The sisters are handling their grief in different ways. Bibi (Sarah Greene) is making sarcastic comments, Ursula (Eva Birthistle) is wondering if the pills she provided caused Grace’s accident, Becka (Eve Hewson) sits back and takes everything in, and Eva (Sharon Horgan) is trying to keep everyone together and take care of Blanaid (Saise Quinn), but keeps having these episodes where she’s having trouble breathing.
Fergal (Barry Ward) and Una (Thaddea Graham) continue to pursue the case, sure that Grace had something to do with JP’s death, and find it suspicious that Grace’s new husband, Ian (Owen McDonnell), is missing.
Everyone is at Grace’s funeral, and Anjelica (Fiona Shaw) arrives as the grieving widow. True to form, Bibi mutters, “grief thief” under her breath as Anjelica makes the loss about herself, even attempting to sit up front in the family pew. The Garvey sisters aren’t having it, and after Ursula gently asks Angelica to move to a different pew, she finally has to ask in a more forceful way. Fergal and Una are there, and then we see Matt Garvey (Daryl McCormack), and Becka looks like she’s seen a ghost. Una takes notice of Matt’s arrival as well. Blanaid finally takes her place in the family pew, and the priest begins the service, but due to a stroke last year, he’s getting the family tree wrong. Bibi starts laughing at the craziness of it all, but the dam finally breaks, and Bibi starts to cry.
“Missing” – BAD SISTERS, Pictured: Eva Birthistle as Ursula, Sharon Horgan as Eva, Sarah Greene as Bibi and Eve Hewson as Becka. Photo: Apple TV+ © 2024. All Rights Reserved
The sisters had been adamant that they would not give a eulogy, but then the priest calls for the family to offer some words. Sensing their horror, Roger (Michael Smiley) stands up and begins to sing to Grace’s memory, with Bibi’s beautifully clear voice joining in. Angelica may be the grief thief, but Roger is in true mourning.
After the service, Ian returns, and he shares that he knows Grace’s secret about JP. Fergal and Una swoop in, and the sisters wonder if this is it. Becka is pretty sure that Ian won’t give them up, but do we really know him? We learn that Ian and Grace met online, and I cheered a little when he pushed back on the detectives’ questions, wondering, “Why does this fall on my shoulders?”
Back at Eva’s home, the sisters tell Ian that they did not kill JP but did help with the cover up during an uncomfortable moment when Becka’s boyfriend, Joe (Peter Claffley), drops a box of chips. There’s something else happening there, right? Joe’s energy in his scenes with the sisters is odd.
The “Grief Thief” swoops in and descends upon Ursula. Anjelica lures people in and deals in secrets. She collects them and then exploits them for her own gain. Watching Angelica move closer and closer to Ursula to draw out information, Angelica reveals to Ursula that she knows what Grace did to JP. Ursula eventually tells Angelica that she gave Grace pills to help calm her down. Anjelica whispers, “That which is done in love cannot be bad” and kisses Ursula on the head. Ursula knows that she said too much.
Una may need to be smoother in interviewing the family, but her social media knowledge proves to connect some missing pieces, including that Becka and Matt used to like each other’s posts before suddenly stopping. Matt’s back in the story.
Ursula, uneasy about her confession to Anjelica, tracks her down to make sure that secret stays quiet . In a scene of master manipulation, Anjelica blackmails Ursula to give her money to replace the window on the building where Angelica runs a support group. The blackmail comes easily to Angelica. The money is worth the quiet.
“Missing”- BAD SISTERS, Pictured: Fiona Shaw as Angelica and Eva Birthistle as Ursula .Photo: Apple TV+ © 2024. All Rights Reserved
Eva continues to try to connect with Blanaid, who does not want to leave her family home. Eva and Ian have an honest exchange about what’s best for Bla, and both seem to want to do what’s best in this situation. Ian helps Eva with her breathing issues, showing her how to breathe into her belly to deal with the shock of the death, and invites Eva to bring back chips to entice Bla out of her room. Can Ian be this good? I don’t know what I want in this situation.
Eva puts on Grace’s jacket, comforted by the smell, but finds the bank withdrawal slips for 20,000 euros. The sisters wonder who that money was for, and the look on Ursula’s face shows that she is connecting the dots and rushes off to spend time with her family.
Ursula’s ex-husband Donal (Jonjo O’Neill) shares that Ally was called into the hospital to deal with missing pills and an audit of the requisition book. Ursula’s world comes crashing down. At the hospital, Ally catches Ursula trying to cover up her mistake. Ursula reveals that she initially took the pills to give her son, Michael, to help him with nightmares during a summer when their doctor was out of town. Eventually, Ursula took the pills and finally got some real rest, but she couldn’t stop. Ally sends her home, and on her way out, Ursula asks if Anjelica tipped off Ally. It’s unclear what will happen next.
The detectives tell the sisters that Grace’s toxicology report was clear, and Ursula’s relief is evident. Fergus asks what we are all wondering: Was Grace running from something? Did she leave because the detectives were onto something?
Ursula finally tells the sisters about giving the pills to Grace and about Anjelica’s blackmail. Now they are all on the same page, wondering if Anjelica was blackmailing Grace, just as she had been blackmailing Ursula. They are united in getting ahead of the situation, wondering who Anjelica will leech onto next, but it might be too late. Anjelica has reeled in poor Blanaid, who had a front-row seat to her mother’s abuse and the aftermath of her father’s death. She connected with Ian only to think that her mother’s behavior drove him away. She is primed to be manipulated by Anjelica.
Random thoughts
Becka’s lie to Una about being involved with Matt Claffin will come back to bite them.
I just can’t seem to care about Fergal’s personal life.
The number of people who know about JP’s murder keeps growing. At some point, the whole town will learn the details.
What is Angelica’s end game? Is she just the town’s busybody, or does she have a real vendetta against the Garvey family?
Meredith Howell
Meredith lives in Chicago where she and her husband made sure their two boys were fluent in all things pop culture. She loves talking about all things GG- Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl, and Golden Girls and indulges in a yearly viewing of Pride and Prejudice (the Colin Firth version is the only one recognized).
