Chaos Crosses the Ocean as Season 2 of SISTERS Exits Ireland and Collides With Canada

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   Considering the way the first season of SISTERS concluded, it would have been a bit of a downer had the story ended there. “These women had to get back together,” said Susan Stanley, who plays Suze. “There was just no doubt about it.” “The love story was incomplete,” added Sarah Goldberg, who plays Sare. Which brings us to Season 2 of the dark comedy SISTERS, which is a Crave Original series and Irish-Canadian co-production. All six episodes of the second season drop on Wednesday, April 22, only on Crave. SISTERS tells the story of adult siblings who were previously unaware that each other existed, with one in Canada, and one in Ireland. Various circumstances led to their meeting in the six-episode first season (also on Crave), which is set in Ireland, while Season 2 takes place mostly in Canada. Goldberg, who is Canadian, and Stanley, who is Irish, have been best friends for many years, since they met at theatre school. Both took the time to dig into Season 2 of SISTERS in a video call last week.   Q: So where are the two of you calling from today?  GOLDBERG: “We’re both in London (England). I’m in South London, and Susan’s in North London. We would be together, but Susan has a bit of a cold. And we’re not speaking anymore. You know, Season 2 broke us (both laugh).”   Q: Did you always know the general structure of what Season 2 might be, or is it something you had to come up with after Season 1? STANLEY: “I love this question. This is really nice, because, just to be very clear, we did not know what Season 2 was going to be about. We didn’t think we’d ever get a Season 1, let alone a Season 2. So when we found out we were getting a Season 2, we were so delighted. However, in saying that, Sarah and I always talked about the kind of magic of having two seasons, and having Season 1 in Ireland, in Suze’s world, where Sare is the fish out of water, and then somehow getting them to Canada for Season 2, in Sare’s world, where Suze is the fish out of water. So we did. We always had in mind that it would be, like, 12 chapters (episodes), but we didn’t know the content of what was going to happen.” GOLDBERG: “But we also had a dream of, we both live in the U.K., and I’ve lived in the States as well (she previously earned an EMMY® nomination for her role as Sally in HBO’s BARRY, available on Crave), and our careers just haven’t been in our home countries. And so it was a real dream to go and work in Ireland, and go and work in Canada, and go home, and go home with a job, and work with amazing Irish people and Canadian people. So selfishly, that was also part of our agenda, for sure.” STANLEY: “We did talk about in Season 1 that Ireland was a character in the show, and Ireland is very rugged and majestic and beautiful, but also there’s a darkness kind of there. And then we were thinking, great, so Season 2, we’re going to go to Vancouver, where Sarah is from. But then we worked with our team in Toronto, and for various reasons, we ended up shooting in Hamilton, which was a very good home for us. But it was the depths of winter in Hamilton, so it was very different than what I’d maybe imagined.” GOLDBERG: “It was a real baptism of fire for the out-of-towners, and they handled themselves very well. I did prep them with what clothing they might need to purchase before arriving. But yeah, we wanted both countries, because obviously there’s stereotypical Ireland, and stereotypical Canada. We’re lucky to come from such beautiful countries, but we wanted to show some of the darkness and despair as part of the characters in the show. Hamilton was incredible and actually yielded a lot of amazing locations, and we know a lot of things are shooting there now. But there’s a running joke in the show of an Irish woman coming over and being totally unimpressed by Canada, and no Canadian being able to absorb that. So we decided to kind of make it a joke that we’re not shooting in the Rockies. We’re not shooting in Tofino (B.C.). We’re showing you some train tracks. You know, the real Canada. But it was a gift. And speaking as a Canadian who was so happy to be home, everybody was so hospitable to us, and very welcoming. It was nice being in smaller towns.”   Q: SISTERS deeply examines the question of nature versus nurture. Having completed two seasons, do you think about such things differently now? GOLDBERG: “I know what you’re getting at. I mean, one of the big things we wanted to explore was chosen family versus biological family. That is something that we’ve always been fascinated by. Our friendship was formed over 20 years ago at theatre school, and we bonded deeply over a sort of shared childhood trauma, and a Leonard Cohen song, ‘Famous Blue Raincoat.’ The way we connected was deeper than a family bond in many ways. So I don’t know that we’ve come to any deep conclusions about what a biological connection, specifically a blood connection, means in the show. I don’t know that we’ve cracked it. But these are two women who hold up a mirror to each other, and ask each other the complicated questions that expose the truths of who they are, and help them become the women that they’re supposed to be, rather than the women that they’re pretending to be. So in the show, it’s not even really about their blood relation. In the end, they are choosing each other, as chosen family, the way we have in our friendship.” STANLEY: “There are those people you meet at periods in your life where you’re like, ‘I know you, I know the bones of you, and I don’t know why.’ That’s what I had with Sarah when I met her, because we couldn’t be more different. She was that bright-eyed, optimistic Canadian, bouncing to London (England), so excited to be at theatre school. And I was the kind of gritty Dubliner, 800 years of oppression on my shoulders, smoking rollies, going, ‘who the f— is this one?’ But there was something about her, where she just got me, and I got her, and it was into our core. We did connect over Leonard (Cohen), but how can you have people who come from completely different backgrounds experiencing such a deep, deep, subterranean connection? That always fascinated us, and it’s why we started writing the show, really.”   Q: Last question, how would you sum up Season 2 of SISTERS? What’s your pitch to the audience, particularly those who loved Season 1? GOLDBERG: “I think Susan has a great one-liner, but I can’t remember it.” STANLEY: “I can’t remember it, either, I can barely remember my own name. So no, I don’t have a one-liner. But what I will say is, there’s a real hook at the end of Season 1, where the women are separated. And they are both incredibly stubborn, so there has been no contact between the two of them for 18 months, right? Then an envelope lands on Suze’s doorstep, and it’s an invitation to Sare’s wedding. Suze’s mom Sheryl (played by Sophie Thompson) is like, ‘this is an olive branch from your sister, she wants to make amends, she wants you to go and be at her wedding, she loves you, let’s go.’ And she convinces Suze to go. So they go … and chaos ensues.” GOLDBERG: “If we had to give you a thesis, we have to say it’s about learning to live life on your own terms. And that’s the only path to happiness.”   billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv