The third and final season of the hit comedyDerry Girlshas just drawn to a close. The show, which began airing in 2018, follows a group of five teenagers living in Derry, Northern Ireland at the tail end of the Troubles. Despite the tense politics of Derry in the 1990s,Derry Girls, for the most part, follows friends Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla McCool (Louisa Harland), Clare Devlin (Nicola Coughlan), James Maguire (Dylan Llewellyn), and Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) through their everyday (and more outlandish) teenage antics. The show is framed as an episodic comedy, yet throughout the entire run, there are constant references to the ongoing political struggles of the time.Derry Girlssets out to paint a picture of what life was truly like for the everyday people living in Derry at this time. Yet in doing so it also manages to explore themes and emotions that transcend time and resonate with modern viewers from around the world.
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At first glance, the show doesn’t feel like a period piece so much as it seems like a story that just happens to take place in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. But as the show goes on we see how the sociopolitical issues of the time are intrinsically tied to the show’s core. Throughout the show, we see fictionalized displays of military blockades and political speeches, but it’s also interspersed with real historical footage from the Troubles.Derry Girlsis built on the foundation of decades of violence and fear that occupied the minds of the people at that time. The period setting becomes more and more glaringly obvious and the political undertones start to feel less incidental. At its core,Derry Girlsaims to capture what it was like to be a teenager growing up at this time of radical change and political strife in Irish history, a coming-of-age tale that mirrors its setting in its characters and vice versa.
The girls may sing Spice Girls covers, commit (sometimes accidental) crimes, get into stupid fights, anger their teachers, and generally act like dumb teenagers, but under it all, the audience and the characters are reminded time and again that this bubble of adolescent fun can easily be popped by the harsh realities of the world around them. Erin and her friends are excited to see the boy band Take That, but they’re equally excited by the prospect of seeing Bill Clinton speak on the Troubles when he comes to Derry. As a period piece,Derry Girlsreflects the contradictory experience of being an ordinary teen in Derry at this time. It imparts an understanding to the audience that these carefree moments, these glimpses of an ordinary life, are simultaneously true and untrue. To live in times of struggle such as these is to live a paradoxical life where “normal” becomes whatever one has been forced to become accustomed to and for the girls ofDerry Girls, that is an understanding that militarization and fear are just a part of daily life. The funny hijinks can also come with a risk. An Englishman sneaking into their car during a trip is not just a wacky scenario, it’s something that could actually put them all in danger The show maintains a lighthearted tone most of the time, but the constant emergence of gags like this helps to ground it back into the reality it’s firmly set in.
Derry Girlsalso does the remarkable thing that any good period piece should accomplish: resonate with the present day. The show is, of course, tied to its specific setting but its themes are ones that transcend that setting, resonating across time. The third season concludes with the Good Friday Agreement. We see the characters grapple with what it means and their own complicated feelings about it. Michelle’s older brother is a political prisoner who could be released should the Agreement pass and this causes tension with Erin who detests any violence carried out by either side. But ultimately, we see not only the girls but nearly every character to appear in the show casting their votes. We see them coming to grips with what they’ve lived through and choosing to look forward to a brighter future, together.
It’s a scene that is deeply evocative of the hope many felt at that time. Yet it also resonates just as deeply today, the political and social fears have changed, they vary wildly from place to place and even person to person, and yet, there is a timeless understanding thatDerry Girlspasses on. Times are hard and yet people must keep going. They must continue living, laughing, crying, and hoping as they step forward into an unknown future.Derry Girlsunderstands that the world is much more chaotic and terrifying than most of us are equipped to handle on our own, but even in the face of those odds all we can do is march on and change for the better. So much is out of our control, but we can and must try and build a better future together.
Derry Girlsimmerses itself in the deluge of daily life for Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle, and James. We watch them manage to find mundanity amid a chaotic world. It’s a show about teenagers managing to find normalcy despite the extraordinary circumstances that have dominated the world they’ve lived in since birth, and yet they also get to see this great precipice of change. A change they themselves get to help manifest as they tick a box on their voting ballots. Though they are ordinary people, their lives have been interrupted time and again by the Troubles through lockdowns, blockades, and bombings, and yet they maintain hope in the face of this. A belief not only in their own futures but also, as Erin says in her documentary in Season 1, that they will live to see the end of these hard times.Derry Girlsis not itselfaboutthe Troubles, but it is about the people who lived through them; the kids, parents, and grandparents who collectively faced and eventually overcame this great conflict. As a period piece,Derry Girlstranscends its comedic foundation and becomes a story that is deeply, deeply human, and full of belief in what people can accomplish, for good or ill.
It strives above all else to show people as they are. Ordinary folks living through hard times, establishing new normals, and feeling terror and hope interchangeably when thinking of the future;Derry Girlsshines in its dedication to showing how life continues to go on even in the face of war, violence, and fear. It reflects the reality of life in that, for many of us, life can only go on in the face of such events, and we can only hope to exert what little control we have in the little ways we can: being stupid with our friends, banding together in the face of hard times, and doing their part when they can by being politically active and having a voice.Derry Girlsis a period piece about the ordinary lives of Northern Irish teenagers living to see the end of a devastating conflict, but it’s also one that can speak across generations. It both encapsulates the period it’s set inandspeaks to a modern audience who faces conflict and chaos outside their own control.Derry Girlstells us that we can succeed together whether that be in the political or personal sphere, bringing an end to conflict that stretches across countries or between friends. It teaches us that being a “Derry Girl” is a state of mind, one we embody when we band together.
