SisterS was written by Sarah Goldberg and Susan Stanley for themselves. It’s a comedy about a Canadian woman and an Irish woman who discover in their 30s that they are half sisters. There are so many things named Sisters, but this one has a capital S at the end. So, you know, distinctive.
The Canadian, Sare (Sarah Goldberg), just lost her mother. When the mother died, she revealed that there was a living dad in Ireland Sare didn’t know existed. Sare went to Ireland to look for him.
Sare was engaged to Steve (Harki Bhambra). These two have a big subplot in the story.
The Irish sis, Suze (Susan Stanley), was in the middle of a huge crisis – rent overdue, too much drinking, fired from a waitress job, sleeping with a married man. Falling apart.
Sare first located Sheryl (an absolutely marvelous Sophie Thompson). Sheryl was once married to Sare’s long lost father, Jimmy. Turns out she and Jimmy had a daughter.
In strolls the walking disaster Suze, hoping for a little cash in her 37th birthday envelope. Talk about a meet cute! The siblings got off to a rocky start but eventually the two headed to Galway in an ice cream van to find Jimmy.
The ice cream van belonged to Sheryl’s live in abuser, er, boyfriend, Daryl (Pat Shortt). That van was a whole experience in itself.
The remainder of the episodes involved the road trip, the people along the way, connecting with old lovers, and finally the wonderful/horrible father (Donal Logue) appeared. The series ended on a cliffhanger, so a 2nd season would be welcome.
Sarah Goldberg and Susan Stanley are a good team. They wrote something that works well and played their parts to perfection. They look enough like sisters to make it feel right. The characters had good arcs and made plenty of growth as they dealt with their various issues.
The cast was well chosen and we got to see some lovely Irish faces along the way. I especially like the episode with Fionnula Flanagan and Carrie Crowley. Alicia MacDonald directed 3 of the episodes.
This humorous, booze-filled story of the bonds of sisterhood is streaming on AMC+ and Sundance Now. Check out the trailer.