Erin is over the moon when she becomes editor of the school magazine; Orla's obsessed by step aerobics; Da Gerry is in trouble with Ma Mary; There's romance for Aunt Sarah.
Tropes
- Age InsecurityMary: They were my birthday photos, for God's sake. I mean you only turn 33 once.
Gerry: You've been 33 a few times now, in fairness, Mary. - Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Joe always hates Gerry, but now his other daughter has a love interest to hate as well.Gerry: Welcome to the club, Ciaran.
- Comedic Work, Serious Scene: It's a Sitcom, but this episode ends of the McCool-Quinn family watching a report about a violent bombing that killed at least 12 people that isn't Played for Laughs at all.Lisa McGee
: There were lots of times when your family stood around the TV and just couldn't speak because this was people in your own place doing it to each other. I just wanted to nod to the fact that there were those times as well. - Coming-Out Story: Clare anonymously submitted a story to the school's writing competition about being in the closet as a lesbian. She chooses to come out after Erin publishes the story in the school's newsletter and the response is overwhelmingly positive.
- Contrast Montage: When students begin laughing at Orla's step aerobics performance, the rest of the girls band together and join her on stage, dancing and laughing along with her in a moment of pure silliness and joy — then a hard cut to the parents reveals that there's just been news of a bombing that killed 12 people. The parents can only stand around the TV in mute horror.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Played With. Everyone's attitude towards a potential lesbian at school is very reminiscent of 90s attitudes towards homosexuality. The word "dyke" is freely said by the protagonists, and Sister Michael tries to censor the school magazine from spreading the story. In spite of this, no character except Erin expresses anything but positivity toward lesbians and gay people in general — most students are actually excited by the news of a lesbian being in their school, and it's stated that the girl would "basically be a celebrity" if she were to reveal herself. In addition, Sister Michael's only concern regarding the story was having to deal with pushback from higher ups, not any moral issue regarding gayness, and she is visibly proud after discovering that the girls published their story after explicitly being told no, even swiping a copy of it to read for herself.
- Divided We Fall: Everyone puts their differences aside at the end of the episode—James and the girls in support of Orla, their parents (and Joe) as they watch news of another atrocity.
- Eskimos Aren't Real: Orla claims not to believe in lesbians when she first hears about the coming out letter Clare wrote to the school paper.
- Faux Yay: Michelle claims to be the anonymous "wee lesbian" in order to become more popular. It doesn't work because everyone knows how boy crazy she always is.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Erin thinks Clare is joking when she first comes out to her, and has to have it repeated about five times before she realizes Clare is serious.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The bombing is so serious and heart-breaking that Joe actually gives his hated son-in-law Gerry a reassuring and comforting hand on the shoulder as they watch the news.
- Opportunistic Bastard: How Jenny and the rest of the school magazine view Erin after she takes the role of editor from a hospitalized student, against everyone's wishes. Even Sister Michael seems a bit disturbed by her.Erin: Look, girls, I know Louise meant a lot to you all...
Jenny: She's not dead, Erin!
Erin: Well, not yet! [beat] Hopefully she won't, you know, die, but if she does, the show must go on! Isn't that right, Sister Michael?
Sister Michael: [stage whisper] You terrify me. - Pet the Dog: Sister Michael forbids the girls from printing a story about one of the students being gay, citing the backlash the school would receive. When they go ahead and do it anyway, she actually seems proud of them and doesn't reprimand them, even taking a copy for herself.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: When Clare comes out in the last episode of season 1, Erin reacts poorly and Clare storms off in anger. James takes Clare's side, while Michelle tacitly sides with Erin.Erin: Well, I'm sorry, Clare, but I'm just not interested in you, not like that.
Clare: [disgusted] "Not interested in you like that"? Look at the state of you. - Politically Correct History: Lisa McGee stated in an interview that Clare's coming out was written with "rose-tinted glasses", because coming out and being accepted in a '90s Catholic all-girl school would have been unlikely, but McGee wanted to depict it how she wished it could have happened.
- Red Sock Ruins the Laundry: Gerry's "wee docket" for the photo store, a red piece of paper, gets accidentally washed with the whites, resulting in the group's school shirts being dyed a light pink instead of the white required by the uniform. This is taken as a statement on gay rights.
- School Newspaper News Hound: Erin is briefly made editor of the school paper. She takes it very seriously and publishes the story about a lesbian despite not being allowed to do so.
- Serious Business: Mary says that she "physically can't" do a half-load of laundry because it goes against everything she stands for.
- Talent Show: There's a school talent show and Orla does her step aerobics in it.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Erin brute forces her way to chief editor of the school magazine, and — recognising this trope — the entire magazine team quits on her.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Subtle, but seeing Jenny's opposition to the lesbian issue of the school publication immediately causes Sister Michael to rethink her stance.
