An adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel, “Normal People” tells the story of an on again/off-again couple in Ireland who keep finding their way back to one another. At times breathtakingly intimate, the Hulu romance has plenty more going for it than the undeniable chemistry of its leads, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. Their love story is compelling, but all the more so because the show, like the book before it, engages with class, privilege, trauma, and other forces shaping the protagonists and their evolving relationship.
“Normal People” kicks off when Marianne (Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Mescal) are in high school. Both are academically gifted, but Marianne is a social pariah whereas Connell runs with the popular kids. Seen as a freak by her peers, Marianne makes no effort to hide her mutual disdain. She does, however, have a soft spot for Connell, whose mother works as a housekeeper for her widowed mother.
After Marianne confesses to having romantic feelings for Connell, he agrees to hook up with her — so long as she’s willing to keep the details of their arrangement private. That way, he explains, things won’t get weird at school.
Connell is ashamed of having anything to do with a girl his friends consider unfuckable, and simultaneously ashamed of being someone who cares so deeply about what other people think, especially since he’s genuinely falling for Marianne.
The love story certainly doesn’t have the most romantic of beginnings. As painful as it is to watch the early days of their relationship play out, there are also moments of great tenderness between Connell and Marianne, and despite his horrible behavior, it’s easy to root for Connell and hope he’ll be able to overcome his insecurities and embrace the girl he becomes less and less deserving of with each passing day.
“Normal People” follows Marianne and Connell after high school and through college, charting how they shape one another’s worlds and decide what they want out of life — and whether or not they can be by each other’s side while pursuing their own dreams.
Hettie Macdonald (“Howards End”) and Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”) shared directing duties on “Normal People.” Rooney, Alice Birch (“Lady Macbeth”), and Mark O’Rowe (“The Delinquent Season”) served as writers.
“Normal People” is now streaming on Hulu.
