"Normal People" - Mini Series (SPOILER ALERT)

"Normal People" is an Irish mini series based on the best-selling book. It follows the relationship between two people, who meet in high school, over a period of five years. The mini series was released on Hulu last year. As usual, I am late to the party. I finally watched it this month.

I have not read the book, so I have nothing to compare the mini series to. Often times after watching a mini series or movie based on a book I haven't read yet, I become interested (or more interested) in reading that book. That is not the case for "Normal People." I was glad to be done with it so I could move on to something else entirely. On the bright side, there are twelve episodes that are each only about 30 minutes long, so I got through it pretty quickly. Whew!

I was hoping to watch a complex, but good modern day romance. Instead, what I feel I got was a constant raunchy display of physical attraction between two very unhappy people with low self-esteem. I was rooting for each character individually to find happiness within themselves, but not once in this mini series was I rooting for the couple to end up together. Their physical addiction to each other came with very little emotion that I could feel. Maybe that's good because in the end when they went their separate ways (at least temporarily...we just don't know), I was not depressed; I was relieved.

This is not to criticize people who are unhappy or have low self-esteem because I recognize this is a real challenge for a lot of people. However, the mini series could have used this theme to address that problem in a deeper, more tasteful, and intelligent way. It was a missed opportunity to focus on a real problem that so many people could relate to. There was one episode that touched me more deeply than the others. It was when Connell was grieving the passing of his friend. He received counseling to deal with this struggle. I commend the series for that, but it was not a huge part of the story.

There is another theme that could have been developed more to add much more depth. Connell and Marianne came from different backgrounds as far as money goes. Connell's mother works as a housekeeper for Marianne and her very snobby and abusive family (which in large part explains why Marianne is the way she is - another topic that could have been addressed more deeply). Besides going to the same high school, this is how they meet and become friends...or whatever they were. The difference in social classes could have been a more prominent theme and it would have been a slightly better movie.

Since most of the mini series takes place in Ireland, I was expecting to at least see some of the beautiful scenery that the country is known for. There were glimpses of it in the background, but nothing that awed me. That was another huge disappointment. 

On the bright side, the acting was great and I love their accents. Daisy Edgar-Jones, who plays Marianne, is British, but her mother is Irish. This is why she was able to nail the accent. Paul Mescal, who plays Connell, is authentically Irish. Apart from that, I'm happy to move on.