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Welcome to Apple TV+'s 'Bad Sisters' - a series that is so good, it justifies the price of a subscription to the streamer on its own.
Based on the 10 part 2012 Flemish TV series 'Clan,' the black comedy has been relocated to Dublin and brought back to the small screen with a mostly Irish cast by Sharon Horgan, Brett Baer and Dave Finkel.
Horgan plays Eva Garvey, the eldest of three sisters who find themselves plotting the murder of the odious husband of another sister, Anne-Marie Duff's Grace Williams.
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The target is Claes Bang's John Paul Williams, - a man so horrible you suspect he eats toddlers every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner washed down with the blood of puppies.
John Paul coercively controls his wife, eroding her confidence and bad mouthing her family.
He works at the same office as Eva and out of pure spite not only sets out to sabotage her bid for promotion by character assassinating her but pitches himself directly against her in the competition.
If you think that's bad, he's responsible for the second youngest sister, Sarah Greene's Bibi losing her right eye.
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John Paul also takes pleasure in blackmailing in the worst way possible the second oldest sibling, Eva Birthistle's nurse and mother of three, Ursula Flynn after discovering that she is having an extra-marital affair with an artist, Peter Coonan's Ben.
The youngest sibling, Eve Hewson's professional masseuse Becka Garvey also isn't immune.
She's led on by John Paul that he is going to invest in her plan for a harbour massage studio, only for him to pull the plug at the last minute and gaslight her.
In his spare time when he is not bullying his wife or the Garvey sisters, he's threatening to put his elderly mum and dementia sufferer Nina Noren's Minna in a home.
© Apple TV+John Paul also sets out to destroy the reputation of a kind hearted neighbour, Michael Smiley's Roger Muldoon just because he is fond of Grace.
While each of them has an axe to grind with John Paul, what really grates with Grace's sisters is how he treats her.
Grace has become a browbeaten mouse who, as a result of John Paul's coercive control, has lost confidence, has become more distant from all of them and is forced to constantly excuse his behaviour.
What begins as a fanciful notion of killing a brother-in-law they all call "the prick" quickly becomes a serious endeavour.
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© Apple TV+But like 'Wild E Coyote' and 'Road Runner,' they have several attempts at bumping him off but the bastard keeps on surviving.
We know from the first episode John Paul dies.
We see him in his coffin, sporting an erection.
However the question that buzzes throughout the series is: did the Garvey sisters kill him or did they not?
© Apple TV+Horgan, Finkel and Baer enjoy keeping their audience guessing with the help of their fellow scriptwriters Karen Cogan, Ailbhe Keogan, Daniel Cullen, Perrie Balthazar and Paul Howard
They do that by shifting timelines to before and after John Paul's funeral and throwing into the mix an investigation by two brothers in an insurance firm.
Purely on a whim, Brian Gleeson's Thomas Claffin suspects foul play.
But he desperately wants that theory to be true because he needs to avoid a payout to Grace that could ultimately sink his family's insurance firm.
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Claffin and Sons has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
His half-brother Daryl McCormick's Matthew Claffin is an uncomfortable fellow traveller, as he witnesses Thomas' desperate and occasionally dubious attempts to avoid a payout.
By pure chance Matthew has started to date Becka, only to later discover she and her sisters are the subject of his insurance firm's investigation.
And that just adds another layer of intrigue.
© Apple TV+Stylishly directed by Dearbhla Walsh, Josephine Bornebusch and Rebecca Gatward, 'Bad Sisters' is a mischievous and consistently funny dark comedy that revels in its Dublin setting.
The writing is top notch and the cast are just excellent.
Horgan, Birthistle, Greene, Hewson and Duff deliver one of the most convincing portrayals of sisters seen on the big or small screen for years.
From the off, they laugh, bitch, conspire and bicker and express frustration at John Paul's treatment of Grace.
© Apple TV+Bang, who is no stranger to playing villains, doesn't just create his most monstrous character to date but delivers a career best performance.
The brilliance of his performance is such that John Paul is so warped from the off, you are just willing him to be bumped off and feel no guilt for doing so.
In fact, you feel it might be a mercy killing for everyone involved.
Gleeson and McCormick are a delight too as brothers - the former accentuates Thomas's desperation to the point where you know he is willing to go to any length to avoid a payout.
© Apple TV+McCormick turns in a charismatic performance as a man in two minds about betraying the woman he has fallen for for a job his heart's not really in.
It's also lovely to see Smiley shine in a nice guy role and Coonan is as effective as ever as Ursula's smitten lover.
Horgan, Baer and Finkel have managed to coax other accomplished Irish actors in minor roles.
Seana Kerslake pops up as Thomas Claffin's pregnant wife Theresa and is a vivacious presence, as always.
© Apple TV+Barry Ward is fun as a golf mad detective who the Claffins lobby to exhume John Paul's remains for an autopsy to determine if there was foul play.
Jonjo O'Neill plays Ursula's wronged husband, a paramedic who at one point dresses her down away from the kids for not being there for them.
Saise Quinn is John Paul and Grace's teenage daughter Blanaid who enjoys a close relationship with her aunts - particularly Eva.
As for the remainder of the cast, Yasmine Akram is good value as Bibi's wife Nora, as is Lloyd Hutchinson as Eva and John Paul's gullible boss Gerald Fisher.
© Apple TV+Noren is very sweet as John Paul's doting mum - gelling well with Hewson in particular.
The other eye catching turn is from the French Moroccan actor Assaad Bouab as Gabriel, a co-worker who Eva develops a crush for.
While proudly revelling in its Coen Brothers style black humour, fans of 'Pulling,' 'Catastrophe' and 'This Way Up' will be reassured that 'Bad Sisters' boasts Horgan's ear for an irreverent line and self-deprecating humour.
But the show also works very well as a thriller, understanding how to dole out its cliffhangers and treading the line between comedy and drama so skilfully, it never loses your investment even when it is being outlandish.
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Superbly edited by Isobel Stephenson, Anne Sopel, Catherine Creed, Derek Holland and Finn Oates, north Dublin - particularly Malahide, Howth, Sandycove and the Forty Foot - benefits from some slick cinematography by Tim Palmer, David Pimm, Evelin van Rei and Nicole Hirsch Whittaker.
And to top it all, PJ Harvey delivers a fantastic version of Leonard Cohen's 'Who By Fire' as the theme song in its cleverly constructed opening credits.
'Bad Sisters' is unquestionably one of the best shows to hit our screens this year.
It marks a significant gear shift for Horgan as a writer, producer and actor - enabling her to show there are a lot more strings to her bow than as the creator of very witty 30 minute sitcoms.
© Apple TV+It also marks a big moment for a host of Irish writers, director and actors - giving them the international showcase they deserve.
While it is great to see Horgan stretching herself onscreen, it is equally satisfying watching Birthistle, Greene, Hewson, McCormick, Gleeson, Kerslake, Ward, O'Neill, Smiley, Coonan and Duff (whose parents are Irish) getting a chance to show an international audience just how good they are after years of impressing Irish and British audiences.
Apple TV+ has first dibs on all future projects by Horgan.
After 'Bad Sisters,' that's looking like one hell of a deal.
(Weekly episodes of 'Bad Sisters' were made available on Apple TV+ from August 19-October 7, 2022)
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