Very few shows manage a debut season as perfectly as Bad Sisters did, so when the announcement came that the story wasn’t over, it was easy to feel apprehensive about what’d come from it. How exactly do you top perfection that was tied together with the most meticulously thoughtful and brilliant bow? Well, Bad Sisters Season 2 proves that if anyone can do it, Sharon Horgan can.
Brimming with sensational performances and a profoundly thought-provoking narrative, the dark comedy continues to balance heavy topics with distinguished humor, making Bad Sisters Season 2 excellent. When a show like this returns, it has to have an impactful plot line; otherwise, it’s merely a cash grab. Here, it’s thankfully a matter of the former because even while audience members might question some of the choices writers make, the end result is still a love letter to sisterhood and complex women.
When we leave the Garvey sisters in Season 1, everything is better than it had been when we first met them, and they are finally free from John Paul, otherwise known as the Prick. However, as the trailers show, they aren’t fully released from their past, even after two years pass because guards uncover John Paul’s father’s body, and Fiona Shaw’s character appears to be suspicious. Interestingly, the new season essentially asks an important question: can you murder someone and get away with it? Even while it’s justified, it’s natural for the past to come knocking, and it’s even more natural for it to continue haunting.
With eight episodes, the show reminds viewers of why actions matter and how human beings evolve from the choices they make. It also continues to showcase how multifaceted women are and how layered both platonic and romantic relationships genuinely tend to be. Further, the season allows us to spend more time with each of the Garvey women to understand their state of minds better and see how they navigate through grueling emotions that will shape their futures. This detail feels especially rewarding because the debut season gives us plenty, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for more intimate explorations of their mindsets.
Most importantly, Bad Sisters Season 2 is a triumph where performances are concerned. Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson each bring something so refreshing, funny, and deeply haunting to our screens, allowing us to get to know their characters better through truly award-worthy performances. So much of the reason the show is impactful is because while it paints a picture of what emotional abuse looks like, it does so with women who also feel achingly realistic. They’re each chock-full of faults, yet it’s easy to still want the best for them because the show challenges our empathy as it forces us to examine the lengths people will go to protect those they love. That much is still true in the show’s sophomore season and maybe even more so.
The season also does an impressive job of keeping viewers on their toes until the last second, when we understand how various decisions came to be and why they matter in examining character traits and behaviors. In the same way that Season 1 wasn’t predictable, neither is Bad Sisters Season 2. With this in mind, some decisions might not work for every viewer, but nothing is more apparent than the fact that the storytelling is intentional and no narrative choice feels like it’s presented to subvert expectations. There’s a huge reveal that drops at the end of the second episode, setting the rest of the season on course, yet even while it might be thoroughly jarring, as the story unveils, it becomes more and more easy to see what the writers want viewers to take away.
Ultimately, the most significant takeaway here is that the series’ theme still centers around the beautiful belief that women taking care of each other is a gift many aren’t fortunate enough to experience—the Garvey sisters, through and thin, very much are.
The first two episodes of Bad Sisters Season 2 premiere on November 13, with a new episode dropping every Wednesday on Apple TV+.
