Compare How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, Season 1 vs Adults, Season 2

The leads stay recognizably themselves even while making disastrous choices. Reviewers appreciated that later scenes tend to explain apparent contradictions through history, personality, and the long habits of friendship.

The new origin episode creates some friction with established character logic, especially where earlier traits and choices do not fully line up.

The closing hook creates interest in another season, but it also frustrated one reviewer because renewal was uncertain. The tease works as a continuation device more than as a fully comforting stopping point.

The ending is praised for leaving the relationships in a place that creates immediate interest in a third season.

The 40- to 50-minute format gives the mystery room to expand, but one reviewer found that length less inviting for casual comedy rewatches. Shorter episodes would have made it easier to throw on again.

The roughly half-hour, get-in-get-out format can work extremely well, keeping compact continuing arcs focused and energetic.

The foul-mouthed slang and dense local wisecracks are treated as part of the show's comic identity rather than a drawback. One reviewer recommends subtitles simply to catch every fast-moving line.

The show’s handling of the C-word and a censored slur prompted a mixed reaction: the joke worked, but the difference in treatment also felt jarring.

The dramatic material can be intimate and emotionally sharp, especially when grief, memory, and friendship take precedence over spectacle. The main criticism is that the serious mystery sometimes sits awkwardly beside the show's zany default mode.

The quieter relationship material works because the show can slow down just enough to make emotional distance and awkwardness feel recognizable without abandoning the comedy.

Opinion splits sharply here. One critic saw familiar shows being reworked and rehashed, while another argued that McGee turns the genre mash-up into an exception through meta storytelling and a distinctive comic voice.

Familiar sitcom devices get fresh twists, from the drug-trip countdown to meta flourishes and strong episode hooks. The season feels inventive even when it borrows classic structures.

The early run is commonly described as propulsive and addictive, while the later stretch divides opinion. Some liked the escalating road-trip energy; others felt the mystery stretched, repeated itself, or lost momentum near the end.

The broader season can feel rushed and slow at the same time: key romances could be seeded earlier, while the short run crowds story into the edges.

The tonal juggling is the season's biggest fault line. Some reviewers admired how comedy, dread, grief, and absurdity flow together; others felt the series became stressful, inconsistent, or like two different shows by the finale.

The season is notably assured and consistent, balancing edginess, heart, cringe, and rapid comedy without losing its identity.

The central friendship and buried-secret mystery give the season a strong narrative engine, and most reviewers stayed invested. The recurring caveat is sprawl: side plots, identities, and escalating conspiracy can become more complicated than the emotional core needs.

Season 2 makes its messier, escalating storylines land while adding a more emotionally involving through-line across the season.

For many reviewers, the comedy-mystery-thriller blend is exactly the appeal: strange, dark, funny, and unpredictable. The dissenters found the same mixture overstuffed, uncertain of its identity, or weaker when the crime mechanics took over.

Season 2 settles confidently into hangout-sitcom form and is repeatedly positioned among the strongest current TV comedies.

The show often moves at a breathless clip, which many reviewers found electric and addictive. Others reported a sluggish middle, overstimulation, or moments that needed more room to land.

Most episodes move briskly and stay focused, with fast stories and sharp timing. One corporate C-word plot was the notable exception, criticized for running out of steam.

Flashbacks, road-trip detours, and overlapping clues often keep the mystery lively and reveal character along the way. Repeated scenes and a recurring trouble-clue-escape pattern made the structure feel formulaic to some binge viewers.

Episode construction is a major strength, especially the real-time Raccoon countdown and other classic sitcom setups that escalate simple problems into layered ensemble chaos.

The central mystery reaches a real resolution, and several reviewers found the ending effective or satisfying enough. Others thought it was tepid, anticlimactic, overly perplexing, or too eager to leave certain characters available for more.

The final minutes landed very well for viewers who liked the romantic payoffs and the way the ending positioned the group for another season.

The crime plot is often proudly absurd, yet reviewers found the friendship, arguments, and emotional reactions surprisingly authentic. Even improbable situations can feel grounded when the women start talking like people who have known one another for decades.

The emotional and social behavior often feels highly relatable and lived-in, even when plots become absurd. The recurring realism complaint is visual: Toronto does not always convincingly pass for Queens.

The opening is an immediate hook: reviewers call it a doozy, sharply funny, and fascinating. It establishes danger, friendship, and mystery quickly enough to make several viewers want to keep going almost at once.

The added origin episode improves on the original pilot and can be very effective, but its character logic is inconsistent and its laughs are lighter than the season’s best material.

A sizeable group finished wanting more time with the trio and explicitly hoped for another season. That enthusiasm is tempered by a few reviewers who either disliked the characters or worried that the final tease could become frustrating if the story stopped there.

Appetite for more episodes is extremely strong, with repeated calls for Season 3 and, in some cases, several more seasons beyond it.

The adult friends are given meaningful midlife frustrations, old wounds, and evolving self-understanding, with Saoirse especially well developed. Some reviewers wanted more depth for Dara, Greta, and a few supporting figures.

Season 2 is widely praised for giving the ensemble clearer wants, more vulnerability, and deeper individual arcs, with Anton and Paul Baker receiving especially noticeable growth.

The leads' messy flaws are part of the design, and many reviewers found their chaos endearing or outright lovable. Others found the bickering trio difficult to believe as best friends or not likable enough to sustain another season.

Season 2 makes the group much easier to love and root for, even while preserving the cringey, selfish, or frustrating behavior that drives the comedy.

The friendship does more than trade insults: the women are pushed to own their choices and repair damaged trust. Reviewers found that reckoning genuine, especially when the story connects present behavior to older wounds.

Anton’s workplace mistake and apology are treated as a comic accountability arc that one viewer found funny without losing the point that he had to make amends.

Quick cuts are used deliberately for comic effect and were praised as part of the show's energetic technique. The editing helps reinforce the frantic rhythm rather than simply documenting it.

The editing is credited with selecting strong takes and helping preserve the show’s frenetic, ad-lib-like comic energy.

The show scatters enough danger, clues, eerie imagery, and withheld information to keep most reviewers curious. Suspense is strongest when tied to the women's past; the more labyrinthine conspiracy material can blur that focus.

Raccoon turns a comedy premise into an effective ticking-clock setup, using the approaching acid trip to create genuine countdown tension.

Ireland is photographed with real atmosphere, from lovely scenery and striking locations to vibrant or ominous visual shifts. Even mixed reviews often acknowledged how good the series looks.

The season looks more polished than before, with filming choices that make the visual presentation feel like a clear step up.

The best twists repeatedly overturn expectations without feeling arbitrary, and several reviewers praised how earlier assumptions are reframed. Their sheer frequency can create whiplash, but unpredictability is a major part of the fun.

The Billie-Samir turn still lands as a surprise even when the pairing has been suspected, giving the finale an effective jolt.

The humor is frequently described as laugh-out-loud, quick-witted, dark, and unmistakably Irish, with the trio's insults doing much of the work. A smaller group felt the laughs thinned out as the series became busier and darker.

The season is consistently very funny, mixing physical comedy, cringe, wordplay, escalating farce, and rapid-fire jokes that repeatedly land.

Rather than recreating the Troubles directly, the series brings their cultural aftereffects into the present through memory, language, borders, Catholicism, and inherited caution. Reviewers praised that contemporary framing for being both specific and understated.

The progressive framing lands without feeling preachy or lazy, keeping social awareness inside the comedy rather than above it.

Friendship, memory, guilt, identity, trauma, midlife disappointment, Catholic inheritance, and the stories people tell about themselves all give the caper extra weight. Reviewers often found the emotional and cultural ideas richer than the literal whodunit mechanics.

Beneath the farce is thoughtful material about quarter-life uncertainty, friendship, avoidance, work, aging, and the fear of growing into an unstable future.

The mystery is engaging but often asks a lot of the viewer. Some found the knots involving, while others needed notes or complained about identities, side plots, false leads, and late-season complications becoming confusing.

The premiere’s anything-goes comic confidence sometimes comes at the expense of coherence, although the chaos can still work in the episode’s favor.

Performance quality is one of the safest bets here. Reviewers repeatedly call the ensemble excellent or brilliant, with the actors selling both the manic comedy and the heavier emotional turns.

One review calls the performances excellent across the board, emphasizing how well the actors complement one another.

Beneath the jokes, reviewers found a meaningful emotional current about grief, regret, friendship, and the lives the women did not end up living. Small lines and exchanges often linger after their immediate punch line.

The season’s heart registers alongside the jokes: breakups, vulnerability, and character growth can be unexpectedly moving and even tear-inducing.

The series is repeatedly praised for feeling unmistakably Northern Irish and Irish, from Catholicism and language to pop culture, geography, humor, and the lingering aftereffects of the Troubles. Several reviewers saw that specificity as one of its richest qualities.

Season 2’s Gen Z voice is widely praised as more specific, authentic, and less stereotyped, including sexual-fluidity representation that feels natural to the characters.

The finale earns credit for a clever turn and for resolving major questions, but the reaction is far from unanimous. Other reviewers found it perplexing, tonally split, or less satisfying than the stronger start.

The finale is one of the more uneven episodes: the HOA plot is comparatively weak, though the character and relationship payoffs improve the closing stretch.

McGee's rapid-fire dialogue is a major strength: sharp, profane, layered, and often devastatingly funny in the same breath. Its speed can demand concentration, but reviewers repeatedly say the banter crackles.

Sharp dialogue and careful wordplay are singled out, with jokes landing through punch lines, rhythm, and character-specific verbal habits.

Eight episodes is the most repeated structural complaint. Multiple reviewers independently suggest the story could lose one or two installments—or simply be six episodes—without sacrificing its core mystery or character work.

Eight episodes are the season’s most repeated structural limitation, leaving less room for romance, side characters, and low-stakes hanging out. The counterpoint is that the tighter order keeps episodes focused.

Lisa McGee's writing is praised across the set for wit, specificity, fast dialogue, character insight, and the ability to find humor in darkness. The main knock is overreach: the plot sometimes grows so elaborate that the machinery starts to show.

The writing is one of Season 2’s biggest improvements, praised as observant, incisive, tightly comic, and better at tying jokes to character and emotion.

This is widely described as a hard show to stop watching, and several reviewers tore through all eight episodes quickly. The main drag on the binge is repetition and a season some felt could have been shorter.

One viewer watched the entire season in a single late-night session, a strong sign that the short run and momentum make it easy to consume at once.

The central trio's chemistry is the clearest point of agreement. Their bickering, affection, old grudges, and effortless rhythm make the decades-long friendship feel lived in and often carry the show when the mystery wobbles.

This is the clearest point of agreement: the ensemble’s rapport, warmth, and ability to bounce off one another are repeatedly described as the show’s secret sauce.

At least one small continuity choice earned explicit praise: damage to the women's car remains visible instead of magically disappearing after the mishap. That kind of follow-through helped the chaotic road trip feel coherent.

Season 2 is praised for building naturally and consistently on the foundation established in the first season.

The script draws emphatic praise for its wit, character conflict, and ability to make chaos feel natural. Even when the plot is criticized, the actual scene writing and comic construction are often treated as first-rate.

The scripted material is described as stellar, with comedy and character beats working together rather than competing for attention.

The pubs, roads, villages, police stations, cultural references, and eccentric locals create a vivid Irish world. Some reviewers wished the increasingly large conspiracy and supporting cast had been explored as deeply as the setting itself.

The eight-episode format limits how far the sitcom universe can expand through longer guest arcs and recurring side characters.

Costuming gets its biggest boost from Saoirse-Monica Jackson's escalating comic looks. Her wardrobe is singled out as part of what makes the character's appearances so memorably funny.

Wardrobe reactions are mixed: Anton’s more glamorous looks draw praise, while a leather club outfit comes across as impractical and distracting.

The visual package is bold, atmospheric, and often beautiful, shifting from Irish landscapes to neon and ominous imagery. That stylization is also divisive: some found it cartoonish or a case of style overwhelming substance.

The visual presentation earns praise for sequences such as Anton’s workplace montage, which felt more assured and thoughtfully assembled.

The show gets strong marks for polished, detail-rich environments, especially the early-2000s material and the money visibly put on screen. Period touches and Irish locations make the world feel textured rather than generic.

The sets are described as more inviting in Season 2, helping the production feel richer without changing the show’s basic housebound identity.

Rewatch appeal is mixed. One reviewer thought a second viewing could reward the dense plotting, while another would not revisit it because the long comedy-thriller episodes are less casual than a short sitcom.

The season inspires immediate repeat viewing, with full rewatches starting soon after finishing and clear interest in returning again.

The dominant response is that the show is enormously entertaining, with reviewers calling it a belter, a rush of joy, great craic, and one of the year's best. Even several mixed reviews concede that the trio makes it very watchable.

Across critics and fan-style reviews, Season 2 is described as fun, sharply improved, and highly entertaining, with several calling it among the best current comedies.

Most reviewers found the series highly enjoyable and easy to recommend, with several calling it a must-watch or hoping it finds a larger audience. A minority saw its sensory overload and tonal excess as likely to make it a love-it-or-hate-it watch.

The available audience signals are very strong, including near-perfect audience scoring and reported viewing growth in the second season.

One roundup highlighted a wave of four- and five-star notices and a very high critic aggregate, matching the generally enthusiastic tenor across much of the coverage. Critical dissent centers more on plotting and tone than on the cast.

Critical reception is exceptionally strong, including a perfect Rotten Tomatoes critic score at the time it was cited.

The bench is unusually strong, with several tiny roles earning specific cheers and guest performers making vivid impressions quickly. A few mystery figures are underwritten, but the performers themselves are rarely the problem.

Guest stars are mostly a strong addition and often used very effectively, though the cameo quality is not uniformly successful.

Roisin Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan, and Caoilfhionn Dunne are repeatedly identified as the engine of the series. Their timing, emotional range, and ability to play off one another keep the story afloat through its messier stretches.

The core five are repeatedly described as having no weak link, with confident comic timing, natural interplay, and performances that make heightened stories feel lived-in.

The Belfast and Donegal speech is part of the fun, with slang, wisecracks, and Derry-accented digs adding a strong sense of place. One reviewer even recommends subtitles so none of the craic slips by.

The larger action set pieces add momentum without having to carry the series. One reviewer specifically liked that the comedy and character clashes remain the main attraction even when the show gets bigger.

Raven Simone’s casting was singled out as an especially inspired match for Anton’s family storyline.

The animated animal effects look surprisingly strong, with a favorable comparison to creature effects in a much larger film production.

Varied pairings help the ensemble feel broad and connected, though Samir and Billie sometimes slip behind the heavier Paul Baker-Issa-Anton focus.

Direction drew direct praise for keeping the chaos visually lively and emotionally legible. Michael Lennox is singled out as captivating, while another review applauds the fish-eye choices and comic quick-cut technique.

The sexual-fluidity representation is praised for feeling organic and for not reducing characters to a single identity trait.

The meta and fourth-wall touches are viewed as a strength when they push the familiar hangout-sitcom premise into something more self-aware and distinctive.

Derry Girls echoes, cameos, mural nods, and Easter eggs delighted many fans without preventing this series from developing its own identity. A few critics thought the callbacks lingered too long or made the follow-up feel derivative.

The mix of practical animals, puppetry, and other creature techniques in Raccoon was noticed positively and helped the episode’s chaos feel tactile.

Having all eight episodes available at once suits the bingeable story, but one reviewer worried that the drop-everything release could also make the series easy to miss. The concern is discoverability, not the viewing flow itself.

The romantic material is mostly a strength, especially the sexually fluid Anton-Paul Baker arc and the amicable Issa-Paul breakup. The main criticism is that some payoff arrives too late or with too little buildup.

The raunchiness works best when it supports candid, realistic conversations instead of feeling glossy or sanitized.

The creature work in Raccoon holds up unusually well for a streaming sitcom and supports the episode’s escalating chaos.

Booker stands out as an enjoyably vivid threat within the oddball ensemble. Her menace, visual presence, and blunt attitude make the antagonist side of the caper memorable without losing the show's comic flavor.

One reviewer specifically praised the thriller for avoiding gratuitous spectacle, with emotional consequences carrying more weight than violence. The darker material stays secondary to character rather than becoming an endurance test.

The censor-beep choice in the workplace episode was judged to make the joke funnier, giving the audio gag a clear comic payoff.

The music is a standout for many reviewers, with early-2000s pop and Irish-flavored selections called exquisite, perfectly timed, or tremendous. One critic did tire of repeated needle drops, so the enthusiasm is strong rather than unanimous.