Ma Mary and Aunt Sarah are determined to put on a good show as they prepare for the highly anticipated class of 1977 school reunion. But will the truth come out about what really happened on that fateful leavers party 20 years ago?
Tropes
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode is focused entirely on the parents (and what happened at their leavers' party in 1977), with only Erin and Orla briefly appearing at the beginning.
- Class Reunion
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: "The Reunion" switches backwards and forwards between the present-day adults and an incident that befell their teen selves — in a town called Derry.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: The skull-and-crossbones tattoos the mothers got in 1977. The women apparently think getting an unlicenced tattoo is a crime, and have managed to keep them hidden even from their husbands through over ten years of marriage.
- Faceless Goons: Many balaclava-wearing IRA members appear in the stock footage.
- Generation Xerox: The mothers of the main cast are portrayed as almost carbon copies of their daughters at their age, with Mary as The Leader like Erin, Sarah as the Cloudcuckoolander like Orla, Geraldine as the Nervous Wreck like Clare and Deirdre as the foul mouthed rebellious party girl like Michelle, plus Jeanette O'Shea is a proto-Jenny Joyce. They even have Deirdre's Canadian cousin Rob as a stand-in for James, down to sharing James's interest in photography, although Rob is actually gay in contrast to James merely being frequently Mistaken for Gay.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Teenage Geraldine is wearing her dress inside out because she spilled Ribena on it. She's really embarrassed, but Mary assures that no one can even tell. Then Deirdre walks up and says, "How goes it, ladies? You know your frock's on inside out, right?"
- Parental Hypocrisy: The girls' mothers kept their tattoos a secret to enforce discipline on their daughters by setting a good example.
- Politically Correct History: Cousin Rob's sexual orientation is immediately accepted and sets of a Seinfeldian Conversation between the adults.
- Running Gag: No matter how many times she's reminded, both in the past and present, Sarah keeps forgetting that Deirdre's cousin is named Rob, not Brad.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In "The Reunion", Michelle's mother is accompanied by her Canadian cousin Rob — who turns out to be openly gay.
