The Best Show You Aren’t Watching: Bad Sisters

The murder mystery – or rather, the dark comedy murder mystery – is having a bit of a resurgence on the small screen with the success of Hulu’s Murderer’s in the Building. But now AppleTV+ has gotten into the game with the exceptional, dark, moving, and yes, funny, Bad Sisters, an adaptation of the Flemish series Clan. The series follows the five Garvey sisters – eldest Eva (the incredible Sharon Horgan, who also developed, executive produced, and wrote on the series), mousy Grace (Anne-Marie Duff, providing a nuanced and balanced performance), middle child Ursula (Eva Birthistle, who makes the most of the one part that doesn’t quite fit as nicely into the overall arc as the rest), tough Bibi (Sarah Greene, who is asked to do a lot – and succeeds – with a character who becomes far more complex as the series goes on), and the baby, Becka (Eve Hewson, who plays the most convincing youngest sister I may have ever seen in a show – seriously, if you’re an older sister, you’ll understand what I mean) – as they deal with an insurance inquiry in the aftermath of the mysterious death of Grace’s odious, abusive, and just plain awful husband, JP (Claes Bang, who – and I mean this as a complement – turns JP into one of the most horrific, but realistically awful, characters I’ve seen on TV).

This is less of a show about solving a murder – although, the specifics surrounding JP’s death are revealed before the end of the season, so don’t worry about that* – and more about looking into the cancer a single person can be within the confines of a family. Because, you see, JP is the villain of this story. You are glad he’s dead. Many of the characters are glad he’s dead. As you watch the season unfold, you understand more and more why four of the five Garvey girls worked together time and again to plot his murder (it’s not much of a spoiler to say that there are several failed attempts at it throughout the season before something finally sticks). The series is unflinching in showing just how much John Paul did to those in his orbit – from psychological abuse, gaslighting, lying to others to ruin reputations, physical actions, and more – so that he could gain control, power, prestige, and, in the worst moments, you see things he did simply for fun. There’s never a question about whether or not the audience should sympathize with him – you shouldn’t – even if Horgan and her team rightly bring in brief instances of humanity to the character that allow us to understand how charming and easy to like he can be.

*The series has been renewed for a second season – which was an odd move, as it was conceived as a limited series. But based on a statement from Horgan at the time of renewal, the plan appears to be to bring back the same core cast for another season. Not sure how it will work out, but this is such a strong group of actors – and writers – that I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

But the interesting bit of psychological work for the audience comes in watching what this desire to see JP dead does to our central characters. Because you also get to see that these women aren’t exactly out-and-out heroes themselves. The series is also unflinching in showing us their flaws – and they all have them, including very key blind spots of their own that JP manipulates throughout the series to increase their own self-doubt regarding their self-worth – so we aren’t simply watching wholly good women try to take down a clearly bad guy, rather, we are watching women who are trying to keep their own lives afloat try to save their sister before the light in her eyes goes out completely.

And that’s the greatest asset of the series: the sisterly bond between these characters. It’s rare that a series can manage to capture the good, the bad, and the ugly that can come from a sisterly relationship, but we get that in spades in Bad Sisters. We see how deeply the women love one another – and how they, on occasion, are too willing to overlook clear issues with one another in the interest of keeping that relationship in one piece – and also how annoying it can be to have sisters who love you and only want the best for you when what you want seems to go against their idea of “the best.” The relationships feel lived in – you get a sense of the decades of time that went into getting these women to this place, at this time, with this particular decision to be made. That’s not an easy thing to do on a multi-season series, much less on one that was intended to be a limited, ten-episode outing. But you understand the familial dynamics quickly, you grasp who aligns the closest with whom, and understand why certain characters chafe against the actions of others. All while the series continues to slowly roll out additional evidence to explain JP’s fractured relationships with each of the Garvey girls – and those in their orbit.

The murder mystery of the series is a good one – I’m notorious for being able to quickly deduce the killer in these types of stories but it took me a long while to put all the pieces together here – but the real reason this is the best show you aren’t watching is the relationship of the Garvey sisters. That’s what will keep you around for the various failed murder plots, the continued escalating reveals about just how awful JP was, and the subplot with the insurance claim adjuster brothers (Brian Gleeson and Daryl McCormack, both good actors and a great source of comedy in some of the show’s very dark moments, but who never really feel like a necessary arm of the plot outside of their role as the investigators to the death). These five women aren’t all that different from you, me, or people in your own family. Seeing yourself in characters, understanding their choices and moves, and feeling deep empathy for what they have gone through are what make this show worth a watch. This is a smart, well-made series that will bring some deep laughs, but it also takes the time to ground the darker moments in reality. Bad Sisters is a great binge, a great show, and the best show you aren’t watching.

All ten episodes of Bad Sisters’ first season are streaming on AppleTV+. A second season has been ordered.