Bad Sisters is an Irish Black Comedy developed by Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, and Sharon Horgan, the latter of which also stars in the series alongside Anne Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Eve Hewson, Claes Bang, Daryl McCormack, and Brian Gleeson. It is based on the Belgian series Clan by Malin-Sarah Gozin.
The show centers around the Garvey sisters, Eva (Horgan), Grace (Duff), Ursula (Birthistle), Bibi (Greene), and Becka (Hewson), after the death of Grace’s horrifically incredibly horrible husband John Paul (Bang). Investigating the death are the Claffin brothers, Thomas (Gleeson) and Matthew (McCormack), insurers who are going to unusual lengths in order to not pay out John Paul’s life insurance policy due to desperate situations in their own lives. The thing is, they might actually have a case as four of the sisters had been planning to kill the bastard. The story bounces back and forth from present day to flashbacks leading to John Paul’s demise.The series debuted on Apple TV+ in September of 2022. It was renewed for a second season in November of 2022.
Tropes
- Abled in the Adaptation: Downplayed. Bibi is never described as autistic, unlike her counterpart in Clan. However, she does retain her original incarnation's other disability (having one eye as the result of a car accident involving John Paul) as well as many of her autistic traits.
- Accidental Murder: As the sisters' murder attempts ramp up, they accidentally kill the Williams' dog Oscar and John Paul's mother Minna.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Bibi has a husband in Clan, but is a lesbian in this series.
- The Alcoholic: Both Eva and Becka drink heavily, though Eva is a Drowning My Sorrows type and Becka is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl.
- JP uses Eva's drinking against her in their competition for the same promotion at work, ultimately getting her demoted and forcing her to quit. It's not clear how much of what he says is true, Blatant Lies, or something in between.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: John Paul liked to kill frogs as a child. In the present, he hoses the cat that Eva got for his and Grace’s daughter just For the Evulz, causing it to run out into the street and get run over by a car. He then sets it up to look like Grace hit the cat.
- Big Sister Instinct: The sisters have this for each other.
- The whole reason they plan to kill John Paul is because of how abusive he is to Grace.
- Becka is already pissed at John Paul for screwing her over financially by promising to help her with her massage business then retracting the promise, leaving her broke. But when she finds out that he’s been blackmailing Ursula and tricked her into sending a photo of her vagina to him, she goes on the offensive.
- Grace killed John-Paul because she found out he raped Eva 10 years prior.
- Blatant Lies: In a rather nasty argument, John-Paul claims to Grace that Eva seduced him. Grace quickly and correctly infers from this that he had actually raped Eva.
- Born Lucky: John seems to survive a bunch of near-fatal situations purely on dumb luck. Most episodes consist of the sisters failing to kill him because of a random happenstance that saved him.
- The Bully: At the end of the day, this is what John Paul’s behavior boils him down to. He relishes in the power he can exert over not only Grace and their daughter, but also Grace’s sisters.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: The sisters fail numerous attempts to kill John Paul due to the latter’s dumb luck. John Paul later dies anyway after the sisters give up on killing him.
- Dead Man's Chest: John Paul kept the body of his father in a freezer drawer, then disposed of it by sealing it in a suitcase and sinking it in a pond.
- The Dog Bites Back: John-Paul was in fact murdered by Grace, after years of abuse with the cherry on top of finding out he raped Eva.
- Everyone Is a Suspect: Just about the only person who doesn't want John Paul dead is his wife, Grace. That is, until we find out Grace is the one who killed him.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A major part of John Paul is not grasping how horrible he comes off but also how not everyone feels the same way. Often, his blackmail attempts are justified by him as "just doing it to you before you do it to me," never grasping the other person was never considering it. When Roger confronts him on spreading the false rumor of Roger being a pedophile, John Paul just snaps that he felt Roger would molest kids if he had a chance. He adds they were never friends and he just "tolerated you because we're nice people." When Roger says he forgives him, John Paul's reaction sums it up.John Paul: Um, people like you, Roger, you don't get to forgive people like me. Forgiveness flows down, remember that.
- Evil Plan: The Garvey sisters' is simple: kill John Paul (aka "The Prick"). The problem is he keeps managing to survive through dumb luck.
- Eye Scream: Bibi's desire to see John Paul dead is due to the car accident they were in, which cost her one of her eyes.
- Ironically, she ends up accidentally half-blinding a completely innocent person.
- Hated by All: John Paul is so repulsive that just about everyone hated him. This included his co-workers, his neighbors and extended family, especially the Garvey sisters. His own daughter and mother don’t seem to like him. The only one who doesn’t show outright disdain for him is Grace, and even then, she feared him and showed signs of being a Broken Bird from his abuse, which is why the other Garvey sisters decide to kill him.
- Hide the Evidence:
- After Ursula thought she sent a picture of her vagina to her lover, Ben. John Paul switched the number in her phone so she sent it to him, then he sent it to her husband, Donal, as evidence she was having an affair with Ben. She had to get to Donal's phone, then delete the texts, then "accidentally" broke John Paul's phone.
- It turns out John Paul has been keeping his father's body in a freezer since the man's accidental death. If he reveals his dad is dead, then his mom inherits everything, but as long as everyone thinks the guy ran off, John Paul can spend his money however he wants.
- Interrupted Suicide: The sisters realize Becka is about to kill herself and arrive just in time to knock the poison out of her hand.
- Kick the Dog: When Roger figures out that John Paul was the one who ruined his life by framing him as a pedophile, Roger doesn’t attack him. He merely confronts him by asking him why and ultimately offers him sympathy and forgiveness, which John Paul callously rebukes, saying that forgiveness flows down.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: The sisters' attempts generally rely on this, so no suspicion can fall on the family. Grace ultimately succeeds, strangling John Paul and then making it look like he went quad biking on a cold night and his scarf got tangled in the wheels.
- Mistaken for Suicidal: John Paul is believed to have attempted suicide after he drove to the marina and nearly drowned in the ocean. He believes someone drugged him and threw him in. The sisters did in fact drug him, but he started sleepwalking, sleep-drove to the marina, and fell in while trying to board his boat.
- Murder by Inaction: The sisters watch John Paul fall into the ocean and do nothing to save him. Someone else dives in and rescues him, ruining their plan. John Paul did the same thing to his father — after initially attempting the Heimlich maneuver when his father began choking, he stopped and let him die so he could take his money.
- Paintball Episode: One of the sisters' attempts to kill John Paul took place during a paintball outing, with Bibi planning to shoot him with a frozen paintball.
- Promotion to Parent: Eva became guardian to her younger sisters after the death of their parents, and she still has feelings of protectiveness and responsibility towards them in the present day. This often causes her to butt heads with Becka, her youngest sister, who resents that Eva still treats her like a child.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Grace puts up with years of emotional and physical abuse, but finally snaps and kills John Paul when she finds out he raped her sister Eva.
- Rube Goldberg Device: The opening credits sequence depicts a device made of murder weapons that eventually burns a picture of John Paul.
- Saying Too Much: After so many years of putting up with John Paul, he finally crosses the line when he admits to being with Eva, claiming she came onto him and "you can't rape women like that". That leads to Grace strangling him.
- Series Fauxnale: the first season finale feels like this as all the major plot lines are wrapped up. The cause of John Paul’s death is revealed; Matt destroys the evidence and agrees with the Garveys to cover up their actions if they withdraw the insurance; he tells Tom that the Garveys have withdrawn their claim, saving their business and saving Tom from being charged with covering up their father’s crimes; Tom becomes a father after his wife gives birth to a daughter; Ursula and Ben end their affair and Grace and Blanaid move out of their old house and into Eva’s to move on and make a new start. The series bookends with Grace jumping into the sea with her sisters, something John Paul stopped her from doing at the beginning. Apple TV+ renewed the series for a second season.
- Who Murdered the Asshole: In spades. John Paul was so unlikable that everyone wanted him dead, combined with his annoying tendency to survive the numerous murder attempts. In the end, it was his wife, Grace, once she realized that he raped Eva.
