I eventually got around to watching "Normal People", like everyone else, a year to two ago and I enjoyed it. Conventional wisdom is, I think, that this adaptation of Sally Rooney's debut novel, from the same production team isn't quite as good - but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Frances (Alison Oliver) and Bobbi (Sasha Lane) are best friends, formally a couple, who are studying in Dublin. They meet Melissa (Jemima Kirke) a published author and are drawn into her social circle. Melissa introduces them to Nick (Joe Alwyn), her husband, and Frances begins an affair with him. The relationships between all four are complicated and are worsened when Bobbi learns about the relationship.
I don't think I can defend the show from the accusation that it's pretty slow going. Not an awful lot actually happens over its 12 thirty-minute episodes, but there's lots of quiet longing, passive aggressiveness and people not explaining themselves. That lack of talking is what drives the plot, as you might imagine, as it a couple of reveals across the shows length that threaten to drive wedges between the relationships involved. I didn't mind it, but I can understand if the lack of momentum shook people off.
The performances are unquestionable good though. I've seen three of the central quartet before, but this is Alison Oliver's debut, and she does really well in a role that requires quite a bit of her. There are sex scenes, but I mean more in the sense that she has to keep an emotionally taut character on the right side of likeable and he manages it perfectly. All three of the other leads also manage to bring a level of human complexity to their otherwise disagreeable characters.
I'm not sure if the lukewarm response to this one means that Rooney-Mania is over, and we're not likely to see the same creative team do "Beautiful World, Where Are You", but I thought this follow up was an enjoyable enough watch.
