...how can one beat that?
The episode begins with a montage of The Troubles and sensitive Erin's apprehension on the hoped-for peace to follow.
The girls sneak into Our Lady Immaculate College late at night. They do this to find out how they have done on their exams because they are very nervous about them. At a chance encounter that day headmistress Sister Michael in her usually feigned indifference implies they did not do well. After gaining entry into the school, they are unwittingly enlisted to participate in a burglary which they had interrupted. The girls are subsequently taken into custody.
After an anxious (and funny) ride to the station house, during interrogation the first thing that comes through is the deep mistrust of the R. U. C. (police) by the Catholic community. Interestingly though, the R. U. C. Is not portrayed as a one-dimensional adversary, instead it is humanized as officers trying to do their best under the difficult circumstances of the times. Especially so with the world-weary Chief Constable Byers well-played in a cameo by actor Liam Neeson.
A second story line is Seamus, a feral cat taken in by Erin's family patriarch Joe "Da" McCool. It seems Joe refused to put a bell on Seamus even as it is found to be a great slayer of wildlife. Finally, after Seamus kills a neighbor girl's pet rabbit, Joe relents and the cat gets a collar and a bell. I hope this reviewer is not making too much of it, but I see the untamed cat as an allegory to 20+ years of violence and mayhem and mutual antipathy in Northern Ireland. To me, the collar and bell represent the peace process/Good Friday Accords and ties things into Erin's talk of cautious hope that opens the episode.
As these two story lines unfold the actors as usual play their well-defined characters with great comedic skill.
The episode begins with a montage of The Troubles and sensitive Erin's apprehension on the hoped-for peace to follow.
The girls sneak into Our Lady Immaculate College late at night. They do this to find out how they have done on their exams because they are very nervous about them. At a chance encounter that day headmistress Sister Michael in her usually feigned indifference implies they did not do well. After gaining entry into the school, they are unwittingly enlisted to participate in a burglary which they had interrupted. The girls are subsequently taken into custody.
After an anxious (and funny) ride to the station house, during interrogation the first thing that comes through is the deep mistrust of the R. U. C. (police) by the Catholic community. Interestingly though, the R. U. C. Is not portrayed as a one-dimensional adversary, instead it is humanized as officers trying to do their best under the difficult circumstances of the times. Especially so with the world-weary Chief Constable Byers well-played in a cameo by actor Liam Neeson.
A second story line is Seamus, a feral cat taken in by Erin's family patriarch Joe "Da" McCool. It seems Joe refused to put a bell on Seamus even as it is found to be a great slayer of wildlife. Finally, after Seamus kills a neighbor girl's pet rabbit, Joe relents and the cat gets a collar and a bell. I hope this reviewer is not making too much of it, but I see the untamed cat as an allegory to 20+ years of violence and mayhem and mutual antipathy in Northern Ireland. To me, the collar and bell represent the peace process/Good Friday Accords and ties things into Erin's talk of cautious hope that opens the episode.
As these two story lines unfold the actors as usual play their well-defined characters with great comedic skill.