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Movies & TV

14th Feb 2018

You’ll be happy to hear that the second episode of The Young Offenders is even funnier than the first

Rory Cashin

If they can maintain this level, we could be looking at a modern TV classic.

To be honest, there was a little bit of hesitancy about The Young Offenders coming to the small screen.

Nothing to do with the actors or writing or directing, but the whole concept of somehow simultaneously starting from scratch while also building from the foundations of the movie didn’t quite work in our minds.

Watching the duo of Jock and Conor getting back into the thick of their shenanigans, with a number of jokes repeated from the movie – “I’m not gay, but if I was gay, he’d be the kind of guy I’d be gay for” was essentially lifted wholesale – but with PJ Gallagher no longer a dangerous drug-dealer, and now playing an uptight principal…?

The whole first episode, while very funny, felt like we were shifting from one dimension (where the movie existed) to another (where the TV show existed instead), and it took a little bit of time to get mentally adjusted to this new reality.

Thankfully, none of that is a problem for the second episode, and we’re now acclimated to this new version of The Young Offenders, and while that first episode spent the majority getting us reacquainted to the cast, this new one goes all-in on the comedy, and is all the better because of it.

We soon discover that Jock (Chris Walley) is a hit with the ladies, his unwavering confidence being just obnoxious enough for the girls in his school to find completely irresistible.

Conor (Alex Murphy), meanwhile, becomes a jabbering mess in the company of the fairer sex, but with a particular female in his sights, Jock decides to do the decent thing and hook up with her sister, giving Conor an easy in.

However, the fact that these sisters both happen to be the daughters of their school principal (Gallagher) is just the first of several hurdles that they’ll face over the course of the episode.

We’re not going to get into spoiler territory here, but during Episode Two there are some fantastic examples of physical comedy (Gallagher and Murphy get into a brilliantly constrained wrestling match), some great visual gags (check out where the sister’s face make-up comes to a sudden stop at her neck), and other funnies based purely on the performances (Gallagher’s short-fused wife is nothing short of absolutely hilarious with every second of her screen time).

It all adds up to a great feeling that the show is only just now hitting its stride, and if they can maintain this level of quality going forward, this could genuinely be considered alongside the likes of Father Ted for one of the funniest Ireland-set shows ever made.

Episode Two of The Young Offenders airs on RTE Two on Thursday 15 February at 21.30.

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