Episode #1.5

I didn't know what an Orange Parade was, so I had to look it up. Apparently, this is a blatant slap in the face to the Catholics in various places in the United Kingdom. In this instance, they take over the town and tie up traffic. This really ticks off the old man and they decide to get out of town. Of course, it's not that easy. They choose a hopeless camping trip, leading to huge conflicts between Gerry and the old man. Also, they meet up with a stowaway residing in the trunk of one of the cars. Gerry is constantly abused, even though he is taunted and pushed. He reduces a waitress to tears because the others tell him to be a man. It's a sad but quite funny scene. Insensitivity in this family is the name of the game.

Fun to see more of Gerry in this episode, his character is definitely underrated. The cast works really well together in this episode, and the fast paced humor is back up to top notch.

My overall rating of "Derry girls"'s Season 1: 6/10.

I am quite surprised that this episode is the lowest-rated one of the whole series - I, for one, have very much enjoyed it. Showing how the Troubles affected people's personal lives and doing so while being properly funny is no small thing, and here that blend of history/politics and humour really shines. While Erin, Michelle and the adults (inc. The provo) are all quite great, I'd like to highlight Orla, who brings a lot of mirth while having only a few lines by reacting to things. Speaking of which, for a series with a pretty robust ensemble cast, I find that the direction misses opportunities. You'd think that when something happens or some especially punchy line is said you'd have to rewind the scene a few times to be able to enjoy the funny reactions from all the characters, what's with heavy grimacing filling the screen so often, but it ends up being just Orla who does some funny reaction in the background (as an added perk, her funny reactions don't tend to be just strange facial expressions). I get that having everybody try to out-quirk each other would get a bit odious, Orla's shtick is good in moderation, but crowd shots of our characters end up feeling a bit lifeless, just the same as the dialogues feel quite inauthentic/inorganic when characters take a pause to let a side-exchange play out before resuming, lines coming in more of a strict British queue than a rowdy Irish ruckus.

What also kind of lessened my enjoyment was the contrivedness/heavy-handedness of some humour, especially (but not exclusively) of the kind aimed at Gerry, making him too much of a punching bag for the shtick to still be purely funny.