TV Review: Normal People Is The Love Drama We Need Right Now

This quarantine has only FURTHERED My OBSESSION with K-dramas. If I could, literally, eat South Korean soap operas, I would never have to leave my home, to re-stock on food, after realizing I ate 2 weeks worth of cereal in 2 days. Anyway! I bring up my K-drama/ Spanish Telenovela obsession because Hulu’s Normal People, out April 29, TOTALLY taps into the secret of these enamoring melodramas: classism.

For some reason, the minute you get a rich boy or poor girl, or a wealthy gal and an impoverished gent, in a torrid love affair, everyone is grabbing the pop-corn and igniting their inner fantasies. When it comes to crossing structured boundaries of race, gender, and class; the latter does not seem discussed enough, at least, in terms of love. I know a BUNCH of romantic relationships that are mixed in genders and races, but I can’t say I know one poor person that is dating a wealthier person. In dating, broke people really do stick with broke people, and the rich do the same, which is why Normal People hypnotizes you with the grounded nature of its rare romance.

Normal People Trailer (Official) * A Hulu Original

Set in Ireland, there are picturesque shots of our lovebirds, Connell (Paul Mescal) and Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones), coming together and drifting apart of over the dreamy green that is this nation. Honestly, airports should play this love story as a mere travel promotion! Based off the novel from Sally Rooney, Connell and Marianne meet in high-school, and, in twelve, 30-minute episodes, we follow them through college, or rather teen-hood to adulthood, to observe how they both rise and fall to their inner insecurities. Both connect as two teens that see life as bigger than their small town, and share a mutual hope that such bigness could transform into an inner happiness.

Marianne is a wealthy, young girl, whom is bullied by both her classmates and family. Edgar Jones does a stunning job of blossoming Marianne from a alienated girl who openly wears her inner feelings of ugliness into a young woman trying to reach for life’s beauty in the face of her inner saboteur. Opposite Marianne, is Mescal’s Connell, whom is deeply fascinating as a character observance of what it is to be young and poor versus an adult and poor. When we meet him, he is a brash, teenager who thinks he is invincible, even if his pockets are empty. His confidence attracts the fragile Marianne, of which both actors physically and soulful embody their characters. Their acting is SO GOOD, you will think God became a documentarian because their stressful love is realistically palpable.

Marianne and Connell’s First Kiss | Normal People: Exclusive First Look Preview

Marianne’s journey is of a privileged girl learning to love herself as a woman/ human, despite whatever emotional lashings life may whip at her. Yet, Connell is a poor, rambunctious kid growing up to realize that a lack of money or social standing can really take your inner wild. Thus, Marianne rejects herself, but society rejects Connell. Hence, they are like a gut-wrenching version of Ross and Rachel; you can’t stop watching them take “breaks” and unite like two moths irresistible to each other’s flames. Their push and pul dynamic is riveting and, for some reason, lyrical to me like, listening to John Legend’s Ordinary People on loop. Therefore, tell me how that frustrated love is NOT going to attract a bunch of bored, quarantined women wondering what dating will look like post-pandemic?

Marianne and Connell’s love story pours through viewers’ hearts and years of twists, traumas, and a spicy, emotional cocktail of passion and recoiling resentment. CUE ME GETTING MY POPCORN! While Edgar-Jones’ performance makes Marianne relatable, as a woman learning to be kind to herself, as a broke person, my little money can’t help but go to Connell (lol!). Directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, and written by Alice Birch, Normal People is exceptional because it is so deeply rooted in its characters’ humanity. You are watching people make very raw choices, both wonderful and horrible, as they try to find themselves and, hopefully, each other.

Marianne Makes Connell Blush | Normal People Episode 1