TV Show review
April 26, 2020 · 30 min · TV-MA · Ended
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Normal People.
Woke representation / casting
The cast is overwhelmingly white Irish actors that match the story’s specific rural Ireland and Dublin settings and character backgrounds, with no audience-visible diversity quotas, swaps, or signaling.
Woke political dialogue
Characters show occasional class awareness or left-leaning personal views, but dialogue stays personal and psychological with no activist speeches, ideological debates, or institutional lectures.
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative centers heterosexual romance, individual trauma, mental health, and class mobility through specific characters rather than race, gender identity, sexuality, or group-based identity politics.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Family abuse, class barriers, and relationship power imbalances appear, but they are portrayed as personal and psychological experiences without modern activist framing of toxic masculinity, systemic patriarchy, or cultural institutions as oppressive systems.
Review
Normal People is a 12-episode limited series that follows Marianne and Connell, two young Irish people from different class backgrounds, as their secret on-and-off relationship develops from high school in rural Sligo through university in Dublin, exploring sex, emotional intimacy, mental health, family trauma, and personal growth. The adaptation stays close to Sally Rooney’s novel, presenting a character-driven story of consent, vulnerability, and subtle class tensions in early-2010s Ireland rather than broad social messaging. Explicit sex scenes receive professional intimacy coordination focused on safety and consent, while any power dynamics remain tied to individual psychology instead of activist framing or identity politics. Marketing and coverage treated it as literary romance and emotional drama, with no emphasis on representation quotas or modern social-justice themes.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Virtually no right-leaning or anti-woke criticism accused the series of pushing DEI, identity politics, or activist messaging; complaints were limited to explicit content and pacing.
Creator track record context
Several key creatives have left-leaning or activist-leaning histories, including feminist playwright Alice Birch and novelist Sally Rooney’s Marxist and class-focused public persona, though these do not dominate the series’ content or marketing.
Production
