Bad Sisters: Ending explained - who killed John Paul?

*SPOILER ALERT* Learn how John Paul finally met his end

a close up of Bad Sisters characters Eva, Bibi, Ursula and Becka inside a wardrobe
(Image credit: Future/AppleTV)

It's the event AppleTV viewers have been waiting for - the Bad Sisters ending - where we'll finally get to the bottom of John Paul's death and who was behind it.

It's the question on everyone's lips as the anticipated finale of Bad Sisters draws to a close the agonising guessing game of which Garvey sister killed "The Prick" John Paul - plus whether the girls will get away it. Dark comedy Bad Sisters filmed in an array of remote and beautiful Irish locations has been a hit with viewers from the start, thanks to it's witty script, addictive plot line, comic moments and of course the characters brought to life by an all-star cast. The series has provoked a lot of questions for audiences during it's 10-episode run, with people wanting details on individual characters like why does Bibi have an eye patch to wider insight into if Bad Sisters is a remake and how the Sharon Horgan executive produced show came to be.

Episode 10 neatly wraps all the loose plot points together, giving viewers answers to a lot of sub-storylines in the show - from JP's death to Becka and Matt's relationship. We delve into these below, also providing a full ending explainer on how things finished.

Bad Sisters: Ending explained - who killed John Paul?

In the Bad Sisters ending, we learn that it was Grace who killed her husband John Paul by strangling him to death with his pyjama top. On the night of her birthday at the cabin, the two got into a row, with John Paul claiming that the reason he no longer wants sex with his wife is because he slept with her sister Eva ten years ago.

He alleges that the incident "messed" him up and that Grace's sister Eva bears a grudge against John Paul because shortly after she had a miscarriage. A shocked and emotional Grace however believes none of it - and instead asks if he raped Eva. As the lies continue to come out of John Paul's mouth, Grace loses it, jumps onto the bed and grabs the collar of his pyjama top from behind, strangling him.

"You blamed me! You made me think it was me! You f***ing monster," she utters aloud, just moments after his death.

Grace then retreats downstairs and puts on the film Isadora - which ultimately gives her the idea of how to conceal his death. She knits a red scarf, gets John Paul dressed in different clothes and drags him outside the cabin and onto a bike. She then proceeds to wrap the scarf around John Paul's neck and tangle it around the wheel - before turning the engine on. This is how the police later find JP.

We later learn at the very end that neighbour Roger also helped Grace to pull the 'accident' scene off. In a flashback we see him helping Grace pull John Paul's body out of the cabin and near the tree. 

Bad Sisters: Full finale breakdown

The finale opens with John Paul seen dead on a quadbike in the woods - not far from the holiday cabin he shares with wife Gracie. 

As the sisters rally round Grace in the immediate aftermath of John Paul's death, she tells them that the two enjoyed her birthday dinner together, but that things turned sour when she suggested to John Paul that they have an early night. "He just got so angry with me. So he left. Went off on the bike to the pub to watch the match, so I just went to bed."

John Paul and his wife Grace in the Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

The episode then jumps forward to present day with Matt in the Claffin and Sons office, chatting to Thomas on the phone. He asks his brother to take care of things whilst he's at the hospital waiting for news on his wife and their unborn child. This includes the John Paul case and general admin things such as dropping off the thank you Gaelic football tickets to the coroner. Matt then spots Becka coming to look for him and attempts to hides behind his desk - before being discovered. In an awkward exchange, Thomas tells Becka that he went to the pub in Wicklow - the one where John Paul was the night of his death - and that the barmaid said she remembered Becka being there. "So, you and your sisters weren't together at all, were you?" gripes Thomas. "Barmaid, got it wrong," replies Becka, adding: "How'd those post-mortem results work out for you? Or did you get that wrong too? 

Becka goes over to Grace's house where all the Garvey sisters are together helping the widow pack up John Paul's clothes. When Gracie momentarily leaves the room, Becka shares to the others that Matt knows their alibi doesn't add up - causing them to panic. Meanwhile on the other side of town - Matt notices a post it note on Thomas's desk which says "Interview Roger - weird guy across the street". He sets off to seek out Gracie's neighbour.

The sisters (minus Gracie) meet up for brunch to get their alibis sorted. Ursula confirms that she spent the night of John Paul's death with Ben - her lover. Eva wonders if Ben could have done something to John Paul - especially as Ursula had sedative drug Pentobarbital in her washbag in preparation for another (now not necessary) plot to kill John Paul. Ursula goes to Ben's house and asks whether he killed John Paul. "It repulsed me. What you asked me to do, it repulsed me," Ben tells Ursula, who says "I didn't ask you to do anything". He adds that the reason he left Ursula that night was because he couldn't stand being with her anymore and knew their affair was over. It certainly rules Ben out as being one suspect in John Paul's death. 

Matt goes to Roger's house to seek out further answers and is surprised by what Roger reveals. He tells Matt about John Paul calling the police on him and suggesting his neighbour has "an unnatural interest in children" - which led to Roger being kicked out of the church. He adds that he went to the cabin the night John Paul died to forgive him and that John Paul made it his mission to interfere in the lives of his sister-in-laws. He then tells Matt to leave.

Anne Marie Duff as Grace Williams in the Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

Matt bumps into Gracie arriving home outside, he asks if she remembers seeing Roger at the cabin that night and also shares that Roger claims John Paul was behind the pedaphilia set-up. A shocked Gracie runs indoors, up to John Paul's home office in the attic and starts rifling through his things - discovering his porn habit and eventually the church chat group where John Paul acted as young boy 'Oscar' to snare Roger. It's safe to say she's disgusted by what she learns.

Matt in the meantime gets back on his bike and heads for the cabin to seek out any further clues. He breaks into the cabin and searches the place, then checks through a rubbish bag - with a newspaper catching his attention. The article it's open on is a write-up of a Gaelic football game and with it comes another new piece of information. After the couple's row on Gracie's birthday night, John Paul told his wife that he was off to watch the football at the pub. However Matt uncovers that John Paul actually lied to Grace as the football wasn't on that night - the game was in fact the night after. So where did John Paul go instead? This certainly matches up with the barmaid's narrative - who couldn't recall seeing him in the pub the night of his death when questioned by Matt in an earlier episode.

Back to Grace at home, and the widow experiences another surprise upon opening a letter - which tells her of the recent post-mortem on John Paul's body. She heads straight to Eva's and finds the rest of her sisters there - who have been again discussing what really happened to John Paul. Grace tells them of the post-mortem letter and learns that they already knew about it. It's at this point that Bibi reluctantly shares the sisters plan all along - that they wanted John Paul dead...

"I'm so sorry," reacts Grace, "I'm so so sorry". The action then returns back to the cabin on the night of Grace's birthday, with the sister re-telling her own version of events. She and John Paul are seen fairly inebriated heading up the stairs to the bedroom, where they start making love. But the sex comes to an abrupt stop when John Paul fails to get aroused. When Grace goes to talk about the impotence issue, John Paul sharply fires back: "You're a fly on the wall, you're a shadow. If I turn out that light right now, you wouldn't even exist." As an upset Grace goes to leave and meet her sister, he acerbically adds: "Do you want to know why I have issues getting it up with you? Because one of your precious sisters seduced me, that's why."

John Paul goes on to reveal that Eva (Sharon Horgan) allegedly came onto him ten years ago - and that he was drunk and thought it was his wife. "It's messed me up. It's messed me up ever since." He goes on to say that the night is what led to Eva's miscarriage and that she blames John Paul for it. However, Grace calls him out as a liar, not believing his story. As she starts seeing her husband for what he is - a calculated, manipulative liar - she loses it and strangles John Paul to death with his pyjama shirt. "You blamed me! You made me think it was me! You f***ing monster," she utters aloud, just moments after his death.

Back to the present and the sisters react to Grace's confession at Eva's house. Eva tells Grace that what he accused her of was a lie - and in fact John Paul had raped here when she was drunk and defenceless. She also shares that she didn't realise she was pregnant at the time of the event - and that later on when she miscarried that she believed it was "punishment" for what had happened.

Eva, Bibi, Grace and Ursula sat around the table in the Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

The action flits back to the cabin where Matt is tidying the rubbish up, when he stumbles upon another clue - a DVD of 1968 biopic Isadora. He notices the disc is missing inside and locates it in the DVD player. He presses play and then watches as in the film - the dancer wearing a red scarf, flailing around in a car, gets her scarf caught in the car's wheel and is strangled to death. Matt runs over to the evidence file he has on John Paul - and pulls out a picture of John Paul's body from the crime scene. It shows him draped in a red scarf, wrapped round the wheel of the bike - making it look like this is how he was strangled.

Grace explains how she achieved the accident set-up to her sisters (aided by visual flashbacks). "You buried him in the murder weapon," says Bibi. "His pyjamas". The sisters heart to heart is interrupted when Becka gets a call from Matt. He says he's been at the cabin, he knows what happened and wants to talk. 

Matt and Becka meet, at first she tells him that she killed John Paul - but Matt argues back that he knows it was Grace who murdered him. Becka tells Matt that John Paul was an abuser and a rapist who ruined all the sisters' lives. In another dramatic turn of events, the sisters - at Eva's - realise that Becka has taken Ursula's Pentobarbital. They rush over to Becka's house, where she's seen adding it to one of two glasses of coke. She returns to the sitting room where Matt is and hands him one of the glasses. After confessing her love for him, Matt apologises and says he can't do this. He takes a sip of coke, before Becka tells him to "Just go".

Not long after Matt's departure, Eva rushes into Becka's house and sees her sat on the floor. "I didn't do It," she tells Eva - clarifying that Matt did not drink the coke that had the pento in it and is therefore fine. Bibi and Ursula follow behind and start discussing what will happen to them all now that Matt knows the truth. And just as Bibi mentions that they only tried to kill him a few times, Matt reappears at Becka's front door. "What are you going to do now," Eva asks him.

The drama then follows a stressed Matt as he makes his way to the beach - toying everything up in his mind. When a nearby group of people leave the beach - and their bonfire behind - Matt goes over to it and pulls out the evidence folder. He then proceeds to burn the life insurance document, the Isadora DVD, the red knitting yarn (that made up JP's death scarf), plus a photo of John Paul.

Leaving the beach, Matt then appears at the hospital to greet Thomas.  "I've a daughter. I'm a father, Matt. I'm a daddy," an ecstatic Thomas tells his brother. After enquiring about the baby and mother, Matt tells Thomas that they don't have to pay out the John Paul Williams life insurance claim. "Grace Williams. She's withdrawn the claim," Matt says. Mentioning that everyone has their secrets, a delighted Thomas calls his brother a "clever b*****d" and celebrates.

Roger and John Paul from the Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

Bad Sisters ends with Grace Williams set to move out of the family home she shared with John Paul. As the removal men pack up, she goes over to neighbour Roger and explains she and her daughter Blanaid are moving into Eva's house. Grace also thanks Roger for his help on the night of John Paul's death. 

It turns out that Roger returned to the cabin for a second time that evening and helped Grace to carry the body and set up the 'accident' scene. "You can't thank me for that. If I had opened my eyes to what was going on, if i'd just seen what he was doing to you, it would never have come to that," Roger tells her.

In the final scene, we see all five of the sisters reunite for another of their swims - jumping into the water happy and free.

Are Becka and Matt still together?

We don't get an official relationship status in the finale of Bad Sisters - but it would seem that Becka and Matt ultimately broke up

In the swimming scene, Becka appears alone and there is no mention of Matt. The last time the audience sees the two of them together in the episode, Becka tells Matt she loves him - which he sadly doesn't reciprocate, instead saying he's sorry and walking away.

Whilst he did protect Becka and the sisters, a romantic relationship might just have been one step too far for Matt to comtemplate.

Becka and Matt together in Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

Did Thomas and his wife have their baby?

Yes, Thomas and his wife Theresa have a baby girl together. The happy new dad says that both females are doing well - with his daughter out of intensive care and his wife asking him to "go to AbreKebabra to get an all-meat kebab, so that's a good sign."

Earlier in the episode, Thomas tells Matt that Theresa was going in for an emergency C-section after collapsing in the previous episode.

Matt and Thomas sharing a hug in Bad Sisters ending

(Image credit: AppleTV)

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Emily Stedman
Features Editor

Emily Stedman is the former Features Editor for GoodTo covering all things TV, entertainment, royal, lifestyle, health and wellbeing. Boasting an encyclopaedic knowledge on all things TV, celebrity and royals, career highlights include working at HELLO! Magazine and as a royal researcher to Diana biographer Andrew Morton on his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess. In her spare time, Emily can be found eating her way around London, swimming at her local Lido or curled up on the sofa binging the next best Netflix show.