User Reviews

OK. I was 5 or 6 when The Troubles (2nd Irish Civil War would be a more accurate name) ended but I know plenty about it so let me tell you how hilariously inaccurate the Belfast part of this episode is. For one thing the only industry in Belfast in this episode seems to be bakeries or milk as opposed to the Harland and Wolff shipyard which can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the city in reality. Wheeler calls for Sean (in a Protestant neighborhood) with the inevitable result that 3 Protestant men (who sound Austrian even though Austria is mainly Catholic and Northern Ireland was mainly Protestant at the time) emerge from a house to confront him. One of them says that Wheeler must be a Catholic and then Wheeler says that he's an American, as if there aren't any Catholics in America (with his red hair and blue eyes Wheeler looks the most Irish of anyone in this episode in fact) even though 1/4 of Americans are Catholic. The Protestant's leader Stewart Cooper tells the Catholic man Sean O'Reilly that on this side of the (peace) line he should use a loyal (to the British monarchy) sounding name like John (the English for Sean) as it would be safer and in the cream of this hilariously inaccurate crop Wheeler says "That's nuts! You beat each other up over your names?" to which Stewart replies "It's as good a reason as any." Worse yet they even mention why The Troubles happened more than people having different names being a good a reason as any to kill them!); historical grievances and the Protestant majority keeping the jobs to themselves (this system was maintained by restricting voting rights to property owners so if you couldn't get a job you couldn't own property and therefore couldn't vote so the Catholics got virtually no seats in Northern Ireland's parliament in spite of being 1/3 of its population and so all of the Northern Irish Prime Ministers were Protestant). Anybody who thinks theological differences had anything to do with The Troubles is sorely mistaken and is being opportunistic; in every other country in Europe where there wasn't institutionalised bigotry Catholics and Protestants got on fine. When a Mexican standoff breaks out as Stewart and Sean have a nuclear bomb trigger each Sean says "Go ahead, what have we got to live for anyway?" which was not the Catholic mentality at the time, it was either vote or fight or both. Suicide was not common in Northern Ireland at the time. After they get shown what would happen if the bomb went off (everybody would die or move away) they decide to cooperate to disarm it. Once this has been accomplished they decide to set up a new bakery together, good for them but I can't help but think that it would have been blown to pieces by one side or the other.