‘Trespasses’ Embodies the Heartbreak of The Troubles

Trespasses is a love story, not a romance. There’s no happily ever after here for Cushla Lavery (Lola Petticrew) and Michael Agnew (Tom Cullen), and they know it the second they lock eyes and brush hands across the bar at The Anchor pub in 1975, just outside Belfast. There’s no happily ever after for their neighborhoods, city, or country, either, and they know that, too.

An elementary school teacher and a criminal defense attorney would be a sensible enough pairing anywhere else, but over the course of Trespass’s four episodes, we see the gaps between them – age, marital status, and religion – steadily stretch into chasms they aren’t allowed to bridge. 

Adapted from Louise Kennedy’s novel, Trespasses sets up an arc worthy of the most star-crossed lovers, particularly interfaith couples during The Troubles. Instant attraction? Check. Inability to stay away from each other despite significant obstacles to anything resembling a healthy long-term relationship? Double check. A honeymoon period of blissful and delusional flouting of the dangers they think they can outwit? Check and double-check! Death, mourning, more danger, and the eventual healing that comes with time? I was crying too hard to keep an accurate tally of checks by this point.