Bad Sisters Series-Finale Recap: That Laugh

When I pitched myself to Vulture as the recapper for Bad Sisters, there were many reasons I gave for my interest in the show: Sharon Horgan. This cast. The rich Irish setting. And my belief that, if I were put in the right (or wrong) situation, I would probably kill for one of my siblings. Just like the Garvey sisters tried to do all season, and just like Grace ultimately does in the series finale. We have plenty of fictional stories about the lengths people will go for romantic love (shout-out to Ben for not buying into the hype!), but what about the lengths people will go for their siblings? Finally, an Apple TV+ series for us!

We’ve watched an entire season of JP breaking Grace down, of taking the many things that she gives to him — love, time, attention, dinner — and treating them as if they are nothing, as if she isn’t one of the main reasons he is able to get through the day. I mean … the man can’t even break in his own shoes without Grace. And then, on her birthday — a day meant to celebrate someone’s existence — JP uses it as an excuse to make Grace feel worse than small, to make her feel as if she is nothing. “You’re a fly on a wall. You’re a shadow. If I turn out that light right now, you wouldn’t even exist.” (Has Hallmark tried that one yet?)

Even then, Grace doesn’t fight back in the way that she could. Even then, Grace holds herself back. Because, sometimes, especially for girls and women, defending others comes much easier than defending yourself. Grace would have plenty of great reasons to kill JP without him revealing that, 10 years prior, he raped Eva. Of course, rape is not how JP describes it. Grace has to interpret JP’s barely coded language: “She tricked me.” “She was filthy drunk.” And then, it’s not coded at all: “She even tried to say that I raped her because she was so disgusted with herself.” JP loves to revel in his power, until it means he has to take accountability for the pain he’s caused or face his own insecurities. From his warped perspective, it’s Eva’s fault he has erectile problems and it’s Eva’s fault that so much in his life has gone wrong: “It’s messed me up ever since.”

This is perhaps the only sign that JP might actually understand, deep down, that what he’s done is wrong. That feeling that, since he raped his sister-in-law, something has felt off. Because it hurts to hurt someone else, even when you push it so far down you think you can’t feel it. Because, as many times as Grace (understandably) calls JP a monster, he’s actually just a human. A human who could have made better choices, and chose to hurt people — not just any people, his family — instead. Grace kills JP for what he’s done to Eva, but she probably kills him for what he’s done to her too. Because she’s given her life to this man, and he’s proved himself so incredibly unworthy of it. Grace already knew this, but she wasn’t able to admit it to herself — not until it was one of her sisters she had to defend.

Grace kills JP in a moment of apoplectic focus, but she proves herself surprisingly adept at covering it up. She knits a Tom Baker–level red scarf, dresses JP back in his clothes, drags his body outside, places him on his four-wheeler, places the scarf in the wheel, revs the engine, and flinches as JP’s neck breaks. If that all sounds like a bit much for an Anne Marie-Duff–size person to pull off, the show thinks so, too. As is revealed later in the episode, Roger made the assist. That’s why the show had us notice Grace noticing him leaving the cabin in last week’s episode after he confronted JP. Not because Roger did it, but because Grace knew she could call him when she needed to move JP’s dead body.

Why didn’t Grace call her sisters, who were all at a nearby hotel and she trusts more than anyone else in the world? Presumably, at least partially because she wanted to protect them. In the same way they wanted to protect her. I don’t think these are bad sisters at all.

Here, Matt is our audience surrogate, putting together all of the pieces as Grace tells her sisters the story of JP’s final night. He is the character who is asked to judge the Garveys for what they’ve done, and punish them or not. If he turns in the evidence he’s found — hilariously, a DVD copy of the 1968 film Isadora and a ball of red yarn — then some if not all of them will go to jail. But if he doesn’t, Tom — his brother, and a new father — will go to jail. In the end, Matt burns the evidence and appears lighter for it. He seemingly makes a deal with the Garveys (sadly, and somewhat surprisingly, not onscreen): If Grace withdraws the life insurance claim, then Matt won’t go to the police. It’s unclear where this leaves Matt and Becka, if their obvious love for one another will be enough after Becka straight-up considered poisoning him, but it’s a result they can all live with. No one has to betray the siblings they love.

The lack of life insurance money means Grace and Blanaid can no longer afford to live in their house. Bad news: This means they will no longer be neighbors with Roger. Good news: They get to move into Eva’s baller house. A spinster and a widow, jokes Grace. Honestly, this sounds like the setup for Practical Magic, another amazing screen story about sisters murdering men for one another in an awesome house by the sea. Just saying, if Sharon Horgan wanted to make a second season of this show in which the Garveys develop supernatural powers and murder some more abusers, I’m here for it.

We end with a laugh. Grace’s laugh, accompanied by an aura of joy and freedom we’ve never seen exhibited by the character. It’s the Grace her sisters used to know. And she’s back. That’s a happy ending.

Sisterly Advice

• Blanaid honestly seems to have bounced back from her dad’s death pretty quickly. I would have liked to spend more time with this character, to understand more of her perspective on what’s happening, but I also understand why the show didn’t go there.

• “She doesn’t want tea, honey. Someone should make you tea.” Even when Grace’s husband just died, she’s trying to host.

• Grace isn’t the only one laughing in this episode. Once Grace and Ursula have driven away from the murder cabin, Becka, Eva, and Bibi can’t stop laughing. It’s a release of tension, sure, but it’s also somewhat joyful. They are so happy JP is dead. “I don’t know how to feel.” “I do. He saved us all a lot of hassle.”

• I’m low-key still worried about Becka, but she does have her sisters.

• Ben definitively breaks up with Ursula in this episode. Apparently, her implying to him that he should kill JP was too much. I feel like this was all a bit rushed, but I do appreciate that Ben called Ursula out on how much less committed she was to their relationship than he was.

• Sadly, no Theresa this episode, which means we never got my dream scene of Theresa hanging with the Garvey sisters. But she and the baby did survive, so maybe I should just be grateful for that.

• “Okay, if anyone in this room did it, we need to say. I mean it.” I do love the cone-of-silence scene in which none of the Garvey sisters present actually killed JP but try to send out supportive vibes to one another in case one of them did.

• Oof, Grace takes the news that her sisters repeatedly tried to kill her husband really well. Though I suppose it might be a little hypocritical to be angry about it.

• Interestingly, when Grace tells the story of the night she killed JP, we don’t get the same viewfinder transition. Instead, it’s told with Grace’s voice-over, linking the two timelines like never before.

• “Man, I really missed that laugh. I didn’t realize how much.”

• Shout-out to my siblings!