Bad Sisters: Going Rogue
October 7, 2022 12:37 AM - Season 1, Episode 9 - Subscribe
Becka’s heart is broken. JP’s suspicions that someone is trying to kill him are all but confirmed. Roger discovers who made the anonymous complaint to the police. JP and Grace celebrate her birthday at their new cabin. In the present day, the Claffin brothers catch the sisters out in a lie.
In the present day: Matt confronts Becka, saying he knows she and Eva were at the marina the night JP fell in, and accuses her of being friends with Minna for the money; Becka is very upset and says Minna really was her friend. Thomas confesses to his extremely pregnant wife, Theresa, that he might go to jail for covering up his father’s fraud. Theresa decides to do some sleuthing but ends up collapsing in the office and being hospitalized after having a seizure. Matt goes to Wicklow to test the sisters’ alibi and finds out they were lying about all being together the night JP died.
In the past: Becka fears the worst when a very much alive JP shows up the day after Becka supposedly locked him in the freezer. She rushes off to Minna’s house to check on her but JP beats her to it and makes the sad discovery of his mother’s body in the freezer. He puts Minna in bed and defrosts her, then calls the ambulance saying he discovered her unresponsive. Becka and Eva go to the freezer to take a picture of George’s body, but he’s already been removed, and JP catches the two of them in the basement, confirming his suspicions that they had something to do with Minna’s death. Later we see him disposing of a suitcase with (we assume) his father’s body in it, throwing it into a pond and dropping all the glass taxidermy eyeballs in the water after it.
At the post-funeral reception, Roger sees the cross for the dog’s grave with “OSCAR” written on the marker, and puts two and two together about who made the anonymous call to the police.
JP torments Eva some more at work, after which she packs up a few things from her desk and walks out, presumably for good. JP follows her and tells her he knows they are trying to kill him and that the Garvey sisters are like rats: you have to poison the nest. Eva tells her sisters that JP has threatened them and that she is going to finish him off; the other sisters object.
JP takes Grace to the cabin in Wicklow to celebrate her birthday, making sure to terrify her along the way by forcing her on a quad ride. As Grace prepares dinner, Roger comes to the door and asks JP why he made the complaint to the police when he was his friend. JP says he was never his friend and that he didn’t like Roger “sniffing around” his family. Roger says he has forgiven JP, but JP scoffs at the idea that Roger would be the one to offer him forgiveness for anything. When Grace asks who was at the door, JP says just a religious nut trying to lecture him about forgiveness, but later Grace sees Roger walking away from the house. Later, JP tells her it makes him sad that she loves her sisters more than him, which Grace denies.
Because JP has insisted that Grace spend her birthday with him instead of her sisters, the sisters stay at a spa hotel nearby, planning to celebrate with Grace the next day. The idea is for them all to be together that evening, but one by one they peel off the group: Bibi spends the evening running in the woods (near the cabin?); Becka spends it at the pub getting very drunk and somehow getting her boots very muddy; Ursula is in a hotel room with Ben, who disappears sometime before she wakes up; we don’t know where Eva has gone, but she eventually goes back to the hotel room and finds no one else there. The next day, Becka, Eva, and Bibi go to the cabin to get Grace but before they get to the house, they see emergency vehicles and Grace comes to them sobbing that JP is dead.
In the present day: Matt confronts Becka, saying he knows she and Eva were at the marina the night JP fell in, and accuses her of being friends with Minna for the money; Becka is very upset and says Minna really was her friend. Thomas confesses to his extremely pregnant wife, Theresa, that he might go to jail for covering up his father’s fraud. Theresa decides to do some sleuthing but ends up collapsing in the office and being hospitalized after having a seizure. Matt goes to Wicklow to test the sisters’ alibi and finds out they were lying about all being together the night JP died.
In the past: Becka fears the worst when a very much alive JP shows up the day after Becka supposedly locked him in the freezer. She rushes off to Minna’s house to check on her but JP beats her to it and makes the sad discovery of his mother’s body in the freezer. He puts Minna in bed and defrosts her, then calls the ambulance saying he discovered her unresponsive. Becka and Eva go to the freezer to take a picture of George’s body, but he’s already been removed, and JP catches the two of them in the basement, confirming his suspicions that they had something to do with Minna’s death. Later we see him disposing of a suitcase with (we assume) his father’s body in it, throwing it into a pond and dropping all the glass taxidermy eyeballs in the water after it.
At the post-funeral reception, Roger sees the cross for the dog’s grave with “OSCAR” written on the marker, and puts two and two together about who made the anonymous call to the police.
JP torments Eva some more at work, after which she packs up a few things from her desk and walks out, presumably for good. JP follows her and tells her he knows they are trying to kill him and that the Garvey sisters are like rats: you have to poison the nest. Eva tells her sisters that JP has threatened them and that she is going to finish him off; the other sisters object.
JP takes Grace to the cabin in Wicklow to celebrate her birthday, making sure to terrify her along the way by forcing her on a quad ride. As Grace prepares dinner, Roger comes to the door and asks JP why he made the complaint to the police when he was his friend. JP says he was never his friend and that he didn’t like Roger “sniffing around” his family. Roger says he has forgiven JP, but JP scoffs at the idea that Roger would be the one to offer him forgiveness for anything. When Grace asks who was at the door, JP says just a religious nut trying to lecture him about forgiveness, but later Grace sees Roger walking away from the house. Later, JP tells her it makes him sad that she loves her sisters more than him, which Grace denies.
Because JP has insisted that Grace spend her birthday with him instead of her sisters, the sisters stay at a spa hotel nearby, planning to celebrate with Grace the next day. The idea is for them all to be together that evening, but one by one they peel off the group: Bibi spends the evening running in the woods (near the cabin?); Becka spends it at the pub getting very drunk and somehow getting her boots very muddy; Ursula is in a hotel room with Ben, who disappears sometime before she wakes up; we don’t know where Eva has gone, but she eventually goes back to the hotel room and finds no one else there. The next day, Becka, Eva, and Bibi go to the cabin to get Grace but before they get to the house, they see emergency vehicles and Grace comes to them sobbing that JP is dead.
If next week's finale ends with a cliffhanger, just like every episode ended with a mini-cliffhanger, and we still don't know who and how, I am going to be quite mad.
posted by applesurf at 2:04 AM on October 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by applesurf at 2:04 AM on October 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
JP sure is creepy when he finds Minna. Didn't expect to see that much of Theresa so late in the series. The party hats made me smile. "Sooner or later we all make the little flowers grow."
posted by kingless at 6:20 AM on October 7, 2022
posted by kingless at 6:20 AM on October 7, 2022
And of course the way they’ve set it up, all the sisters are going to think one of the other sisters did it. I’ve been convinced for a while now that none of them actually killed him. I was wobbling between Grace and Roger, but now Ben’s making a bold sprint for the wire - and of course all three are on the scene in Wicklow.
And I’ve been meaning to ask for a while - is this really how insurance works in Ireland? You just pop down the street to Bob’s Insurance, next to the chip shop, and he looks you over and tells you, okay, you’re covered? I mean we have lots of little local insurance agencies in the US, but they’re brokers selling policies offered by huge financial institutions. They’re not the ones paying out claims.
posted by Naberius at 8:44 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
And I’ve been meaning to ask for a while - is this really how insurance works in Ireland? You just pop down the street to Bob’s Insurance, next to the chip shop, and he looks you over and tells you, okay, you’re covered? I mean we have lots of little local insurance agencies in the US, but they’re brokers selling policies offered by huge financial institutions. They’re not the ones paying out claims.
posted by Naberius at 8:44 PM on October 7, 2022 [2 favorites]
I was actually impressed that JP showed as much emotion as he did over his mother’s death. I mean he was sort of cry-laughing, probably from the absurdity of his mother freezing to death with his father right there frozen beside her. But he definitely seemed upset. It made me revise my original thought that he was a sociopath and made me think he’s just a really damaged person who *thinks* he is perfectly healthy and normal, but is incapable of having a normal relationship with anyone.
I am also curious about the whole insurance situation. How does that work??
And yes, if there is a cliffhanger at the end of the next episode and we STILL don’t know who killed JP I will be pretty mad too.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:34 PM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I am also curious about the whole insurance situation. How does that work??
And yes, if there is a cliffhanger at the end of the next episode and we STILL don’t know who killed JP I will be pretty mad too.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:34 PM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think the insurance thing sort of makes sense, if no policy was ever actually purchased from the underwriter for JP then they can't pay the claim. You would have expected Theresa to realise that something was up as soon as Thomas starting talking about problems paying the claim though. The plot is basically the same as the Flemish original as far as I can tell so probably nothing about this part of the story is very particular to Ireland.
I've wanted it to be Grace almost from the start, and I'll be a bit disappointed if it turns out that the murderer is anyone else. A final cliffhanger seems very unlikely to me, the story has already played out at a fairly slow pace, it wouldn't make sense to spin it out over another series.
posted by tomcooke at 7:07 AM on October 9, 2022
I've wanted it to be Grace almost from the start, and I'll be a bit disappointed if it turns out that the murderer is anyone else. A final cliffhanger seems very unlikely to me, the story has already played out at a fairly slow pace, it wouldn't make sense to spin it out over another series.
posted by tomcooke at 7:07 AM on October 9, 2022
Yeah I still have the quibble that Becka is way too “over it” in present day, aside from crying at the funeral.
Eva’s infertility has definitely been a lingering… chekhov’s diagnosis? so that adds weight to JP having done something related to that.
Money’s on Grace at this point but it is pretty great that all the sisters, plus Roger and Ben, are all in the area.
posted by supercres at 9:45 PM on October 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Eva’s infertility has definitely been a lingering… chekhov’s diagnosis? so that adds weight to JP having done something related to that.
Money’s on Grace at this point but it is pretty great that all the sisters, plus Roger and Ben, are all in the area.
posted by supercres at 9:45 PM on October 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
Offing Minna was a misstep for this show. Sure, it's a dark, dark comedy, but it didn't need to go there.
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:53 AM on December 19, 2022
posted by mcstayinskool at 6:53 AM on December 19, 2022
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I found Minna’s death expected but really awful. I don’t understand how Becka is not a complete wreck in the present day.
I was very annoyed the stupid things the sisters did, starting with Becka rushing to Minna’s house and nearly getting caught breaking in by JP, then ringing the damn doorbell and asking if Minna was OK! There was NO advantage at all in going to the house to find out for sure. If Minna was OK, she’d find out soon enough, and if Minna wasn’t, it was far too late to save her. Then later, why the hell did Eva and Becka go to Minna’s house by themselves with no one to stand sentry in case JP came, which of course he did?
The way Eva paused when Becka said, “I know what JP did to you”—he definitely did something to her that she’s kept secret from her sisters, something more than tormenting her at work and ruining her friendship with Gabriel. My theory is he sexually assaulted her, maybe at Grace’s 35th birthday party, since he made some snide comments to Eva when Grace was reminiscing about that weekend.
It was sort of satisfying to hear Grace announce at the end that JP was dead. I genuinely have no idea who did it or if it was an accident or how JP died. I mean I guess this is the beauty of a show where absolutely everyone wants the victim dead.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:48 AM on October 7, 2022 [1 favorite]