new favorites

Sometimes when it seems like you’ve heard every musician you would enjoy listening to or you couldn’t possibly find a new favorite show, along comes a new flame, stronger than you could have imagined. As I was scrolling through Netflix the other night, smiling at the thumbnails of shows I know and keeping my eye out for the possibility I would find a new similar one, I noticed Derry Girls. As it was set in Ireland during The Troubles, it has that foreign European setting that I love. Further, the descriptors of “witty,” “quirky,” and “irreverent” and the “99% match” that Netflix provide had me too intrigued not to click. And with 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, I knew I had to try it.

I look at most new things with an ounce of skepticism and curiosity, shows included. I think in part that’s because I tend to feel like I already know everything that I like—that to keep my positive attitude toward movies, I keep my circle narrowed to the things I love the most and protect that energy. But when I do indulge in something new, I welcome it and am ecstatic to include it in my repertoire of cinema knowledge.

Throughout the pandemic and my year off school, I have watched many more movies and shows than I did before, allowing me to open up my selection process and expand my options to so many wonderful foreign films that I am so happy to know now! At the end of this entry I have listed my favorites from the last few years :). And I try to find a balance of not reading too much about a show beforehand—because I don’t want the show spoiled by those all-telling trailers—while also absorbing a good enough amount to get a sense of the context of the show. And I suppose my skepticism made me unsure whether that broad, slapstick humour was exactly what I could vibe with as I watched the first episode of Derry Girls, but soon after, I knew I was sticking around. Before even starting the second season I was saying to myself, “but I don’t want it to end yet.”

I completed the series a couple days ago, and I have been thinking about it constantly, and was compelled to write about it. Not only did Derry Girls have me LOL-ing nonstop throughout its entirety, and generally in a post-ironic absurdist sort of way, it also had its wistfully beautiful, touching moments of connection and teenage feelings. A kind light is shed on the war period, and the imaginative, original, fresh perspectives on relationships and being makes it feel current and individual. As one critic put it, “Derry Girls' central message of finding resilience in laughter, therefore, is more valid than ever.”

The perfect timing to find a show in my view is after all the seasons are out except the last, so that you have a lot to watch and you’ve missed the peak buzz around it, allowing you to observe from a post-state, yet you still have something to be apart of in looking ahead and in getting another season. I know that there will be a next great show to fall in love with. It’s a wonderful thing not to know what exactly that will be, for some mystery to keep it all fascinating, and to allow it to come meet us in the right moment. So for now in the coming days, I will revisit this show, research cast members, and cozy up with cast interviews and behind-the-scenes clips for more laughs! Here’s to our favorites.

FAVORITE SCANDINAVIAN SHOWS

love & anarchy—

skam—

rita—

young royals—

ragnarok—

trapped—

norsemen—

the valhalla murders—

katla—

lillyhammer—