Bad Sisters (Season 2)–Not a Bad Season

The sophomore season of a much-adored and praised debut always seems like a Sisyphean task.  Usually, the return is the dreaded sequel. But there are exceptions, of course.   In the case of Bad Sisters’ second season, the writing (by Sharon Hogan) and narrative surpass the first..  

The four Garvey sisters are still being hounded by police officer, Detective Inspector Fergal Loftus (Barry Ward) two years after the murder of Grace’s abusive  husband, John Paul. Thinking they had gotten away with murder, the cold case is reopened and a particularly tenacious and astute police lieutenant Detective Una Houlihan (Thaddea Graham) is on the trail sniffing out secrets and lies, hidden below the surface ever since the death of John Paul.  Will the Garvey sisters break their tight bonds of sisterhood under intense and relentless police interrogation?

Season 2’s rendition of sisterhood is all-powerful, introducing new characters and subplots.  There is the shrewdly manipulative Angelica (Fiona Shaw, recently of “Killing Eve”), sister to Roger, who still is nursing his obsessive crush on Grace Garvey (Anne-Marie Duff), wife of the abusive John Paul.  Angelica is quite religious as  a saintly community center director who manages to be alternatively pious and poisonous.  

 And, most important of all,   there is handsome Ian (Owen McDonnell), so kind and loving both to Grace and her daughter that Grace joyfully marries him.   The other three sisters are ebullient over Grace’s good fortune and celebrate her renewal after John Paul.

As in all good whodunits, all is not what it seems.  And there are more than a few unexpected twists and turns, more so than in season one, which makes this season more palatable as an unspooling of who is the villain/suspect, and why the malice and forethought?  While nothing is too complex or mysterious in this season of Bad Sisters, the characters’ idiosyncrasies and blindspots provide  scaffolding for sustaining interest and intrigue.  Only the first episode seems to be a paean to a chirpy sisterhood which robs the characters of their gravitas in the face of pending doom and exposure.  This is particularly true for the character of Eva (the wonderful Sharon Hogan).  However, the tone of dark humor and doubts about whom to trust move into more stable territory with the second episode.

Entertaining in the same way as “Big Little Lies” with an equally stellar ensemble cast, particularly Fiona Shaw, in many ways similar to Meryl Streep. 

Availability:  Apple+