Out of FawltyTowers and The young to I’m Alan Partridge and The office, for British sitcoms to achieve classic status, the unwritten golden rule seems to be two seasons and over. but Derry girls‘ Swansong, which hit Netflix back in October, six months after its debut on UK television, now suggests that three can be a magic number too.
Unlike its short but mighty predecessors, Lisa McGee’s idea ended out of necessity rather than fear of falling earnings. The gang of Northern Irish misfits – plus “little English fella” James (Dylan Llewellyn) – ended up graduating from Our Lady Immaculate College after all. Nicola Coughlan, aka the brilliantly neurotic Claire, had turned 30 when the show began. And the role of the latter in Bridgetonnot to mention Saoirse-Monica Jackson’s cast The Lightning and Llewellyn’s twists pistol and big boysshowed its talented cast moving on to bigger, if not necessarily better, things.
Whatever the reasons for his departure, Derry girls proves once again that even a topic as inflammatory as The Troubles needn’t be a bar to goofy slapstick, pithy pop-culture references, or hilarious teenage strops. “I’m so damn sick of the peace,” barks wild child Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) after a snippet of the gang’s pretentious attempt at making an Oscar-winning short documentary. “That’s all anyone ever gets upset about.” The same character also gets the show’s funniest line in a video store misconception brave heart (“Jesus, that looks classy. This Scottish drag queen takes on the entire English army”).
Of course, the complex political situation still serves as a backdrop. In opener “The Night Before,” the quintet plans to take a look at their exam results, while Mo Mowlam plans to negotiate a peace deal that will change the course of history. And as the title suggests, the additional final episode jumps ahead a year, to the 1998 referendum for the Good Friday Agreement: there’s even a surprisingly bitter row over paramilitary prisoners that threatens to tear apart a close friendship. Meanwhile, Erin (Jackson) pulls over Derry girls‘ Tradition of poignantly closing each season with a message of quiet optimism for the future, interwoven with impressive archive footage that reflects their home country’s troubled past.
As always, however, just as much weight is given to the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. Derry girls recognizes that even in the shadow of a 30-year ethnonationalist conflict, the little things can still matter, especially when the hormones are racing faster than you can say, “Macaulay Culkin’s not a Protestant, Ma.”
The sixth episode, “Halloween,” for example, is based on a mad quest for tickets to a performance by Fatboy Slim, the superstar DJ who resembles a “modern-day Beethoven, just fine,” according to the absent-minded Orla (Louisa Harland) – adding: “The Rockafeller Skank” joins the list of ’90s gems thrown up by the perfectly curated soundtrack. And the kiss between the honorable Derry Girl James and one of the real Derry Girls is almost as revered as anything aired on the local news programmes. Few shows have managed to reconcile normal adolescence with a broader historical context so effortlessly.
However, the third season also lasts Derry girls to places it’s never been before. “The Reunion” completely ignores the central quintet to focus on a long-running feud between feisty Ma Mary (Tara Lynne O’Neill) and dimwitted Aunt Sarah (Kathy Kiera Clarke) and a former school friend. On-screen flashbacks to the 1977 disco where it all began (props to Dearbhaile McKinny for a brilliantly sinister impression of the younger Sarah) with passive-aggressive catch-ups at the same venue 20 years later (note Tobias Beer’s scene-stealing twist as a silent plus- one), the inspired detour has you hoping a spin-off is in the works. Derry Mammies maybe?
Indeed, far from simply rolling toward its dissolution, Derry girlsThe final season is by far the most adventurous. The Haunting takes the ragtag crew into the wilderness after Sister George Michael (regular MVP Siobhan McSweeney) convinces them to clean up a deceased relative’s spooky woodland home, while making entertaining references to Hammer Horror and John Carpenter. Stranger on a Train, on the other hand, takes place almost entirely on a train journey populated by possible IRA suspects and all-too-familiar old neighbors that Mary and Sarah hilariously struggle to recognize. This particular episode might set one up as well Derry girls Drinking Game: Dig in your “Suitcase full of vodka“Every time, Coughlan’s involvement in dramas forced him to miss the main plot.
The success of the first two seasons has also convinced two household names to make brief cameos: avoid Googling who for full effect. Although they initially take you out of the closed and hyper-specific world McGee created, they ultimately make perfect sense in the context of the narrative. And though the girls’ sense of stability was previously shaken by events surrounding The Troubles — remember how the shocking news of a deadly bombing pierced their joyous talent show antics in season one? – The bolt from the blue is much more personal this time.
McGee recently revealed that she would be open to the prospect of Derry’s best return for a big screen adventure in the future a la The in between, another three-season wonder that perfectly captured the true essence of British teenage years (albeit in a much less politically conscious, outrageously crude way). No one would deny the girls a lap of honor, and it would no doubt be fun to find out if Erin has ever delved into the works of Shakespeare, or if Michelle is still overcharging kids for candy at the local store. But there is a point here Derry girls‘ work is done. To paraphrase Erin’s powerful closing monologue, “Things can’t stay the way they are, and they shouldn’t. No matter how scary it is, we have to move on and grow up.”
Jon O’Brien (@jonobrien81) is a freelance entertainment and sports journalist based in North West England. His work has appeared in magazines such as Vulture, Esquire, Billboard, Paste, iD and The Guardian.