At first, How to Get to Heaven from Belfast looks like a grief story: three estranged friends reunite for the funeral of a fourth. But it quickly pivots into a disappearance mystery, and then something more cynical about memory and the stories people tell to survive themselves.
The series, which comes from the creator of the ever-popular Irish romp Derry Girls, picks up when Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara arrive at the recently passed Greta’s wake to find her arm is missing the mysterious tattoo they all share. The friends are estranged, and we’re naturally not sure of why. Over eight episodes, we learn what really happened to this friend group, and by proxy, what really became of Greta. The implication, of course, is that she’s very much alive.
Saoirse, played by Roísín Gallagher, leads the investigative charge, bringing Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne) and Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) along for the ride. She’s haunted by the memory of a young Greta and she starts to unravel as she continues exploring her friend’s disappearance, roping in aptly handsome small-town police officer, Liam.
[There are spoilers ahead for How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.]
What is haunting Saoirse?
We learn that the fearsome foursome split in high school after the teenagers buried the body of a man Greta killed in self defense—an older man who was allegedly a predator.
The twist here is that the man she killed was an investigative journalist looking to shine light on the abusive religious cult Greta was raised in. He’s been speaking to her childhood friend Jodie, who revealed that when they were young, Greta and Jodie burned down a church, not knowing there were other kids inside.
Greta refuses to confess and the journalist becomes violent. Jodie appears and kills him, but Greta urges her to flee the scene, recruiting Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara to bury the body.
Fast forward, did Greta actually die?
On the day of Greta's “death,” a now adult Jodie returns threatening to expose their secret, and finds herself dead at the bottom of the stairs. From here, Greta enters the protection program called "The Evaporation Society," and Jodie's body is used to stage her funeral.
Her new plan starts to falter as a now anonymous Greta struggles to be away from her family, and she decides to return to Heaven's Veil, the cult of her past. Meanwhile, Saoirse, Robyn and Dara are headed to the same place, having investigated Greta’s story to the end.
As if that’s not enough, three more people are headed towards the HQ of Heaven’s Veil– agents assigned to kill anyone who defects from the non-official witness protection program (Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Bronagh Gallagher).
Fast forward a bit and an undercover Greta, her three estranged friends, and two assassins walk into a ceremonial field…
The girls reunite first, giving Greta the chance to reveal her past to her friends and confess what she’s done, and that they’d burned down the church in retribution of a God they resented for not saving them from their abusive lives.
Finally, the assassins arrive, but in a final twist, offer Greta three new passports, freeing her and her family and promising to enact change in the organization they represent.
Greta makes peace with her experience, holding hands with the childhood and teenage versions of herself, the son of the murdered journalist gets a bit of justice, and Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara are left with a mysterious pink bag that Greta acquired earlier in the season. They look into the bag, don't like what they see, and vow not to get involved further. That, of course, feels more like a promise that they will. Season 2 anyone?
‘How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’ is streaming on Netflix.
