Trespasses is a gripping tale that captures the fraught tension and unease of civil and political unrest, with a doomed love story simmering beneath the surface.
At first glance, Trespasses reads like a love story, but it’s really an unflinching exploration of trying to live any semblance of a normal life in a world without nuance.
Set during the height of The Troubles, Trespasses transports us into the middle of this upheaval and, in doing so, produces a powerful story that puts you on edge just as much as the characters themselves.
To say it’s timely would be an understatement, especially since you can throw a rock at a globe and hit a place currently experiencing some form of civil unrest.
But that’s also where Trespasses excels: it truly captures what it’s like for communities still trying to live normal lives while navigating a minefield.
For those of us in the States, our familiarity with The Troubles is knowing it as the Northern Ireland conflict, broadly understood as nationalists and loyalists clashing over political and societal direction.
Many are vaguely familiar with the IRA and the stalemate, if you will, that eventually helped bring an end to more than 30 years of extreme unrest, but the roots run deep, and the effects of the conflict have never fully gone away.
Trespasses places us in the thick of it, set in 1975, when tensions were escalating and the violence was becoming increasingly extreme.
Thousands of lives were taken amid the conflict, businesses were destroyed, and the tension was so palpable that you could barely walk down the street without feeling on edge.
It’s the perfect place to set this story, which has Protestant lawyer Michael and Catholic schoolteacher Cushla living out their star-crossed lovers’ dream, or better yet, nightmare.
There is something beautiful and oddly hopeful about following a love story, however forbidden, amid such violence, chaos, and fear.
It’s instinctively human to reach for love and peace in a time of hate and war, and it’s what keeps the world around them from feeling so bleak. There’s perseverance as long as there is love.
There is hope, and faith, and in this case, escapism, too.
And even though everything about Cushla and Michael’s dynamic should potentially put viewers off in some way or another — the age difference, perhaps, the infidelity component, the differing religions, social circles, and the like — their chemistry is too alluring to ignore.
Lola Petticrew and Tom Cullen’s chemistry is divine, addictive, and devourable.
From the second Cushla and Michael lay eyes on each other, their connection is undeniable, and the danger that brims beneath the surface — the forbidden nature of it — only makes it more intense.
It could easily be written off as this steamy affair — two caretakers from different worlds engaging in a lust-filled, hazy union for physical gratification and nothing more.
Add TV Fanatic as a Trusted Source on Google!
Get More of Our Coverage!But we quickly see that Cushla and Michael are so much more than that. There’s an intellectual component to their dynamic that’s almost as appealing as all their sexy stolen moments, and my goodness, there are many sexy, stolen moments.
They’re filmed so beautifully. The entire series is visually gorgeous.
While in their bubble, you quickly realize that the world around them may have doomed them to a complicated romance, but in another world, they’d have a full, happy, fulfilling life together — happiness, peace, everything that love should be.
In this regard, we spend more time with Cushla than Michael.
It puts us in the position of seeing Michael only through her eyes and experiencing her love, doubts, fear, uncertainty, and more, since we’re as unfamiliar with aspects of his life outside the world they create for themselves as she is.
That’s how Trespasses uses this love story to carry the fraught tension of everything happening in the world around them, too. Even during those quieter moments of escapism, an unsettled edge lingers.
Viewers can sit in that odd sense of hypervigilance with the characters, and that’s effective.
We know that both Cushla and Michael pour all of themselves into their everyday lives and find real solace only with each other. Michael’s family situation is complicated.
It can read as the traditional “excuses” of a married man who can’t leave his wife nor be with the woman he claims he really loves, and there are moments when that’s off-putting.
But he’s also a noble, admirable force: a man who advocates freedom over fear and proudly, unapologetically stands in the middle of the turmoil, insistent on not taking sides — fighting for everyone and somehow becoming an enemy of everyone by doing so.
And Cushla’s life is exhausting. She spends her days trying to shape and mold the young minds of children while protecting them as much as she can from the vitriol, ignorance, and violence that invades their hallways, let alone the outside world.
In fact, every moment she and good friend Gerry spend trying to shut down the school’s principal from taking all of his bigotry out on kids is as amusing as it is upsetting.
But she spends her off time having to take care of her alcoholic mother, played by the incomparable Gillian Anderson, with not much help from her eldest brother Eamonn, whom she also works for at the local bar.
It’s easy to see how Cushla’s life requires her to always be in some form of service.
Michael’s presence is a bright light that breaks up the monotony and gives her a glimpse of what things could be like.
Cushla is a deceptively intriguing character.
She initially comes across as a bit meek and maybe naive, but in time, you realize how fiery she is, how vivacious she can be, and how much depth and complexity she has at only 24 years old.
Of course, Lola Petticrew is phenomenal in the role. Coming off her remarkable performance in Furious, she’s truly an impressive talent and one to watch.
What she delivers in the second half of the season is so deeply moving and sits with you for a while.
Cushla’s journey as someone torn between two worlds feels a bit quieter than Michael’s, and that’s what makes it so interesting to watch.
She’s a Catholic predominantly surrounded by Protestants, often under the scrutiny and criticism of many she comes into contact with, whether it’s other parents, staff, or bar patrons.
British soldiers are a constant force in the series, stationed there as tensions escalate, and their conflicting presence feels stifling on the fringes of the show, especially through interactions with Cushla.
Moments like errant thoughts and comments in the bar, or the police stopping and harassing her and Gerry through tense exchanges, are when the time period and how dangerous everything is really sink in.
Cushla’s connection with the McGewon family is also central to the tale, and it offers another way to show the period’s complexities.
A mixed-faith family during such a tumultuous period means they too often experience harassment from both Protestants and Catholics.
A brutal attack on the family’s patriarch puts into perspective what the stakes are.
This conflict isn’t mere disgruntlement and mean words, but genuinely hazardous and terrifying, on the unsuspecting edge of never really knowing if and when you’d fall victim to it.
It also outlines the pitfalls of such unrest — how it breeds reactions, how the endless cycle of violence, trauma, bigotry, and nationalism can radicalize youth and create more of the same.
Trespasses’ approach to this period is provocative and thus compelling.
It dangles a forbidden love story in front of you as a primary appeal, but really, it’s the very human story of a country and its citizens under siege, the horrors and strife that take hold, leaving destruction, death, grief, and loss in its wake.
And all with the beauty of a culture, a language, and a people threaded through it all.
You can stream all four episodes of Trespasses on PBS Passport or PBS Masterpiece on September 20.
You can also watch the season premiere on Sunday, September 20 at 10/9c, with new episodes airing weekly.
-
Trespasses Turns a Forbidden Love Story into an Unflinching Portrait of Life Amid The Troubles
Tresspasses, buoyed by impressive performances, delivers a powerful examination of life amid The Troubles through a forbidden love story
-
Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence Season 1 Review: It’s Complicated
The latest adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence mysteries updates the will-they-won’t-they partners to mixed results. Our review!
-
Neagley Season 1 Review: So Much More Than A Spinoff
Neagley Season 1 delivers an action-packed, engrossing mystery while diving deep into its characters. Read our spoiler-free review!
-
Netflix’s New Teen Drama Crew Girl Can’t Find Its Stroke – Review
From love triangles to secret heart conditions, “Crew Girl” checks every YA cliché box — but does it add up to a good show? Read our verdict.
