New English teacher, Ms De Brún, arrives at Our Lady Immaculate and the gang find themselves inspired. The adults go to see The Usual Suspects.
Tropes
- Bait-and-SwitchSister Michael: Sadly, Sister Patrick has decided to leave us. She's returning to her missionary work, educating the heathen inhabitants of a primitive and savage place.
Other staff: She's... taken a teaching post in Belfast, Sister.
Sister Michael: Precisely. - Brick Joke: When Ms De Brún asks them to name things they hate, Orla says "My own socks!" Later Sarah notices she's not wearing socks and asks why. Orla says, "They're just not for me, Mammy."
- Cool Teacher: Ms De Brún is a new teacher to the school who inspires the adoration of the Derry Girls due to her coolness. She's young, rides a motorcycle, teaches the girls to follow their passions, and even invites them over to her house for wine. A deconstruction, as her cool methods don't automatically make her a good teacher.
- Deconstructive Parody: The episode is this to "inspirational teacher" movies like Dead Poets Society, as it's demonstrated that the qualities that make someone a Cool Teacher don't necessarily make them a good teacher. Ms De Brún inviting the gang around to her house for wine is rightly called out as inappropriate. Her laidback attitude comes across as a Blithe Spirit, until it's ultimately revealed to be because she's just an Apathetic Teacher, which is why she ends up quitting for a better one rather than being forced out by Obstructive Bureaucrats as would be expected in such a film.Clare: Isn't it a bit weird she's invited us around to her house, at night?
Erin: What do you mean?
Clare: Well, she's a teacher.
Clare: She's much more than a teacher.
Clare: Yeah. No. Obviously. I get that. She's great. But it's just that I have a feeling it might be, sort of, frowned upon. - Hell-Bent for Leather: To underline her (supposed) Cool Teacher status, Miss De Brún is introduced wearing a leather jumpsuit.
- Inappropriate Role Model: The girls worship Miss De Brún. She invites them, her teenage students, to her house at night and offers them alcohol.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Sister Michael is alarmed when Erin says Miss De Brún "touched them". Erin means she touched them emotionally.Erin: You don't understand, Sister. Ms De Brún, she touched us.
Sister Michael: What?
Erin: She made us think, she made us feel.
Sister Michael: [relieved] Oh thank god. That would be all I need. - "Not So Different" Remark: Miss de Brún points out a wall covered in photos of past students at Our Lady Immaculate, and says that they're not so different; the subjects of the photos were once young and hopeful like the girls, but are all now dead. Clare points out that one of them is her aunt and is still alive and only in her early 50s.
- No, You: Between Jenny and a visibly drunk Clare:Jenny: You were at her house? At night? Well, that's a bit inappropriate.
Clare: Your ma is a bit inappropriate.
Jenny: That doesn't even make sense.
Clare: Your ma doesn't even make sense.
Jenny: Is she drunk?
Clare: Your ma's drunk.
Erin: OK, Clare. I think we get the idea. - Priceless Ming Vase: Introduces a statue of the Christ Child that Sister Michael loves. It breaks by the end of the episode, in a struggle between two characters over where to put it.
- Red Herring: Jenny Joyce sees the gang coming home from Miss de Brún's house with Clare clearly drunk. The next day they find that Miss de Brún is no longer at the school, and assume Jenny snitched to get her fired. Turns out she just got a better offer at another school.
- Shout-Out: Erin's parents went and saw The Usual Suspects and thanks to an evacuation they can't finish watching it. Mary is left a mess wondering who's Keyser Söze. The final shot of the episode mimics the poster for the movie.
- Take That!: The posters for The Usual Suspects have stickers covering Kevin Spacey’s face.
- Team Power Walk: The five teenagers power walk down the school hallway after applying winged eyeliner to look like their new idol, Ms de Brún. (James is not excluded from the eyeliner.)
- Whole-Plot Reference: A parody of Dead Poets Society.
