DROP EVERYTHING AND WATCH DERRY GIRLS!! Derry Girls was released on Netflix in 2018 and I cannot believe it has taken me three years to finish watching this absolute gem! With 4 lively teenage girls and a rather unfortunate inclusion in their gang, a teenage boy Derry Girls will leave you in splits! Erin, Orla, Michelle, Claire, and James are growing up in Northern Ireland during a guerrilla war between the Irish and the British. It is based on religion, ethnicity and was called the Troubles. But even though the girls and James are living in troubled times the war is only used as a minor hiccup in the girls' great scheme of things. Erin lives with her extended family and Orla who is her cousin. Michelle and James are cousins and it is rather sad that among these 4 mouthy, zesty Irish girls he is the only English dude. The girls attend a girls school and James is forced to attend the same school as his family fears he will be bullied because he is English which leads to his hilarious search for a boys' washroom in a girls' school! Derry Girls is based towards the end of the Troubles war. What makes Derry Girls so special is the normalcy of their lives. The crushes, the prom dates, the forced interaction with boys of other religions everything about is funny and so relatable. Erin Quinn, our protagonist is your wannabe cool kid in the school. She bristles at every injustice she has to face, gives kind of thoughtful monologues until she is hilariously interrupted by her eccentric cousin Orla. Orla has zero sense of privacy as seen when she does her projects on Erin's diary. Claire the perfect student, Michelle whose only aim is to smooch as many boys as she can, and poor, poor James forced into a reluctant friendship with the girls! These teenagers are trying to grow up in extraordinary times but it is honestly wonderful to see how ordinary their lives are. With their amazing (albeit hard to understand for this lowly fan) Irish accents and bizarre take on everything happening around them, it is a mortal SIN to miss something this uproariously funny series! By SB
