It’s Always Sunny … in Derry!

We all need friends like these folks. Derry Girls.

By C.A. Ramirez

This article originally appeared on Medium.com (9/9/2021).

Derry Girls is a deliciously twisted, yet heart-warming, sitcom.

Written and created by Lisa McGee, Derry Girls follows a group of freshman girls trying to make their way through puberty and British occupation during early 1990’s Ireland. This show rubs me in all the right places. The dialogue is sharp, smart, and satisfying, and the group of friends are as eclectic as Seinfeld’s fab four cast. Currently on Netflix, Derry Girls is deliciously twisted but not overtly — a covert nuttiness that makes this a truly fantastic sitcom.

Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla (Louisa Harland), Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), and James (Dylan Llewellyn) form a band of misfits that will make you fall in love with them from the first scene onward. Derry Girls is ferociously funny and has you rooting for this odd group of friends from start to finish.

Binging and purging Netflix’s catalogue of sitcoms and movies this past pandemic has sharpened my appetite for titles that can hold my attention; which, having been dissolved to that of a coke-addicted squirrel trapped in a funhouse, does not satiate easily. Feel fortunate, for I have suffered so you will not, but I digress, Derry Girls is one of those rare sitcoms that can transform you into a rabid fan by the end of the first season if not the first episode. The characters that take you to the heart and height of the Northern Irish conflict are unique in their own quirky and off-beat way, so much so that you want to wake up with them as your best mates.

The show’s creator, Lisa McGee, was born and raised in Derry, during the politically nationalistic time known as “The Troubles”. Derry Girls ties in this tumultuous period with characters that have taken it all in stride; far more concerned with local grievances than national conflict while always keeping the military occupation in-frame, the series manages to display this conflict both as a hilarious nuisance and serious concern. The entire series is saturated with thick layers of hilarity that also house a few chili-flakes to make your eyes water, as the series is wonderfully manipulative of the heartstrings of the viewer. The Season one finale is a pitch perfect example of how this comedy can make you laugh and cry within a few moments.

The writing is impeccable and is eerily reminiscent of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in all the best ways possible. The cast of Derry Girls is just as self-absorbed and spastic as “the gang” but have retained their dignity and self-respect albeit in a wonderfully narcissistic and aloof way. Fans of Kath and Kim, Curb your Enthusiasm, or Seinfeld will be right at home with Derry Girls, as it drops our wonderfully over-confident cast of characters into a world that constantly drags them back down from their self-assembled pedestals in hilarious form. This series should be at the top of your list of, “Films to Watch Incessantly During Yet Another Feckin’ Lockdown”, and if it isn’t … catch yourself on.