Bad Sisters season 2 ending explained: What really happened to Grace?

The eight-part series has followed the Garvey sisters as they investigate the tragic loss of their sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), who died in a fatal car crash at the end of episode two.

In the days leading up to her death, Grace was acting off: her seemingly nice new husband Ian (Owen McDonnell) vanished, she’d withdrawn a significant amount of cash from the bank and been haunted by killing her abusive late husband John Paul (Claes Bang) in the form of her co-corroborator Roger (Michael Smiley) and the police.

As the series progressed, the tight-knit sisters in this deliciously dark comedy have discovered that Ian was not who he said he was, Angelica (Fiona Shaw) – though batty and annoying – was harmless to Grace, and they could all be on the precipice of being charged with attempted murder.

Not to mention that Ian has taken all of Blánaid’s savings from Grace, too, after manipulating and sleeping with Eva (Sharon Horgan). With so much to unravel in the finale, here’s that satisfying dark and emotional ending explained. Be warned, spoilers ahead!

Bad Sisters season 2 ending explained

In a flashback, the events of Ian’s departure in episode 1 are told in more detail, with key new information. After Grace told Ian that she killed her husband, he looked horrified and left, and as he did she hit him on the back in frustration.

In the finale, audiences see that Ian then pushed her to the floor, injuring her arm. In shock and horror that she’d married another monster, Grace breaks down. When Becka (Eve Hewson) later finds Ian’s secret phone in the bathroom, Grace charges it up and calls the number – only to have a wife answer – and discovers Ian’s real name is Cormac.

He takes over the phone and says in order to keep her secret – of killing John Paul – it has to be worth his while, so he asks her to bring money to the bar, as he says he wants "what’s owed to him". What we didn’t know before is that Grace met with him – not before hiding all the money in with the tortoises – and confronted him for being a liar and a cheat.

Here, Ian shows his true colours. He admits Grace was "just a mark" and he strategically attended the bereavement group to blackmail her for the money she inherited, the house and everything he feels he "deserves".

Spewing hateful comments, he tells Grace that he’ll go to the police if she doesn’t pay and her daughter will believe him over her.

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In a defining act of strong will, Grace shows her true colours, too: she demands he stay away from her family, as he’s eating nothing and drives away. Long gone is the nervous, cowering Grace and a new woman has emerged, until she panics while driving about losing an earring from her daughter and has the fatal crash.

It was an unfortunate accident after all, though in many ways, Ian is to blame for both her being in the car and nervously driving home.

In the present, Eva gets home to find Ian at her house with Blánaid (Saise Quinn) as he wants to get a few things straight with the Garvey sisters, who Eva has already texted to come over.

Eva refuses to listen to him, and in a lucky turn of events – keeping face in front of Blánaid – Ursula (Eva Birthistle) manages to take Ian’s car to drive Blánaid to Molly’s for pizza, so they can talk candidly without overhearing her.

Simultaneously, Houlihan (Thaddea Graham) discovers that Ian is in fact a disgraced police officer known as Cormac Sweeney with a record of harassment and abusive behaviour towards other women, including his wife. She tells her superior that he’s a "dangerous" man and she wants to go after him, only to be met with sexism and a threat of being "passed over" for every job in the future.

Meanwhile, the Garveys listen in disgust to Ian’s truth, as he admits he never loved Grace and he was always in it for the money. Becka attacks him to stop and he smashes her head into the kitchen sink, causing damage to her eye – which we see in the flash forward in episode 1.

To make matters worse, Angelica arrives by her bike and overhears Ian spewing hatred about Grace and says "how could anyone love a murdering nut job". In her own rage, Angelica hits Ian over the head and he knocks it further as he falls to the ground. As blood gushes from his head, Ian collapses to the floor.

Now, the sisters and Angelica are embroiled in another murder, and Houlihan arrives at the door, while the sisters have to cover up the fact there’s a dead body in the kitchen. Houlihan is looking for Ian and can’t get hold of him. The sisters move the body and hide him behind the sofa in case Houlihan comes in.

At night, they decide to take Ian’s car, put him in the boot and throw him over into the ocean. As they head off, Angelica goes to dispose of Ian’s car only to run into Houlihan at Grace’s house.

The cliffside then connects with the flashback to the opening of season 2, when the sisters are disposing of Ian’s supposedly dead body, only for him to gasp and wake up.

His sight is damaged from the head injury and, disorientated, he stumbles off the cliff.

However, he only lands onto a rock, wrapped in Becka’s towel with her name embroidered on it. Bibi wants to finish the job and push him off, only to almost fall herself before her sisters drag her back up.

As the sisters turn to Eva, the family matriarch, to decide what’s next, Eva says they are phoning the police and ending this all now.

Becka says "we’re not murderers" and Eva phones the police anonymously to say they saw someone go over the cliffs.

As they arrive back home the next morning, Angelica, ridden with guilt, confesses and begs for forgiveness as Houlihan inspects the boot and they reveal he isn’t dead.

The Garvey sisters are enraged that Houlihan knows about Ian’s true identity as Cormac, as Urusla then reveals Grace died trying to get away from Ian as they say that "her mate" covered that up.

Eva asks why she waited for them to come back, instead of arresting Angelica, but Houlihan said she isn’t covering up criminal behaviour in the force, even though her partner hid evidence. The sisters say they’ve had their punishment, as Grace is dead. All that’s left is Cormac.

In between the heaviness are the lighter moments, too, but the main thing is for justice to be served. Houlihan enlists the help of Fergal Loftus, her now retired mentor, to visit Cormac in the hospital and confront him.

While Cormac tells her to press charges against the Garveys, as they tried to kill him, they suggest something else. He’s the one in trouble here, committing fraud, embezzlement, bigamy, spousal abuse, and been thrown off the force.

Loftus says that the Garvey sisters would have succeeded if they tried to kill him, before he says he will destroy evidence if he has too and contradict every word he says. Houlihan also has friends in the PSNI – his previous force – and she tells him to give the money back to the Garveys. They decide to call it an accident and a miracle.

Loftus compliments his former partner, as she admits she’s packing in the job with all the corruption and sexism in the force. However, he tells her to stay as otherwise it’ll get "more broken" without a good officer there.

As everything is resolved, there’s one last goodbye to settle.

The Garvey sisters, with Becka's new baby in tow, Joe, a pregnant Nora and Blánaid, say their final teary goodbye to Grace. In an emotional final scene, a montage plays of their life and Grace’s own, as they float the ashes out to sea and blow kisses and final farewells to their late sister.

Bad Sisters seasons 1-2 are available to stream now on Apple TV+ – sign up to Apple TV+ here.

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