S01.E05: Evil Little Maniacs

[AnimeMania]

The Price sisters bring the fight to London.

Premiere Date: November 14, 2024      FX on Hulu  

[Danny Franks]

This episode was definitely a case of "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Bombing London was a horrendous act of aggression to English people, but it's hard not to see Dolours and Marian's reasoning - bombing Belfast and Derry barely makes the news, even in Northern Ireland. But bombing London would make the front page of every newspaper in the world, and it would put fear into English people who maybe don't give the tiniest shit about the Troubles.

And it worked. I think it probably worked even more effectively when the ringleaders were two pretty, teenage sisters with a clear zeal for their cause.

I can't imagine how scary it would be to drive from Holyhead (assuming that's where the ferry came in) to London in a car full of potentially unstable explosives. It's hard to believe anyone could keep their nerve for that whole journey.

The logistics of the operation are interesting. Would they have been better staying in England for longer? Maybe splitting up and heading to different cities for a few days? The IRA did always call in their bomb threats (and I believed they started using codewords so the British authorities would know they were authentic) which is something, I guess. The worst atrocities were by splinter groups that didn't follow the same protocol - the Omagh bombing in 1998 that killed 29 people was carried out by the Real IRA.

[Sesquipedalia]

14 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

The logistics of the operation are interesting. Would they have been better staying in England for longer? Maybe splitting up and heading to different cities for a few days?

It seems obvious this would have been a better plan. Almost anything would have been better than a group of 11 Irish people showing up at the airport immediately after the bombs were set. I was confused about why they didn't have a better plan and why they acted so suspicious. I was also wondering why they would pick such dipshits to go on the mission. I know they were just kids, but it seems like they would have gotten more training or something. I also didn't understand why there were still so many people nearby when the car bomb exploded when they'd had a whole hour to evacuate.

Edited November 22 by Sesquipedalia

[lovinbob]

Agree to that. Dolours made a point of saying everything had to be perfect. Why did they need such a big crowd? Why would they bring the nervous girl or the sloppy guy(s)? Why hadn't they planned a better exit strategy?  (Also, why was Dolours dressed that way -- what was the point?)

Edited December 2 by lovinbob