Before I even begin, I want to preface that this show destroyed me. It was highly worth the pain, though. Normal People is a limited series based on the novel written by Sally Rooney. It is the story of Connell and Marianne and how their relationship evolves over the course of their time in high school and college. They are perfectly imperfect for each other and always find their ways back to each other. Rooney’s realistic interpretation of two people in love with one another is demonstrated through this story and how love is not always perfect. Their love was heart-breaking to watch since they both dealt with their own personal struggles.

Connell was the product of a high school pregnancy and his dad is no longer in the picture. His mother is the maid for Marianne’s mother which started their relationship in an odd dynamic. Connell is popular in high school, he has lots of friends, he’s athletic, the complete opposite of Marianne. Marianne is an outcast, rebellious, and has virtually no friends. She believes that Connell is the only person that she likes and has ever been nice to her which marks the beginning of their relationship. 

Throughout the short series, Connell and Marianne are faced with their own personal struggles. Connell suffers from depression and struggles to deal with these issues throughout the development of the story. Without giving too much away, Marianne has trauma related to her past that follows in her relationships that arises as an issue for her. All in all, they complement each other since they both have issues that they can understand and comfort each other with.

The setting of this show is very unique as well. Shot primarily in Ireland, given that the characters live there and go to college in Ireland it is beautiful and such a different feel given that most shows I consume are shot in America or in settings that just seem typical. The show always has scenes shot in Sweden and Italy which is beautiful. As someone who has never been to Ireland, Sweden, or Italy it was very fun to watch and view the different types of locations and nature of these locations.

Since I have given a brief overview of the plot, characters, and setting, I think it is important to note the ratings and reviews of this show. Normal People received a ground-breaking 91% on Rotten Tomatoes which is very hard to receive. To put it into perspective, The Office received a score of 81% which is still a very high score, but it just goes to show how amazing this limited series is. The IMDb score of this show is 8.5/10 which is taken from all registered users of IMDb, so it is a score given directly by the people. I always prefer to look at the IMDb rating since it is given by the audience rather than critics like Rotten Tomatoes. I just feel like it is a more accurate representation of a show or movie.

Another element of this show that I enjoyed was the original score. I am always captivated by the effort put in to create music for a show or music, so I always applaud entertainment that works to achieve this. It is beautiful and creates a mood around the scenes. The music adds to the connection between the two main characters and it adds to the emotion the audience should feel when watching the movie.

Since the show is composed of 12 episodes each around 30 minutes long, I finished this limited series in literally two days. I came to the conclusion that I should try reading the book to see if it is any better than the show. I was shocked to see how accurate the screenplay was after reading part of the book (I have not finished it yet, but I am working on it). The dialogue is almost always directly from the novel which creates an accurate representation of Rooney’s story and how she wanted to convey the story. I almost always feel that the movie or show version of a story is hardly the story that the author of the original book wanted it to be, but this book-to-screen interpretation is fantastic.

All in all, I highly recommend taking the time to watch this limited series that is offered on Hulu. It is a beautiful, realistic view of love originally created by Sally Rooney. Please, take the time to invest in this show and this fandom because it will change your life (not really, but it is really good). It is not a huge task to complete this show which sometimes is a turn-off for me when there are many seasons that I have to tackle because it seems like I will never finish, so you do not have to worry about that. I promise you will not regret watching this coming from someone who had low expectations coming into it.