In the ‘Derry Girls’ Series Finale, [SPOILER] Finally Receives Erin’s Letter

Rachel Seo
·7 min read
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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Season 3 of “Derry Girls.”

Season 3 of “Derry Girls” opens with a dramatic montage set to the tune of uilleann pipes, depicting Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Orla McCool (Louisa Clare Harland), Clare Devlin (“Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan), James Maguire (Dylan Llewellyn) and Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) leaning pensively against walls, playing soccer and doing cartwheels, interspersed with shots of burning cars and soldiers carrying guns. It’s the sort of montage that belongs in a period piece about growing up in Ireland during the ’90s — and, as it’s revealed, the kind that Erin, Orla, Clare, James and Michelle want to be remembered for, as they’ve created it themselves using James’ video camera. “They told us we were young,” Erin intones in a comically ponderous voiceover, “yet we understood the enormity of it. We understood what was at stake. Our fear was replaced with something altogether more terrifying…hope. Hope is so much worse.”

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So sets off the madcap final seven episodes of the acclaimed Irish teen comedy, which was created and written by Lisa McGee. The two-time BAFTA nominated series first premiered on U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 on January 4, 2018, then landed on Netflix on December 21, 2018. Season 3, the series’ last, was released on the streamer on October 7. Aspiring writer Erin, her eccentric cousin Orla, the perpetually panicking Clare, brashly confident Michelle and her unassuming, well-intentioned cousin James bicker, fight and find themselves in predicaments as hilarious as they are inventive. In Season 1, they attempt to delay an impending test by convincing their headmistress that they saw a tear roll down the cheek of a statue of the Virgin Mary; in the Season 2 finale, they invite Chelsea Clinton to the Lisnagelvin swimming pool by sending a letter to her ahead of the then-First Family’s visit to Derry. Rounding out the rest of the ensemble cast are Tara Lynne O’Neill and Tommy Tiernan as Erin’s parents, Mary and Gerry; Kathy Kiera Clarke as Orla’s mother Sarah; Ian McElhinney as Orla’s and Erin’s grandfather Joe; and a memorable Siobhán McSweeney as Sister George Michael, the headmistress nun of Our Lady Immaculate College, the Catholic school that the Derry Girls attend.

Part of the “Derry Girls” charm has always been that it captures the concerns of everyday teenage girls, who are less anxious about the Troubles — the Northern Ireland conflict between loyalists, who wanted Northern Ireland to stay under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom, and the republicans, who wanted the region to be united with Ireland — than with, say, figuring out how to connect with Protestant boys at a Catholic-Protestant camp meant to “build bridges” across the religious divide. Season 3 begins with the girls tackling one of their biggest fears: the status of their GCSE exams. On the day before they’re set to see their results, the Derry girls decide to break into Our Lady Immaculate College to see their scores after Sister George Michael reveals to them that the school already has their grades. Once they’ve gotten inside the school, however, they run into two men who manage to convince them to help them carry the school’s computer equipment into their van.

It’s not until the men have left that Clare — the group’s resident brainiac, who is prone to stress-induced outbursts — pieces together that they’ve just helped a pair of thieves make off with their own school’s valuables. The police then arrive and take the Derry Girls into custody, where they are questioned by none other than Liam Neeson, who plays Chief Constable Byers. Their situation looks dire until an unlikely hero saves the day. When asked to call an adult relative to join them at the station, the Derry Girls call Erin and Orla’s great-uncle Colm, who is known for being a nonstop talker. Colm irritates the constable by droning on and on about superfluous matters, stalling the questioning. When the policemen procure security photos of the actual thieves with the computer, the girls are released.

Even as the Derry Girls embark on ridiculous adventures, McGee uses the final season to expand the show’s world, including adding depth and dimension to the show’s side characters. In the second episode, a hot plumber throws a figurative wrench in Erin’s parents’ marriage; Episode 5 focuses almost exclusively on Erin’s and Orla’s mothers, who attend their high school reunion intent on confronting an old friend with a long-buried secret stemming from their 1977 leavers’ disco (apparently a term synonymous with “graduation party”). Season 3 also contributes tangible romantic elements to the story: James and Erin share a kiss in a haunted house after James undergoes a near-death experience, and Clare kisses Laurie, a worker at a record store, after the Derry Girls are kicked out of a Fatboy Slim concert on Halloween night. There are also apperances by memorable side characters, including Art Campion’s sleazy Father Peter, who makes an appearance — this time sporting a ponytail.

But following the sudden death of Clare’s father at the end of Episode 6, the seventh — and final — episode takes on a more serious tone. In addition to tackling grief, the series finale also gives more of a platform to the political conflict that, while prominent, has until Season 3 functioned primarily as a background character. In the finale, Erin and Orla, who were born three months apart, are tasked with creating a joint 18th birthday party better than their nemesis Jenny Joyce’s. Erin wants the party theme to be “literary greats;” Orla’s sensibility aligns more with her favored choice, “monkeys” — although, she says, she’s willing to compromise on “gorillas.” At the same time, the vote to approve or reject the Good Friday Agreement — a referendum that largely brokered peace between Britain and Ireland over the governance of Northern Ireland — looms overhead, leading Erin to question what direction her life is headed, both as a person and as a citizen. The referendum granted the people of Northern Ireland the right to hold British or Irish citizenship or both, ensured that Northern Ireland would remain part of the U.K., and released paramilitary prisoners. But the upcoming vote causes a rift between Erin and Michelle. Erin wants peace, but she isn’t sure if voting yes will actually create resolution and feels uneasy about the idea of letting prisoners go free; Michelle’s brother was imprisoned for killing someone during the Troubles, and she’s eagerly anticipating his release. The two reconcile after a long, mishap-filled night, in a moment of clarity that demonstrates their recognition of their world’s complications.

“There’s no answer to any of this, is there?” Michelle asks.

“I don’t think there is, you know,” Erin says.

Clare ends up saving Erin’s and Orla’s party by poaching The Commitment — a fictional band based on the one in 1991 film “The Commitments” — from Jenny Joyce’s party. As The Commitment’s lead singer, played by Bronagh Gallagher in a memorable cameo, croons Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary,” Erin asks her grandfather for guidance on how to vote. “What if we vote yes, and it doesn’t even work?” she asks him.

“And what if it does?” he asks. “What if all this becomes a ghost story you’ll tell your wains one day?”

The last few minutes of “Derry Girls” feature shots of the main ensemble of characters walking into the polling station, all of whom vote “Yes” on the referendum. But the final scene of the series finale, set in the present day, picks up a thread left in Season 2 and, funnily enough, doesn’t feature the main cast at all. A mailman walks down a residential street in New York before ringing the doorbell of a brownstone. He explains to the woman who opens the door that the mail he’s delivering somehow lost its way in the ’90s, but has now finally made its way to her. The camera reveals that he’s speaking to none other than an amused Chelsea Clinton, who opens the letter he gives to her and begins reading it out loud. “Dear Chelsea, our names are Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James, and we come from a place called Derry. We understand you will soon be traveling here with your ma and da, and if they’re anything like our parents, well, you’ll be bored out of your tree.” It’s a triumphant, fitting conclusion to a story dedicated to surprising its viewers with heart and laughter to the very end.

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