How to Get to Heaven from Belfast (2026)

Really a lot less than 'Derry Girls'. At times, Lisa McGee's distinctive style is an absolute eye-catcher. The surreal contrasts between hyper-cheerful colors and horror influences. The wondrous microcosm of strong female characters in which men actually have hardly any place. The razor-sharp dialogue full of Irish slang and mean observations. But otherwise, 'How To Get To Heaven From Belfast' (2026) feels mostly like yet another farcical clone of Twin Peaks. 'Derry Girls' managed to find a breath of fresh air in the format of a comedy series within the heavy setting of the Irish Troubles. But here, the blatant obsession with trauma seems to be an end in itself. The hammying and over-the-top acting feel out of place and far-fetched. Sometimes it even gets on your nerves a bit.

Translated from Dutch · View original

The new series by Lisa McGee, creator of Derry Girls. Partly, it is another comedy with many of the same characteristics—a central role for women, a throwback to the nineties, a tendency towards the absurdity of Ireland at its most provincial—but partly, it is also a mystery. If McGee had left it at that, it could have been a sort of Only Murders in the Building, but she decided she also wanted to strike a few serious dramatic notes and incorporate a meta-element by making the protagonist a writer for a successful detective series. A bit much, a bit chaotic. The shifts in tone bothered me at times, especially when it goes from heavily exaggerated surreal slapstick to drama about childhood trauma. Or rather, an attempt at it, because that is clearly not McGee’s strong point. You also sometimes have actors in the same scene where one goes for serious drama and the other for over-the-top slapstick.

Anyway, I did laugh out loud regularly, and the mystery was intriguing in itself. Still, I would have preferred a Sister Michael spin-off of Derry Girls.

(Watched on Netflix)

Translated from Dutch · View original