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Normal people
Episode 10
Season 1
Episode 10
Editor rating
Photo: Enda Bowe / Hulu /
In another interesting deviation from the book, Connell is not only going to therapy, but he’s actually getting something out of therapy. I, for my part, think this is great! Everyone in this program should be in therapy. Niall, the one (1) decent human being assigned in Connell’s network of friends (Marianne is Joanna), suggested it, when two months after a massive trauma, Connell was still not sleeping or feeling well.
Rob, Connell’s friend from high school who never left his hometown, committed suicide on New Year’s Eve. Although Connell was home for the holidays, it doesn’t seem like the two had gotten together, and at midnight Connell was kissing Helen, who walked home later in this soft pink hat to further establish her brand as No Marianne.
Over the course of the episode, in this therapist’s free but warm office, Connell begins to peel off the layers of his misery. Although this attack of deep pain and grief was sparked by Rob’s death, Connell admits that he has not been truly happy since leaving his home and arriving at Trinity; that he is more alone than ever and longs for this moment and place in his life to which he knows he will never be able to return; that he thought college would improve everything and bring him closer to “like-minded people,” but instead he hasn’t met anyone he can talk to or even like. (I wonder, what happened to those friends Niall had, the first night Connell started socializing? Marianne ran into an insufferable crowd of wealthy kids who was never going to accept Connell as one of her own, but they are not the only students at Trinity. But I guess for Connell, the orbit around Marianne is the only one worth occupying.)
Connell takes Helen home for the funeral, not really because she wants to, which is made extremely apparent by the jump. He does not introduce him to anyone. He does not refer to her as his “girlfriend”. When they enter the church, I should note that I find that the score in this episode is excessive. I don’t know if we really need this dramatic sad piano level to feel the vibe. It is a funeral for a young man of 21 years; I am sure we know it is tragic.
When Connell sees Marianne, he releases her name and drops Helen’s arm as if she wishes she didn’t exist. They wrap themselves in a deep closed-eyes hug that almost hurts my arms. (COVID Life, Week Six: I miss people so much!) I know this is inappropriate, but I giggled a little when Helen reached out to pull Connell out of the hug and then, as if closing her arm with all her Body. Body.
That night, trapped in Connell’s twin bed, Helen asks why Connell behaved as if he did not want her to be there. And I mean, I see your points totally valid, but also … maybe the night of your friend’s funeral is not the time? “If you didn’t want me to come, you shouldn’t have asked me,” she says, to which he replies, “I’m sorry I asked you then.” Ooof, I’m sure that’s the answer I was looking for. This is an interesting fight because they are both right, but Connell is also being deliberately obtuse about his obviously legitimate concerns regarding his “friendship” with Marianne. This is the place where their fights always go. Of course it is. Helen wants to know why Connell is “weird” with Marianne, but Connell insists that it is her “normal” personality, which would suggest that it is her strange and false self with Helen. I’m sure they’ll both be sleeping a great night hating each other in that double bed.
In the weeks that follow, Connell sits alone in class. A whirlwind sounds and a screech in his brain. Helen breaks up with him. Which is fair! Over time again, but all her points are valid and Connell can’t even muster up the strength to fight her, or get out of bed to look her in the eyes as she gently frees him from a relationship that his heart was never really in. .
On Skype, Marianne says she is sorry to hear that they broke up. GOOD. Connell needs to sleep, so Marianne tells him to just take the laptop to bed and she will see him sleep on Skype. Yes, just a super appropriate friendship with limits! Connell doesn’t know how to describe Marianne to her therapist, but she infuses the words “we went to school together” with that intense power of “we dug coal together.” THIS is when we finally find out that Marianne is only gone for a year, which is information she could have used an episode and a half ago, but here we are.
Almost all of my stars for this episode’s review go to Paul Mescal’s acting, as Connell has a breakdown that explains to his therapist, and he really tells anyone out loud for the first time, how disappointed he is in how he is. turning out his life. Sobbing, she says she came to Trinity “thinking she might have a different life. But I hate him here. And I can never go back because those friends are gone and Rob is gone and I can’t see him again. I can’t get that life back.”
Connell comes out and looks a little brighter outside, right? He takes a deep breath and tells Marianne on Skype how he went to therapy. She is supportive and admits to being furious at the performative pain of her classmates who write messages on Rob’s Facebook wall. Upon learning of this, Connell smiles for the first and only time in this episode.
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