Derry Girls – President Review

The second season of Derry Girls finishes with important visitors coming to the Northern Irish city.

It’s Christmas in Derry and the city is excited because Bill Clinton coming to the province. Despite Sister Michael stating that the school would be open as normal the girls decide to skip school and watch history. Closer to home an important event happens for James, his mother (Bronagh Waugh) has returned to the city.

“President” is clearly designed to be the emotional, impactful episode. It combining a real historical event and an important milestone for the group. In the episode James offers to bring him back to London and live together.

If I was in James’ position I would be tempted to leave for England because he is berated for his accent. Michelle was the character who tries to talk James into staying and she needed to be the one who gave this speech. She was the one who mocked James the most, in previous episodes Michelle suggested leaving James with a group of travellers and dropping him from the group for Mae Chung. Michelle needed to show she loved him.

The ending wanted to replicate the one for the first season. The group showed their support for Orla when she was performing in front of the school whilst Erin’s family watch the news after a major terrorist attack. “President” ends with the girls hugging and show the speech President Clinton delivered in Derry.

The episode gave James some character development which is expected considering the story. Despite James being dumped by his mum in a strange city he is devoted to her. Her motives are questions by the characters: Waugh did look glamorous, especially compared to the other characters who are working class. James’ mother was a wannabe yuppie, acting as a high flying businesswoman who becomes defensive of her product. She was a bit like Hyacinth Bucket.

The episode wanted to be more poignant on a broader scale. This was done at the school because only two students attend. One ends up leaving on her own accord and the other needs a kick up the bum by Sister Michael.

The humour was mostly strong in the episode. Claire grows a backbone and is the one who suggests the group should skip school. She becomes a punk-ass and I loved it. She looked Baby Spice but acted like Rosa Diaz when defending a spot at the Clinton speech. Like Drunk Claire we need more of this version.

Orla was also great fun. She shows again her ignorance of Irish history by saying she wanted to find out what happened next regarding Oliver Cromwell. There were great little actions like Orla eating a lollipop whilst the girls argue with Dennis regarding his defective American flags.

However, other jokes were weak because they were just characters shouting. There are two examples of this. The first was when James’ mum offers the group a lift and Erin and Claire yell things like ‘kidnapper’ and ‘fire.’ The other was involving Grandpa Joe and his pals trying to find where Bill Clinton and force Gerry to be their driver. Their mission takes them to a small village in Donegal. Gerry needs to be stand up to his father-in-law.

“President” does succeed with its emotional moments and will give fans a warm fuzzy feeling. The humour was more hit-and-miss compared to other episode in the series.