potentially) murder him.
I get it: we've all had our fill of vaguely wealthy white women drinking wine in beachside mansions while narrowly avoiding murder charges. There's a "Big Little Lies"-esque murder mystery around every corner, and "Bad Sisters" certainly fits the bill, but Horgan's distinct voice is what sets this series apart. The dark wit and complex women at the center of this series make it special, as does the fierce familial bond that drives the action.
"Bad Sisters" is a wonderful watch: for the fun of the mystery and the demise of a truly despicable man, but mostly for the joy of the Garvey girls. Nothing complicates a family dynamic quite like plotting murder but amongst all their bickering, bantering, and stewing conflict is their unyielding love for one another.