A love story is nothing without chemistry. Which probably explains the global success of Normal People, because the chemistry between leads Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones is scorching. Whether they’re swapping longing looks, baring their souls to each other in tormented conversations or sharing a bed (which they do a lot), you’re never less than completely convinced you’re watching two young people deeply in love. Even when they’re tearing each other’s hearts out.
Across 12 half-hour episodes we watch their characters go from classmates to lovers to exes to people who just can’t keep away from each other, even when getting back together seems like the worst thing in the world. Often this kind of story can be a little frustrating: why don’t they just move on? In Normal People it never comes up. One look at them together and it’s impossible to believe they could ever be apart.
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal in ‘Normal People’. Source: Element Pictures / Enda Bowe
*Normal People episodes are available for a very limited time at SBS On Demand - details below*
It begins at an Irish high school where Marianne (Edgar-Jones) only seems like a stand-offish rich girl. Isolated, lonely, with a shocking home life and a burnt-in conviction that she doesn’t deserve to be loved, she finds herself drawn to a boy who’s her polar opposite. Connell (Mescal) is the popular sports star the school revolves around, a pack leader who carries his popularity effortlessly and – amazingly – seems to be a nice guy as well.
They come from different worlds in just about every way. Her family is chilly and well-off; his is loving but poor (his mother cleans Marianne’s house, which allows their bond to develop outside school). So when they get together, it doesn’t seem like too much of a red flag when she says it’s okay to keep it a secret. There’d just be too much explaining for him to do, and their focus is on other things – as shown by the lengthy sex scene in episode two, which manages to be gentle and fumbling and tender and pretty hot all at the same time.
Before that scene, it’s maybe possible to think the connection between the pair is just good writing and strong performances, mostly because both of those things are central to Normal People. But Edgar-Jones and Mescal’s chemistry is so convincing as young lovers, as people who are totally into each other and worried about how much they’re feeling and the risk of losing themselves, that at times it’s like watching a documentary – if a documentary could somehow look into a person’s heart and lay it bare to us.
Connell (Paul Mescal). Source: Element Pictures / Enda Bowe
So of course it all goes wrong. Connell still has a public life, and like an idiot – seriously, it’s hard to imagine being more angry at a fictional character during these moments – he finds a way to mess things up. He knows he’s ruined everything even before he says anything. Marianne is shattered, it’s all his fault, and we’re barely a third of the way through the series.
When next they meet (at university) the roles have been reversed. Marianne has come into her own, surrounded by smart, well-off friends who might be lacking a little when it comes to compassion, but that’s often the way with smart young things. Connell isn’t quite the boy who peaked at high school, but being poor and out of your element isn’t much fun at university, and that’s before you see your ex doing better than you.
Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones). Source: Element Pictures / Enda Bowe
There’s so much going on here it’s easy to ignore just how good both Edgar-Jones and Mescal are. Both of them are playing characters that are, to say the least, emotionally inarticulate. They’re so much in love half the time they can barely speak to each other, let alone explain what’s so painfully obvious to us, and they both have their own personal issues that stifle them in ways they can’t explain.
As actors, so much of both roles is about body language, letting silences and cut-short sentences suggest what can’t be said. Finding one performance this good would be astonishing: having two together is close to a miracle.
Sometimes, things are good. Source: Element Pictures / Enda Bowe
Normal People is about a lot of things. It’s about growing up and finding your place in the world, and how those first early steps towards being an adult can shape your entire life. They both make mistakes in their relationships, but Marianne and Connell are lovers; they’re both open to each other in ways they can’t put into words. They need to be together, they belong together, they can’t be together.
Normal People will break your heart.
Normal People will premiere with a double episode on SBS on Thursday, 25 May at 9.30pm, and air weekly. Episodes will be available immediately after airing and are only available for a very limited time. Be quick! Don't wait for a box set! Each episode will be at SBS On Demand for 30 days only.
Episode 1 (Watch it now):
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