HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST
Netflix’s newest Lisa McGee series, HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM DUBLIN, is a delightfully off-kilter dark comedy thriller that is a great, eminently binge-able program.
While the dream-like framing suggests weird antics to come, who would have anticipated the twists and turns the mystery would take. The season ends with a definite resolution, the show was such fun that it simply cries out for another. By the end of the first episode, viewers learn that not only is the body in the casket not Greta, but that’s she’s alive. The mystery body is that of Jodie, Greta’s long-lost sister. As young gal’s, they were raised in a cult called Heaven’s Veil, that believed there were places on earth where the veil between the material and spiritual worlds was thinner. The gal’s were mercilessly excoriating by their mother who prayed repeatedly for G-d to intervene and save themselves. When that intercession does not occur, the gal’s snap and burn down the cult’s church, without realising there were people inside. This horrible event sees them shipped and sent to an abusive psychologist who only compounds their trauma.
Years later, when Greta was at school, a broke and desperate Jodie approached her about talking to a investigative journalist looking into the Heaven’s Veil tragedy. When Greta and Jodie met with the journalist, Greta refuses to confess and he attacks her. Jodie stabbs him to defend her sister. Greta sends Jodie away and concocts a story with our heroines, Dara, Saoirsel, and Robyn about being attacked by a sexual predator. Later when Greta was married with a daughter, Jodie reappears with fresh intentions to air out their secrets. The two get into a scuffle at the top of the stairs and Greta accidentally pushes Jodie down the stairs, killing her. Margo and Owen help Greta fake the death and disappears with the aid of the Evaporation Society, a colourful organisation that helps women disappear when they need to. Society members Feeney and Booker do the spiriting away.
Eventually Greta develops doubts, and decides to run back to Heaven’s Veil to confront her past. The Society pursues her because any break in protocol, must be killed to keep the network secret. Robyn, Dara and Saoirse find Greta at Heaven’s Veil where Greta confesses everything. Feeney and Booker furnish Greta with new passports so she can live a new life with her husband and daughter. The two agents decide the society is corrupt and they plan to remake it in their vision.
How do you make a great oddball ride? String sarcastic dialogue, with threads of melancholy and serve it all with a woozy presentation. Our Trio of lifelong friends, chaotic TV writer Saoirse; glamorous, stressed-out mother of three, Robyn; and dependable inhibited carer Dara, embark on a thrilling adventure across scenic Ireland, piecing together enigmatic truths amid complicated lives. There’s tons of gags not typical of comedy sketches with sharp punchlines. What’s not to love about the crack and the Irish accent( from Scotland)? In a world of serial killer documentaries or shows about male on female violence, its superb to watch women get loose. Lisa McGee gets the delicate balance of laugh-out-loud moments with genuine pathos which is not easy to land, but, she crafted it beautifully. Northern Ireland humour, funny, dark, with a superlative cast and gorgeous Irish locations make the intriguing storyline compulsive viewing. Great 90’s soundtrack keeps it entertaining. The actresses have special chemistry balancing the suspense, excitement and humour, both infectious and engaging.
Natasha O’Keeffe as Greta
Caoilfhionn Dunne as Dara
Roisin Gallagher as Saoirse
Sinead Keenan as Robyn
Bronagh Gallagher as Booker
Emmett J. Scanlan as Owen
Michelle Fairley as Margo
Saoirse Monica Jackson as Freeney
Original score composed by Sion Trefor
