Bad Sisters season 2 is finally here, but you might need to remind yourself of everything that went down in the first season before you immerse yourself in season 2 - here's a handy recap.
Bad Sisters was one of the best things to come out of 2022, and we won't hear otherwise. An absolutely stellar cast who put in phenomenal performances, beautiful Irish scenery, and gritty, relevant themes. The whole thing was more addictive than a sharing bag of cheese Doritos - once you'd seen the first episode, you just knew you wouldn't stop until you'd binged the entire thing.
Originally billed as a limited series, there was momentary desolation when the show came to an end, and we thought we'd seen the end of the Garvey sisters for ever. But Sharon Horgan listened to our cries (and Apple+ TV might've been swayed by the cash another season could bring) and season 2 was greenlit - huzzah! Now it's arrived, you'll be forgiven for having forgotten few details from season 1. This is why we've put together a handy guide for all the key details you need to remember before you sit down to enjoy the second outing.
Bad Sisters season 1 recap
Bad Sisters season 1 opens with John Paul's funeral and wake, and the feeling that one of the five Garvey sisters was responsible for his downfall. The remaining episodes then tease reasons each sister has for wanting him dead, charting their increasingly outrageous attempts to bump him off.
Hopping back in time six months and giving more context to JP’s death and the Garvey family dynamics, we see how close Grace is to her sisters, and just how her husband intimidates, manipulate, and gaslights her and tries to keep her from her family.
Viewers are also introduced to the Claffin brothers, the half brothers working together in their late father’s business - it's their mission to solve the mystery of JP's death because having to pay out his life insurance policy will bankrupt the failing business if they're forced to do it. One of the brothers, Thomas, has a heavily pregnant wife who is confined to bed for reasons that at first remain a mystery.
It's Eva and Bibi that first get together to plot JP's death. Their first attempt involves blowing up the holiday cabin he shares with Grace. He evades that hit on his life by happening to be outside when the explosion takes place. The pair then rope Ursula into the plan, who works as nurse - they want her to get her hands on the strong drugs that'll be failsafe in seeing JP off should he 'accidentally' ingest them.
The only life this takes is that of the family dog (RIP Oscar.) JP is affected by the drugs he unwittingly ingests and suffers confusion. He falls into the water trying to get into his boat while confused, but is saved from drowning and remains very much alive. Youngest sister Becka is the final sister roped into the plot to get rid of JP for good. Her idea involves locking John Paul in the freezer in the cellar of his parent's house.
The freezer already happened to contain the body of JP's dad, and like a cat with nine lives, JP escapes this attempt on his life too - it's sadly his mother, Minna, who ends up in the freezer instead of him. It turns out JP's dad had also been rather abusive, and a keen taxidermist - when he choked on an eyeball he was using to taxidermy an animal, JP witnessed it happen but did nothing to help him. He later removes the body from the freezer, hiding it in his parents' pond.
Over the course of the series, each sister's reason for wanting JP dead emerges. Eva has one of the most devastating reasons to want him gone - it transpires the pair once worked together and just when Eva was about to land a prestigious promotion, he managed to snatch it from her by planting seeds among the business that she was an alcoholic, discrediting her and taking the promotion himself.
Having also struggled with fertility, Eva had at one point become pregnant with her former boyfriend. JP raped her, and she suffered a miscarriage as a result - her relationship with her boyfriend never recovered, and she made the decision to remain childless.
Viewers also wondered why Bibi wore an eye patch. JP is of course, the reason she ended up losing an eye. Reluctantly accepting a lift from from him one wet evening, JP drives recklessly to frighten Bibi. When he brakes suddenly, Bibi's face slams down onto a statue of the Virgin Mary he has attached to the dashboard, and the sharp object takes out her eye.
Ursula is unhappy in her marriage, and having an affair. The slimy JP finds out, and not only threatens to tell her husband, but tricks her into sending him nudes meant for her lover, that he plans to pass on as proof of the affair. In a very small moment of triumph, Ursula realises what's happened and manages to delete the pictures before her husband sees them.
Becka suffered at the hands of JP when he agreed to fund a business she wanted to start up, before spectacularly backing out and leaving her with financial problems. Becka has further complications in the series by falling for Matt Claffin, one of the insurance investigators - this is very much a conflict of interests and leads viewers to question whether the romance is real, or Becka is being used.
Who killed John Paul in Bad Sisters?
After all of that, it turns out it was actually Grace who killed JP. This information is withheld right up until the season finale, when we learn Grace is tipped over the edge when JP cruelly reveals he raped Eva - as a result, she strangles him with his pyjama top.
Seen knitting a red scarf, Grace uses this to hide what she's done. She wraps the scarf around JP's neck and puts the other end in the wheels of their car. This makes it appear that JP was choked by accident simply by getting the scarf knitted for him by his wife stuck in the wheels as he tried to drive from the cabin.
Matt Claffin finds out about this, but makes an agreement with Grace that he'll keep her secret if she takes back the life insurance claim, which would save his business.
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