Derry Girls – Ms. De Brún and the Child of Prague Review

Following a strong opening episode, the second season of Derry Girls continues with another hilarious outing.

A new English teacher joins Our Lady Immaculate College, Ms. De Brún (Judith Roddy). She quickly inspires the students, including Erin and her crew. Whilst this is going on Erin’s family become obsessed with The Usual Suspects after their night at the cinema is cut short.

” Ms. De Brún and the Child of Prague” can be best as the Derry Girls version of “Lisa’s Substitute” from The Simpsons. Both episodes looks at the lead characters who get a new and unconventional teacher, are inspired by them and befriend them before they leave. There are of course some big differences, the Derry Girls are older than Lisa and their relationship isn’t as emotional as middle Simpsons child. But the point still stands, the main characters have different reasons to be drawn to Ms. De Brún. The teacher inspires Erin to write, Michelle has a cool teacher and James finally finds someone in Ireland who doesn’t make fun of him being English.

A running gag in the series is Erin has an inflated opinion of own writing ability. In Episode Four of Season One Katya, the Ukrainian exchange student said Erin’s letters bored her. When Erin became the editor of the school newspaper she failed miserably, coming up with ideas that Buzzfeed would reject. Ms. De Brún rips into Erin’s poetry and when Erin reveals Ms.De Brún’s inspired her writing the teacher was unresponsive.

Roddy was an excellent guest star. She was similar to Sister Michael because she has no issue tearing in to her students but not jaded like the headteacher. Her funniest moment was when she read the students’ poems and critiques them. She was a spirited teacher like during the hurtling sequence but also self-centred. She was a subversion of the inspiring teacher trope in films like Dead Poets Society.

Like with the previous episode Clare and Orla were the funniest members of the cast. Orla was her usual dizzy self and I particularly enjoyed her poetry submissions – she’s a girl with hidden talents. Clare’s funniest moments were just before and after going to Ms. De Brún’s house for drinks. She showcases her usual levels of neurosis and used some Irish slang beforehand and afterward she was drunk and unfiltered. Drunk Clare is the best Clare.

Sister Michael was also fantastic in the episode, like she always is. Sister Michael gets to make fun of that backwards, savage land known as Belfast, shows she’s into karate and had a hilarious reaction to Erin when the student describes her relationship with Ms. De Brún.

The episode also has relatable humour. An example of this was when the girls and James raid the Christmas cupboard and Ma Mary stating she has to restock despite Christmas being months away. The subplot involving the cinema trip does show McGee’s ability to mix the everyday with The Troubles because the film was cancelled due to a bomb threat. The reaction of the cinemagoers was one of frustration – like how in the first episode – when the adults were annoyed when a bomb closed the main bridge. Uncle Colm (Kevin McAleer) makes a welcome return although he is a character that works best in small doses.

As a film buff the joke and debates about The Usual Suspect  resonated with me and as a child of the ’90s it was great to hear M People’s ‘Search for the Hero.’

” Ms De Brún and the Child of Prague” was not as cohesive as “Across the Barricade” but it was consistently funny. It’s what you want from a 30-minute episode.