# Normal People (2020)

> Two young people from the same Irish town slip in and out of each other's lives as class, pride and insecurity pull them apart.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/76246

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, romance
- Network: BBC Three
- Cast: Paul Mescal, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Desmond Eastwood, Anita Petry, Sebastian de Souza, Killian Coyle, Jim Roche, Muiris Crowley
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9059760/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: wistful, intimate, melancholic, sensual, sincere

## What critics say

Critics broadly acclaim the intimate performances and the honest, unsentimental portrait of first love and class difference between two young people in Ireland.

## Synopsis

Normal People (2020) is a British-Irish limited series created for BBC Three, adapted from the Sally Rooney novel. Paul Mescal plays Connell Waldron, a quiet, popular boy from a modest home in a small Irish town, and Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Marianne Sheridan, a sharp, isolated classmate from a wealthy family. Across twelve half-hour episodes, the two weave in and out of each other's lives from secondary school through university in Dublin, circling a relationship that keeps being shaped by shame, money and the fear of being seen. The engine is simple and painful: each wants to be loved, yet each keeps retreating when the other gets close, and the story follows the small conversations, late-night messages and awkward reunions that make up their on-off bond. Its single season is a tight, intimate miniseries with a naturalistic, unhurried pace. The tone is wistful, sensual and melancholy, with a clear-eyed view of power inside intimacy. Fans of Before Sunrise, Brooklyn and Aftersun will find resonance in its quiet, emotionally honest portrait of first love and class.

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