Grisly Goings-on in the Irish Countryside

Bad Sisters Season 2 | Cast: Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Eve Hewson | Creator: Sharon Horgan | English | Apple TV +

Sisterhood is a great new genre for TV series, from actual sisters in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag to a sorority defined by power in this season’s dystopian drama Dune: The Prophecy. Bad Sisters is a deliciously wicked take on female solidarity. In Season 1, the Garvey sisters, five of them of varying sexual appetites and sexualities, got together and murdered the husband of one of them, a particularly vile creature played with venom and vigour by Claes Bang. The second season opens with another body in the boot of a car that is pushed off a cliff, so we have another mystery to crack open. The first episode also packs in a wedding by the wife of the unlamented dead husband and a church-going busybody played with relish by the great Fiona Shaw. The shadow of the first season weighs heavily on the second, with the sisters in jumpy mode whenever they see a police official, which is often. It is a diabolical fantasy come to life but it seems that the good-bad sisters will finally have to pay a price. The buzzy Irish drama is funny as usual and scores with each sister bringing her unique energy to the show. No one is as they seem as the sisters hurtle towards disaster with a very enthusiastic new officer on their tail, played by Thaddea Graham. Lots of salmon, the seascape, secrets, and suspicious neighbours: what’s not to like?

Why watch it? It’s almost like Agatha Christie on steroids, set in the Irish countryside. The episodes drop weekly, heightening the tension

Blazing Streets

Agni | Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Divyenndu Director: Rahul Dholakia | Hindi | Prime Video

Those who live among the flames become immortal. What begins as a straightforward paean to Mumbai firefighters who sacrifice their lives to save ours, grows into a careful examination of the way the city runs. The corrupt politician, the swaggering police, the tireless firefighters, the rapacious builders and caught between them the ordinary citizen who is denied safety and security. Mumbai is an old city and has several unsafe and dangerous buildings, which need to be torn down. They may have no value but the land on which they stand does. A series of fires catches the attention of the Mumbai fire department. Are they accidents or the result of arson? And if it is arson, who is responsible for it? Some brilliantly staged fires are the centrepiece but the real heart is the relationship between the lead firefighter, Vithal Rao, played by Pratik Gandhi, and the encounter specialist police officer, Samit, played by Divyendu. They are frenemies at work and at home, representing two distinct ideologies—of sacrifice and greed. It is unexpectedly moving and though it veers into clichés sometimes, the performances give it gravitas.

Why watch it? For its craft and its heart

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