Normal People

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​Many people who have seen this show say that they’ll never forget it.
I guess I’m the same.

Sally Rooney who wrote the book in 2018, both produced and co-wrote the episodes, making it as authentic to the book as possible.

Set in Ireland, this show features the on and off again romance between two unlikely people, Marianne and Connell, who transition from high school to college.

Each of them is popular in one setting, while the other flounders.

Both are sensitive, insecure, intelligent loners; easy to be misunderstood and to misinterpret each other.

I haven’t read the book but I’m curious about it, as much as Sally Rooney’s other book Conversations with Friends, which one of my long-term clients says is also a wonder to read. Plus, the series with Joe Alwyn looks great and worth watching.

I absolutely loved Daisy Edgar-Jones in Where the Crawdads Sing (my very first blog review on my website!) and Paul Mescal in All Of Us Strangers (and other films I’ve seen in him this far). They are both phenomenal actors, showing the pain, conflict, and ecstasy of first love.

This series reminds me of the 2011 movie Like Crazy, starring also both exquisite actors, Felicity Jones and the late Anton Yelchin. I remember watching it after a break-up I had at university from a long-distance relationship (mirroring the movie and its characters), and experiencing such tortured catharsis from the viewing.

Normal People is similar to Like Crazy, because of the genuine intensity of the feelings the leads share with each other, but the misunderstandings between them also being too powerful. I've been in my own share of love triangles growing up, and this series makes the confusion and complication so truthfully messy and relatable.

The themes of this series include: the perils and facades of popularity & reputation, teenage angst, trauma, class & privilege, trauma and secrecy.
The cinematography and soundtrack in this series are also notable, and truly add to the many layers and complexities of the series content.

Marianne is sharp-tongued, aloof and pretty intimidating; Connell matches her intelligence, but he shows it in different ways, and flourishes in his warm, open and sincere ways (he says ‘’I love you’’ many, many times while Marianne only says it once).

Some commenters say that watching the series is almost like watching a relationship in real-time; truly being a bystander, eavesdropper, and fly-on-the-wall, especially with the intimate moments.

One can’t really talk about this show without mentioning the multiple sex scenes, which are explicit and demonstrate Marianne and Connell’s life-altering, passionate and tender bond. The sex scenes are their own narrative.

We witness both their deep insecurities, also within other romantic relationships.
We witness their experiences of anxiety, depression, and there is a suicide in the show, which profoundly impacts Connell.
There’s a famous scene with Connell and a therapist, and many believe that this is what won him the BAFTA award in 2021. It is reminiscent of the heartwrenching scene he did in Aftersun (you just have to see it…) I was speechless on both accounts.

We observe the communication issues that make these two loving characters break apart and keep coming back together. How they finally choose to live authentically and not deny their bond.

There were SO many frustrating and exasperating moments when I simply wanted them to be radically honest with each other and finally not miscommunicate.

The series is a tender reminder of the masks we wear to fit in, what we do to sacrifice or hide our own desires, and how strong connections don’t truly leave us.

The coming-of-age of both characters and their subsequent errors and contradictions are really captivating. Daisy as Marianne is truly mesmerising.

The self-acceptance, courage and resilience that both characters develop together is contrasted with their disappointments, humiliations, and heartache.

I don’t think two other actors would have done this better than Daisy and Paul.
Their mutual courage in these roles and in this series show their maturity and emotional intelligence as actors and people.

I find that what draws viewers to this show is its absolute raw, pure, unflinching, and piercing honesty about relationships.
It is truly unerring, even at the end.