These Sacred Vows

freshpopcorn · 01-02-2026 09:46PM #1

Anynody else watching this?

So, far it's terrible.

Bocadilloo · 01-02-2026 09:49PM

The worst part about this is there are genuinely people like this in Ireland.

I'm already waiting for Nidge to appear and knock the heads clean off them

freshpopcorn · 01-02-2026 09:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199016#Comment_124199016

I'm hoping for Patrick to show up with a pipe bomb.

BoroMan32 · 01-02-2026 10:06PM

Woeful thus far.

caviardreams · 01-02-2026 10:06PM

Very poor man's white lotus

tradfan1 · 01-02-2026 10:26PM

Really very bad, just switched it off now.

BoroMan32 · 01-02-2026 10:35PM

The music was good. That's about it.

The last five or so minutes of the episode exhibited some mild promise; if you ignore the outlandish "twist".

blackvalley · 01-02-2026 11:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199044#Comment_124199044

Great this far

Hippodrome Song Owl · 01-02-2026 11:47PM

I didn't find it as bad as those tweeting about it. It wasn't great, though, with very little happening. I do like Tom Vaughan Lawlor a lot, so I'm willing to stick with it for a bit more. I have to say it brought me back to my one experience of a crass, wealthy (but not proper rich) Irish wedding abroad (Vilamoura), though. It's a set I'm usually very far removed from and I felt every bit as uncomfortable and out of place as the priest in this, and I think they've captured that vibe very well.

Deeec · 01-02-2026 11:55PM

As a storyline it has great potential. Tom Vaughan Lawlor is good... Not warming to any of the other characters though. The acting is a bit overdone. It was hyped up as being really good but episode 1 hasn't lived up to that. Will give it a go next week to see if it gets any better.

plodder · 02-02-2026 08:52AM

It got a great review on Brendan O'Connor's program yesterday, which makes me question their independence somewhat and heightened the disappointment for us. Ed Power in the IT gets it right I think

But none of the caricatures land. For one thing, they’re far too broad. Not everyone in real life is irredeemably awful – and this is even true of rich people.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio/2026/02/01/these-sacred-vows-on-rte-one-unoriginal-and-illogical-this-is-white-lotus-with-a-green-tinge/

Hippodrome Song Owl · 02-02-2026 10:00AM

It also got a fairly good (not glowing) review on Arena.

plodder · 02-02-2026 10:13AM

I suppose as Sophie Turner said the other day "it's much less racist" to make rich people the villains in movies these days, which is probably true, but it doesn't guarantee the result is any more watchable.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/sophie-turner-less-racist-rich-180346789.html

Montage of Feck · 02-02-2026 10:16AM

Given everything coming out from the Epstein files, it would be fair to say that a significant portion of the rich are villains.

jackboy · 02-02-2026 10:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199445#Comment_124199445

Most of these Irish shows now going back years portray the majority of Irish people to be irredeemably awful, regardless of them being rich or poor. The good person is generally portrayed as an outsider or weirdo.

AJB39 · 02-02-2026 10:45AM

The Irish Independent review isn’t any better than the Irish Times review.

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-reviews/these-sacred-vows-review-this-cut-price-irish-riff-on-the-white-lotus-is-an-unholy-mess/a309218126.html#

For what is meant to be a comedy drama I didn’t find a single moment remotely funny. They are all horrible characters and I couldn’t care less what happens to any of them. I won’t be watching it again.

Bellbottoms · 02-02-2026 10:52AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199549#Comment_124199549

Rick O'Shea is no Sean Rocks.

As for the show. It is a little early to comment on how good or bad it is. But there are a lot of issues around characterization. But they might be able to resolve that by the end.

Also we have all seen Sunset Boulavard, the self aware speech from the dead protagonist isn't as cool as you think.

I am not sure what is going on with Shane Daniel Byrne, is it his charecter or can he not act.

I have never rated Aaron Heffernan as an actor, aside from his early Obama days. He is doing nothing to win me over here. He also looks like he has slimmed down a lot.

Hippodrome Song Owl · 02-02-2026 11:16AM

@Bellbottoms That's really not fair to Rick O'Shea, who isnt trying to be Sean Rocks and is doing a good job in the role on Arena. It wasn't Rick doing the reviewing anyway, it was the usual reviewers who have been there since Sean's days too. And like I said, it wasn't an entirely glowing review anyway.

I think it's way too early to write off all the characters as irredeemable and awful - we've hardly seen more than 5 minutes of most of them. They're certainly not likeable as yet - but that could be a deliberate choice in how they are portrayed to us from just one perspective so far.

Pythagorean · 02-02-2026 11:17AM

About as funny as a dose of diarrhoea.

iffandonlyif · 02-02-2026 11:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199627#Comment_124199627

Pat Stacey is notoriously, relentlessly anti-RTE. I wouldn’t pay much attention to his criticism.

I’ll say what I’ve said about other Irish series: we have massively inflated expectations in Ireland that deprive us the enjoyment of home-grown television. Anything that’s not as polished as a ten million dollar Netflix production is contemptuously dismissed as rubbish. But for me at least, I value seeing Irish characters and themes on screen. Even when the production is underwhelming, there’s still an enjoyable familiarity that’s missing from American series. I genuinely wonder why so many other Irish people don’t feel it.

acequion · 02-02-2026 11:31AM

Tom Vaughan Lawlor is an incredibly versatile actor. His portrayal of the ill at ease, straight laced culchie priest is about as far from the iconic Nidge as you can get and both are worlds apart from the man in real life. I'm a huge fan and will watch it for this reason alone.

But I agree with the above posts. So far it's clichéd and stereotypical and not remotely entertaining. The twist at the end, while seeemingly ridiculous, is probably another reason to tune in next week.Let's see.

Thelonious Monk · 02-02-2026 12:53PM

Why would anyone ever watch any kind of drama or comedy made by RTE? It's unnecessary punishment.

Gadgetman496 · 02-02-2026 01:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199230#Comment_124199230

Episode 2 is on the player now

freshpopcorn · 02-02-2026 02:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199745#Comment_124199745

I agree with you about Pat Stacey. He's never happy.

I also agree with you about people complanning about Irish made programs. People are never happy.

I'm very easily pleased but just found this rubbish so far.

I'll probally watch the rest of it for my sins.

Mo Ghile Mear · 02-02-2026 04:31PM

I have to say I thought it wasn’t bad at all. I’ll watch part 2 on Player and see how it goes.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 02-02-2026 07:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124199745#Comment_124199745

I get ya, I think we all like watching Irish shows, it's comforting. But you said the production is underwhelming, the production was great, cinematography was class, made me want to book a holiday to Tenerife.

It's just the source material was not great. The dialogue could have been written with AI. And there's no nuance to the characters. Rich people = bad has been done to death.

iffandonlyif · 02-02-2026 10:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124200686#Comment_124200686

I did mean production as synonymous with show. But that’s an interesting point: surely if we’re able to do anything it should be good writing. I do think there’s a certain complacency about Irish literary talent. Scriptwriting is its own art form, usually needing to be fostered within a film-making ecosystem, and we just don’t have that unless they’ve gone over and worked in England.