When Ma Mary forbids the girls from seeing Take That in Belfast, they will stop at nothing to get there.
Tropes
- AM/FM Characterization: Inverted; Rita's tattooed, chain-smoking, beer-chugging demeanor screams "rocker", but she condemns modern music and loves classical opera.
- Bait-and-Switch: The news is on in the background, talking about the Troubles. That's not what Mary's talking about, though.TV news anchor: Despite John Hume's optimism earlier today, the DUP leader, Ian Paisley, has said that under no circumstances will his party sit at the same table as Sinn Féin, making all party talks impossible.
Mary: I can't take it any more. All these false promises. Waiting week after week, hoping today might be the day, only to be disappointed.
Gerry: Don't upset yourself, love. It's just a wheelie bin.
Mary: It'll change my life, Gerry. And Strabane's had them for months. - Brick Joke: The group is forbidden from going to a Take That concert in Belfast because a polar bear has escaped from the Belfast Zoo. They make it to the concert anyway by riding in a van which at one point accidentally strikes and kills a sheep. Later on in the episode, it is mentioned that the bear has been caught because it stopped to feed on a sheep carcass left beside the highway.
- Celebrity Crush: Michelle claims she has a psychic connection with Robbie Williams, while meanwhile accusing James of "wanting a ride" off Gary Barlow. James insists he just respects him as a songwriter.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Sister Michael questions why their red suitcase is so heavy, Erin is so afraid of admitting it's full of vodka that she claims it's nobody's — before remembering why an unattended suitcase on a bus would be a very bad thing in the time and place that they live in. Then, after the suitcase is shot by the bomb squad and the liquor smell becomes apparent, the girls all leg it away from Sister Michael without considering that they're abandoning their transportation to Belfast.
- Drunk Driver: They end up as hitchhikers with Rita, a woman who's drinking as she drives. It's Played for Laughs.
- Failed a Spot Check: The girls hitch a ride with Rita to get away from travellers while trying to make it to a concert, and for what is clearly quite some time, all four of them utterly fail to notice that they had ditched James in the process.
- Hypocrite: When Michelle refers to an Irish Traveller as a "gypsy", Erin and Clare are very Insistent Terminology about using the term "Traveller" instead. However, Michelle's terminology doesn't seem to be meanspirited: she greets the man in a friendly manner and thinks that caravans are class. In contrast, Erin and Clare are visibly uncomfortable speaking to him, and Erin quickly escalates to threatening him with a stick.
- Instantly Proven WrongClare: Look, I don't want anyone recognizing me, ok?
Michelle: No one's going to recognize you, Clare.
Sister Michael: Clare Devlin, is that you? - Mistaken for Terrorist: The girls have a bag of vodka they're taking to the concert. When they see their headmistress on the bus, they claim the bag is not theirs to avoid getting in trouble. Because this is in the middle of The Troubles, an unclaimed bag on a bus is very suspicious. They have to bring in some soldiers to detonate the bag.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Downplayed. Sister Michael is reading The Exorcist on the bus and laughs to herself a couple times.
- Opinion Override: Erin and Clare have been taught that "gypsy" is a very offensive word. The Irish Traveller man they meet says it's fine.Jonjo: Actually, Gypsy's fine.
Michelle: I knew it. - Roguish Romani: Subverted when they come up to some Irish Travellers in a caravan on the side of the road. Erin gives everyone a big lecture about how they shouldn't be prejudiced against the Travellers or call them "gypsies". Yet she's not actually as politically correct as she wants to be, and when one of the men comes up and starts following them Erin gets scared and the whole group starts running away because they think the man is trying to mug them. However, he was actually trying to return a wallet one of them dropped. Later on, the girls accidentally leave James with the Travellers and they become fast friends.
