How to Get to Heaven from Belfast Recap ‘The Box’: It Takes One To Know One
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Warning: This recap contains SPOILERS for the fifth episode of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
An overuse of prescription painkillers and an appearance at The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty helped Saoirse figure out how to open the mysterious box they got from Jodie’s locker, but at what cost? Did Booker have to shoot Liam? If you have seen the episode – and I hope you have, and are here for some post episode fun – then you’d know the fifth episode of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast ended with hot Liam on the parking lot floor, as Booker at gun point forced Robyn to drive her and Saoirse and Dara away. Am I worried? Not much. I don’t think the show is going to break Saoirse’s heart after it played a Celine Dion song rather loudly as Liam carried a groggy Saoirse to his car. I am very interested in how the show handled the aftermath of this. As fun as it is to watch Saoirse and Liam together, I am still waiting for a clearer point, on what the show is trying to say here, outside of an age-gapped attraction. And because I am still recovering from a recent illness and now my tooth is hurting, let’s get on with the recap.
Trapped inside an airplane bound for Dublin with Booker, and still convinced she was trying to kill them because, well, she left a bomb in a yacht with the three of them locked inside, they figured the best way to get off the airplane safely was to be escorted by security. And so they pretended to be sisters and staged a fight that got a bit too real when Saoirse told Dara, who had spent all these years caring for her real mother, that it was the worst decision she ever made. ‘It only exacerbated your avoidant personality and gave you an excuse to never put yourself out there and live your own life for fear of rejection.’ Too far, Saoirse.
They were able to get away in a bus with what looked like a rugby team (someone please correct me, I don’t recognise their uniform), and it was only when they got off that they realised it was St. Patrick’s Day. Booker was there, and the chase took them to a bar and into a church. It was there that they realised Booker must have somehow planted a tracking device on them, which was how she kept finding where they were. It was also where Dara innocently offered Saoirse one of her mother’s prescription painkillers when Saoirse complained of a bad headache. Okay, they are being chased by a killer so I understand Dara wanting to help her friend. But also, it’s really not a good idea to share prescription medication. People who are generally healthy often struggle to understand chronic illness and the dangers of the strong medications they need to take, no matter how much you emphasise the necessity of responsible use.
Of course Booker tracked them to the church, and she called the church phone to let them know all she wanted was the box. She even claimed that the boat was just a warning; if she wanted to kill them, they would be dead. That boat looked pretty exploded, and had they not been able to get out, they would be dead, so I am not buying this. The girls agreed to go out and hand the box over, but at the last moment, Dara used it to hit Booker on the head.
They decided to hide in a line of people that turned out to be the line for the audience of The Late Late Show with Patrick Kielty. This was a very popular show that apparently everyone except Booker watched, and it was how Seb and Liam found out where Saoirse was.
Liam has been trying to reach Saoirse. He left her a voice note about the book that Margo lied about, Doll Complex by Greta Ganchaille. After he saw Andrew meet with Owen at the station, he, too, spoke to Andrew and realised that Saoirse has been keeping things from him. He also recognised the symbol drawn in Charles Sampson’s notebook as the same symbol tattooed at the back of Saoirse’s neck. He drove to the studio where Saoirse’s show was filming, only to find out that Saoirse has been AWOL for days. Now aware that Saoirse used parts of her life in writing her show, he asked for a copy of the scripts; Seb thought Liam was a consultant Saoirse has been working the fifth season of the show with. When Liam saw that Saoirse was at Patrick Kielty’s show, he headed there immediately.
Saoirse predictably did not heed Dara’s warning and took more than one pill. Patrick’s guest that night just happened to be Marnie, Saoirse’s nemesis and the star of her show. Marnie tried to take credit for the show’s success and Saoirse’s work, and an increasingly groggy Saoirse was not able to stop her increasingly loud comments from the audience. The camera turned to her, and Patrick invited her up the stage to join Marnie.
At some point before she passed out on live tv, Saoirse figured out how to open the box. Robyn took photos of Jodie’s home. Once Robyn and Dara got Saoirse off camera and down the parking lot, Saoirse told them to check the photo of the symbol on the wall. There was a number there, a date. It was the code to open the box, and inside was an old tape recorder.
What was on the tape recorder, we did not get to find out, because Liam arrived, then Booker with her gun. The girls now knew, however, that Greta’s lies started way before that night at the cabin. The town where she claimed she grew up in, Tashbaan, was a fictional town from The Chronicles of Narnia (thank you, Jim).
We caught a glimpse of Greta and Jodie’s unusual childhood at the opening of the episode, when Margo back when she was still a psychiatrist was evaluating the two girls as they worked on a puzzle in separate rooms. Margo wanted to keep working with Greta, who did the puzzle well. Jodie, however, grew frustrated; she spoke of her fear of God not coming, which hinted at an extremely religious upbringing.
Greta was now in the care of/ was the prisoner of a pink-haired girl with an affinity toward drugging people unconscious, whose name was Feeney. Greta was photographed with her normal hair for a passport photo; she was now saying goodbye to the Jodie identity and moving on to a new one. Based off what Feeney said, she and Booker, and someone else called midwife, were part of a group that helped people disappear into new identities. Feeney also had a history of murder; she killed her own parents when she was younger. ‘It takes one to know one’, she told Greta, which hinted at a darker story from Greta’s past.
This is the second episode in a row that I rated a B after earlier higher ratings. I am still enjoying the show, I am merely noticing a difference in the writing. We have three more episodes to go, let’s hope How to Get to Heaven from Belfast sticks the landing.
Rating: B
Strays
🚐Greta memorised the number she got from the fourth episode, then she swallowed the piece of paper.
🚐Andrew told Liam he was convinced Greta was connected to his father.
🚐Feeney: ‘Some people are built to survive.’
Episode Title: The Box
Episode Writer: Bronágh Taggart
Episode Director: George Kane
Original Air Date: February 12, 2026