Derry Girls review

Credit: Belfast Telegraph

Debuting on Netflix after a successful run on Britain's Channel, "Derry Girls" piqued my interest because its set in the North Irish town of Derry which I visited in 2000 and the series itself is set in the 1990s. I have also visited Ireland in 2016 and the island is significantly different these days as it moves further away from its North-South conflicts; and since the once-homogoneous island has been infused with Eastern Europeans thanks to the European Union.

Whether a sitcom can only teach you so much cultural history through a sort of narrative osmosis I'm not sure, but this show wouldn't do it for you if the only reason you're watching it is because you want to experience Northern Ireland in the 2000s.

It's also possible that being set in the town of Derry during the 1990s might ve the only truly novel thing about the show since there's such a big littany of influences at play: The free-wheeling character of Michelle feels like "Broad City"'s protagonists at her more extreme but mostly Britt Robertson in "Girl Boss" (and we all know how much of a chance that show was given by Netflix). One might also equate her to the puberty monster in "Big Mouth" in the way she tries to lull her three friends to give into their impulses. There's also a bit of "The Goldbergs" and "Fresh off the Boat" as it waxed nostalgic about the 90s although it doesnt work nearly as well in this nostalgic context since we as Americans have less of a basis of reference. There's also a little bit of "Bunheads" as this fenale quarter representing the four humors continually fall into and out of trouble.

The biggest cultural touchstone that comes to mind here is "Malcolm in the Middle": Through Erin's brutal nostalgia, youth is treated like an inhumane sort of prison where a) you are constantly misunderstood and constrained by your elders, and b) the network of peers, family and school officials you must navigate to keep ypur head above water is a never-ending source of strain.

Another source of this is that the show's humor feels thoroughly steeped in British irony. Dark comedies like "Seinfeld" or less famously "The Life and Times of Tim" (a show whose moral was pretty much "the universe has it out for Tim") come into play, but to this show's credit, "Derry Girls" has a bit more of a classist angle. It's as a direct result of their overextended family and the socio-economic circumstamces that Erin and cousin Orla have a less-than-ideal adolescence.

In addition to the quartet of girls, there is also a wildcard of sorts that adds some of the series' best and most absurd bits of humor: Michelle's cousin James has to go to the same all-girls Catholic school as Erin, Orla, Michelle and Claire because he's British or bullied or just plain unfit for the men's school (or some combination of the three) and he's treated as trash by everyone else on screen. As sociopolitical commentary (presumably because he's British in a pro-Irish town) he's not particularly well-explained but watching him navigate a school that's not designed for him and a family that doesn't want him is hilarious.