How to Get to Heaven from Belfast Recap ‘Anagnorisis’: The Big Bad
- 2 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Warning: This recap contains SPOILERS for the eighth episode of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.
And so we reached the end of the first season, and though this was not a finale that reached the same heights as past episodes, it was a solid wrap that strengthened my hope for a second season. There is so much story to be explored here, and the writers have shown that they are able to handle the genre mishmash well. The final scene, with Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara staring at whatever was inside the pink duffel bag that Greta left, and Robyn loudly declaring they were not getting involved, just made me go, Get involved! Three high school friends pausing their lives at middle age and solving mysteries is the jam I did not know I wanted until I watched this gem of a show. To the tv powers that be, more please?
Let’s go through a few questions I had whilst watching and writing recaps of earlier episodes. First, would How to Get to Heaven from Belfast have done better with a weekly drop a la HBO or was it a good fit for the Netflix binge watch model? After seeing all eight episodes, I have to say that the Netflix binge watch model was the better fit for this show. But, I also think this is a show that would have done well in the bygone era of longer tv seasons. As charming and well done as those eight episodes were, some parts of the season felt incomplete. There was so much to the story that could have been fleshed out. With a longer season, I could see the show doing well with a weekly drop.
Next, back in the third episode recap, I wondered why Robyn was the only one amongst the three friends who was not experiencing vivid visions of the past. Having seen all eight episodes now, it does look like that creative choice was simply in keeping with Robyn’s frankly speaking character. Saoirse’s visions back then were detailed and included made up conversations in her mind, which could be a form of self-soothing. It is also possible that the writers included much of Saoirse’s internal thoughts because they wanted to show this world within a character who tended to lie and keep things from her friends (yes, even in this finale, we will get to that later).
Finally, about the Saoirse and Liam flirtation, I am happy that the writers went toward the route of genuine feelings, especially on Liam’s end. I confess to worrying a bit about how this age-gapped romance would play out, and in the end the writers handled it sensitively and well. That means I can enjoy it more upon rewatch, because of course there will be rewatches, whilst we wait for the second season.
That done, let’s get on with what happened in the finale. It started with the false note I mentioned in the past recap, Robyn accidentally and coincidentally hitting Greta as she and Dara furiously drove away from Saoirse. I started writing this a couple of days after I watched the finale, and those intervening days have not changed my mind – I wish the writers had not included this scene. In the vastness of the countryside, Greta just happened to cross the road at the exact same time that Robyn was ranting and not paying attention to her driving? What made it worse was what happened afterwards. Robyn and Dara thought Greta was dead, and they moved her body to the side of the road. Dara has spent years looking after her sick mother. When you look after a sick parent, you pick up skills, you have to. Did Dara not even check for a pulse? I can accept that Dara might have been completely freaked out over what happened that she could not even bring herself to touch Greta to check if she was still alive. But Dara and Robyn moved the body. They already touched her. So, this one thing did not work for me.
Robyn and Dara believing they killed Greta was what pushed them to drive back to the hotel and reunite with Saoirse, who was in the middle of some tender, post-sex conversation with Liam. It was Saoirse who went to the door when Robyn and Dara knocked, and they convinced her to go with them right then and there. Liam caught up with the girls in the parking lot, and Saoirse punctured his tire to prevent him from following them.
Greta, however, was no longer where Robyn and Dara left her by the time they returned with Saoirse. Greta was bleeding from an injury to her side, and she made her way to that same gas station that her friends had previously stopped in. Whilst the attendant did not at all like Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara, he looked at Greta with compassion, and did not say anything even as he watched her steal supplies from the store. He even gave her the washroom key when she asked for it, and gently asked her, twice, ‘Can I help you?’. It is one of those small moving moments that How to Get to Heaven from Belfast does very well, and suddenly and dramatically elevates it. I may not agree with all their writing choices, but the writing here is in general really good.
Greta cleaned and dressed her wound in the washroom, then went back to the store to return the key. The attendant gave her a bag of supplies for free. His kindness to Greta compared to his rudeness to her friends was quite effective comedy.
Greta headed to the same place her friends were, the nursing home where her mother Nora lived. It looked very comfortable, and I would assume expensive. Greta mentioned Margo’s money, so Margo must have paid a significant sum to get Nora to give Greta up. For what? To test her theory that it was possible to separate ourselves from our trauma? How did Margo afford that, and give up her career to look after Greta? We did not get those answers in this finale, and I feel like it is a testament to the show’s overall quality that I am both curious and would be happy to explore all this in a second season, and also mostly all right with not having all the answers.
Greta’s visit to her mother showed the burden of cruelty Greta has had to carry long before she met Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara. This was at least part of the trauma that she kept hidden from her friends. Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara deciding that they needed space from Greta because they were struggling with the reality that they helped her bury a body was understandable. Seeing how much Greta was already carrying at that time, then having to move on with her life without the friends she made, was heartbreaking.
By the time Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara arrived at the nursing home (in a golf cart, Robyn’s poor car had finally decided to shut itself down after everything it had gone through in the last few days), Greta had already left. Liam was there waiting, because the girls fled the hotel without taking down their murder board, and Liam of course managed to figure out where they were headed. Whilst Saoirse spoke to Liam, Robyn and Dara found Nora’s room.
There was a copy of The Doll Complex in her room, which Nora declared was a work of fiction. Greta lied to Margo, according to Nora. Greta started the fire on purpose and locked those children inside the church. Jodie was there but she only helped, it was Greta whom Nora described as rotten. Robyn saw through this demonstration. She said that Nora enjoyed telling that tale. Of the three, it was Robyn who never truly wanted to be friends with Greta, but now she saw what young Greta had to deal with. She told Nora that the big bad was not the church fire, it was her. She was the trauma that haunted Greta.
Saoirse said that Liam would help them find the church, and he did, but of course Saoirse held back again, because this was just what she did. It was only once they had arrived at Heaven’s Veil that she told her friends the bargain she struck with Liam; in exchange for his help, she would tell him where Charles Sampson was buried. On the day that Charles Sampson died, there was a funeral at the school for a priest, Father O’Brien; the girls buried Charles with him. Liam went inside his police car and called Andrew. Would Andrew let this go, now that he knew where his father was buried? Would he insist on a police investigation? Another unanswered question, and I suppose it would depend on what the story would be for the second season.
There were massive stones in what looked like a ceremonial field, positioned to mark the corners of the same symbol we have been seeing from the start – tattoos on the girls, painted in red ink in the caretaker’s cabin and inside Jodie’s place. Greta was at the centre, praying in Irish. When her old school friends approached her, she finally told them what happened. Way back when, Jodie was Cara and Greta was Aisling. They were friends who believed that God would come and save them from their abusive circumstances. They were angry when He didn’t, and they decided to burn down the small church. By the time they saw the bikes outside, the fire had already spread. Jodie ran into the church, which was likely how she got the scars she carried into adulthood. Greta swore they did not know the kids were inside the church. This was the tragedy that Charles wanted to speak to them about.
Unknown to Greta, Booker went to her home and spoke to Margo. Based on their conversation, it looked like Booker brought Feeney to Margo, and Margo helped her. The way these scenes were set up and shot, it was heavily implied that Booker would kill Margo, Owen, and Maria, but this was not so. When Booker arrived at Heaven’s Veil with Feeney, Owen and Maria came as well. She gave Greta three passports so she, her husband, and her daughter could start over.
Booker did not just disobey Rossa’s direct order; she, Feeney, and the Midwife (who has an awesome outfit) decided to wipe out the inner circle, including Rossa. Booker said that Rossa betrayed her own clients for profit. Now that there were only three of them left, they needed soldiers, people who like them were wired differently. Do I have three names for you, Booker.
When Greta left with her family, she left behind a pink duffel bag, which Dara picked up and decided to take with her because as she said, it did not seem right to leave it behind. What was inside the bag? Something related to the latest death Greta left behind?
As Greta made her way to Heaven’s Veil, she was picked up by a man named Conrad. They stopped in a wooded area, and Conrad took that pink duffel bag from the back of his pickup truck, along with a coat for Greta. ‘They shouldn’t take long’, he said, then there was a sound of another vehicle coming. The next time we saw Greta, she was walking to the nursing home alone carrying that duffel bag. Later, we saw Conrad in his truck with a screwdriver stuck to his neck. Did Greta kill him? Did someone else? Was this partly why Greta was closer to Saoirse than Robyn and Dara, because like Saoirse, she, too, liked to keep pretty important things to herself? When will they announce the second season? I cannot wait.
Rating: B+
Strays
🚐 Bronagh Gallagher was amazing the whole season, and along with the writing, was the highlight of the show for me.
🚐Margo burned a copy of The Doll Complex. That we didn’t get to explore Margo’s story more was one of the trade offs of this current eight-episode season trend.
🚐A massive thanks to everyone who continued to follow these recaps despite the days of gaps in between! How to Get to Heaven from Belfast is a truly special show, and I am happy that despite real life challenges, I was able to cover it in full and share these recaps with you all. Congratulations to the cast and crew and everyone involved!
Episode Title: Anagnorisis
Episode Writer: Lisa McGee
Episode Director: Rachna Suri
Original Air Date: February 12, 2026