The Night Before
- Episode aired Oct 7, 2022
- 25m
After a run-in with Sister Michael leaves them worrying about their GCSEs, the girls attempt to break into the school to see their results early.After a run-in with Sister Michael leaves them worrying about their GCSEs, the girls attempt to break into the school to see their results early.After a run-in with Sister Michael leaves them worrying about their GCSEs, the girls attempt to break into the school to see their results early.
Photos
- Sister Michael
- (as Siobhan McSweeney)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFrom this episode on, Sister Michael is often seen walking on crutches. This is because Siobhán McSweeney broke her leg after falling off a bicycle. The injury was then incorporated to the show.
- GoofsChief Constable Byers (Liam Neeson) is seen wearing 3 medal ribbons on his uniform. The first is the Royal Ulster Constabulary Service Medal, but this pattern was not issued until 2000. His medal furthest to the right is the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, which was not awarded until 2002.
- Quotes
Clare Devlin: I knew I should have cut ties with you lot a long time ago.
Erin Quinn: It's not our fault.
Clare Devlin: Of course it's your fault! You've dragged me down to your level. Your stupidity has finally rubbed off on me. I was a scholar when I met you, Erin. A scholar!
Erin Quinn: You were three!
Clare Devlin: Our lives are over.
Erin Quinn: I wouldn't say our lives are over.
Clare Devlin: Passing those exams was our only chance. We're girls, we're poor, we're from Northern Ireland and we're Catholic, for Christ's sake!
Erin Quinn: Oh my God, she's right! What type of future will we have?
- ConnectionsReferences American Gigolo (1980)
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.
- ChrisMoore-2315
- Dec 26, 2022
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