— This article contains spoilers for Season 1 of 'The Dry'. If you haven't watched it yet, we suggest you head to and catch up. —
When we left the Sheridan family at the end of season 1 of Irish series The Dry, they were in a shambles. Shiv Sheridan’s return to her parents’ home in Dublin after 10 years away, five months into going sober, threw up all kinds of bumps in the road during that first, acclaimed, season.
The drama continued to the final episode, with Shiv’s vodka-soaked speech at an engagement party revealing a host of family secrets, with far-reaching ramifications. Set seven months on, season 2 kicks off on the morning of Shiv’s 36th birthday. As the house awakes, we see that the kids are back under Mom and Da’s roof (as much a comment on unaffordable housing as the state of their middle-aged lives). Shiv (Roisin Gallagher) is still in her grandma’s room. Ant (Adam John Richardson) has moved into the house and boyfriend Max is with him most of the time. Sister Caroline (Siobhán Cullen) is back too, and next to her is her latest shag buddy from a dating life in overdrive. The house felt spacious in season 1; this season it’s crammed. And with Shiv’s mother Bernie (Pom Boyd) now sharing a bed with fellow recovering alcoholic Finbar (Michael McElhatton), father Tom (the stunningly talented Ciarán Hinds) has been relegated to Ant’s old haunt, the back shed or “studio”.
Shiv (Roisin Gallagher) faces plenty of opportunities to grow in ‘The Dry’ season 2. Credit: ITV
So, what’s in store for them all in season 2?
While writer, creator and executive producer Nancy Harris gives the talent-laden cast plenty to do, the show revolves around Shiv’s major life decision and how it seeps into the cracks of the family’s already fragile shell. But Harris is onto the balance of it all. As Gallagher, who plays Shiv with poignant effervescence, , “Nancy doesn’t shy away from finding the humour in pain.”
An award-winning playwright (Harris has won the Stewart Parker Award for playwriting and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and was nominated for a BAFTA writing award for season 1 of The Dry), Harris herself has “essentially a show about a family… one that was unsentimental, but was funny and had a heart, but did have a dark humour.” Harris deftly balances regular tugs on the heart strings with hearty doses of humour so uniquely Irish.
Leave it to her aunties to tell Shiv which celebrities died at the age of 36, at her 36th birthday party. Leave it to overachieving Caro to declare that she is going to “make consultant and pump out two kids” before 35, because after that “you’re basically f#*ked”.
Seven months is the longest Shiv’s stayed off the drink, and it’s got her teetering on the brink – will she allow herself to feel confident, or unravel again in spectacular fashion? Enter, a tall drink of water to help her decide: Alex (Sam Keeley) is the barista at her local café. While Karen, Shiv’s sponsor, that straight-talking and loyal wise woman played by the glorious Janet Moran, openly swoons over Alex, Shiv takes a while to figure out the man’s asking her on a date. But the dating world is rife with temptation. Can she do it without drinking? She hasn’t considered that embracing a new journey with Alex may steady rather than sink her.
Will Shiv surrender to love with Alex (Sam Keeley)? Credit: ITV
Back home, no one’s really cheering Shiv on. They are all still annoyed with her for changing her position in the family rowboat. Now that she’s jumped out of the dysfunction, all the rest of them have had to change positions to avoid capsizing. They’d far rather be relaxing on shore with a glass of wine.
Amid the chaos of rewriting her entire identity in an environment that’s resistant to accepting a new version of Shiv, she retreats to her brother Carl’s grave. There, she chants to a visitor a few graves over, “we’re here to be the best versions of ourselves, and it’s a choice, to be a better sister, be a better daughter, be a better human…” She’s convincing herself, holding on tight to her goals. She needs to. The family’s belittling of her is so commonplace, she barely flinches anymore (an objective observer feels its sting immediately).
In an interview ahead of season 2, Gallagher she was drawn to the script for how true to life it is. Like many of us, Gallagher “hadn’t seen a lot of characters like Shiv portrayed… lead female roles… that aren’t about being a mother or being of service to another character.” She’s clinging to the cliff’s edge; we want her to realise her own gargantuan strength to haul herself up and over the top.
It’s Karen that keeps reminding Shiv to take responsibility for herself; that that’s the essential ingredient she must start with if she’s to cook up a fulfilling life. Will she find her way?
What about the rest of the Sheridans in season 2? Bernie (a far less dishevelled Boyd) seems to have found sobriety a piece of cake. Perhaps Finbar’s constant presence plays a part? She feels far less invisible, and she’s to be a witness at the trial of her neighbour Simon, who murdered his wife Pam. It leads to consequences which add more spice to Bernie’s life than she could ever dream up.
Tom has shrunk further into himself. He feels he’s been thrown out with the garbage. We’ll want to throw our cosiest blanket around Tom’s shoulders and bring him in from the cold this season.
Tom (Ciarán Hinds). Credit: ITV
Ant’s relationship with Max (Emmanuel Okoye) is going well but they’ll face some bumps in the road due to some pointed comments by Max’s mates and a meet-and-greet with his family. As for Caro, the “good sister”, she will have her hands full this season, in more ways than one. Suffice to say, the goals she announced at Shiv’s birthday party will have to be revised.
And Shiv, even though she’s working now, remains within the confines of a home environment that reminds her daily that any support there for her comes barbed with prickles. Is it the best place for her to be? Or is her family part of the problem? Their love for one another is undeniable, but sometimes, it’s so dark in that house. Is it stunting her growth?
The collision of behaviours, from wildly dysfunctional to mature adulting, is what makes The Dry such a compelling and true-to-life drama. We recognise aspects of ourselves in one or many of these exquisitely drawn characters. And it’s fascinating to see what life throws up for this beautifully imperfect and ever-watchable Dublin family.
The Dry season 2 premieres at SBS On Demand from 16 May. Season 1 is streaming now:
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The Dry
