In this episode, Dara is feeling as angry as many others about the controversy around Bessborough House, the former mother and baby home that has one of the darkest legacies of any of the institutions that had Catholic Ireland in a stranglehold for much of the twentieth century. He tries to understand the indescribable moral failure of the Irish government to do the right thing and the importance of public acts of reparation to heal psychic wounds of such generational magnitude.
A recent viewing experience touched on themes of faith, penance, guilt and redemption. Dara praises the many strengths of the HBO series Task, and singles out the performances of Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey as two characters on a collision course who are spiritually closer than they may have thought. But it is their emotionality and sensitivity that really set them apart – why is that so appealing?
The World Cup is in full swing and Dara points out how the ongoing brilliance of the former Spurs striker Harry Kane continues to be somewhat unsung. An absolutely singular talent whose consistently prolific goalscoring has reached new heights since joining Bayern Munich a couple of years ago, there is a possible explanation for why Harry is not hailed as he should be – his very ordinary face!
Finally, and harkening back to the backdrop of repression that coloured so much of the religious hypocrisy that allowed places like Bessborough to thrive with impunity, Dara recalls Ken Russell’s 1971 masterpiece The Devils, a psychosexual exploration of religious fanaticism and barely contained sexual compulsion that featured indelible turns from Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave as church figures caught in the crosshairs of puritanical zeal. Once seen, impossible to unsee!