On to murder plan #2! Episode 3 opens in the past with Grace having a nightmare about the cabin explosion. She receives a text from Eva informing her the sisters are at the Forty Foot beach. Grace comments she doesn’t know where her sisters find the time, especially Ursula with her 3 kids. JP says Ursula has plenty of time to herself, meaning Ursula’s soon-to-be-revealed affair with Ben. JP is determined to ruin Ursula’s life, even though her affair has nothing to do with him. He just likes being an asshole.
It appears to be a day or two after the cabin explosion. Becka shows up late as usual. Grace is having an Easter egg hunt at the weekend, while Eva prepares a family lunch. Becka tells her sisters she’s going to butter up JP by giving his mother massages as she wants to ask him for a loan for her studio. This is not a wise choice on Becka’s part, as we know JP would never help anyone out of the goodness of his heart. Ursula rushes out of the water to check her phone, hoping to see a message from Ben. The sisters are starting to notice she is acting strange. Eva decides on a new method of killing JP: “We’re doing it with poison this time. Like normal women.” To pull this off without knowledge of poisons, they’re probably going to need nurse Ursula. I’m enjoying learning how the sisters are drawn into the murder plans one by one, and the skills they possess.
In the present, Thomas has a contact for a Detective Inspector – their Dad used to send him a hamper every year, but Thomas has no idea why – and wants to go after his permission for a postmortem. Matthew is not entirely on board with his brother’s plan. Becka calls Matthew yet again, their date apparently went well. They still have no idea who the other really is. Thomas and Matthew show up to Ursula’s house and try to trip her up, saying Ursula was with her husband the night of JPs death. Ursula sticks to the lie and says no, she was with her sisters and that they were all one big happy family, which Thomas and Matthew already know is far from the truth…
A flashback shows Ursula leaving a hotel with her boyfriend Ben. They kiss in public like idiots. Someone is watching them and sure enough, it’s JP. He deliberately hits her car in the parking lot, teases her about the affair and tells her to finish it with Ben or he’ll tell. He calls her disgraceful, vile and disgusting – I find these far better words to describe JP himself. This will definitely be the episode Ursula joins Eva and Bibi’s murder plot. In the present, Thomas and Matthew question the car claim for JP and Ursula’s collision (insurance claim 2/4). Ursula says she was just having lunch with an old friend. Thomas takes pictures of all the pills in Ursula’s medicine cabinet and steals her trash bag from her bin as he leaves. What are they hoping to find in Eva’s and Grace’s trash? A handwritten murder plan? Used matches? An empty syringe?
Bibi reminds Eva that JP eats liver on Monday nights, and says they need to bring Ursula in on this. When Ursula and family pull up to Grace’s Easter egg hunt, JP taunts Ursula before she gets out of the car. He asks Ursula if it’s finished with Ben and she says it is, hoping to get him off her back and keep him from telling her husband Donal. During Easter lunch, Ursula connects the dots and realizes Eva and Bibi blew up the cabin. JP later catches Ursula texting Ben in the next room. He deletes Ben’s number in her phone and replaces it with his own. After tricking Ursula into sending him a raunchy pic, he sends he a text telling her she dropped her napkin. JP sends another text saying he’s sent the messages on to Donal, and Ursula freaks out and leaves. I can feel the pure panic in Ursula as she races to the hospital (Donal’s a paramedic), manages to get Donal’s phone out of his locker and bribes her daughter with an ear piercing in exchange for the pin number. Ursula deletes JPs texts just before Donal shows up. She pretends they were just bringing him some Easter eggs, and I breathe a sigh of relief for Ursula. Her secret is safe for now, but she’s realized something must be done about JP.
Eva and Bibi discuss different poisons at Eva’s house. Ursula shows up and confesses to Eva about her affair with Ben and how JP is threatening her. Bibi appears from the other room and pitches the murder plot to Ursula, who thinks they’re insane. After pointing out the flaws in their poisoning plan, she storms out, before returning a couple of hours later with a syringe of something to cause fatal cardiac arrhythmia. 300mg into the liver JP is going to eat should work. Do it quick, she says, before she changes her mind. Bibi injects the poison into a piece of liver, and Eva smuggles it into Grace’s freezer. The plan is set, what could possibly go wrong this time?
A few days later, Eva and Bibi go to Ursula’s. They’re worried they haven’t heard from Grace. The phone goes, and it’s Grace telling them he’s dead. A fatal heart attack in his sleep. For a second, the sisters think they have succeeded… until Grace tells them her little dog Oscar was the one that died. Grace had given him the liver after dropping it on the floor. The sisters feel horrible. Bibi screams into a pillow and boy, do I feel her frustration. Attempt 2 is officially a failure.
In the present day, Becka is on the back of Matthew’s scooter after a beach date. She points out the studio she wanted but never got – sure enough, JP didn’t help her. Eva, Grace and Bibi discuss how Thomas and Matthew thought Ursula and JP were having an affair. Ursula is sure Thomas went through her medicine cabinet (he did), Bibi says they better not try that shit on her, and I personally cannot wait to see Thomas and Matthew try anything with Bibi. It won’t end well for them. She’s quickly becoming my favorite Garvey sister. Eva says they’ll be fine as long as Becka keeps her mouth shut. But when and how did Becka become involved? Hopefully we learn this piece of the puzzle next week.
I really enjoyed this episode. I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen with the poisoning plot (RIP, Oscar) but I’m intrigued to see what murder method the sisters come up with next… and for JP to meet his demise. This episode showed us more about Ursula’s life and how she found her way into the plan. Each sister shines in her own way, and I love their individual personalities and quirks.
