Lisa McGee’s showDerry Girlsbegan in 2018, and recently aired its final season. The show is set in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, while the country was facing the Troubles. It focuses on five teenagers – Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), and James (Dylan Llewellyn) – as they grow up and get into chaotic situations. The show is a hilarious comedy led by its great characters, and still manages to have poignant moments. Here’s why it’sone of the best comedy showsof recent years.
Fast-Paced and Outrageous Humor
An obvious aspect of agreat comedy showis the comedy, andDerry Girlsshines with its humor. What’s special is that the comedy works with different types of humor, with all the characters. There’s the fast-paced way the friends talk and tease each other. There’s the absurd, deadpan comments that Orla and her mother, Sarah, make, which take a few seconds to properly sink in. There’s the terse relationship between Erin’s father Gerry and grandfather Joe, with her grandfather finding any fault he can in her father. Then, there are the outrageous situations the characters get themselves into. The situations they get into are hilarious by themselves – like cleaning a chip shop and accidentally using mayonnaise to clean the windows, then trying to make the shop look like it was burglarized – but become even funnier with the characters bickering and insulting each other. The show is funny and fun, and remains so even on repeat viewings.
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Strong, Well-Written Characters
Another major strength ofDerry Girlsis its great characters. Each of thefive major charactershas their own distinct voices and storylines, and they feel like real teenagers, constantly messing up and just trying to survive in the world. We also watch them all grow over the series. Clare, for example, starts to be a little more confident in her sexuality, while Orla goes from being seen as childish to someone a little more mature. James, who was unhappy in Derry and considering going back to England, realizes how much he loves his friends, and stays there. Erin begins to stop worrying about what people think of her so much, while Michelle lowers her tough exterior to be kind at times. However, even in their growth, they still make hilarious mistakes and fight with each other. Each actor perfects the layers of their characters, and forms the heart of the show.
Even the supporting characters are great and have their own storylines, like when Erin’s mother, Mary, decides to go back to school – which Erin misinterprets as her mother cheating on her father. There’s also a flashback episode that pays tribute to Mary and Sarah’s school days, letting them remember the wild teenage things they did before becoming parents. Each character feels fleshed out and is well-written, which doesn’t always happen with sitcoms.
Timely and Yet Timeless Themes
A key aspect ofDerry Girlsis that it takes something timely and shows how timeless it really is. As the show is set during the Troubles, that is a main undercurrent. However, it largely remains an undercurrent; the show doesn’t excessively focus on it, and instead focuses mainly on the characters’ day-to-day lives. In a broader context, living in fearful and uncertain times is part of life, which makesDerry Girlstimely and timeless.
The show succeeds at simply showing, in a normal, honest way, what life was like during that time; Vulture praised it as an “antidote to the grimness” found in most stories about the Troubles. Though it touches on the raids and fear, it shows that life goes on, and captures the normal teenage experience with things like popularity concerns and crushes. For example, when the vote approaches for the Good Friday Agreement, Erin is upset that it will detract from her 18th birthday party. Even in hard times, we’re still human, and have our human concerns. The show celebrates those little things that make up our lives, even in bad times, with experiences that are timely and timeless.
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Hard-Hitting Emotional Moments
With the show being so funny, it makes the key emotional moments land with real impact. One of the biggest is in season three, when Clare finds out her father had an aneurysm minutes after kissing someone at a Halloween party. While the others wait in the hospital, Clare emerges from her father’s room and shakes her head. The show doesn’t use any dialogue at this moment; it just shows the other four wrapping Clare in a hug. It then moves to her father’s funeral, where Erin walks at Clare’s side, with James, Michelle, and Orla close behind. Creator Lisa McGee, speaking with Hello Magazine, said the moment was meant to show the suddenness of an unexpected death, and marked the “end of adolescence” for the group. It’s a quiet moment that’s truly painful and emotional.
There are similar emotional moments in the previous seasons as well. In the season one finale, Orla performs a dance routine at school and gets laughed at. The other four join the dance with her, so she isn’t alone. This heartwarming scene is intercut with Erin’s family watching the news of a fatal bombing, with Joe even putting a hand on Gerry’s shoulder as they share in the tragedy. It perfectly blends the serious situation with the more light-hearted moment of thefriends being there for each other. Season two’s finale centers around the excitement of Bill Clinton’s visit. Amid the excitement, James is also planning to return to England with his mother. After heading to the airport, he returns to his friends, and proclaims himself a Derry girl. The friends then enjoy the day together in an emotional moment.
From its great characters to its hilarious humor,Derry Girlssucceeds as a comedy on all fronts. It’s able to blend humor with more serious moments, and perfectly presents the experience of living your life in uncertain times.
