I’m only four episodes into Hulu’s Normal People, and I can already say it’s one of the rawest, most realistic portrayals of young, complicated love that I’ve seen in nearly a decade. Based on Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel, the series follows Irish lovers Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) and Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) as they navigate their on/off romance, which is complicated by different upbringings, the opinions of others, personal insecurities, and all the mistakes we make before we know better.
The Guardian reviewed this gem of a series with a heavy, unforgiving hand, calling it “little more than a gutless soap opera for millennials.” And the takedown didn’t stop there. They also said it is “a tedious reworking of a romance plot as old as time. I’d rather read an honest bodice-ripper.” I don’t think I’ve ever been more pleased to read a review. Why? Because it’s so incredibly wrong it just proves that jaded hearts and elite television palettes simply won’t understand it’s beauty — and that’s okay. Yes there’s a class struggle “as old as time.” But the story is more about young love and when acted out by two people with Sheridan and Mescal’s prowess and earnest chemistry, it will inevitably feel fresh.