[7.7/10] I love how well Derry Girls gets teenagers. It’s a very caricatured show in its presentation, but there’s a grain of truth to all the interactions, and it’s what makes it so endearing. There’s a sense of realness beneath the broad comedy that really helps it all click.
And what great comedy! I love the show’s comic take on the Protestants and Catholics bridge-building efforts. I’ll confess that my knowledge of The Troubles is limited to the broad strokes, but I think amid the specificity of this particular cultural divide, which certainly brings a lot of humor with it, there’s a universality to the sense of two different groups trying to make nice with one another while mostly seeing differences and various forms of exoticism.
But the gags are hilarious. James trying to get a “lad” friend by pumping up his bro credentials, only to be accused of sexism by his Protestant “buddy” when the shit hits the fan is a big laugh. Erin and Michelle trying to experiment with some Protestant boys, only to find they have purity bracelets and resent being “swapped” is a good joke. And I just died laughing at Clare thinking her buddy hates all Catholics when his hearing issues just led him to complain about “athletes”. The scene with her repelling and turning prejudiced when her life’s on the line was a hoot.
If that weren’t enough, Sister Michael brings the laughs every single time. Her beleaguered, annoyed reaction to everything is a hoot. The way she tells the class teacher’s pet that she’ll do well in life, but “won’t be well-liked” after tattling is a knee-slapper. And her general disgust with the well-coiffed priest who returns to the cloth after the events of last season is even better.
There’s comedy and insight into bringing these two groups together. The way the priest tries to unite them, only to have the crowd yell out constant differences between them, is a great comic set piece. On the other hand, showing that for all their rough edges and differences, all these kids get groused at by their parents for their misbehavior is a nice way to draw a line between them. Erin writing it on the board is a little much, but I still liked it.
And as minor subplots go, Erin’s mom obsessing over why Michelle’s mom let her keep “the big bowl” she borrowed is a nice dose of low-stakes hilarity.
Overall, season 2 of Derry Girls kicks off in superb fashion, with some great humor that feels not only particular to its period-specific conflict, but to how young people misunderstand and bounce off one another in any setting.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-01-18T01:31:08Z
[7.7/10] I love how well Derry Girls gets teenagers. It’s a very caricatured show in its presentation, but there’s a grain of truth to all the interactions, and it’s what makes it so endearing. There’s a sense of realness beneath the broad comedy that really helps it all click.
And what great comedy! I love the show’s comic take on the Protestants and Catholics bridge-building efforts. I’ll confess that my knowledge of The Troubles is limited to the broad strokes, but I think amid the specificity of this particular cultural divide, which certainly brings a lot of humor with it, there’s a universality to the sense of two different groups trying to make nice with one another while mostly seeing differences and various forms of exoticism.
But the gags are hilarious. James trying to get a “lad” friend by pumping up his bro credentials, only to be accused of sexism by his Protestant “buddy” when the shit hits the fan is a big laugh. Erin and Michelle trying to experiment with some Protestant boys, only to find they have purity bracelets and resent being “swapped” is a good joke. And I just died laughing at Clare thinking her buddy hates all Catholics when his hearing issues just led him to complain about “athletes”. The scene with her repelling and turning prejudiced when her life’s on the line was a hoot.
If that weren’t enough, Sister Michael brings the laughs every single time. Her beleaguered, annoyed reaction to everything is a hoot. The way she tells the class teacher’s pet that she’ll do well in life, but “won’t be well-liked” after tattling is a knee-slapper. And her general disgust with the well-coiffed priest who returns to the cloth after the events of last season is even better.
There’s comedy and insight into bringing these two groups together. The way the priest tries to unite them, only to have the crowd yell out constant differences between them, is a great comic set piece. On the other hand, showing that for all their rough edges and differences, all these kids get groused at by their parents for their misbehavior is a nice way to draw a line between them. Erin writing it on the board is a little much, but I still liked it.
And as minor subplots go, Erin’s mom obsessing over why Michelle’s mom let her keep “the big bowl” she borrowed is a nice dose of low-stakes hilarity.
Overall, season 2 of Derry Girls kicks off in superb fashion, with some great humor that feels not only particular to its period-specific conflict, but to how young people misunderstand and bounce off one another in any setting.