SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers from Season 2, Episode 8 of “Bad Sisters,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Trust “Bad Sisters” showrunner and actor Sharon Horgan to finish the second season of the hit Apple TV+ series with a literal cliffhanger (which happens to be also be titled “Cliff Hanger.”)
In the eighth and final episode of the season, the surviving Garvey sisters — Eva (Horgan), Bibi (Sarah Greene), Ursula (Eva Birthistle) and Becka (Eve Hewson) — find themselves once again dealing with a dead body after Angelica (Fiona Shaw) thwacks abusive conman Ian (Owen McDonnell) over the head, and leaves him apparently dying in a pool of blood.
Deciding to dispose of Ian’s corpse, the sisters load him into the trunk of their car and plan to throw him off the side of the cliff — but when they reach their destination, it turns out he’s not as dead as they thought. Bleeding and disoriented, Ian escapes the trunk and manages to accidentally throw himself off the side of the cliff, although even that doesn’t finish him off. Which leaves the Garvey girls with a dilemma: Leave Ian to perish on a cliff face, or call an ambulance?
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After some squabbling, they ultimately decide to do the latter, finishing the season with a mirror image of Season 1 (where Grace survived while her abusive first husband JP, a.k.a. The Prick, played by Claes Bang, was murdered.)
Ahead of the Season 2 finale dropping on Apple TV+, the cast and lead director Dearbhla Walsh sat down with Variety to discuss shooting on a cliff edge, why the sisters decide to grant Ian mercy — and whether plans are already afoot for Season 3.
Ian Reilly (Owen McDonnell) in ‘Bad Sisters’ Season 2 (Courtesy of Apple TV+)
Sharon, how did you land on the Ian storyline?
Sharon Horgan: The idea of “Can lightning strike twice?” was the first idea, because women who’ve been in that situation — have been in an abusive relationship — they don’t necessarily walk into a healthy one. Also, they can be targeted. I was nervous in case it was a foolhardy idea just to immediately lead with that, but then everything else that built around it, like what happens to Grace, came out the writers’ room, and again, felt a bit bold. We wanted to show that collateral damage of having a man like [JP] in your life, and just because he’s dead doesn’t mean that the pain goes away and her guilt and her conscience. She’s a very good person who was put in a horrific situation — and would she ever just move on with life?
Dearbhla Walsh: That was such a shock, the success of The Prick in TV terms, and how much people loved to hate him. And then in doing this [second season], not wanting to just say “Here’s Prick, Generation 2.”
Anne-Marie, what were your thoughts on Grace’s relationship, and how she twice ended up with an abuser?
Anne-Marie Duff: I think, sadly, a lot of women and men who find themselves in unhealthy love relationships are repeat offenders until they work out why they’re doing it. There’s a horrible inevitability about it, and that’s what makes it so tragic, because he seems like the ideal man. I mean, Owen is so handsome and so charming, it’s perfect casting, so you feel devastated, the audience. And then for Eva to become slightly involved with him and her to make the discovery, that’s so complex and clever. But sadly, I think there is a sad inevitability about it, isn’t there?
Did you work on a backstory for Grace and why she’s inclined toward abusive relationships?
Duff: I think we all discussed the fact that we [the Garvey sisters] lost our parents very young. Trauma evolves differently in everybody. Some people wear it like a fedora hat. Some people just do everything they can to heal themselves. Some people are collapsers. And I think she tried to find safety in somebody else’s spinal column, and that never works.
That final scene on the cliff’s edge was shot on location in the middle of winter. How close to the edge were you actually shooting?
Horgan: We were right up [to the edge], but we all had harnesses. Terrifying. We all had safety buddies with us as well. But it was right there. You get this weird confidence from having the harness, and you have to actually not lean into it, because otherwise the fear goes and we look way too comfortable.
Walsh: I remember giving you the note, “OK, can we do that again, and this time can you look like it’s actually dangerous?”
Sarah Greene: Dearbhla had to remind us that like this is actually quite scary. But the weather that night was absolutely chaotic. Every time we went on set, it rained, so we spent most of the night in our trailer together, napping in the bed. It was quite a nice time. The crew were soaked. But, yeah, it was a real cliff, it’s not CGI, it’s not a studio somewhere. Dearbhla really wanted to put us on the cliff’s edge.
Eve Hewson: It was multiple, multiple, multiple evenings and multiple cliffs. And then there was two or three nights where they literally harnessed us in, and we climbed down a cliff and had to do the scenes hanging off of a cliff. Those scenes were hilarious and miserable at the same time, because every time it was raining. They would go, “OK, we’re gonna have 20 minutes of dry here. Let’s get the girls out, get them in their harnesses, ready to go.” The minute they would put us in those harnesses, which took about 10 minutes, the rain would start again. So you could only laugh and get completely delirious but those nights are the nights that we really bonded together. So it ends up being really fun, but you are really cold and exhausted by the end.
Eva Birthistle: Yeah, that weather was dreadful. We were hanging off the side of the mountain, in the middle of the night, harnesses on. The ground was really slippery because it was so wet. It happened every time, by the time they’d leave us and we’re about to roll, it would just pour down again. And health and safety are just like, “Cut! No. Get back up.” And the whole night is just us trying to grab something. Meanwhile poor Owen is lying down literally on a rock in the sea, waves actually crashing over him.
Horgan: The state of poor Owen. When he would come in in between, when we would get a little bit of time, like 10 minutes or whatever to relax, he’d just be sitting there, he didn’t even take off [the harness].
Birthistle: [Eventually] he just made the decision, “I’m not going to keep getting back up and down.” Cause he actually — literally — climbed up the mountain. So he just went, “I’m actually grand, I’m grand.” And he lay on that rock splashed by the ocean I’d say for a good six hours.
Walsh: But everybody wanted to do their own stunts. There was nobody saying “I’m not doing that.”
Angelica Collins (Fiona Shaw) in ‘Bad Sisters’ Season 2 (Courtesy of Apple TV+)
Ultimately the sisters decide to save Ian. Sharon, why do you think Eva makes that call?
Horgan: Because of everything that’s happened, and they’re not murderers. They react a lot, the sisters — I mean, obviously not in the first season, that’s all very much a choice — but for me, it was almost more of like, “How can I make it believable that they take on the mess of Ian post-Angelica?” But really, I think there’s a survival in it. They already feel like there’s a very close eye on them. There’s protectiveness for Angelica, even at that point, but the choice to save him — I think it’s just simply that they’re not bad people. All these things have happened to them, and this is one thing that they can reclaim. And it is a big risk, and they’re taking a chance, and God knows what will happen, but in her gut, Eva knew that it was the right choice and it was.
Walsh: And also, I think Blanaid is a huge part of this series.
Horgan: Yeah, [Eva] wanted to make the right choices for her.
Walsh: And I think for ordinary people, it is very hard to kill somebody in real life. It was staying very grounded in that.
Horgan: There’s a huge difference between putting someone in the boot of a car and actually shoving them off the side of a cliff and watching them die. There was nothing in them where that would have felt like a natural choice or the right choice. And once you cross that line, there’s no going back.
Becka is one of the most vocal about letting Ian live. Eve, did you think it was the right decision?
Hewson: I thought it was really smart. And also it showed the reality of who they were. It’s very clever. No one is actually murdered in Season 2, and in Season 1 they don’t actually murder anybody, it’s Grace who does it. And they get themselves into these places where you think, “Oh, they’re murderers. They’re trying to murder people,” but they actually never follow through, whether it’s because of their bad attempts at it or because something morally holds them back. I guess Mina was an accidental murder. But I just think that moment [on the cliff] — Becka is the youngest, and she’s supposed to be the most innocent. And I guess it was getting her to speak to the heart of the problem. They all realize that actually, no matter how much they hate this guy, they’re not gonna murder him.
Sarah, how does Bebe feel about letting Ian live?
Greene: Becka’s right: We’re not murderers. And I think it’s brilliant, just really clever writing by Sharon that they actually don’t ever kill anybody. People have died, but it’s not really their fault. I think yes, she would want him to live.
Birthistle: I love when things aren’t tied up. It just gives you opportunities.
Speaking of which, Sharon, have you got thoughts already for a third season story arc?
Horgan: I mean, you know, we’re always talking about it.
These interviews have been edited and condensed.