Derry Girls Season Review

Derry Girls (2018-2022)

Season 1 - 6 episodes (2018)
Season 2 - 6 episodes (2019)
Season 3 - 7 episodes (2022)
Created by: Lisa McGee
Starring: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan, Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, Dylan Llewellyn
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer

Plot
The exploits of a sixteen-year-old girl, her family, and friends during the Troubles of the early 1990s in Northern Ireland.

Verdict
It's rare a show seems too short, and this show egregiously provides too few episodes. While it leaves me wishing there was more, it also makes the episodes provided all the more delightful. This elevates teenage problems to a level teenagers would consider appropriate, and everyone else would find ridiculous, while remaining funny and clever. The teens are more concerned with their own issues while the conflict in Northern Ireland continues. The running jokes only get better with each episode, and all of these characters are given a lot of depth. It's an ensemble comedy with a distinctly Irish humor.
Watch It.

Review
The girls live in Derry, hence the title Derry Girls. McGee planned from the beginning on only three seasons. The show is fictional, but this references actual events throughout, including the Troubles and the Northern Ireland peace process. The sound track is absolutely great, featuring period appropriate music.

This follows the daily difficulties of Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), and Michelle's English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn) during high school while the conflict in Ireland continued. To them, that was just life, a back drop. It does add an underlying tension to everything that happens.

Season 1
It's funny and silly. The stakes are much higher for the girls than any reasonable person would assume, but that's also a part of being in high school. Those years seem so important. It's only later we realize it wasn't as dire as it seemed at the time. These kids don't have that distance yet.

S1E1: Nicola Coughlan, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Dylan Llewellyn play Clare, Erin, James

While the socio-political issues in Ireland contrast with teenage drama, this is an outrageous comedy. It's fun in the way you'd like to remember your high school years. The plights are typical high school: detention, finding a job, a Catholic school miracle, exchange student, vacation, and the school paper. Each of these characters is developed and distinct, even their families.

The series is colorful, irreverent, and fun. It's sweet in it's own way. All this happens against the backdrop of the Troubles, but teens, and many adults, think their plights trump everything else in the world. In that way, this is fitting. I just wish there were more episodes. 

S1E3: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Dylan Llewellyn, Nicola Coughlan, Louisa Harland, Jamie-Lee O'Donnell play Erin, James, Clare, Orla, Michelle

Season 2
In the first episode, students across the barricade try to find common ground between Protestants and Catholics. Finding differences is much easier, until they realize parents are a common factor.

A secondary plot in the second episode is Erin's mom Mary pondering the identity of Keyser Söze when she misses the end of the movie.

S2E6: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, Dylan Llewellyn, Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan play Erin, Michelle, James, Orla, Clare

So much of the girls' time is spent trying to avoid trouble and only making the situation worse. This show only gets better with every episode. The nun at the school is fed up with everything, completely apathetic about her job and wanting to avoid the children in public as much as they want to avoid her. Then there's the boring Uncle Colm. He's so dull no one wants to be around him, but that's also what makes him so funny. Erin's grandfather Granda Joe blames Erin's father Gerry for everything, no matter how impossible it may be.

Season 3
To start the season, the girls unwittingly participate in a robbery. It seems outlandish for this show. Plot lines have been more grounded, but Liam Neeson makes a cameo as a policeman. They use Uncle Colm to thwart the police investigation. While it seems over the top, it's also incredibly funny.

S3E1: Dylan Llewellyn,Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan, Louisa Harland play James, Michelle, Erin, Clare, Orla

This keeps getting better, the way the running jokes stack with each episode only makes them funnier. 

This season seems less grounded. While it's funnier when not constrained by the bounds of reality, the coincidences that occur defy belief.

The final episode ties in to the Good Friday vote that ended the Northern Ireland conflict. It's a fitting end to the show.

I had heard this was good, but it's better than I expected. It's funny and touching while capturing how intense high school seems. Each character and the family only adds to the fabric of this show, with tension and plot lines that feel real and appropriate. It's such a great show that deserves more episodes.