When it comes to the Apple show ‘Bad Sisters,’ we always knew that things were far from what they looked like. With “Bad Sisters” Episode 5, ‘An eye for an eye,’ we might just begin to unravel what they actually look like. Somewhat deceptively, it comes across as a filler episode, but the devil is in the details. Unlike the last few weeks, this week was a little slower in its pace, with some subplots that were definitely unnecessary. But they could lead to something in the future. Let’s take a look at how “Bad Sisters” Episode 5 plays out.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Present Day Storyline?
We know by now that the story intercuts between the events leading to John Paul’s death and the current day. Like the previous episodes, this starts with Tom and Matt showing up to interview Bibi. Within the conversation, they ask her how she feels about losing her eye due to John Paul. Bibi doesn’t care to be as diplomatic as her sisters and says that she is even with JP after he got a hole put in his head. We need to know what that means. Right then, Bibi’s wife, Nora, comes into the house. Seemingly nicer than Bibi, upon knowing that the two men are the insurance agents, she asks them point blank when they are going to give Grace her money. She also goes as far as to tell them that she hated JP as he never took any responsibility for what happened to Bibi. But before she can say more, Becka enters the house. Tom and Matt prepare to leave, and there is a brief moment of flirtation between the two, which is caught by both Matt and Bibi. They warn their siblings to end it for the better. But things take a major turn for Matt. Tom’s wife takes his case and tells him to solve this once and for all, as she is unable to see her husband under so much stress. She tells him where Tom keeps his files as well as the password for his computer.
Matt listens to her and checks the computer but finds no record of John Paul. He also finds a letter by his father, Liam Clafflin, that reveals that this is why their father committed suicide. Matt confronts Tom about it, and the latter admits that their father was a crook who never filed any insurance claims for his clients. He just kept taking their money to live his life and left a big mess for him to clean up. They do not have the money for John Paul’s insurance claim, and should they have to pay it, they will just go to jail. Matt is furious and questions why he wasn’t told this before. He also yells at his brother that there was absolutely no need for him to cover for their father. He could have just let him take the fall. But Tom disagrees. In a state of pure anger and frustration, Matt makes his way to Becka’s house, and they end up sleeping together. Let’s remember that Matt has told not just Becka but also Tom that the door to love is closed in his heart. We are sensing major heartbreak coming Becka’s way in the future episodes.
What Happens In The Flashback Storyline?
Let us start with a tiny subplot that puts us much more at ease. In “Bad Sisters” Episode 4, we saw that John Paul had started to impersonate a 10-year-old boy named Oscar on the internet and was trying to cause trouble for Roger. He keeps up with the charade but thank goodness Roger is as decent as we have perceived him to be, as he does not entertain Oscar at all. But, knowing the sadist manipulator that John Paul is, he may still bend the situation to his advantage. Eva, for her part, goes on a date with Ben. While at an art gallery, the pair run into an ex of hers—Ciaran. He is happily married with two children and a third one on the way. When leaving after exchanging pleasantries, Ben asks Eva if Ciaran meant a lot to her. She reveals that about a decade ago, they were almost going to start a family together but couldn’t when Eva discovered that she was not fertile. Ben tells her that they should just go ahead and party. Both of them make their way back to Ben’s boat, and just when things are about to get serious, he tells her that he is gay. She is naturally furious for being led on for so long, but Ben claims that it is all a misunderstanding. While she initially storms off, she comes back, and they both have a good laugh about it.
In “Bad Sisters” Episode 5, it is the character arcs of Grace and Bibi that cause us the most heartbreak. Considering everything her daughter said to her in the previous episode, Grace decides to attend some dance classes as a way of finding something to do. But in the class, she is completely lost. The dance lesson required one to let go of themselves and embrace their inner joy and wildness with abandon. Grace did not find those within her. Let us take a second to note that JP calls his wife “Mammy” more than he calls her Grace. He has turned her into a shell of a woman who he recognizes as nothing more than the mother of his child. And Grace’s entire world revolves around that. Therefore, when she is required to connect with herself for the lesson, she is unable to do so because she has simply lost herself somewhere. The day gets worse for her as she is blamed for killing her daughter’s cat, which was actually JP’s fault, but he let his wife take the fall for it. That night, when she tries to get intimate with her husband, he rejects her advances, which seriously affects her self-worth. Maybe there is still some merit to our theory that it is ultimately Grace who ends up snapping and killing her husband, or at the very least, joining their plan for it.
When it comes to Bibi, she comes up with a plan that can be carried out on JP’s birthday. They are all going for paintball, and she decides to aim for the back of his head with her gun. She practices for the big day with a watermelon but is not successful. There is a side to Bibi—one that refuses to believe that her life is ‘destroyed’ as the others constantly put it after she lost her eye. The reason JP was responsible was that they were both in his car with him driving. The Garvey sisters’ parents had died in a similar car crash, and she was having an anxiety attack. She asks JP to stop, and he refuses to do so. Out of desperation, she takes the wheel into her own hand, which causes the car to skid, leading to an accident where she loses her eye. There is a look of pity in everyone’s eyes when they see her that Bibi finds hard to stomach. She flinches when Nora says that JP ruined her life. Bibi believes that her life is complete with or without the extra eye, and she wants to have more than sympathy from the people she loves. This is why she takes it rather personally when she is unable to get the shot right. Her last straw is probably when her son seems embarrassed of her for having just one eye. In her own clever way, she convinces him that she is still his supermom, and she masters the shot in the very next scene. Now it’s time to see their plan come to light.
‘Bad Sisters’ Episode 5: Ending Explained- Does Bibi Manage To Shoot John Paul?
At the paintball game, JP changes the rules. Instead of two teams trying to eliminate each other, he decides that the one with the rabbit’s foot in his pocket will be the target. They would have to get from one end of the ground to the other, without getting shot. The sisters decide to improvise with their plan to get the shot on John Paul’s head. As Grace tries to escape the guns, she is caught by JP. Him being the sadist that he is, is not satisfied by hitting her once and continues shooting her with the gun. The sisters see this, and they start firing at him. He hides to escape, and that is when Bibi aims at him. At that moment, she recollects the past and doesn’t fire as soon as she should have. To encourage her, Becka gives her a slight nudge, but unfortunately, that was the exact moment that she took a shot, causing her to misfire and injure the coordinator’s eye. Bibi is physically sick at what she has done and slaps Becka for causing that to happen. Once more, John Paul is safe, and the sisters’ plan has failed.
Final Thoughts: What Can We Expect From ‘Bad Sisters’ Episode 6?
We finally have Bibi’s backstory, the one we have been waiting for so long. A lot of our questions have been answered. But we remember that Eva had said that the Clafflin brothers were very far off the mark with their suspicions that the sisters had anything to do with JP’s death. And we also see Grace getting closer and closer to falling off the edge. Our suspicion is that she is more than a wife caught up in an abusive marriage, and we look forward to seeing the future of her character. In the present-day storyline, things have certainly gotten more complicated with Matt and Becka, so it remains to be seen what happens with them. Right now, we just want to know how John Paul died. We are being patient because it is a great show, but it is high time we see how this despicable person came to meet his end. I hope to see that in Episode 6.
See More: ‘Bad Sisters’ Episode 6: Recap & Ending, Explained – Did John Paul Try To Commit Suicide?
