Season 01

[Avabelle]

Another two issues for me - did I miss a scene where Grace agreed to withdraw the claim? Don’t get me wrong it made sense but given it resolved one of the two main conflicts of the series i thought we’d have seen her go to Matt rather than him just explaining it in the end to The brother.

I wish we’d gotten some sort of satisfying reveal where either Ursulas husband leaves her, they amicably split or else she realises she wants her marriage to work rather than her jsut staring glumly out at her happy family when she gets home post Ben ending things. Her storyline was unsatisfying throughout. 

[lidarose9]

For me it would have held up better if they'd had Grace discover his secret life BEFORE her birthday, maybe confronting him about it at the cabin. And I agree the strangling would not have left cause of death undetermined. A good bonk over the head with a blunt object would have made more sense, and been easier to explain than a convoluted motorcycle accident in the middle of the night. Especially as she is so tiny and thin and we're seeing her in the flimsy white slip. It seemed like they were deliberately stripping away her emotional defenses along with her clothes.

I do like the way she switched gears from being weak and passive to being protective and strong once she knew how he'd been victimizing her sisters.

I can somewhat understand Eva keeping quiet about the rape, esp since she was obviously blackout drunk. They'd said repeatedly that she had a drinking problem back then. Unfortunately, I've had the experience of being so drunk I really couldn't be quite sure who did what to whom the next day, and since it was her sister's huband, she'd keep quiet. On the other hand, it felt like a very tacked on reveal to up the ante, and it wasn't needed at all. We all knew what a malignant prick he was.

They were all flawed characters, none of them blameless. I didn't need them to be innocents and I was OK with their flaws. Yes, I wanted to slap the shit out of them at times, but they were flailing in an extreme situation. That's the makings of a great TV show!

I hope there isn't a second season. It ruins shows like this by trying to drag out a story with tacked on drama. In the end, though I'm not 100% happy with the finale, it's a good story that worked and ended where it needed to end.

Although I do hope Grace and Roger across the street get together.  :)

Edited October 15, 2022 by lidarose9

[lovinbob]

I enjoyed it overall, but Minna’s death was a bridge too far for me. I don’t know how Becka gets over that. 

[Valny]

On 10/14/2022 at 5:24 PM, backhometome said:

I'm glad it was shown that Roger helped Grace with the body because no way could I believe she could have done that on her own. 

Same here. After she killed him I was thinking ok she is such a thin person no way she could drag that heavy, dead weight body around by herself, let alone but him on that vehicle. Probably was strenuous for two people!  So I was glad to see Roger involved. 
Grace was my #1 suspect so I am finally glad I got that right because I usually suck at guessing whodunits;

[MicheleinPhilly]

I finally had the chance to finish this because I needed a big ass break from it. Watching JP filled me with such a visceral sense of rage, I really couldn't stomach it for much longer. 

I'm fine with how it wrapped up, but the denouement of Matt figuring it out was sloppy AF. First of all, none of what he discovered at the cabin could have been used in a criminal prosecution of Grace or any of the sisters. He's not law enforcement and he broke in.

Second of all, if JP had been found on his motorcycle with the red rope tied to the wheel as the photo he looked at suggested, that would have been taken into evidence by the police, not thrown into the garbage. And it would have been investigated as a murder more fully from the jump. Were they trying to insinuate that Matt was just imagining the red rope tied around the wheel and his neck? 

We were led to believe that the elder Claffin had completely misused all of the funds paid for clients' policies and that Thomas helped him cover it up. One widow withdrawing her claim doesn't make them suddenly solvent so I'm not sure why there was such a celebratory mood between Thomas and Matt at the end. 

Overall, I loved the sisters' dynamic and the dark humor but I don't know that I would be in for a second series. It would depend on the storyline and I have no desire to encounter JP in flashbacks so it would have to be something entirely new and really clever. 

[aghst]

Yeah that DVD alone isn't evidence.  There would have to be physical evidence, like Grace's DNA on the corpse or the shirt she used to strangle him would have to show his skin cells or something.

Well I don't know if Irish law has similar standards on circumstantial vs. physical evidence or innocent until proven guilty standard.

I also agree, the Claffin business should be bankrupt, if their father just spent the premiums instead of getting a commission while the premiums went to the insurance company.

Someone else will eventually make a claim and they will have the same problem again.

But they probably don't want to delve into the business.

[chocolatine]

22 minutes ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

Second of all, if JP had been found on his motorcycle with the red rope tied to the wheel as the photo he looked at suggested, that would have been taken into evidence by the police, not thrown into the garbage. And it would have been investigated as a murder more fully from the jump. Were they trying to insinuate that Matt was just imagining the red rope tied around the wheel and his neck? 

That wasn't rope, it was leftover yarn from the red scarf that Grace knitted to fake JP's accident. She took inspiration from the real-life death of Isadora Duncan, and was watching a movie based on it while she knitted (Matt found the DVD still in the player).

22 minutes ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

We were led to believe that the elder Claffin had completely misused all of the funds paid for clients' policies and that Thomas helped him cover it up. One widow withdrawing her claim doesn't make them suddenly solvent so I'm not sure why there was such a celebratory mood between Thomas and Matt at the end. 

Yes, that was sloppy, but I can hand-wave that they carry a small number of policies, and JP's was the only one being claimed at the moment. Now that they've averted immediate ruin, they have a little more time to figure out how to get themselves out of the mess.

Edited October 16, 2022 by chocolatine

[Mindthinkr]

On 10/15/2022 at 5:08 AM, Avabelle said:

I wish we’d gotten some sort of satisfying reveal where either Ursulas husband leaves her, they amicably split or else she realises she wants her marriage to work rather than her jsut staring glumly out at her happy family when she gets home post Ben ending things. Her storyline was unsatisfying throughout. 

Well if they do a second season this could be the storyline. 
I’d also if we get another year of this show that we’d get to see Grace happy with Roger. 

[MicheleinPhilly]

20 hours ago, chocolatine said:

That wasn't rope, it was leftover yarn from the red scarf that Grace knitted to fake JP's accident. She took inspiration from the real-life death of Isadora Duncan, and was watching a movie based on it while she knitted (Matt found the DVD still in the player).

But was that scarf tied around his neck and attached to the motorcycle wheel when law enforcement found him as the photograph suggested? It just seems like something the police would have investigated more fully. But it has been a while since I saw the earliest episodes.

I also watch entirely too many crime and mystery series so I'm probably overthinking it. I also have a tendency to shout "Objection" at particularly inane lines of questioning in court proceedings even if the characters don't. It is probably very annoying to watch tv with me. 👼

[lidarose9]

1. Either Ursula is really really stupid or she just didn't care if anybody knew about her affair. Throughout this show, people were doing lots of really stupid things. At least once per episode, someone did something so unbelievably stupid, I would have turned off the show if I hadn't been enjoying it so much. All of them make promises they promptly break or overlook obvious red flags. We end with an innocent bystander blinded, an innocent cat dead, Minna frozen to death, Roger's life ruined, Gabriel outed, Ursula's family torn apart, Eva's career derailed... JP may be the cause, but the sisters are leaving death and destruction in their wake throughout. But then I remember the title: these are not good sisters.

2. Apparently Irish police are incredibly stupid too.

3. Did anybody understand what the pregnant wife was doing with the files?

[Cementhead]

9 minutes ago, lidarose9 said:

3. Did anybody understand what the pregnant wife was doing with the files?

I think she was looking for Becca's address, which she did find written on a post-it if I am remembering correctly. 

I highly enjoyed this series but was really ready for it just to be over.  I think the finale let down the rest of the show because it wasn't up to the same quality in terms of clever writing.  The way in which he finally died was much too hackneyed and cheese ball for me.  The murder attempts were written so much better.

[lidarose9]

4 hours ago, Cementhead said:

I think she was looking for Becca's address, which she did find written on a post-it if I am remembering correctly.

Why did she want Becca's address. I was just lost there.

[SummerDreams]

Okay so I did not not like the show, but I got tired after one point. I think they dragged it two or three episodes too much. The story could be told in 6 or 7 episodes.

Also the ending was disappointing. If it was so easy for Grace and Blanaid to go and live with Eva, then why did they risk the insurance guys to discover the truth? The ending was not satisfying because nobody paid for their mistakes except for the prick.

Other than that I appreciated all the acting, the beautiful people, the nice scenery and the irish accent. I have come to a point where I can't easily watch an American show anymore so I love anything from the UK.

[chocolatine]

46 minutes ago, SummerDreams said:

I have come to a point where I can't easily watch an American show anymore so I love anything from the UK.

The Republic of Ireland, where this show is based, is not part of the UK, only Northern Ireland is.

[SummerDreams]

10 hours ago, chocolatine said:

The Republic of Ireland, where this show is based, is not part of the UK, only Northern Ireland is.

Thanks for the correction, I'm really bad at these things :P

[Shermie]

On 10/14/2022 at 11:36 AM, abbyzenn said:

I might be a party of one but I liked the ending - actually I liked the whole show, great mixture of humor and seriousness along with lovely scenery and good music.  Thought everything wrapped up nicely.  JP was such an awful person I couldn't work up any sympathy for him.  Not surprised who killed him.  

You’re not a party of one; I liked the ending and whole series too.

On 10/15/2022 at 4:06 PM, lidarose9 said:

I hope there isn't a second season. It ruins shows like this by trying to drag out a story with tacked on drama.

Yeah, I like when a show runner knows when to stop. Sometimes one season is enough to tell a story.

On 10/18/2022 at 3:09 PM, SummerDreams said:

If it was so easy for Grace and Blanaid to go and live with Eva, then why did they risk the insurance guys to discover the truth?

Before the insurance guys started investigating, it probably seemed like it would be easy to collect the insurance and carry on with life. Like most widows do.  And maybe Eva didn’t offer for them to move in with her; it would have been difficult for Eva to live with the grieving widow every day, going on about missing her wonderful husband. It wasn’t until Grace admitted killing JP and hating him too, that Eva probably felt they could live together.

On 10/18/2022 at 3:09 PM, SummerDreams said:

The ending was not satisfying because nobody paid for their mistakes except for the prick.

I’d say that it was very satisfying to see The Prick pay the ultimate price. Plus, “nobody paid for their mistakes”? Other than Minna and the dog, I guess.

I really enjoyed this show. The sisters were flawed, to be sure, but The Prick was truly a prick. It seems like his “prickness” really ramped up in the past year or so. Clearly he’d been part of the family for almost 20 years, yet other than the rape (which is major, to be sure), it seems most of his evil was in the past year. But I can see how he got away with being a prick; he has that smooth handsomeness of Pierce Brosnan. And each sister kept his prickness to themselves initially. His boss thought he was so great that he promoted him over the better candidate (Eva) and believed his lies about her without batting an eye. There are many many pricks out there in the real world who get away all sorts of horrible shite because people don’t tell anyone or fall for their smooth outsides.

I did find Bibi to be a bit of an enigma. Her story wasn’t as fleshed out as the others; did she lose her eye because of the car accident with JP? Her wife must feel kind of awkward in the family dynamic. Typically husbands of sisters learn to hang out to some degree, and I would assume that a wife might be integrated occasionally into the sister group, but it seemed like she was an outsider. I don’t even know her name!

Also Ursula. She didn’t have the usual motivation for an affair - her husband was an asshole or indifferent, or she was bored. Ursula seemed to have more on her plate than the other sisters put together, yet she not only found time for an affair, she seemed to really need it. I don’t get the whole affair business anyway, stay with your spouse or get divorced but stop playing two sides. 

And the Irish are made of sterner stuff than me. It’s cold enough to warrant thick winter coats and toques, but they jump into that frigid water and splash around like its great fun? Yikes. This is why I don’t understand polar bear swims, usually done on New Year’s Day here. 

[QQQQ]

In any of the episodes, did we ever see the sisters discuss how JP died (i.e. scarf/4-wheeler)? I mean, obviously not because that would have ruined it for the viewer but... why were they nervous about a police investigation after he died? The sisters knew how he died... I just don't understand.

Edited October 24, 2022 by QQQQ

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, QQQQ said:

In any of the episodes, did we ever see the sisters discuss how JP died (i.e. scarf/4-wheeler)? I mean, obviously not because that would have ruined it for the viewer but... why were they nervous about a police investigation after he died? The sisters knew how he died... I just don't understand.

I think they were nervous that a thorough investigation would draw attention to their previous murder attempts that had originally been classified as accidents - the near-drowning, the fire in the cabin, etc.

[Shermie]

Plus, since they were all guilty of attempted murder, they probably just felt perpetually nervous. 

[QQQQ]

I guess I'd feel rather secure knowing if the police hadn't been able to put 2 and 2 together from any of the ham-fisted prior attempts, the odds were in their favor with a crime they had nothing to do with 😅 

[TakomaSnark]

On 10/21/2022 at 12:59 PM, Shermie said:

You’re not a party of one; I liked the ending and whole series too.

Yeah, I like when a show runner knows when to stop. Sometimes one season is enough to tell a story.

Before the insurance guys started investigating, it probably seemed like it would be easy to collect the insurance and carry on with life. Like most widows do.  And maybe Eva didn’t offer for them to move in with her; it would have been difficult for Eva to live with the grieving widow every day, going on about missing her wonderful husband. It wasn’t until Grace admitted killing JP and hating him too, that Eva probably felt they could live together.

I’d say that it was very satisfying to see The Prick pay the ultimate price. Plus, “nobody paid for their mistakes”? Other than Minna and the dog, I guess.

I really enjoyed this show. The sisters were flawed, to be sure, but The Prick was truly a prick. It seems like his “prickness” really ramped up in the past year or so. Clearly he’d been part of the family for almost 20 years, yet other than the rape (which is major, to be sure), it seems most of his evil was in the past year. But I can see how he got away with being a prick; he has that smooth handsomeness of Pierce Brosnan. And each sister kept his prickness to themselves initially. His boss thought he was so great that he promoted him over the better candidate (Eva) and believed his lies about her without batting an eye. There are many many pricks out there in the real world who get away all sorts of horrible shite because people don’t tell anyone or fall for their smooth outsides.

I did find Bibi to be a bit of an enigma. Her story wasn’t as fleshed out as the others; did she lose her eye because of the car accident with JP? Her wife must feel kind of awkward in the family dynamic. Typically husbands of sisters learn to hang out to some degree, and I would assume that a wife might be integrated occasionally into the sister group, but it seemed like she was an outsider. I don’t even know her name!

Also Ursula. She didn’t have the usual motivation for an affair - her husband was an asshole or indifferent, or she was bored. Ursula seemed to have more on her plate than the other sisters put together, yet she not only found time for an affair, she seemed to really need it. I don’t get the whole affair business anyway, stay with your spouse or get divorced but stop playing two sides. 

And the Irish are made of sterner stuff than me. It’s cold enough to warrant thick winter coats and toques, but they jump into that frigid water and splash around like its great fun? Yikes. This is why I don’t understand polar bear swims, usually done on New Year’s Day here. 

Late to this but I loved it too. Absolutely spectacular series.

[Spartan Girl]

I watched this because my friend kept saying I should…and I wasn’t feeling it. This was too dark a comedy for my taste. Was I supposed to find it funny that innocent people and animals kept getting killed instead of that miserable bastard John Paul? Even when he finally got what he deserved, I couldn’t take much satisfaction out of it.

And was that part with the poor kitten necessary? There were already plenty of parts that showed what a monster John Paul was, that was just horrible. Too bad it wasn’t the daughter that killed him for that.

[chocolatine]

33 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

And was that part with the poor kitten necessary?

Sharon Horgan seems to have a thing for animals being hit/run over by cars. She had the same thing happen to the family dog in Catastrophe.

[Anela]

I'm not reading, because I'm currently watching it, but if they did it, I can't blame them. 

[Anela]

Did they really have to kill the kitten, too?

[twoods]

I thought the animal killing was too much, yet they kept on trying to kill him. It turned me off to the sisters very quickly. I read on here how it ended (thanks guys) because I couldn’t stomach all the collateral damage. 

[chediavolo]

Ugh😡 I hate these forums that are not separated by episode.  I have to watch the entire series before commenting on an episode or risk being spoiled. By that time I’m either over it or frustrated 

Just finished to. 3 Poor dog. How insanely irresponsible to poison that meat. The sister or the niece could have decided to try it, who knows. 
Also what’s to stop the Prick from resending those photos? 
And are we to believe they are going to get away with arson? 
I really hate seeing affairs portrayed. If you are that unhappy, just get out. It’s so hurtful to everyone.

That being said, I like it so far.  
The actress who plays the Pricks wife looks a little sickly to me but maybe that’s because I want to smack her for being such a doormat & worse.  

[LeGrandElephant]

Small question, but the insurance guys said JP had 4 claims in the past year and I can only think of two - the cabin and the fended bender with Ursula. Was Bibi’s eye supposed to be within the last year? I thought it was much further back, for her to be ok socializing with him. But even if theyre counting that one, I still can’t think of a fourth. 

[ahisma]

23 hours ago, LeGrandElephant said:

Small question, but the insurance guys said JP had 4 claims in the past year and I can only think of two - the cabin and the fended bender with Ursula. Was Bibi’s eye supposed to be within the last year? I thought it was much further back, for her to be ok socializing with him. But even if theyre counting that one, I still can’t think of a fourth. 

Maybe there was life insurance on his mother, too? Not a huge, “support a widow and minor child” amount, but enough to cover funeral expenses. 

Maybe the accident with Bibi, but I thought that was further back, too. 

Or maybe the fourth claim is the one for JP’s death—he said “the family” had 4 claims in the past year, not JP personally.

[LeGrandElephant]

Given what we saw of the flashback of JP’s car crash with Bibi, I honestly don’t see how she and the rest of the sisters kept socializing with him for years(?) after that! He was purposely messing with her, using the death of her parents to scare her, and purposely driving recklessly, and with terrible “life-ruining” results. Maybe suppose he could have convinced Grace that it was all Bibi’s fault and she was remembering it wrong, but I’d think the rest of the sisters would support her side and they’d all refuse to socialize with him anymore. They could have sat grace down for an intervention and she might have left him. Instead they all just keep acting like they’re fine with him while secretly plotting to kill him? They act like they had no other options than to kill him but they definitely did. 

[ahisma]

6 hours ago, LeGrandElephant said:

Maybe suppose he could have convinced Grace that it was all Bibi’s fault and she was remembering it wrong, but I’d think the rest of the sisters would support her side and they’d all refuse to socialize with him anymore. They could have sat grace down for an intervention and she might have left him.

Unfortunately that’s not the way abuse works. JP was a master gaslighter who got Grace twisted around every time she thought he might be in the wrong. I’m sure it was something like, “It was raining heavily and poor Bibi got hysterical. Perfectly understandable after what happened to your parents. But then she grabbed the wheel and the accident happened.” The sisters, of course, would see right through it, but how could they convince Grace that her husband was an actual monster? 

Bibi and the rest had the choice to either try to keep a lifeline available to their sister or allow Grace to be further isolated by him. 

[PurpleTentacle]

I so didn't get the Drama in the last episode. Just make a deal. The killer relinquishes the claim on the payout and in exchange you don't turn her in. The fraud doesn't get discovered, the murder doesn't get discovered and everybody is happy. It was so obvious that the milking it for 30 minutes and then coming to that obvious outcome fell absolutely flat for me.

[Anela]

On 1/4/2023 at 2:45 PM, LeGrandElephant said:

Given what we saw of the flashback of JP’s car crash with Bibi, I honestly don’t see how she and the rest of the sisters kept socializing with him for years(?) after that! He was purposely messing with her, using the death of her parents to scare her, and purposely driving recklessly, and with terrible “life-ruining” results. Maybe suppose he could have convinced Grace that it was all Bibi’s fault and she was remembering it wrong, but I’d think the rest of the sisters would support her side and they’d all refuse to socialize with him anymore. They could have sat grace down for an intervention and she might have left him. Instead they all just keep acting like they’re fine with him while secretly plotting to kill him? They act like they had no other options than to kill him but they definitely did. 

Women are also just expected to put up with it, especially if he's your sister's husband. I don't have a relationship with my sister, because of her husband. I didn't want to be around him, too long of a story to tell in a show thread, but it's for extremely good reasons. So, she gave me the boot.

[Niuxita]

On 1/4/2023 at 9:28 PM, ahisma said:

Unfortunately that’s not the way abuse works. JP was a master gaslighter who got Grace twisted around every time she thought he might be in the wrong. I’m sure it was something like, “It was raining heavily and poor Bibi got hysterical. Perfectly understandable after what happened to your parents. But then she grabbed the wheel and the accident happened.” The sisters, of course, would see right through it, but how could they convince Grace that her husband was an actual monster? 

Exactly. This is why some of the comments about Grace being a doormat don't sit well with me. If it was so easy for a woman to leave her husband when he became controlling/abusive, domestic abuse wouldn't be the issue that it is. I also completely believe Eva staying quiet for 10 years about the rape. We've seen recently with real-life cases that it's not uncommon for rape victims to stay quiet for years. It's hard enough for women to disclose having been raped when it's a complete stranger or someone they personally like. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for Eva to think about telling Grace what JP had done and risk her not believing her or taking his side. If I were Eva, that would have killed me.

Anyway, I just finished this show and absolutely loved it. I am a big fan of the multiple-sister show genre, though so far I have only encountered it in non-English television, so I really liked that aspect of it. Every single scene between the sisters was thoroughly enjoyable, the actresses all played off each other really well.

And of course, the big denouement of JP's death was as satisfying as I was hoping it would be. Kudos to the actor for making him such a despicable human being to the point that it caused me almost physical revulsion every time he did something prick-ish. Re: the fact that he was too one-note or too villainous to be believable, I 100% believe men like him exist: extremely charming to ensure they have they people they need wrapped around their fingers but also capable of tremendous harm, with zero empathy or concern for others' feelings except their own. It's why he creates such a visceral reaction in some of us. He's not a moustache-twirling Marvel villain whose ultimate goal is to take over the world, he could literally be the person your sister marries and whom you have to be civil to at family reunions, and therein lies the true horror of fictional characters like him IMO. This show also made me realize that the sisters (and Nora) were infinitely better people than I am because I could not ever bring myself to be cordial to a man like him, even if he was married to my sister whom I love. It just goes to show how much they loved Grace that they were willing to put in that level of effort (especially Eva) to make sure she didn't feel uncomfortable every time they got the family together.

I heard the news of the renewal before finishing the show, so I thought perhaps it ended in a cliffhanger that justified a second season, but nope, everything was tied up as if it was indeed planned out as a limited series, so I can't imagine what a season 2 could possibly be about, but I am 100% there. I would watch 10 episodes of the 5 sisters sitting around Eva's kitchen drinking wine, tbh.

[A.Ham]

On 11/6/2022 at 8:17 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I watched this because my friend kept saying I should…and I wasn’t feeling it. This was too dark a comedy for my taste. Was I supposed to find it funny that innocent people and animals kept getting killed instead of that miserable bastard John Paul? Even when he finally got what he deserved, I couldn’t take much satisfaction out of it.

This. I could barely finish the thing after Minna's death. So not one, but two pets killed, felt rather gratuitous. And then they kill the sweet, defenseless dementia patient (I admit that one hit close to home as my mother is in the advanced stages of dementia). I must not be made for the genre--watching the prick let his father just choke to death with very little attempt to save him just repulsed me. By the time we watched Grace kill him, it was way overdue in my opinion. The whole thing could have been much shorter and I wish they would not have dragged it out so much.

[PurpleTentacle]

I just found out that season 1 seems to be a remake, that seems to be pretty much 1:1. I'm now wondering if I should watch the original. I could see the murderer there being a different one. Remakes like to change such things...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1783844/

[PurpleTentacle]

Watched it. The story is actually an exact copy. I don't think they changed anything but the locations.

But Bad Sisters has better cinematagrophy, better production design and a bit better acting. So really no need to see the original, I'd say.